For companies that do business with the Kansas City School District, good times might be coming to an end
When John Covington took the job as superintendent of the Kansas City, Missouri, School District in the spring of 2009, he famously said he had “no time for foolishness,” promising to push through bold changes necessary to save a school system that many believed was irreparable.
Since then, he has kept his word when it comes to making painful choices. The district’s plan to shutter half of its schools drew national scrutiny and sparked the most contested school board election in recent memory. Really changing the way the district operates, though, means changing where the money goes.
The good news is that the district no longer cuts checks without question for anyone who asks.
“When I first started on the board, people would come in all the time saying, ‘I did this work for the district, and now I want my money,’ ” says new school board president Airick West. “And they’d never have a contract. There would never be a record of the work they did, but the board would vote to pay them. I don’t see that happen much anymore. We’re not just giving out money like that.”
Covington addressed the issue in March, announcing that he would cut or renegotiate more than half of the $85 million the district spends on outside contracts. Immediately, the school board canceled $9.5 million of those contracts and put another 82 independent contractors — pulling a combined $44.5 million — on notice that their agreements with the district would be canceled or renegotiated.
We’ve pulled out a dozen endangered contracts for closer inspection. The businesses now on the line include child therapists, lobbyists and graffiti-cleaning teams. In some cases, these companies aren’t actually paid the budgeted amounts — some bill only for services that they end up providing, rather than charging the district for every dime allowed in their contracts. Some of them have histories of patronage with the district, and some have questionable effectiveness, but many target children who live below the poverty line, offering help with problems that require more attention than a day of public school can give.
Program: Local Investment Commission (LINC)
How much does it cost? $5,300,000 per year
What does it do? Provides after-school programs.
Bang for your buck: The Local Investment Commission’s supporters have always said the group’s after-school programs are invaluable for offering academic help to underprivileged students, providing a safe place for kids whose parents work long hours after the school day is over and even helping unemployed parents find work. Still, this isn’t the first time that LINC’s future with the district has been uncertain. In 2007, then-superintendent Anthony Amato refused to pay $1.2 million that LINC claimed it was owed. Amato said there was no contract for LINC’s services; LINC said there was an automatic renewal clause in a 1999 agreement and claimed that Amato kept students out of LINC programs with the Power Hour after-school tutoring program. Board member Marilyn Simmons backed the LINC program. LINC’s effectiveness was reviewed during the 2004-05 school year by Christopher Henrich, an associate professor of psychology at Georgia State University. Henrich’s review was halted midyear because of disputes with the district, but from the limited data he gathered, Henrich found that middle-school students regularly going to LINC programs had a marginal increase in test scores and that the program’s best benefit was helping kids connect to their communities by establishing relationships with groups such as the YMCA, Boy Scouts, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
Program: YouthFriends
How much does it cost? $186,503 per year
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What does it do? According to its contract with the Kansas City, Missouri, School District, YouthFriends manages volunteers who deliver academic tutoring and mentoring in all of the district’s schools.
Bang for your buck: YouthFriends has had a contract with the district for 12 years. Currently, 512 volunteers, who each put in a minimum of one hour a week, mentor and tutor 2,300 students at all grade levels. Most of those volunteers and students (approximately 70 percent in both groups) are in the district’s grade schools. Because the district is closing schools with large numbers of volunteers and students in the program — such as Franklin, Swinney, Wheatley and Woodland elementary schools — it’s possible that, when those students and volunteers are consolidated in other buildings, the program would become cheaper to implement. “If we’re only working in a few schools instead of multiple buildings, it’d be easier to administrate,” says Laura Norris, president of YouthFriends. “So I understand why the district would be looking at our contract now.” In those four elementary schools, only one scored above the district average in 2009 proficiency tests: Swinney Elementary, in the math category.
Program: John Bardgett & Associates
How much does it cost? $303,000 per year
What does it do? Lobbying services
Bang for your buck: John Bardgett is contracted to meet with the school board and superintendent to set legislative agendas and get favorable results in Jefferson City. He’s responsible for developing friendly relations with state senators and representatives, and keeping school officials up-to-date on any new legislation that could help or hurt them. Bardgett didn’t respond to interview requests for this story. Should the schools cut him loose, he wouldn’t hurt for money. Missouri Ethics Commission reports list the district as only one of 38 companies and groups that Bardgett represents, including Bank of America, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Center for Head Injury Services, and various tobacco companies. Meanwhile, campaign-finance reports indicate his personal preference for one particular party: In 2008, he contributed more than $3,000 to Democrats in state and national races.
