Quick 🧵about today's @BetterGov/@chalkbeatCHI story. Oldest journalism cliche in the book: Follow the money. When IL was getting billions for the pandemic, the BGA set out to...follow the money. And we teamed up with ChkBt on school spending stories. bettergov.org/news/chicago-s… 1/
We started months ago. We looked at the biggest school districts in Illinois and found that schools were spending millions on technology even before federal COVID-19 rescue checks arrived. AND that despite the push some students still lacked devices. 2/ bettergov.org/news/even-befo…
When we looked harder at what @ChiPubSchools spent on for virtual learning, we saw $ for computers from CDW and Apple. Then we came across a curious purchase of $1.6 million in used iPads and laptops from a Chicago tech firm that never before had a CPS contract...3/
Oh, and the CEO of that company, Meeting Tomorrow, donated nearly $30k to @LoriLightfoot's mayoral campaign. They said one thing had nothing to do with the other, but it was still interesting so we wrote that story in August. WE ALSO KEPT DIGGING. 4/ bettergov.org/news/chicago-s…
We asked for any emails about the $1.6 million deal w/ Meeting Tomorrow. And we found one really interesting email from Mayor Lightfoot herself calling the same CEO who contributed to her campaign a "really good guy" in an email to Janice Jackson, the CPS CEO. 5/
Other emails filled out pieces of the story. W/in 24 hours of Lightfoot's email to Jackson, the firm's CEO got a meeting with people at CPS empowered to give the company an emergency deal. (Emergency = it doesn't go thru bidding or normal procedures b/c of the pandemic). 6/
BUT WE ALSO KEPT DIGGING. We wanted to know how well (or not) the computers worked for kids. Guess what? Some of them didn't. One school said half the computers they got had problems. Another said 120 devices lacked cameras and microphones. 7/
CPS didn't know about the problems w/ the 120 until we called with ?s, and now they are vowing to get the 120 fixed by winter break. We also found out that about 1,700 devices weren't used at all. They are still sitting in a warehouse. 8/
We also called a former Inspector General, who said: "Based on the facts I know, I think this purchase warrants a deeper review.” But guess what? We will STILL KEEP DIGGING...9/
This is the kind of work we do @BetterGov and @chalkbeatCHI. And it takes time -- especially the time of reporters @MilaKoumpilova, @kiannahsepeda, @WriterAlejandra and @KaDrews. This work has been building on itself since that first piece in May. Thanks for reading. END
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