The February 12, 2019 EPISD board packet had this item in it:
EPISD would like to contract with a vendor to develop an all-In-one enrollment solution. Funds are going to be requested from several accounts to cover the year 1 contracted services quote of$547,950.00.
That’s half a million dollars for the first year on an item that it appears was never taken out to bid. Notice that the system needs to be developed.
This is a risky project.
It is hard to believe that no other school district–anywhere–has an all-in-one enrollment solution already.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
EPISD paid how many millions for TEAMS that was supposed to do this? And they pay how many hundreds of thousands each year for TEAMS Maintenance? By their own rules they are supposed to release a request for bids on something this complicated and expensive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The biggest problem with education today is the industry of educational contract services that feeds off public education. As top heavy as school districts have become, can’t they at least hire overhead staff capable of doing more than managing overpaid vendors? And if the other post is correct and this is the second vendor paid to create an enrollment system they aren’t saving money by outsourcing this work.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looking for Tim Holt’s rant as to why this is brilliant … and that the cranky, old people on this site are just trolls who don’t know anything.
LikeLike
Classes are too big (the district lies about average class size by including special ed teachers and librarians who don’t actually have classes). Big classes mean shitty education. Parents see it’s shitty and take their kids elsewhere. That’s the enrollment problem.
The solution is too fire 50% of administrators, quit paying contractors, consultants, and specialists to do things that don’t need to be done. Then you can hire more teachers and have smaller classes.
That’s your all-in-one enrollment solution! Where’s my $547,950?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Mic drop.
LikeLike
This item was on the consent agenda buried deep and was going to be approved automatically. I notified 3 trustees that there was no Vendor named and there was no record of any bids, information from vendor or what it was really for.
The item was removed but don’t know when it will come back.
It looked like a license to steal to me.
LikeLike
Good catch. It will take good citizens raising concerns that EPISD isn’t following its own rules to keep them honest. If you hadn’t said anything the entire Consent Agenda would have passed and they would have over half a million dollars to add to their slush fund. Maybe they would have started by visiting some ISDs in Southern California to see how it is done, then contracting a consultant to get their input.
LikeLike