TDSB was set to buy $5 Million worth of iPhones

[Chinga]

Yep you read the title correctly. Can't find any savings though when asked to do so or fix Toronto schools with leaking roofs, no heat, mould, asbestos, vermin and other health risks but we will buy $5 Million dollars worth of iPhones. Yep can't find savings but will blow the wad on 4,000+ brand new iPhones for administrators, the vast majority of them the high-end iPhone XS or XS Max valued at as much as $1,519 per handset. What pieces of shit.

https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/lilley-tdsb-wanted-to-spend-big-for-top-end-iphones

[mavrrrick]

Man, I work for the TDSB and some caretakers may be losing their jobs, yet 5 million on phones!! Makes me sick!!! Totally embarrassing!! Time to tighten the ropes on the aholes making these decisions.

[Chinga]

This is just one of poor decisions that has come to light but imagine how many we don't find out about. This is why I loved Rob Ford who prior to becoming Mayor dropped in weekly on AM640 to out all the bad decisions made by City Council and the various City services.

[Laffs]

The shit that goes on in a bureaucracy will make you head spin. It's why I'm glad I no longer work within one.

[RedSN]

Just to be fair, here's the other side of the story:


TDSB chair Robin Pilkey said the board was only in the early stages of procurement and, as part of its ongoing budget-balancing efforts, cancelled plans to buy the phones a day before it was contacted by the Toronto Sun. “It is also pretty clear that the government was wrong when it insinuated that the TDSB only cancelled a cellphone RFP (request for proposals) once it was asked about it,” Pilkey said. “It is pretty clear that both the Toronto Sun and the government were wrong to suggest that the TDSB would have paid more than $5 million for cellphones if it had continued with the cellphone RFP process. The ministry in particular would have known that is a ridiculous assertion.” She said that, after discounts, the final cost would have been about one-quarter of the $5-million quote.

It appears the $5M number the Sun ran with is a budget placer and the contract was out for RFP.
Still.... $1.25M sounds like an unnecessary expenditure in a time of cuts and why they cancelled it.

Don't get me wrong, I think cell phones for TDSB is ridiculous!

But $5M sounds great in the headlines.

[Chinga]

Just to be fair, here's the other side of the story:



It appears the $5M number the Sun ran with is a budget placer and the contract was out for RFP.
Still.... $1.25M sounds like an unnecessary expenditure in a time of cuts and why they cancelled it.

But $5M sounds great in the headlines.

Oh I read the article but I have a hard time believing the TDSB side of the story who were more likely caught and nixed the deal for optics. Also with their assertion that they were getting the phones for roughly $312.50/each I would call B.S.

[True Blue]

In addition, there's no mention of what the monthly plans were going to cost.

[RedSN]

Oh I read the article but I have a hard time believing the TDSB side of the story who were more likely caught and nixed the deal for optics. Also with their assertion that they were getting the phones for roughly $312.50/each I would call B.S.
Fair enough.
I just wanted to post the TDSB reply since it was absent from the Sun story.

[mavrrrick]

Even $1.25 is nuts....lets be serious.

[Chinga]

Even $1.25 is nuts....lets be serious.

Yes it is. Like any Government agency they would spend beyond the projected $5 Million cost and shrug their collective shoulders.

[mavrrrick]

When your willing to cut jobs due to budget cuts, shit like 1.25 million on Iphones should be the first to go, not peoples livelyhood (spelling?). There is so much waste its sickening....trust me, I see some of it.