The Rhino’s Paul Clark digs into e-mails between Guilford County Schools officials and Amplify:
Emails between Guilford County Schools and Amplify Inc., the supplier of 15,000 now-scrapped middle school tablet computers, show Amplify advising Guilford County Schools on how to write the request for proposals (RFP) that resulted in the company’s proposal being picked over 10 others.
The emails reveal a disturbingly close relationship between the organizations before and after the school system gave Amplify the $3.2 million contract to lease the tablets.
The emails demonstrate Amplify attempting to manipulate Guilford County Schools administrators into doing marketing for the company.
Mind you GCS was an easy mark, considering previous relationships GCS Superintendent Mo Green and communications director Cynthia Shah-Khan –wife of Greensboro City Attorney Mujeeb Shah-Khan — both worked under Amplify exec VP Peter Gorman when he was superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
Again, no excuses for Amplify making crappy tablets. But maybe those crappy tablets wouldn’t have ended up in the hands of 15,000 middle school students had one of the other 10 companies answering GCS’ request for proposals had stood a snowball’s chance in hell once the $30 million Race to the Top grant was announced.
(Rhino photo)
