Alexandria Public Schools triples spending on consultants

Alexandria triples spending on consultants

By Paige Winfield Cunningham

The Alexandria public school district has nearly tripled the amount of money spent on consultants at a time it faces financial challenges.

But the issue isn’t just dollars and cents. Teachers say they are spending too much time away from their classrooms being lectured by high-price consultants.

Alexandria Superintendent Morton Sherman is at the center of this fiscal and educational controversy.

The year before Sherman took the reins at the Alexandria City Public Schools, ACPS spent $379,000 on staff development. Spending began to grow after he arrived in 2008, and totaled $940,000 during the last school year. Consultants range from individuals who have known Sherman for decades to larger firms from the northeast...

...Harvard professor Ron Ferguson, who’s involved in the T.C. Williams transformation, was paid $10,701 last year after lecturing at a district-sponsored community forum...

While Superintendent Jerry Weast won't release how many consultants are hired in a year by MCPS, the above article mentions the name of someone who has spoken at a MCPS conference. This may give a clue as to the fee that might have been charged for this speaker to appear here.