Like Nashville, TN, Montgomery County Public Schools also had a no bid Performance Matters contract and in FY18 spent $1.5 million on that contract.
*************************************************
What did Metro Nashville Public Schools get for $1 million?
In the case of a student assessment program developed by a company that Schools Director Dr. Shawn Joseph liked, the answer may be: not much.
As NewsChannel 5 Investigates previously reported, after Joseph's arrival in Nashville in 2016, he ordered MNPS staff to sign a deal with Performance Matters for its Unify student assessment platform.
"In 2016, a transition team made up of local, state and national experts shared that Nashville needed to focus on student achievement -- with a sense of urgency," Metro Schools said in a written statement.
Without giving any other company a chance to offer its services, Metro Schools signed the $1 million deal with Performance Matters, piggybacking on a deal the company had struck with Orange County Public Schools in Florida.
After questions raised by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, MNPS admitted it violated state law when it piggybacked on an out-of-state contract.
But our investigation also discovered questions about whether the Performance Matters contract was really utilized by Nashville teachers...
Don't forget about the connection that Jack "Dolittle" Smith's number one paid consultant has to Performance Matters: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=9z8e78cab&oeidk=a07e51ak98sa86afca9.
ReplyDeleteGemberling and Dolittle were co-presenters at the 2012 MABE conference: https://www.mabe.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2012-Conference-program.pdf
Will the MCPS BOE have the courage to ask Jack about his relationship with Gemberling on the record during a televised meeting? Will they ask about Gemberling's relationship with Performance Matters and how Performance Matters has been awarded no bid contracts in MCPS while she is a paid consultant to Jack?