Eight days before school starts, the Education Department has sent just 141 of more than 500 universal prekindergarten contracts to the city controller’s office — and some of those submitted have raised alarming red flags.
The contracts reviewed by Controller Scott Stringer include one vendor that had six violations for failing to have staffers screened by the state Central Register of Child Abuse and Mistreatment.
Another vendor, the Children’s Aid Society, had a former employee who was charged with conspiracy to commit child pornography. The employee was fired in 2013, before the contract bid, officials said.
The de Blasio administration has since addressed the problems, and City Hall officials have been working to fix thousands of health and safety violations at pre-K sites. Officials announced Friday that violations had been dramatically reduced.
But when schools open their doors Sept. 4, parents will be sending their kids to many programs that have not yet been independently reviewed by Stringer.
“I’m very disappointed in the Department of Education for not being able to deliver these contracts in a timely fashion,” said Stringer. “We owe it to ourselves to have a real checks-and-balances in this town, especially when it comes to the safety of our kids.”
After reviewing the 141 contracts, Stringer said three were withdrawn and one was rejected. They did not include the Children’s Aid Society.
In addition to the more egregious violations uncovered, Stringer said several contracts included errors like missing permits and inconsistent student counts. There were also vendors that were not up to date with filing requirements.
Officials noted a similarly glacial pace during the Bloomberg administration — only 19 of 86 new pre-K contracts were registered for the 2013-2014 school year before classes started.
Mayor de Blasio said his staff scrutinizes “every pre-K center the same way a parent would.”
“Parents can rest assured these high-quality programs will be ready, they will be safe, and they will meet the very highest standards,” he said in a statement.
He added that Stringer would get the rest of the contracts in a “timely way” — but the paper-pushing wouldn’t hold back his signature plan.
“But make no mistake, we are moving forward aggressively to launch our programs this September and will not allow administrative paperwork to stand in the way of educating thousands of children,” de Blasio said.
