I agree with you. This story reeeally must stay current.
So...in light of that, I do hereby bump this back to life with the following:
The Investigators: School Dollars Squandered On No-Bid Contracts
Unruh: 'No-Bid Contracts" Lead To Waste
POSTED: 4:27 p.m. EST October 28, 2002
MIAMI -- Channel 10 investigator Jilda Unruh says that it looks like the Miami-Dade public school district isn't very good at math.
Unruh discovered that the rules governing contracts with the school system are pretty simple: any contract worth $10,000 or more, must go to the board for approval. The problem? The school district isn't very good at basic math, when it comes to tracking contracts under $10,000, according to Unruh.
Unruh: We asked the Miami-Dade school district for all "no bid contracts," and got a pretty small pile. Another stack is made up of a computer printout of nearly $2 million worth contracts $6,000 and under, which require no form of committee or board approval. What we found when we did the math was how often the district doles out nickel and dime contracts to vendors, which add up to a lot more than the $10,000 benchmark for board scrutiny. A total of 20 hotels, restaurants, resorts and a country club were paid by the Miami-Dade public schools between Jan. 1, 2001, and March 30, 2002, for district functions ranging from workshops, training and banquets, to conferences, seminars and retreats...
Unruh: "You're telling me there's no place in this district that 40 to 55 people could have met besides having to go to Don Shula's hotel and golf resort?"
Villafana: "Well, no, I'm not telling you that there isn't a place. I'm just telling you that perhaps it didn't work out for them."
Unruh: Amazingly, it didn't work out for them four times between January and September of 2001.
Perez said, "Because they're during school time, and therefore, there's not room to have them during school time. But during school times, people should be at school working and taking care of business..."
http://www.click10.com/news/1744113/detail.html The Investigators: Politics Of Picking Healthcare Providers
Jilda Unruh, Channel 10 Investigator
POSTED: 6:54 p.m. EDT August 21, 2001
http://www.click10.com/mia/news/theinvestigators/stories/theinvestigators-92812820010821-170831.html The Investigators: Pat Tornillo's Links To Companies
Jilda Unruh, Channel 10 Investigator
POSTED: 2:24 p.m. EDT August 22, 2001
http://www.click10.com/news/929352/detail.html Posted on Sun, Oct. 06, 2002
Longtime union leader's empire facing challenges from dissenting teachers,
others
By CHARLES SAVAGE
http://www.broward.com/mld/miami/news/4214582.htm EducationNews.org
Monday February 18, 2002
Teacher's for Better Education
Dissent in the Ranks
Ira J. Paul
...At the top of the list was none other than Pat Tornillo with a salary of more than $209,000 a year! It also revealed that a dozen UTD staffers were paid six figure salaries ranging from $100,000 to as much as $206,000 a year! These salaries come at the expense of teachers and school employees who pay dues to the union. In fact, average teacher salaries in Dade County are only about $44,000 a year. Teachers are charged about $850 in union dues to pay the salaries of Tornillo and his inner circle of six-figure income lieutenants.
http://home.att.net/~tbe/EducationNews3.htm Hi, ragtime, It sounds like something for our fabu State Attorney General Charlie Crist. For all I know, he lurks here. Charlie Crist is serious about fraud and abuse. I think he's a great AG as compared to Butterworth. Crist would make a real good Governor someday too.
Let's cross our fingers that Florida's AG looks into this because we've never had a such a take charge AG before.
And, then all the school systems are complaining that they can't keep teachers' aides, etc. They should blame their unions who are just set up to boost the DNC and get perks for the top tier. The elites get all the treats.