Tuesday, October 20, 2020

NYC Public School Parents: Today's Contract Committee meeting - disappointing with few questions & confusing answers from DOE

NYC Public School Parents: Today's Contract Committee meeting - disappointing with few questions & confusing answers from DOE
Today's Contract Committee meeting - disappointing with few questions & confusing answers from DOE


Above is the video from today's Contract Committee of the Panel for Educational Policy. It was a short meeting, mostly composed of Charlotte Hamamgian, the DOE Executive Director of Contracts and Purchasing, reading aloud the list of summaries of all the different contracts, which together cost about  $400 million this month. Only two PEP members asked questions, Kathy Park Price with a quick follow-up from Isaac Carmignani; unclear how many others listened in or if there was a quorum.

It was extremely disconcerting how the most elementary questions about the busing contracts were responded to with confusing, inadequate and sometimes downright contradictory responses from the DOE officials in charge. including Lindsey Oates, the DOE CFO and Sean Fitzpatrick, the executive director of the city Department of Education's pupil transportation unit.