In a previous post I reported about a consulting contract between I-SS and Maryann Brennan of Brennan Worldwide. The contract stated that I-SS was to pay Brennan Worldwide a minimum of $36,000 to assist with the 2008 Baldrige Application Project. I also reported that on the Brennan Worldwide web site, under the section titled What our clients are saying about us, Dr. Holliday is quoted as saying “Thanks to Maryann Brennan’s support and insightful feedback, I-SS scored at the top 6% of all Baldrige applications in 2007 and was the only education organization to receive a site visit." This lead me to believe that not only was Brennan Worldwide hired to help with the 2008 Baldrige Award application, they were also hired to help with the 2007 application.
I have recently requested and received additional information regarding the contract or contracts with Brennan Worldwide. Part of this request was to inspect all contracts between I-SS and Brennan Worldwide, to inspect any invoices submitted by Brennan Worldwide, and to inspect copies of the corresponding payments.
It turns out that things were very much different from what they seemed. In an e-mail to me, dated August 17th, Dawn Creason, I-SS Public Relations Director, stated that I-SS and Maryann Brennan/Brennan Worldwide had only one agreement and that it was the one I already had a copy of. Ms. Creason said that there were two payments to Maryann Brennan and that I-SS was preparing copies of those documents for me.
I replied to Ms. Creason stating that the copy of the contract that I had clearly stated that Brennan Worldwide was to provide consulting services to support the 2008 Baldrige Application and did not mention supporting the 2007 application. Ms. Creason then responded to me stating that Ms. Brennan only helped with the 2007 application and that she did not help with the 2008 application.
In a later e-mail, Ms. Creason further described what had happened. Ms. Creason stated that Dr. Holliday and Maryann Brennan developed an agreement to support the 2008 application based on their belief that the 2007 application would not develop into a site visit by the BNQP (Baldrige National Quality Program) examiners. Instead, I-SS actually did score high enough to receive a site visit in 2007, so the plan changed from what was written in the contract. Ms. Creason continued by saying that in the end, however, the cost and number of days of consulting remained the same, so she assumes that is why a new contract was never written. In addition, Ms. Creason stated that the duties performed by Maryann Brennan were actually the same, they were just fast-tracked to the fall of 2007 and that in 2008, I-SS did not use a paid consultant for the BNQP application.
I do not know exactly what the new plan was since the contract was not rewritten and there seems to be no formal agreement to the change. However, attached to the invoice provided by Maryann Brennan there was a page titled: Summary of Statement of Work delivered per contract and as needed. This statement detailed three phases of the services provided. The first phase was the planning phase in which Brennan Worldwide developed a site visit strategy plan that included, among other things, the expert development of all site visit issues and strategies to prepare I-SS to address them. The second phase was the preparation phase that included, among other things, coaching I-SS leaders and interviewees at all levels on how to effectively respond to Examiner interview questions. The third phase was the onsite review phase that included, among other things, consulting to support the Superintendent, the Director of Quality, and the Oz Room Team during the site visit. The document does not describe the Oz room except to mention that it had to do with the daily debriefings. I guess that is where the I-SS team went to meet the Baldrige Wizard.
If you compare the Statement of Work Delivered to the actual consulting contract you will find they are not actually the same as Ms. Creason said. In reality, other than the fact they both deal with Baldrige Award application processes they are very much different. After comparing the documents it appears that Maryann Brennan never fulfilled the obligations of the consulting contract and that she was paid for work done for which there was no contract. That being said, she was paid for the same number of days and at the same rate of pay as specified in the contract. That was 36 days at $2,000.00 per day plus $2,032.16 for travel and expenses yielding a total of $38,032.16.
This consulting contract between Brennan Worldwide and I-SS states that it is effective as of August 1, 2007 but Kay Fulp, I-SS Financial Officer, did not sign it until October 11, 2007. In addition, the Brennan Worldwide invoice states the contract is dated October 11, 2007. Yet the invoice also states that the services began on September 24, 2007. This is backed up by the Statement of Work Delivered as well as by the list of expenses.
I wonder who authorized the work to begin before the contract was in place. And, did Kay Fulp know she was signing a bogus contract? Why was the contract put in place knowing that the services stated in the contract were not the services that were now going to be provided? I-SS Policy Code 8300 states that the school district will comply with generally accepted accounting principles for governmental agencies. I am no accountant but I seriously doubt that these actions comply with any generally accepted accounting principles.
Earlier I mentioned that there were two payments to Maryann Brennan/Brenan Worldwide. The other payment was for $6,400.00 and was dated May 2, 2007. As I mentioned before, Ms. Creason told me that there was only one contract with Maryann Brennan/Brennan Worldwide. However, there was a copy of an additional contract included with the copy of the invoice. This contract is dated March 19, 2007 and is signed by Maryann Brennan and her witness but is not signed by anyone from I-SS. This contract that states that Maryann Brennan will receive $6,400.00 ($1,600.00/day for 4 days) to review the ISS BNQP application. These services and this payment occurred prior to the above services and the corresponding payment of $38,032.16.
In conclusion, I-SS paid Maryann Brennan/Brennan Worldwide a total of $44,432.16 to provide consulting services related to the 2007 Baldrige Award application and the related site visit. This of course does not include an untold number of I-SS man-hours dedicated to the 2007 and 2008 Baldrige Award applications as well as an unknown amount of other expenses related to these applications. And how exactly did this benefit the students? As has been stated before, these were funds and man-hours that could have been better used to benefit the students. I-SS Policy Code 8300 also states that the board and all employees of the school district will manage and use available funds efficiently and effectively to meet the goals of the local board and State. What I-SS goals were related to these applications for the Baldrige Award?
