DC Auditor Report on Duke Ellington

[Anonymous]

Read it and weep...

From DCist: http://dcist.com/2016/05/duke_ellington_high_modernization.php

When the renovation of Duke Ellington School for the Arts was proposed in D.C.'s 2012 Capital Improvement Program, estimated costs were set at $71 million. Since then, the price tag of the high school's modernization has ballooned to $178 million, which D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson said is a major problem for the city's school modernization program.

The D.C. Auditor's office released a report today detailing how the Department of General Services failed to provide adequate information to the D.C. Council so that Ellington's modernization plans would be clear and concise from the onset. Instead, DGS has added more money in each year's capital improvement budget until the cost of the school's renovation has more than doubled.

One reason for the price jump is the school's location to remain at the site of the former Western High School at 35th and R streets NW (they are currently being housed at a former elementary school at 11th and Clifton NW while the work is being done). According to the report, a less expensive site was turned down for no given reason. A plan for underground parking has also expanded the cost.
The traditional way to go about building improvements is "design, bid, build," Patterson said in a release. The District's process though, is out of order, she said, pointing out out that although demolition began a year ago, the final cost of the school's construction is up in the air.

This isn't the first time that the auditor pointed out serious flaws in the school modernization procedures. Last year, the agency released another report saying that DGS and DCPS didn't provide basic financial management of taxpayer funds for the projects; they found, for example, nearly $169 million in spending that hadn't been approved. The report came after dozens of school projects were pushed back as a result of cost overruns and the District putting money toward paying off major debt, The Washington Post reported.

The new report gives recommendations to Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council to improve the overall process of fixing many of the city's crumbling academic structures.

It also states that students who attend the historic performing arts school have schedules atypical of most DCPS students. Consequently, significant amounts of space will go unused for extended periods of time once the building's upgrades are complete. Therefore, the auditor is also suggesting that DCPS increase the school's enrollment or open up its grounds to other educational programs.



The Report: https://www.scribd.com/doc/314382106/Duke-Ellington-Modernization-Report

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read it and weep...

From DCist: http://dcist.com/2016/05/duke_ellington_high_modernization.php

When the renovation of Duke Ellington School for the Arts was proposed in D.C.'s 2012 Capital Improvement Program, estimated costs were set at $71 million. Since then, the price tag of the high school's modernization has ballooned to $178 million, which D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson said is a major problem for the city's school modernization program.

The D.C. Auditor's office released a report today detailing how the Department of General Services failed to provide adequate information to the D.C. Council so that Ellington's modernization plans would be clear and concise from the onset. Instead, DGS has added more money in each year's capital improvement budget until the cost of the school's renovation has more than doubled.

One reason for the price jump is the school's location to remain at the site of the former Western High School at 35th and R streets NW (they are currently being housed at a former elementary school at 11th and Clifton NW while the work is being done). According to the report, a less expensive site was turned down for no given reason. A plan for underground parking has also expanded the cost.
The traditional way to go about building improvements is "design, bid, build," Patterson said in a release. The District's process though, is out of order, she said, pointing out out that although demolition began a year ago, the final cost of the school's construction is up in the air.

This isn't the first time that the auditor pointed out serious flaws in the school modernization procedures. Last year, the agency released another report saying that DGS and DCPS didn't provide basic financial management of taxpayer funds for the projects; they found, for example, nearly $169 million in spending that hadn't been approved. The report came after dozens of school projects were pushed back as a result of cost overruns and the District putting money toward paying off major debt, The Washington Post reported.

The new report gives recommendations to Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council to improve the overall process of fixing many of the city's crumbling academic structures.

It also states that students who attend the historic performing arts school have schedules atypical of most DCPS students. Consequently, significant amounts of space will go unused for extended periods of time once the building's upgrades are complete. Therefore, the auditor is also suggesting that DCPS increase the school's enrollment or open up its grounds to other educational programs.



The Report: https://www.scribd.com/doc/314382106/Duke-Ellington-Modernization-Report

Scary.

Who is committing fraud here, and should end in jail?

[Anonymous]

This is on the mayor and the council. They're all culpable in this one.

And we wonder why we're fighting over scraps for the rest of our schools.

[Anonymous]

Seems very little blame placed at the school - which doesn't surprise me. I think they are victims too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is on the mayor and the council. They're all culpable in this one.

