Nothing says “waste” like 15,000 unwrapped, unused computers

Everyone knows about the unusual conundrum of government spending: Spend it all by the end of the year so you can get the same amount the next year.

But the Bibb County Board of Education is taking that idea to new heights.

The BOE last week filed a lawsuit against former superintendent Romain Dallemand after it was discovered he spent upwards of $3.7 million on 15,000 computers that are deemed “unusable.”

The lawsuit alleges that the purchases were made without considering technology compatibility and what the school system already had in place. Using the computers would have forced the school system to purchase more keyboard, additional computer screens, and annual licenses for each device, something the district could not afford.

Worst of all? Dallemand violated the bidding procedures put in place in order to finalize the purchase, at least that’s what the lawsuit says.

Parents told WMAZ, the local media outlet that broke the story of the lawsuit, that the computers were purchased in a time of financial stress, when students didn’t have necessary items like general school supplies, other technologies, or even enough toilet paper.

So why not pawn the computers off on someone else? Selling technology from one school system to another, or even to another governmental entity, can be tricky because of contacts already in place when government bodies purchase in bulk.

The computers, now three years old, sit in a warehouse, unused and unwrapped, depreciating in value and technological worth with each passing day.

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