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119 Comments
- zacharytelschow, on 01/07/2009, -0/+64FTA: "...schools [...] weren't prepared to implement [espresso machines] into the curriculum." (Quote hacked, context unchanged).
How the hell do you implement an espresso machine into the curriculum? I'll bet that learning experience is a wonderful and necessary one. - zacharytelschow, on 01/07/2009, -4/+57Its very similar to the Milwaukee Public Schools; they spend money hand over fist on unneeded crap then cry about how there just isn't enough money for beneficial programs. There's no reason the schools should be run for the government. School vouchers FTW.
- perryc, on 01/07/2009, -0/+51The students are still waiting for the cigarette machines...
- anders5689, on 01/08/2009, -0/+40wait....30 espresso machines totaling $67,000? That's over $2,300 per machine. What the *****?!?!
I have an espresso machine. It cost me 100 bucks. $2,300 espresso machines are full commercial-grade espresso machines, like the ones you see at Starbucks. You know, to facilitate making 500 lattes/hour.
I repeat my earlier statement:
WHAT THE *****?!?!?! - casuallyevil, on 01/08/2009, -1/+33It's Chicago. This isn't stupidity, incompetence, or anything other than corruption - somebody in charge of purchasing probably knows the guy that sells or makes these machines and it getting some kind of kickback for putting them in the schools.
- numberneal, on 01/07/2009, -0/+28damn; no wonder these kids are so hyper
- user500, on 01/08/2009, -0/+24tomorrows food service workers have to come from someplace, and in the greater Chicago area, CPS fills the need.
- murphb, on 01/08/2009, -1/+24As someone who graduated from a high school in southern Illinois, this pisses me off. These people are spending their money whimsically on things they don't need while schools in my area have "Caution: Asbestos" signs all over the basements and textbooks older than the students. I realize that property taxes determine how much money a school gets, but come on! There needs to be some sort of equality there.
- GregIsLegend, on 01/08/2009, -0/+18I'm a highschool student and I witness gross misappropriation of funds every day. IE: I'm being taught english 12 in a trophy room by a P.E. coach alongside 36 other students because of over crowding and a lacking budget that doesn't include building new classrooms.
And at the same time, the school recently completed a million dollar stadium for the athletic department.
Public schooling is so totally *****. - upick, on 01/08/2009, -1/+15Now this is a perfect example of an over funded school
- Eorster, on 01/08/2009, -1/+14Does not surprise me at all. Chicago is a cess pool when it comes to fiscal management, don't confuse this with the fact that it is an absolutely beautiful city if your a tourist. They suck everything out of the rest of the state, give contracts only to buddies and family members, and then expect the rest of business in the state to help support their initiatives. They also seem to have a perpetual lock on raising their own property taxes. People in southern Illinois pay more in property taxes than a Chicago home owner does, of course this is relative to the home values. Nice to know grandma and grandpas living in the rest of the state pay for union Chicago teachers to have nice coffee machines. Try teaching and not worrying about your F&^%& coffee breaks then maybe Chicago will be able to pay their fair share of property and business taxes.
- DreKor, on 01/08/2009, -0/+13I think the more interesting part of this story is that an audit caught these purchases and publicized them. I see that as a positive point.
- holyskeleton, on 01/08/2009, -2/+14probably cheaper to just franchise a starbucks.
- inactive, on 01/08/2009, -0/+12When I lived in Georgia there were numbers of these sorts of expenditures. They came about because the lottery funds directed towards education required equipment-only purchases to be made. After you have all the computers, video equipment, and such that you need, what do you do? You have to spend the money, or you would lose that much from future budgets. So, most likely the blame is on the bureaucracy.
- SEN5241, on 01/08/2009, -2/+13I blame the NEA (a govt union - i.e. the worst of both worlds).
- scoottie, on 01/08/2009, -0/+11And obama nominated the head of the illinois school system to his cabinet ....
- AmyVernon, on 01/08/2009, -0/+11@zachary - I was completely taken aback by the same comment.
@user500 - I hate to admit it, but you may have solved the mystery. - oboshoe, on 01/08/2009, -0/+10Your math is way way wrong. This is Chicago we talking about.
Its $100 per machine, and $2200 in payoffs.
Probably the $2200/machine was probably split between the company executives and some corrupt school board official.
These machines were not meant to be installed. They were meant to sit in a basement until being auctioned off as surplus years later (after the deals are untraceable and people have moved on), while simultaneously enriching a few people in on the scam. - compgeek, on 01/08/2009, -0/+8WTF. Why is a school buying espresso machines? Are they going to start up a starbucks in their cafeteria? Seriously why the ***** would they need them?!?!!?!!!!?
- msaleem, on 01/07/2009, -0/+9Gotta keep 'em students going.
- scootinger, on 01/08/2009, -1/+10I wonder who in Chicago Public Schools owns an espresso machine company?
- roxgod666, on 01/08/2009, -0/+8The teachers are still waiting for the condom machines...
- ABadPerson, on 01/08/2009, -0/+8I don't think early Starbucks training will have any benefits in the current economic situation.
- inactive, on 01/08/2009, -0/+8Well, you could start a Culinary Arts elective.
- danielttt, on 01/08/2009, -0/+7Can you explain your logic? ....assuming there is any logic.
