Many people have been asking, just where are those 14 pianos purchased, sorry "leased" from Seattle Piano Gallery? If anyone knows, please tell the rest of us.It is one thing to thwart legally-required procurement processes and direct business to friends. It is entirely a different thing if the pianos purchased, sorry "leased", never stayed in the District.
Please click on the link and check if one of these pianos ended up at your site.
Someone could make a public records request, but I suspect the District will tell you that no such records exist that reveal the whereabouts of these magical pianos.
14 comments:
Check marla's office first, then her house, then I'd check nick's vacation house. ( just a joke )
aren't they back with arnie?
he sold them last week to pay off marla & nick.
where are the pianos marla before you lay us off?
you must think about that. its money that was stolen.
I believe that one of these infamous pianos resides in my building. And I must let the Edmonds nation know that this "magical" piano was SORELY needed at my school. I know the circumstances around the receipt of these pianos is suspect and this certainly doesn't excuse any alleged behavior on the part of leadership in obtaining said instruments, but having had my department cut every year since forever, it is a nice change to see something beautiful (and REALLY FOR KIDS) come out of this ordeal.
Dear Management,
Why not try to get along with your employees.
you , me and you are wasting tax payers money by fighting over your stupid rules.
if you just let the employees do there jobs, things would run smooth.
Its called mico management.
The pianos went into the giant paper shredding truck that stops by the district every week to destroy any evidence that has been excreted from the upper floor. How do I know this? That truck was playing a mournful tune in E minor as it left the ESD parking lot.
Yes! Playing the Rotary Club blues! Its a revival! A happy, happy revival!
In all seriousness, where DID the pianos go?
The music dept head claims that given enough time the pianos could be located. It seems that even he is unsure how many there are or where they are located. Were all the pianos ever actually delivered? I wonder. Isn't it understood that many of them were reacquired by the owner and sold on, speculation being that the money spent by the District to lease them was a gift of public funds so that the owner could extricate himself from a financial crunch. As a suspected friend of Marla's this money is alleged to have been used to keep him afloat until he was healthy again. It is good to know that at least one of the pianos has been identified, is appreciated and being used but it would be great if someone could step up with a full disclosure. We all know that the Superintendent staff reads this blog, Nick made mention of it again at his all ESC meeting on Thurs. To answer any of these questions with fact seems to either be impossible or if any of the administration acknowledge this site by way of contributing to it, it would be mistaken as giving these accusations substance. Also of interest is that subsequent to this blog the business services dept hired a professional document shredding company. I think we can all arrive at a damning enough conclusion to that. I will remain anonymous and therefore my word must be considered without merit in the eyes of Nick Brossoit. For this I can only lay blame at the feet of Nick and for his continuing support of Marla.
What did the Nickster say at the last admin meeting about the blog?
Weren't the pianos bar-coded? Every little thing that is purchased over a certain amount of money (I forget what the monetary figure is...)needs a bar code. Why is it that out in the schools we need a bar code on an item and then we need to fill out a friggn form that says the room where the item is located? Then once a year, or so, some guy with a weird looking hand held machine comes around at night and checks everything with a bar code to make sure it hasn't disappeared from the school district. Wouldn't something as expensive as a grand piano have a bar code on it? Or is it just the peons in the schools that aren't trusted? If a bar coded grand piano disappeared from my classroom I'd be fired!!! And the Enterprise would have a front page headline!
The man responsible for tracking inventory was laid off. No one can ask where the pianos are located if your inventory control person no longer works at the District.
Laying off the inventory guy really surprises me--or maybe it doesn't surprise me at all--maybe it was just another amazing coincidence. Wasn't someone else assigned to that job (like an asst. superintendent)--or can't someone figure out where the bar coded pianos are? (assuming those things were bar-coded at all) Gosh, maybe certain people at the ESC don't want to look for the pianos!! You know, this is really an issue that could be cleared up so quickly, and yet it goes on and on. If I was a school board member I'd locate the pianos and get this topic off the blog and clear the good (?) name of Marla/Nick/and Scott Barnes.
Finding the fourteen pianos would be easy and would confirm that they actually ended up in the District.
However, finding them will not change the fact they were improperly acquired and a lot of public money was funneled to a friend of Marla's.
The salt in the wound is the fact that the four most expensive pianos were purchased twice. Clearly a ploy to bail out a friend on the verge of financial collapse. Pay twice and then refuse to actually pursue repayment.
Apparently Bill McKeighen acknowledged the piano scam was "a mistake" and that the pianos are "somewhere" in the district. Not only is asset tracking a joke but there is tons of computer equipment at employee homes that was never tagged and/or forgotten about. Also, remember it was Tam Osborne who was involved in this mess, not the current music guy.
Bill either lacks the wisdom to see a train wreck before it happens or lacks the courage to do anything about it after the fact.
A district full of spineless twits does nothing to promote the wishes of the public.
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