School Waste

Where's the investigations?

• The day before the Chicago Public Schools are supposed to begin, there was a shocking sight at one Northwest Side school.
  
  Dozens of desks were strewn about the ground after being tossed out of the building. Dumpsters in the parking lot behind the school were filled with books.
  
  The scene surprised a lot of parents, given that school starts Tuesday. So CBS 2 [...] went to Palmer Elementary School, 5051 N. Kenneth Ave., to find out just what was going on.

We've reported on this a number of times about various high schools. Rooms stacked with books, supplies, even (then) top-of-the-line computers still packed in boxes, unused, gathering dust. We were challenged on a number of occasions, but as our sources were school officers in easily identifiable high schools, we respected their wishes for anonymity.

Palmer Elementary is just the tip of a giant iceberg. Talk to any custodian or building engineer who may be as fed up as many taxpayers are. Maybe a real reporter can "grease the skids" as it were. They'll tell you where the waste is hidden away. It's not just bloated administration.