If Supt. James Henderson was coming off a stunning success leading the schools in Holmes County, Mississippi, we’d find it much easier to swallow his choices to turn to individuals and vendors from that district to undertake fundamental audits of departments at the Proviso Township High Schools.
That is not the case. Henderson barely lasted two years in Mississippi. His former CFO left the district a week after the state of Mississippi unfurled a lacerating critique of the district and its financial oversight. Now Ernest Clark is getting paid $7,500 by local taxpayers here for his financial audit of this district.
We’re dubious. Who’s auditing the auditor?
Samac Technology Networking Solutions, headquartered in Holmes County, is getting paid $16,000 by local taxpayers for its audit of technology in District 209.
Oh, come on.
Chicago is filled with IT experts.
And where were the multiple bids required by board policy before the superintendent doled out this largesse? Not in evidence. We have the FOIAs to prove it.
Now where is the skepticism of board members, especially those standing unopposed for re-election come April?
A superintendent with a checkered career arrives in a fragile district and proposes a wholesale overhaul of the hard-won progress the district has made using consultants from the checkered past.
What could go wrong?
