Hey, Mr. Gittings! Come to Montgomery County. We have PROOF of purchases over $25,000 but no one in Montgomery County government, the Board of Education or the Maryland Attorney General cares about the law! So good luck getting anyone to investigate!

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2009/02/following-is-testimony-delivered-in.html

It is easy to find these procurements over $25,000 without Board approval because the COMPANIES put out press releases when they make a big sale. Check the Board minutes and you find zip.

Last night, a Board of Education member called parents "pain in the asses" and said principals shouldn't have to put them on school improvement committees if they were PIAs!

Watch the VIDEO:

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/

A "strong feeling" but no proof? How irresponsible and reckless of Mr. Gittings to throw such an accusation out there based on what his gut tells him.

The proof of the spending is in the new people coming in, redecorating, refurnishing, reordering etc. things that are not really needed but instead of doing an inventory on what an office may have, newbies will always come in and spend, spend and spend and then by the time a freeze is put on the spending the offices already have almost everything that they wnated.
Depending on the department and the person in charge things have always been ordered and okayed without questions and things are sometimes purchased that if inventory was done the high priced items would not even be in that individuals office.
Protocal for spending has always been on a who knows who basis, that will never change and with people leaving so many are continuing to take advantage of that.

Calamity: Actually, that's not proof. Not that I believe for a second that it is possible that things get done around policy, but proof would, oh, I don't know, involve, say, proof, but conjecture.

Giddings is all about Giddings and he is and has been allowed to say and do whatever without being called on his "facts". What a shame and a sham. When he announced that he was retiring a year ago I posted that his 15 minutes of fame were almost up. Oh that it had come to pass. It seems that representing Jimmy Giddings has proven too irresistible to give up for Jimmy Giddings. Standing in the way of real reform, pitting vice-principals against principals (both groups belong to the same union), and generally standing around with no socks on doesn't really make things better for kids or grownups.

As my pappy might have said were he prone to such things, "The best thing to do with a buzzing gnat is to ignore it." He didn't say it, but I will.

How sad that a man with a useless job and no power has to create press about himself to satisfy his narcissism. I echo the irresponsibility of Mr. Gittings to accuse based on "feelings." When someone wonders about the dysfunction of BCPSS, please direct them to people like Mr. Gittings.

Gittings wrote:We have PROOF of purchases over $25,000
I stated where/how the proof can be found so that is proof from a up close view point and seeing it with my own eyes.

@Calamity

Proof that over $25K was spent collectively on, say, an office renovation really doesn't mean much unless it was $25K spent with one vendor on one purchase order that had no prior approval through the Board. If I spent $15K with Vendor A on one PO, $12K with Vendor B on another PO and $3K with Vendor C on yet another PO to complete an office renovation, I've spent a total of $30K but no rules have been violated.

If you have proof that over $25K was spent on one purchase order to one vendor without an existing Board-approved contract in place, then give it to the CFO.

J&IO: Thou does protest a little too much.
As I state many times on this site, if something that is said about the negative goings on at North Avenue or a school and you have done nothing wrong, then the comment is not for you.
But when you feel you must come out and try to explain your spending then its time to maybe look into you and where your products are as it relates to just how much spending you are doing.
And by the way the comment from both of us is not about office renovations but other spendings which again if you have nothing to be swatted for then you should not get so riled up.
And just for the record, I am no fan of Gittings or anyone else in the school system. Just someone who sees and knows a lot more than people may think

@Anonymous

If we all followed that logic, there'd be very few comments on this blog at all. I have every right to respond to whichever post I please, it's ridiculous to assume that my response implies some kind of involvement or guilt on my part. You are way off base.

My "protest" (or admission of guilt, as it would appear in your eyes) has nothing to do with the motivation you think. I'm simply saying that if the accusations are true, and there is proof, give it to the people who can do something about it. If it's based on a gut feeling, maybe it shouldn't be publicized until there is proof. Staff end up being redirected from their normal duties to investigate "gut feeling" accusations - as one of the people who have had to do this in the past (and it was baseless, for the record) it can be very frustrating.

Now that there is a new person at this blog filling in, I see a major error in blogs.
Anonymous did not post the blog that j answered to.

Calamity: I'm still here today (last day). Email me at sara.neufeld@baltsun.com with the specifics of the problem before the end of the business day. Otherwise, my account will be disconnected so follow up with Liz at liz.bowie@baltsun.com.