Program: American Catastrophe environmental services
How much does it cost? $100,000 per year
What does it do? Rapid-response asbestos cleanup
Bang for your buck: American Catastrophe’s contract says the company has been getting rid of asbestos in district buildings since July 2009. Much of its $100,000 goes to its employees’ hourly rates: The supervisor gets $67.38 per hour, the foreman $65.62 and asbestos workers $63.71. Unskilled laborers and regular laborers do much worse, each at $45 per hour. Even though the contract specifies asbestos cleanup, owner Mike Rice says his company has never taken asbestos out of any Kansas City school. “The contract’s essentially there to keep us on call in case the district needs someone in an emergency,” he says. He says this saves the district valuable time that would otherwise be spent working out payment agreements for labor and materials. “The only thing we’ve done in the school district is clean up after a fire at Southeast High School. That’s all we’ve billed for.”
Program: ACT Inc.
How much does it cost? $93,924 per year
What does it do? Provides testing materials for every student in the district to take the ACT college-placement exam.
Bang for your buck: Every state offers the ACT, but students usually have to take it on a Saturday and have to pay for it out of their own pockets — $32 if the test doesn’t include a writing section, $47 if it does. The Kansas City district started this pilot program one year ago so that every 11th-grader who wants to take the test can do so without having to pay for it; ACT Inc. offers the test during regular school hours so that students don’t have to go in on weekends. (The program offers a makeup day, too.) It could help improve low-income students’ chances of going to college because the program sends each student’s scores to four schools of his or her choice; assuming the student does well, this could improve the odds of getting in. Even with the test being easily accessible at no cost, most students aren’t doing well. According to the watchdog group Do the Right Thing for Kids, the average Kansas City student scores a 16.8 on the ACT. The national average is roughly 21 out of a possible 36.
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Program: Mid-America Regional Council (MARC)
How much does it cost? $3,966,627 per year
What does it do? MARC has administered the district’s Head Start program for the past five years. Head Start is intended to provide a preschool experience for low-income children so that they can begin their formal educations on equal footing with higher-income kids.
Bang for your buck: After the 2000 Census, MARC budgeted Head Start openings for 714 of the students in the Kansas City, Missouri, district based on an estimated 8,421 kids (ages 5 and under) living in poverty in Jackson County. Head Start’s 2008-09 community-assessment report noted that many of the kids in the program have an incarcerated parent, and that it’s common for their homes to have been foreclosed on since the market crash. Head Start actively recruits children with disabilities; trains teachers, child-care providers and home visitors; sets up the district with early interventionists and therapists; and monitors any health issues that students might develop. But as the program’s administrator, MARC itself isn’t going into classrooms. “We have no real interaction with the children,” says Jody Ladd Craig, MARC’s public affairs director. “There are a lot of reporting requirements with the Head Start program, and that’s most of what we handle.” Craig also thought that closing half of the district’s schools would be a reasonable cause to re-examine Head Start’s costs. “Consolidating students is going to change the best way for us to work.”
Program: Kelvin Perry Associates
How much does it cost? Up to $45,000 a year, or $3,750 an hour
What does it do? Perry is the district’s adviser in matters of tax-increment financing.
Bang for your buck: According to his contract, Perry is to watch out for the school district’s best interests when the city makes deals involving tax-increment financing — an important gig, considering that the city has approved an estimated $3.1 billion in TIF commitments during the past two decades, siphoning millions, if not hundreds of millions, of tax dollars that might otherwise have gone to Kansas City’s schools. Perry’s job duties include attending monthly TIF Commission meetings; providing financial analysis; advising the district and acting as its representative when new deals are being worked out with the city’s Economic Development Corporation, TIF commissioners, developers and city officials. Perry didn’t respond to The Pitch‘s interview requests. In 2001, the paper reported that a company called Missouri Information Solutions had filed a lawsuit accusing then-board member Lee Barnes Jr. of awarding a $3.5 million computer contract to a Perry-owned company called Newspaper Electronics, even though other companies had offered lower bids; a Jackson County court eventually threw out the case (“Lessons in Finance,” November 8, 2001). Perry’s company later made campaign contributions to school board members who had approved his deal — including current member Marilyn Simmons, who was board president until several new members were elected in April.
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Program: Soliant Health
How much does itc? $216,450 per year
What does it do? Provides speech-language therapy.
Bang for your buck: Atlanta-based Soliant Health didn’t return calls regarding its ProCare Therapy contract with the district, but according to its contract, the company is supposed to provide speech and language therapy. That includes writing an Individualized Education Program tailored to each student’s needs, consulting with teachers and assessing progress. Roughly a fourth of the contract covers the cost of providing the district with a speech-language pathologist. Such expertise is important because speech-language problems are symptoms of disorders such as autism and problems related to injuries at birth, which need to be diagnosed and treated as early as possible.