And we wonder why we're fighting over scraps for the rest of our schools.

+1 Shepherd has the audacity to want their cafeteria and elevators covered. Murch dares to want its long-tabled plans realized? Garrison has been dicked around year after year. And to think that a few million is what derails these plans when Ellington is turning out to be the building of Versailles? What the hell is going on? People should go to jail on this.

[Anonymous]

For a high school with 500 students. 500 students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems very little blame placed at the school - which doesn't surprise me. I think they are victims too.

Victims of a buttload of cash and a glorious palace of a modernization?

Well come and "victimize" my school too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is on the mayor and the council. They're all culpable in this one.

And we wonder why we're fighting over scraps for the rest of our schools.

+1 Shepherd has the audacity to want their cafeteria and elevators covered. Murch dares to want its long-tabled plans realized? Garrison has been dicked around year after year. And to think that a few million is what derails these plans when Ellington is turning out to be the building of Versailles? What the hell is going on? People should go to jail on this.

+100 million

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is on the mayor and the council. They're all culpable in this one.

And we wonder why we're fighting over scraps for the rest of our schools.

+1 Shepherd has the audacity to want their cafeteria and elevators covered. Murch dares to want its long-tabled plans realized? Garrison has been dicked around year after year. And to think that a few million is what derails these plans when Ellington is turning out to be the building of Versailles? What the hell is going on? People should go to jail on this.

+100 million

I think you mean +178 million (and growing?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems very little blame placed at the school - which doesn't surprise me. I think they are victims too.

Victims of a buttload of cash and a glorious palace of a modernization?

Well come and "victimize" my school too.

My point was the Ellington community wasn't the ones who mismanaged this or created the design any more than the students and administrators at Shepherd, Murch or any other school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems very little blame placed at the school - which doesn't surprise me. I think they are victims too.

Victims of a buttload of cash and a glorious palace of a modernization?

Well come and "victimize" my school too.

My point was the Ellington community wasn't the ones who mismanaged this or created the design any more than the students and administrators at Shepherd, Murch or any other school.

Not true. Someone at the Ellington community/ school must have been moving influences in the back stage for this epic disaster to continue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems very little blame placed at the school - which doesn't surprise me. I think they are victims too.

Victims of a buttload of cash and a glorious palace of a modernization?

Well come and "victimize" my school too.

My point was the Ellington community wasn't the ones who mismanaged this or created the design any more than the students and administrators at Shepherd, Murch or any other school.

So no one on the Ellington board of directors had the political pull to squeeze this through. Well, then it must have just been some honest gosh darned mistakes that led us here. Nope, nothing to see.

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP (although I'm only the OP because I saw the report and put it here first)

I think the DC Auditors office deserves praise for doing their job and not burying this under a rug, where I'm sure the Council and Administration would like it to go.

What kills me is this: It also states that students who attend the historic performing arts school have schedules atypical of most DCPS students. Consequently, significant amounts of space will go unused for extended periods of time once the building's upgrades are complete. Therefore, the auditor is also suggesting that DCPS increase the school's enrollment or open up its grounds to other educational programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems very little blame placed at the school - which doesn't surprise me. I think they are victims too.

Victims of a buttload of cash and a glorious palace of a modernization?

Well come and "victimize" my school too.

My point was the Ellington community wasn't the ones who mismanaged this or created the design any more than the students and administrators at Shepherd, Murch or any other school.

So no one on the Ellington board of directors had the political pull to squeeze this through. Well, then it must have just been some honest gosh darned mistakes that led us here. Nope, nothing to see.

I'd be willing to to believe it, but where does it say in the auditor's report that that's what happened here? I didn't see that finding. Did you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems very little blame placed at the school - which doesn't surprise me. I think they are victims too.

Victims of a buttload of cash and a glorious palace of a modernization?

Well come and "victimize" my school too.

My point was the Ellington community wasn't the ones who mismanaged this or created the design any more than the students and administrators at Shepherd, Murch or any other school.

So no one on the Ellington board of directors had the political pull to squeeze this through. Well, then it must have just been some honest gosh darned mistakes that led us here. Nope, nothing to see.

I'd be willing to to believe it, but where does it say in the auditor's report that that's what happened here? I didn't see that finding. Did you?

The report doesn't say 2 + 2 = 4.

Now, is it, or is it not?