NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Metro Schools Director Dr. Shawn Joseph is claiming a recent Metro audit vindicates how his administration has handled millions of dollars in contracts.
But a detailed analysis of the audit report by NewsChannel 5 Investigates reveals that it leaves many unanswered questions.
On Tuesday, the Metro Audit Committee, which oversees the city's internal auditor, voted not to accept the report until members have had more time to resolve questions about the quality of the work.
Here are some of the most glaring unanswered questions:
$1 million contract legal - or not?
Following a NewsChannel 5 investigation, Metro Nashville Public Schools admitted last week that it broke the law in awarding a $1 million, no-bid contract to Performance Matters for a student-assessment computer platform.
For example, remember Metro Schools' own admission that it broke the law in the awarding of a $1M contract to Performance Matters 5/ https://t.co/5Ohs3gqUmP
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
The district piggybacked on an out-of state contract that had been put out for bids, which is not allowed under Tennessee law.
But the Metro auditor gave the district a pass because state law does not require competitive bidding for "consulting services."
It is not clear how a computer product, for which there are competitors, would be considered "consulting."
A state law that applies specifically to Davidson County says that contracts for "information management services, including but not limited to, computer program analyst services shall ... be procured through a request for proposals process."
Was it a good use of taxpayer money?
MNPS admits usage of that $1 million contract may not have been high because "the district did not mandate an assessment administered through the platform."
But get this: MNPS signed the $1 million contract - paying for all 86,000 students to use it - then didn't require schools to do anything with the software. 21/ https://t.co/nWi9dtRI5e
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
Auditors were silent on this question.
Piggybacking - or new, no-bid contract?
The audit report says that a $845,000 contract with Performance Matters for professional development software was properly piggybacked on a Shelby County contract.
But, as we reported, MNPS negotiated new terms -- which, according to a retired state auditor, violates state law.
This is state law: 12/ pic.twitter.com/iYSMFENxcB
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
Metro auditors did not address that issue.
Best price?
MNPS admits its purchasing team piggybacked on other contracts without looking to see if they could get a better price.
In the case of the Performance Matters professional development contract, our investigation discovered that other districts got much better prices (per user) by putting the contract out for bids.
We found that districts that put the professional development software out for bids got much better prices (per user) than the piggyback price offered by Performance Matters. 14/ pic.twitter.com/aBsXIPEdWs
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
Again, auditors were silent on this question.
Was piggybacking an excuse for a no-bid contract?
Dr. Joseph told the school board that the professional development platform was a program that Shelby County "had been using historically... and effectively," insisting that he did not just push a vendor because of his prior relationship with the company.
But @MNPSdirector told the school board that Shelby County "had been using it historically ... so it's not something that we brought in ... because we knew Performance Matters and said 'Hey, here's a contract.'" 29/ https://t.co/PUpcUXAuju
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
But an email exchange between Joseph and Performance Matters, which began before he officially started as director of schools, shows they were trying to figure out how to "extend our partnership" -- and the "recent Shelby County RFP" offered a way to avoid bidding.
Here is that excerpt. 28/ pic.twitter.com/NivJxy0Nvy
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
In other words, there was no Shelby County history.
School board misled in other ways?
Dr. Joseph's team also told the school board in June 2018 that the administration had pursued the no-bid contract for the Performance Matters professional development contract because there just wasn't time for a competitive bidding process.
The audit does not address the fact that the school board was misled by the Joseph's team about the urgent need for a non-competitive contract with PM 32/ https://t.co/WO3T1mRDtK
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
In fact, the audit acknowledges there was no urgency, which is confirmed by an email that we discovered.
The emails show that explanation was false 33/ pic.twitter.com/63ycwDcw8z
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
The audit does not address the misleading statements made to the board about that or other issues.
That never happened -- which means Joseph's team will likely need to come back to the board and insist on another no-bid extension of the PM contract to keep tracking teacher training. 36/
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
Contract changes intentional - or not?
The audit confirms the findings of a NewsChannel 5 investigation that the school board approved two contracts with Performance Matters for $1.1 million, but Joseph's team signed contracts for $1.8 million.
"However, this error does NOT appear to have been intentional," the audit says.
That's not what Dr. Joseph told the school board back in June.
"However, this error does NOT appear to have been intentional," the audit says. The problem is that Dr. Joseph told the board back in June that it WAS intentional! 25/ https://t.co/Omr72VjxdX
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
Undisclosed consulting fees?
The audit report concludes that allegations of MNPS management having accepted undisclosed consulting fees was "unsubstantiated."
But then it reveals that Chief Academic Officer Monique Felder accepted $4,000 in fees from the Educational Research and Development Institute in 2017 -- that she did not disclose.
Felder filed an amended report after auditors started reviewing her consulting fees.
Add this to the list of reasons for viewing the @MetroSchools audit with a healthy dose of skepticism 81/ https://t.co/PpCaB9kOJG
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 12, 2019
The audit suggests the woman in charge of instruction for Metro Schools did not understand the directions to disclose income for the "preceding year."
$1 million contract push following Amelia Island trip?
Auditors say it was "unsubstantiated" that the administration tried to execute a $1 million contract with Scholastic following a trip to Amelia Island, but then the report describes something really, really close.
According to the audit report, that plan was thwarted when @jillspeering objected 40/ pic.twitter.com/fIb8tWsfGS
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
Was MNPS the only source of income for vendor?
That allegation about READ America was "unsubstantiated."
Back on the purchasing audit, auditors say the allegation that MNPS is the only source of income for READ America is "unsubstantiated" because, apparently, SHE says that's not true. End of story? 66/ pic.twitter.com/KgVg6WO3TM
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
Apparently, the vendor said it wasn't true.
Case closed.
Was consultant Bruce Taylor qualified?
The audit report says the allegations that consultant Bruce Taylor was not qualified or lacked proper credentials was "unsubstantiated."
The audit does not address the fact that consultant Bruce Taylor's educational training is theatre management, not education. Just says he wrote books 41/ https://t.co/6FBBdVJzFz
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
But it does not compare his actual educational credentials to the requirements of his contract.
RBT split deals to avoid board approval?
The audit says that allegations of MNPS structuring its arrangements with Research for Better Teaching to circumvent the $100,000 board approval requirement is "unsubstantiated."
According to the audit, RBT had been paid $172,161.
But that entire amount was apparently not considered in reaching its conclusions.
"The $147,858 expenditures for the 2017-2018 school year, which were incurred from the General Purpose School Fund only, are the subject of this review," the report says.
We published documents showing that MNPS was working off of written "agreements" with RBT, but no formal contract was ever presented to the board for approval. Why would that be? 45/ https://t.co/6FBBdVJzFz
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 9, 2019
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