A win against the Murdoch Empire... always a nice thing to wake up to!
A computer software company Wireless Generation had put together ARIS, an online student data system for the NYC Department of Education a few years back for the cheap price (yes, that's snark) of $80 million.
As a NYC teacher, I can say, ARIS is horrendous. But that isn't today's story, today's story is better....
At the start of this year, the NYC Schools' Chancellor Joe Klein resigned. He took a new job with NewsCorp for some education project that Darth Murdoch had dreams of. Soon afterwards, Wireless Generation was bought by... yup, NewsCorp.
Well, back in May, the NY State Controller's Office had given the okay for a no bid contract to Wireless for $27 million for a state wide student data system. With the explosion of the phone hacking scandal, the NYSUT- the state teachers' union- protested. And sure enough, it worked!
From today's NY Times:
Last week, however, Mr. [Thomas] DiNapoli [NYS State Controller] decided that the revelations surrounding News Corporation had made final approval of the contract untenable. In a rejection letter, first reported on Saturday by The Daily News, he told state education officials that they should instead put the project out to bid to a variety of companies.
“We believe the record remains incomplete with respect to the vendor responsibility issues involving the parent company of Wireless Generation,” the letter said.
The comptroller’s office also said it now believed other companies could do the work, making a competitive bid necessary.
The State Ed Department isn't happy because it makes their life a little difficult:
The State Education Department — which had been trying to move quickly with the project because it is part of a series of efforts being financed by a Race to the Top federal grant with a four-year timetable — accused the comptroller’s office of playing politics.
“The comptroller has allowed political pressure to get in the way of vital technology that would help our students,” said Jonathan Burman, a spokesman for the department. “Our office will review all options to implement the kind of system our schools need to move forward.”
Sorry Mr. Burman, the last company on Earth that needs info about our children is NewsCorp. The last person on this planet I'd want to have any involvement in education is Rupert Murdoch. There are no shortage of software writers and network engineers that can do the same job...and probably for a lot less money.