I went to a government high school in the early 1980s in a small southern town, and my biggest concern was whether the football player I had a crush on was getting back together with his girlfriend. Sometimes I’d lie awake at night wondering if the next day’s ensemble was cool enough. Occasionally I had serious issues, like how to sweet-talk my father into letting me go out with my friends even though I was grounded for coming home after curfew the week before.
Of course these things pale in comparison to what kids have to deal with today, especially in urban schools. While reading “Students want police inside D.C. schools,” in today’s Washington Times, I reminisced about my superficial teen angst. The kids in D.C. schools may have similar “problems,” but they also worry about getting shot or stabbed, something I couldn’t even imagine at 16. It definitely puts things in perspective.
At the annual YMCA D.C. Youth and Government Legislative Weekend at American University, D.C. students talked about the need for police officers in the schools. Security guards aren’t cutting it. Instead of discussing certain academic programs they wanted to see in their schools or other mundane concerns as peer pressure to be cool, etc., they’re talking about the need for more cops in the schools.
The D.C. government is notorious for mediocrity and mismanagement, so the fact that the D.C. Council voted to retain a shoddy security company after its shoddiness was proved comes as no surprise:
Security for D.C. schools is provided by Watkins Security Agency of D.C. Inc.The contract with the company was set to expire Jan. 7, but the D.C. Council approved emergency legislation in December to retain it until at least June.
The decision came despite a report by city auditors last summer that found the firm to be the “least technically competent” and most expensive among five bidders, The Washington Times reported.
Watkins was first hired on a three-year contract in 2003, but school officials failed to seek D.C. Council approval as required by city contracting law, so the company has been paid through a series of short-term contracts.
According to the inspector general, school officials overpaid the company by as much as $8.8 million when picking it over the other bidders for a three-year, $45.6 million contract in 2003.
How much are you willing to wager that this security agency was selected under a skin color preference program? Instead of picking the best company for the lowest contract price, they chose a “minority” owned outfit and got shafted. Entitlement programs was not where I was headed with this post, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it’s as important as the D.C. school’s security problems.
I’ll do a little digging and let you know what I find out.
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LaShawn:
I think the most interesting part of this story is the short-term contracts awarded to Watkins. Were those short-term contracts open to other bidders? I would be interested to know the difference in price between the total cost of the short-term contracts and the lowest bid price for the three-year contract (extrapolated out to 36 months for the short-term contracts).
What happened to the procurement officials who did not follow procurement regulations? My guess is that the short-term contracts are more expensive than a three-year contract.
Great catch, Dan.
Poor security, cats being sterilized in a DC public elementary school cafeteria (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42473-2005Feb21.html)….
What’s next?
My kids are almost 3 and not even a week old, but I become more convinced every day that I’ll homeschool.
I spent the first five years of schooling in a one-room country school that had grades 1-8 at first, then grades 1-6. The worst thing that happend was the fight after a softball game with another country school. We all had to come inside and sit two to a desk so the fighters could calm down. Fast forward to the 1990’s. I was visiting my mother at my sister’s home when my neice walked in about 1:00 PM. I asked her why she wasn’t in school and she said that there had been a fight at school and they had closed down the campus. She then went on to say that she didn’t understand why they closed the campus this time because, after all, of the fighters, NO ONE HAD ANY GUNS! If I had been the parent, I would have started home schooling the first time there had been an incident involving a gun on campus. I can’t believe what students have to deal with to go to school these days.
I am with you Evon, however, the sad fact is…
In regards to kids having to deal with violence and guns in schools, it is the parents fault the schools are in such bad shape. They are the ones responsible for the “children” they put out in society (regardless of how many parents are at home, how rich or how poor, etc., etc.). Every child that goes to school has a parent. For some reason many parents believe that their only function in regards to their children is producing them … once they are out they are someone else’s (and society’s) responsibility.
Oh, for the good old days when the WORST thing you could do in school was chew gum… and the Spanish teacher could actually punish you for it by making you gnaw on the bicycle tire that hung prominently from the classroom clock….
And, oh for the old high school humanities/survival techniques class where a pocketknife (preferably a Swiss army knife, the more gadgets the better) was REQUIRED equipment for class!
ok, here we go again—notice the “school officials” part? the city is cited; the security company is cited; the parents are cited, too. but, once again the ADMINISTRATORS are basically getting a pass. they are more in control of what happens than they are being given credit for. i agree that parents are often shirking the responsibility of parenting, but schools stopped holding them accountable a long time ago, in large part due to the save-the-world mentality that came out of the 60’s and 70’s. (that includes me, but i have seen the light. i was often called to the office for my daring to make those phone calls home about a studen’t behavior. it rocked the boat.) the administrators and school boards are in the best position to monitor the security. (teachers aren’t often listened to when they are in as much or more danger than the kids. many teachers in high risk city schools suffer from battle fatigue. some get combat pay in some districts! the ADMINISTRATORS and school boards need to be held accountable, too. they call most of the shots in their districts.
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