Chicago Public Schools' $67,000 Cappuccino Tab

Chicago public school bureaucrats skirted competitive bidding rules to buy 30 cappuccino/espresso machines for $67,000, with most of the machines going unused because the schools they were ordered for had not asked for them, according to a report by the CPS Office of Inspector General.

That was just one example of questionable CPS actions detailed in the inspector general's 2008 annual report.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[PerryWhite]

Only one of them got stolen? That's something for Arne Duncan to be proud of.

[Myshkin57]

What I don't understand is why more schools don't get caught changing the grades of athletes. It's pretty common. But then again, grade inflation is ridiculous and probably even worse. Kids are getting into college without being able to write short essays or organize thoughts into paragraphs.

[jsgaetano]

Wow... $2000+ for an espresso machine. That's a pretty damn nice machine, it's a shame they are going unused.

Completely stupid and useless use of money. That $67,000 could have purchased a lot of books, or computers, or hired another teacher.

[Hereslookingatu]

Honestly, busing children to a neighborhood where a better school is available does not offend me nearly as much as buying a $2,400.00 espresso machine for a struggling school. Consider, for instance, the numerous programs that remain short-changed; the curricula too expensive to acquire; the competent leadership still-too unaffordable to place in the schools. There are after-school needs, health center needs, vision clinic needs, underfunded school lunch programs, and so on.

Next time I hear that only five schools instead of seven could attend vision clinic--a program that fits students with poor eyesight with glasses-- because it was "too expensive", I will think of the many lattes and mochas brewing in the teachers' lounge and administrative office. This is simply pathetic.

[ThomasMc]

All politics is graft.

[LITNUP]

And Now Arne Duncan is Bringing CPS incompetence nationwide

[Sparhawk]

That's why my children will remain in private school