Program: Excelsior Springs Job Corps
How much does it cost? $119,000 per year
What does it do? Vocational training and job placement, mostly in the medical field
Bang for your buck: Right now, approximately 126 students are training in Job Corps, which also works with every school system in the metro. To be admitted, a student has to go through an enrollment process and essentially leave school to enter the year-round training. But in some ways, Job Corps students are monitored more closely than their traditional-school counterparts — the program is reviewed every month by the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and must maintain a 90 percent graduation and job-placement rate to retain its state backing. “Most of the students we have are students who’ve dropped out of the system,” says Willie Smith, the center director for Excelsior Springs Job Corps. “As part of our agreement with the Kansas City district, we have a high school at Swope Parkway to provide education aspects. Our students are required to cover traditional subjects they’d get in high school along with vocational training.” Most students finish the program trained as certified nurse assistants and pharmacy technicians or in medical office support. Those who don’t get placed in metro hospitals and doctors’ offices typically end up working in the pharmacies at CVS and Walgreens.
Program: Afrikan Centered Education Taskforce, Inc.
How much does it cost? $1,197,036 per year
What does it do? Runs the ACECC schools.
Bang for Your Buck: There are three schools for students, from kindergarten through high school, on the Afrikan Centered Education Collegium Campus at 63rd Street and Swope Parkway, and the students in those classes are scoring higher on proficiency tests than those in regular district classes. There’s already some tension between this program and the district. The Afrikan Centered Education Taskforce has come out opposing Covington’s proposal to move the whole program from three buildings into one as part of the superintendent’s right-sizing initiative, and when the April school board elections swung in favor of candidates who backed right-sizing, the ACE Taskforce noted on its Facebook page that its contract was in danger. But ACE still has a lot of supporters. Board member Marilyn Simmons works for DuBois Consultants, owned by Ajamu Webster, who is head of the Afrikan Centered Education Taskforce. Webster didn’t return calls for this story.
Program: DeLaSalle Education Center
How much does it cost? $1,440,341 per year for running an alternative education program; $481,000 for a detention school program
What does it do? On average, approximately 125 students show up every day for DeLaSalle’s alternative education programs, which include counseling, psychological treatment and on-site child care. The staff can handle 140. “To put it mildly, in some cases we’ve got kids with gang issues, and in some cases we’ve got kids with mental-health issues, and they need help,” says Jim Dougherty, DeLaSalle’s executive director. “We have a psychiatrist that’ll come to the school so they can get meds when they need them.” DeLaSalle has also run a detention center since 1995. “Before,” Dougherty says, “the teachers were doing it, and they aren’t in a position to be there. They don’t have the training for dealing with those kids with those problems.”
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Bang for your buck: Dougherty says DeLaSalle regularly comes in under budget. Though its contract calls for up to $1,440,341 to run the alternative school, he says DeLaSalle typically bills an average of $800,000 for working with some of the district’s most troubled kids. “Attendance isn’t perfect, and we’re being paid on a per-student basis. So if a student doesn’t show up for weeks, we’re not billing for that,” he says. But he doesn’t expect DeLaSalle’s contract to be renewed at all. “We had some conversations with them about doing things differently, and the negotiations didn’t develop very far. But they’ve got a lot to take care of right now. I fully respect the way they’ve handled it, and I have no hard feelings about it. I think we’ll be working with them again in the future. I hope we are.”
Program: Xtreme Clean 88, LLC
How much does it cost? $40,000 per year
What does it do? Scrubs all the graffiti from KC schools.
Bang for your buck: Lenexa-based Xtreme Clean didn’t respond to The Pitch‘s request for comment on how much time it spends cleaning up the district’s schools, but according to its contract, the company is responsible for keeping 88 buildings — including the closed ones — graffiti-free. How much it makes hosing down the walls with specialized machines and processes depends on how much graffiti there is: Xtreme Clean charges $8 per square foot for removal and $12 per square foot on overtime (for services provided outside normal business hours).
The Rest of the Money
According to Kansas City, Missouri, School District records, the following contracts are also up for elimination or renegotiation. Companies are headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, unless otherwise noted.
ABCnD Enterprises
$110,000 for education and other services for disabled children
Allied Electrical Construction
$24,000 for general contract services
AllofE Solutions,
Lawrence
$61,000 for curriculum mapping
Assessment Resource Center,
Columbia, Missouri
$48,090 for testing materials
Autism Concepts Inc.,
Lenexa
$120,000 for work in language and communication therapy, play skills and social skills
Blue Cross Blue Shield
$24,464,700 for group medical insurance
Burns Publishing Company,
Olathe
$5,000 for printing
Carter Broadcast Group
$3,334 for commercial radio airtime
Carter Energy Corp.,
Overland Park
$150,000 for gas
Cayen Systems,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
$107,548 for supplemental education software
Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired
$120,000 for education and services for disabled children
Children’s Therapeutic Learning Center Inc.
