700 Promethean Boards - procurement still a mystery!

Examiner: Council panel questions schools’ spending on high-tech chalkboards

By Leah Fabel Examiner Staff Writer 2/24/09

Leah Fabels reports on the February 23, 2009, Montgomery County Council Education Committee meeting. 

Of note, is the misconception that only 2,600 Promethean Boards were purchased. That is not correct. According to MCPS, there are 3,300 Promethean Boards in MCPS classrooms. The only reason 2,600 Promethean Boards are being discussed is because that is the number that were purchased in the lease that a parent was supplied in response to a Maryland Public Information Act request to MCPS. That lease, signed by MCPS Chief Operating Officer Larry Bowers, has been made public via the Parents' Coalition website, not via Board of Education minutes or the MCPS website.

The purchase of the additional 700 boards still remains a mystery and MCPS Board of Education minutes do not reflect bulk purchases of Promethean Boards. An additional procurement of 700 Promethean Boards would represent an expenditure of approximately an additional $3.5 million.

From the article:

Councilwoman Valerie Ervin, chairwoman of the education committee and a former school board member, said the council lays out clear rules regarding when the school system needs funding approval from the council, and those rules were circumvented in this case.

“The way they went about this was not transparent,” Ervin said, adding that increased expenses are especially unwelcome in a time of economic calamity.

The school system “is taking on long-term expenses that will have to be funded in the long term,” she said. “And it’s not chump change.”

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Council panel questions schools’ spending on high-tech chalkboards

by Leah Fabel  | February 23, 2009

 The Montgomery County Council’s education committee said Monday morning that the county could be on the hook for millions of dollars in spending on classroom technology never approved by the council.

The expenditures — about $13 million during four years despite council approval for less than $1 million for one year — were used for the lease of 2,600 interactive online chalkboards that cost about $5,000 apiece. Portions of the cost will be covered each year by federal rebates for school district connectivity.

The lease expands the much-vaunted “smart board” technology to 65 percent of the county’s middle and high school classrooms. When the council approved the fiscal 2009 capital budget, it approved about $700,000 to install the boards in select middle schools.

Councilwoman Valerie Ervin, chairwoman of the education committee and a former school board member, said the council lays out clear rules regarding when the school system needs funding approval from the council, and those rules were circumvented in this case.

“The way they went about this was not transparent,” Ervin said, adding that increased expenses are especially unwelcome in a time of economic calamity.

The school system “is taking on long-term expenses that will have to be funded in the long term,” she said. “And it’s not chump change.”

Sherwin Collette, the district’s chief technology officer, said his department has made clear that the council wouldn’t be pressured into funding the initiative should county money come up short in the third or fourth year of the lease.

“If there were to be any shortfall, we’d reprioritize the existing tech budget to cover the costs,” Collette said.

But that, for example, could mean delaying the purchase of new school computers.

School system spokesman Steve Simon called the issue a case of differing interpretations of the council’s rules regarding financial appropriations and said there was never an intent to go behind the council’s back.

“We have a very strong commitment to transparency,” Simon said. “When you’re operating a two-plus billion dollar school system, there’s an awful lot of business being conducted every day, and we’re always happy to look at our procedures and make sure they’re as transparent as possible.”