Consultant Payment Approved - No Discussion

At today's Board of Education meeting the Board approved a $125,000 payment to a consultant by unanimous consent.  There was no discussion of this expenditure, nor has there been any explanation or detail provided as to the purpose or scope of "support" to be provided.

The first time this consultant appeared in Board of Education minutes was in March of 2009 as a sole source procurement* (no other bids were taken). See the notation from the March 10, 2009, memo from Superintendent Weast below.

However, an IQinVision press release from March 2008 (a year before) announced that this consultant was already working with MCPS. Under what Board authority was this consultant being paid before March of 2009? 

This is an election year for 4 Board of Education seats currently held by Patricia O'Neill, Shirley Brandman, Judy Docca and Michael Durso. This is just one example of the level of oversight exerted by these Board members over the MCPS Operating budget.

*This blog post was updated as of 7:45 pm, January 12, 2009.