$57,000 for education and services for disabled children
Commercial Floorworks Inc.,
Overland Park
$100,000 for floor covering, including tile and carpet
Computer Automation Systems,
North Mountain Home, Arkansas
$22,280 for special-education management systems
D.A. Painting Inc.,
Olathe
$100,000 for painting
Deffenbaugh Industries,
Kansas City, Kansas
$235,000 for trash disposal
Education Textbook Services,
Holden, Missouri
$15,000 for bar-coding and labeling
eInstruction Corp.,
Denton, Texas
$184,500 for classroom performance system clickers
Eye Med,
Mason, Ohio
$78,156 for a group vision plan
Fulfillment Plus,
North Kansas City
$11,285 for printing, database management and direct mailing
Gillis Center
$675,000 for alternative education services
Graceland University,
Independence
$250,000 for a paraprofessional certification program
Heartland Solutions,
Grain Valley
$566,052 for custodial cleaning chemicals
Henderson Engineers,
Lenexa
A combined $468,835 for consulting services in registered communication, specification writing and project management of replacing air conditioners and installing elevator emergency
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Hillyard, Inc.
$223,736 for housekeeping paper goods
Hume Music Inc.,
Overland Park
$60,000 for musical-instrument repair
Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute
$375,000 for K-5 science
Kone Inc.,
Moline, Illinois
$235,000 for elevator preventive maintenance
Marillac
$125,000 for mental-health care
McGraw-Hill Digital Learning,
Hightstown, New Jersey
$101,970 for ACUITY Assessment System testing materials
Milestone Academy,
Grain Valley
$60,000 for educational programs, including programs for children with disabilities
Missouri School Boards Association,
Columbia, Missouri
$29,950 for policy and procedure manual maintenance
Montessori Institute of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
$40,000 for training
National Affiliate Organization Membership fees
$13,250 for membership fees
Niles Home
$130,000 for education services
Northwood
The district’s list of contracts refers to Northwood only as a “state approved agency.” It is a public school offering special-education programs.
Nova Center,
Grandview
The district’s list of contracts refers to the Nova Center only as a “state approved agency.” It is a school for the developmentally disabled.
Occu-Tec
$65,201 for AHERA (Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act) triennial reinspection services
Ozanam
The district’s list of contracts refers to Ozanam only as a “state approved agency.” In its mission statement, Ozanam says it helps emotionally disturbed adolescents.
PE4Life
$6,000 for Operation of PE4Life academics
Plaza Academy
The district’s list of contracts refers to the Plaza Academy only as a “state approved agency.” The academy’s website says it “serves exceptional teenagers who were unsuccessful in their previous schools in spite of their potential.”
Rainbow Center,
Blue Springs
The district’s list of contracts refers to the Rainbow Center only as a “state approved agency.” The center’s website says it works with children with developmental disabilities.
Rand Construction Company
$297,190 for work on Satchel Paige Elementary
Red Force Fire and Security,
Independence
$24,990 for fire suppression and sprinkler service
Rockhurst University
$80,000 for a speech-language pathology assistance program
RSC Communication,
Lee’s Summit
$28,080 for radio airtime
Scantron,
Eagan, Minnesota
$63,100 for testing material
Schendel Pest Services
$325,000 for pest-control management
Securitas Security Services
$293,836 for crossing guards
Sherwood Center
The district’s list of contracts refers to the Sherwood Center only as a “state approved agency.” The center’s website says it works with children with autism and related developmental disabilities.
Show-Me Publishing/Ingram’s
$1,000 for print advertising
Sprint-Nextel,
Overland Park
A combined $267,500 for various phone services
Superior Moving
$500,000 for moving services
SureWest,
Lenexa
$50,688 for primary rate circuits for local phone access
Trigen-Missouri Energy Corporation
$139,000 for a chilled water loop
21st Century,
Raytown
$71,555 for skills assessment, physical therapy, and licensed physical and occupational therapists to identify disabled students
Union Station of Kansas City
$8,000 for meals
United Missouri Bank
$38,000 for banking services
University of Missouri-Columbia
$17,100 for the MOREnet K-12 Technology Network Program
University of Missouri-Kansas City
A combined $1,681,243 for a new teacher-assistant program and SIOP math, science concept classes
Woodley Griggs
$50,000 for boiler repair