- slvrbullet87, on 01/08/2009, -0/+7in illinois chicago gets 95% of all public funds... granted they have 65% of the people but it is still out of line
- inactive, on 01/08/2009, -0/+7the students are baby machines
- Dumbledorito, on 01/08/2009, -0/+7This is the bit that a lot of complaints about public schools leave out: The administrators and their effects. Very often, administrators (who, also, are the ones making teachers socially promote failing students so their districts don't lose money) will appoint their friends and cronies to meaningless yet expensive positions at high salaries and further deplete school resources.
My wife taught at a school where the "Head of Technology" was housed. His office (unlike anywhere else in the school) had a new computer ever year, loads of video games, and the jerk who "worked" there often got a new cell phone and palm pilot to "test" every couple of months, and he pulled down almost 50K for the privilege. - WhoDoneIt, on 01/08/2009, -0/+7They certainly filled a Tall order. I bet they are Venti'ng. That's some Grande money spent.
- Brassbud, on 01/08/2009, -1/+7You don't actually think they spend $20,000 on a hammer, $30,000 on a toilet seat, do you?
- psyc420, on 01/08/2009, -1/+7i just saw a PBS about how some schools are super under funded...sounds like some people need to learn the concept of sharing...
- heystoopid, on 01/07/2009, -11/+17The old failed journalism 101 , of not completeing even the basic six questions and listing the correct data of which school got what and how many of these alleged 30 machines were really delivered over the supposed life of this contract .
Me thinks from this very sloppy spear and smear job , less maybe then half a dozen were actually delivered in real life and the balance in cash ended up in the backpockets of a certain greedy corrupt officials who thought they were underpaid .
The polite expression is inadequate data , to properly assess the validity of information supplied , so this gives rise to the question , just what is this self wanking reporters true and real hidden agenda , although the final paragraph does give a little hint about dumb football jocks having their High School filing grades uprated though ?
Cherry picking data anyone ? - DreKor, on 01/08/2009, -1/+7I agree. It would have been better spent on teaching the fundamentals of math and phonics.
- robertonuno85, on 01/08/2009, -0/+6Considering that I just read the following article
http://www.ktla.com/content_landing_page/?LAUSD-Ma ...
and speaking as one of those affected teachers, to say that the incredibly irresponsible fiscal policies of these major school districts pisses me off would be a gross understatement. - Pake, on 01/08/2009, -0/+6It's times like these where you wish you had power and could send a bill to all those ***** telling them to pay up and more or lose their house, job, and do community service as a janitor at a local school (inner city Chicago sounds like a nice place).
- inactive, on 01/08/2009, -2/+7a few things about this makes me rage. first is how stupid people on digg are. only about 3 people have commented that there is obviously a kickback situation, while most people here believe it was just bad fiscal management. obviously this is a situation where someone is getting a kickback for his accidental wasteful spending. i'd like to see someone accidentally buy 60k worth of ***** with their own money.
2 is the article itself. the article basically rambles on about random *****. even citing a quote saying we dont know how to implement espresso machines into the curriculum. come the ***** on. does that even make any ***** sense whatsoever. the guy who said it was an idiot and the reporter who wrote this article is a ***** for even adding in that comment, unless he was trying to make a point which he did not state. in that case it is like a science experiment where the experimenter publish only the data and no analysis.
and then he goes on to mention that grades are being changed. yea just throw in another fact that is only slightly related to what the short 6 paragraphs were saying. 100 years of journalistic excellence. what a ***** joke. - fxu1989, on 01/08/2009, -0/+5I graduated from high school 2 years ago, I remember we used some really old books... but now that I'm in college, every semester there's a new edition for almost every book. It's a ***** kick to the nuts monetary-wise.
I can't even sell the other ***** book cus it's outdated! - inactive, on 01/08/2009, -1/+6Illinois breeds some of the most corrupt politicians, and bureaucracies. It's a shame the kids probably have ***** textbooks, or are crammed into overcrowded classrooms. Change we can believe in I guess.
- tom957, on 01/07/2009, -1/+6I bet they were super-automatic machines. Total wastes if so.
- inactive, on 01/08/2009, -0/+5"less maybe then half a dozen were actually delivered in real life and the balance in cash ended up in the backpockets of a certain greedy corrupt officials who thought they were underpaid ."
and you know this how ?
or are you just guessing ? - mrstoneok, on 01/08/2009, -0/+4I'm really hoping (and betting that sarcasm), thus my digg is in good faith.
- AlienMushroom, on 01/08/2009, -0/+4I say whoever ordered it should pay for it, personally.
- fxu1989, on 01/08/2009, -0/+4Home Ec.
How to use and clean an espresso machine! - inactive, on 01/08/2009, -2/+6Hillbillies drink moonshine, no espressos.
- saucy05, on 01/08/2009, -0/+4In California, our state economy is in so much debt, that Schwarzenegger is planning to lay off thousands of teachers.
- Eorster, on 01/08/2009, -0/+4Don't give them any ideas a relative of some alderman will be in pushing this to the unions if they get wind of it.
- WafflePirate, on 01/08/2009, -3/+7More like damn: No wonder the education system is sliding down into a cesspool of hillbillyness.
- BAMMBANG, on 01/08/2009, -1/+4My school wastes all their money on dumb macs.
- ryrocker, on 01/08/2009, -2/+5
shut your whore mouth!
your making him look bad! -
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