Included in the expense reports for the MCPS Deputy Superintendent of Teaching, Learning, and Programs (Newly appointed to be the Deputy Superintendent for School Support and Improvement) is the purchase of two, yes we said two, "computer bags" from the That's Our Bag store in Chicago, Illinois for a total of $485.95.
Deputy Superintendent Kimberly Statham was only able to produce the receipt for one of the two bags listed on her MCPS Purchasing Card Log for May 2013. Both charges were approved.
From the receipt, shown below, we can see that one of the bags purchased cost $244.17 and was the "Audrey Zip Top Computer/Toffee" bag. We believe that is the bag shown in the image above. Stare at that bag closely and by doing so the secret of closing the achievement gap will be revealed! It's your tax dollars, you are entitled to be let in on the secret!
Can she get fired too?
ReplyDeleteWas she able to receive some kind of deal by purchasing *two* bags? (the second bag was $2.45 less). A souvenir for someone who couldn't go on that Chicago trip?
ReplyDeleteHence the expression "No child left behind."
Delete$485.95 would buy a lot of backpacks (filled with school supplies) for needy MCPS students! www.mcpsgivebackpacks.org
ReplyDeleteOutrageous
ReplyDeleteSomebody needs to put the "bag" on Starr and his spend-happy cronies.
ReplyDeleteas much as I detest the way Starr has handled other matters in his time here, it would be more fair and accurate to say the spend happy cronies were at it probably lonnnnnng before Starr got here
DeleteOf course, it's been going on for years. That's why the Parents' Coalition keeps investigating. We find the same abuses over and over and over. It won't stop until action is taken to remove offenders. As long as we keep hiring superintendents and administrators who are totally happy to misuse tax dollars the cycle continues.
DeleteFor an perfect example, google Kimberly Statham's past experience in California. Yet, we hired her here.
What is so funny is that I have this exact bag in red. I got it at value village for 7.95
ReplyDeleteWay out of line. These charges speak to the culture of entitlement. It also underscores the MCPS upper management competition to "one up" peers and show superiority to classroom teachers. There needs to be a sea change in thinking. Maybe MCPS HQ needs to pare down and get "lean and clean" to address the daunting task of actually tackling the achievement gap. BTW, the achievement gap is not a once and done problem, is will be an ongoing effort for decades.
ReplyDeleteThese expenditures are condoned and approved by the Teachers' Union. The Parents' Coalition has exposed this type of spending before and Delegate Bonnie Cullison happy touted the 70 lunches she claims she had at Il Pizzico with MCPS administrators during her time as MCEA President.
DeleteThis repulsive culture of corporate spending permissiveness starts at the top with Josh Starr. Our schools are chronically understaffed. Five year olds go to schools that have chronic mold problems and yet it's OK for top central office staff to buy expensive, personal accessories on taxpayer dollars. Starr's contract is coming up for consideration soon. There's nothing to consider there - he can't leave fast enough - he has phoned in his job the entire time he has been here. The faintest of interventions on the achievement gap; students are all still flunking math finals; we've spent $1 million to find out who is hopeful; and Starr continues to think grit and determination are all that you need to achieve college success. He's not cut-out to be a superintendent - he doesn't have the right stuff.
DeleteStarr is a symptom, not the cause. As long as voters continue to blindly obey the "Apple Ballot," the unions will continue to select the Board, who in turn select the Superintendent, who is presumably intelligent enough to know that he ultimately answers to the unions. What we're getting, leather totes and valet parking and room-service meals and all, is exactly what the unions want, as ratified by ignorant voters. Replace Starr with another Superintendent who is beholden to the unions, and nothing will change. Replace the Board with citizens who are not beholden to the unions, and everything could change.
DeleteIf you only knew the real dirt at MCEA by folks like Cullison and Gerson, you'd be shocked... the definition of corruption.
ReplyDeleteDo tell.
DeleteThe reality is if the county council were to cut the MCPS budget because of this abuse of credit cards and other issues the Parents Coalition is bringing to light, MCPS wouldn't stop the misuse and abuse. Instead, they would cut administrative/support staff so that they can continue to pamper the BOE and executive staff.
ReplyDeleteNo, they cut teachers and school based staff. That has always been the response. Take away perks? Punish the children. Get parents screaming. Get perks back.
DeleteLather, rinse, repeat.
i have long said that it is deceitful to put "teacher approved" apple symbols on campaign materiel, for two reasons.. 1- its the unions that approve the teachers and not the actual teachers themselves. 2- endorsing any candidates by using the innocent looking, best-interest-of-the-children apple symbol will only provide more of the same mediocrity we have had for decades.
ReplyDeleteNow we have the graft of those same candidates, now elected shepherds of our childrens' futures, merrily spending tax money on their elitist lifestyles.I dont accept the apologies for even a split second, since they are only "sorry" because they were CAUGHT. Caught STEALING.
And i will put forth the argument that this graft has existed farther back than most people are imagining....Past Joshua "I want to be a New York" Starr, Weast the Least, Vance the Pouty, even probably further back than Harry Pitt