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January 5, 2011James M. SullivanOffice of the Inspector GeneralChicago Public Schools850 West Jackson Boulevard, suite 500Chicago, Illinois 60607Dear Inspector General Sullivan:This is to request that you review and determine whether monies paid by the Chicago PublicSchools (CPS) to vendor no. 30817, the Save A Life Foundation Inc. (SALF), were properlyadministered, and that you review and determine the veracity of claims made by SALF in order toadvance their organization as a CPS vendor and to obtain CPS funding.In the event that your review identifies violations, this is to request that you take appropriateadministrative action. This is also to request that your review and findings be made available forpublic inspection.
I. Chicago Public Schools monies paid to the Save A Life Foundation Inc.
According to CPS records, from 2000 through 2007 CPS paid $61,855 to SALF to provide in-school first aid training classes to many thousands of students.In response to a 2009 federal court subpoena and subsequent FOIA requests for any and all SALFtraining records, the Chicago Board of Education and CPS produced the following documents: aMay 26, 1999 School Board resolution; 22 invoices with corresponding purchase orders datedfrom 2000-2007; an August 5, 2005 letter to Schools CEO Arne Duncan from SALFfounder/president Carol J. Spizzirri accompanying a six-page grant application; and a December8, 2005 letter from Mr. Duncan to Ms. Spizzirri approving the grant request.
This paucity of records, combined with the concerns discussed below, raises legitimate questionsregarding whether or not SALF fulfilled the obligations contracted by and paid for by CPS.Of particular interest is $49,000 which constitutes the lion’s share of the $61,855 total. The$49,000 was paid to SALF by CPS in two installments of $24,500 as part of a two-year matchinggrants program with Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). According to the followingrecords, SALF contracted to provide first aid training to 18,000 students: 8000 in school year2004/05 and 10,000 in school year 2005/06. CPS has failed to produce any records that verify thatsuch training took place.Re: the 2004/05 school year,“Ronald McDonald House Charities Awards SALF Grant,”anOctober 14, 2004 SALF press release states (my emphasis):
On June 22, Save A Life Foundation (SALF) was awarded a grant from Ronald McDonald House Charities Global and the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana Chapter and Chicago Public Schools totaling $75,000.
The grant will allow SALF to training
(sic)
nearly 8,000 4th and 5th grade children in the Chicagoland area.
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Re: the 2005/06 school year, according to an August 5, 2005 letter from SALF founder/presidentCarol J. Spizzirri to Chicago Schools CEO Arne Duncan that accompanied by a six-page grantrequest:
We are pleased to submit this funding request to Chicago Board of education
(sic)
for the amount of $25,000. Out of the eighty Chicago Public Schools we were in last year, we anticipate an eighty-five percent request for additional training to other gradelevels…We are excited about maintaining our partnership between Chicago's Board of Education and Ronald McDonald House Charities.
From the grant request (my emphasis):
The Save A Life Foundation is requesting the financial assistance for its on-going work
to provide professional training of life-support first aid skills for 10,000 grade childrenwithin the Chicago Public Schools
…The total cost of this project will be $100,000 of which SALF requests $37,500 RMHC $37,500 Global $37,500 and
$25,000 from theChicago Public Schools.
…3. Training will be scheduled between school and a SALF staff person.
The Instructorswill report to the principal's office 30 minutes prior to training time, to announce his or her arrival
and proceed to the first class for training.4.
Instructors will give each student a program book
, and review each step of instruction followed by hands on practice application of each skill and when applicable use amannequin until the student feels comfortable in their own performance.5.
An examination will be given immediately following the class, (average class size 30), with each student placing their answers on a Scantron card. Instructor will collect these cards and the classroom teacher completes the Class Evaluation Sheet.
Evaluation Sheets and cards are entered into a data web base system and complied
(sic)
by the number of questions answered correctly, school, teacher comments and Instructor.
Data and Recap reports will be available 60 days after the end of this project.
In a December 8, 2005 letter to Ms. Spizzirri in which he approved the program, Mr. Duncanconfirmedthis understanding and agreed to a payment $500 less than the requested $25,000 (myemphasis):
It is very encouraging to learn that
10,000 grade school students will be trained during the 2005-06 school year. Please send me a listing of the schools who will be participating in the training program this year
…As a result of our meeting, I haveauthorized payment in the amount of $24,500 to fund your program during the 2005-06 school year. Our contribution will complement the funding you have received from Ronald McDonald House Charities. We will process your invoice for $20,000 now and will disburse the remaining $4,500 upon receipt of a second invoice in January for thesecond semester of training.
To review, based on the above records, SALF was contracted to provide first aid training to18,000 students in school years 2004/05 and 2005/06 for which CPS paid SALF $49,000 in twoincrements of $24,500. According to SALF’s grant request, the average class size was to be 30students; therefore their organization contracted to conduct approximately 600 classes (18,000
÷
by 30 = 600) during the two school years.
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The total of these amounts is not $100,000 as written, but $137,500.
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These are the three SALF invoices approved by Mr. Duncan and the corresponding purchaseorders/payments:
$24,500 Invoice 1440/Purchase Order 728526, March 24, 2004$20,000 Invoice 1695/Purchase Order 1020444, September 6, 2005$ 4,500 Invoice 1706/ Purchase Order 1025089, September 28, 2005$49,000Since SALF had been paid $24,500 in September 2005 for the 2005/06 program, it’s unclear why,in his December 8, 2005 letter to Ms. Spizzirri, Mr. Duncan stated that those payments were to beprocessed in December 2005 and January 2006.Also unclear is why this description for services from the above three invoices is completelydifferent than the contractual agreement discussed earlier:
Commitment from Chicago Public Schools for training elementary school students in lifesupporting first aid skills which will take place in approximately 15 schools withapproximately 2400 students.
Does this mean SALF would train a total of 2400 students per year (a total of 4,800 students overtwo school years) or would train 2400 students at 15 schools per school year (a total of 72,000students, that is, 2400 students x 15 schools x 2 school years)?Regardless, neither version corresponds to the information in SALF’s 2004 press release whichclaimed the first-year CPS grant was provided to train 8,000 students or to the 2005/06 agreementapproved by Mr. Duncan which stated that the second-year grant was provided to train 10,000students.Given this discrepancy and that CPS is unable to locate any substantive records demonstratingthat the classes took place, this is to request that you attempt to locate the following records forthe 2004/05 and 2005/06 school years:1. A list of the dates and school names where SALF conducted first aid training classes; thenames of all SALF instructors who conducted the classes; the names of all principals and teacherswho were aware of and/or participated in the classes.2. The materials described in SALF’s grant request and paid for by CPS including: a copy of theprogram book; records indicating how many students received a copy of the book; the Scantroncards, Class Evaluation Sheets, and the Data and Recap reports.This is also to request that you attempt to contact Ronald McDonald House Charities Global andRonald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana and request that theyprovide you with any relevant records. (See attached Appendix B.)This is also to request that you review and determine if the other $12,866 CPS paid to SALF($61,855 minus $49,000) was properly administered.
II. Claims made to CPS by SALF
A. A video of a 1999 presentation to the Chicago Board of Education by SALF executives CarolJ. Spizzirri and Carlos M. Azcoitia to advance their organization as a CPS vendor may be viewedat this Internet address:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc1g5HuJ9Wo
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