Among other items on its agenda for this week’s meeting in Spearfish, the South Dakota Board of Regents will take up its plan to take over administration of the federal GEAR UP grant from the scandalously incompetent Mid-Central Educational Cooperative. The Regents plan to run their first year of GEAR UP on $2.8 million, down from $3.4 million under the previous management.
Some savings may come from payroll. The Regents will spend $1.48 million on salaries and benefits. None of those salaries are in the six figures, unlike the annual windfalls Mid-Central gave to former Education Secretary and USD Dean of Education Rick Melmer for work on GEAR UP and other projects.
The Regents also appear to be cutting back on the GEAR UP summer camps. The Regents say they will still hold the six-week honors program for American Indian high schoolers and the two-week camp for middle-schoolers at the School of Mines in Rapid City. However, the Regents plan to spend $575,000 on the camps and all other GEAR UP summer activities, which include teacher professional development, administrative professional development, and parent events. The Regents designate another $60,000 for a statewide coordinator of summer programs.
I take a conservative look at Mid-Central’s 2015 minutes to try to calculate the cost of the GEAR UP camps under their management last summer. I do not include any items related to professional development or parent events. I simply search the financial reports in the minutes for “summer” and find the following items that appear to be related to the camps:
| Date | Check # | Vendor | Account Number | Description | Amount |
| 05/13/15 | 146572 | SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM PAYMENT | 167,554.00 |
| 06/02/15 | 146741 | PONDEROSA SPORTSWEAR | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM T-SHIRTS | 10,351.20 |
| 06/03/15 | 146744 | QUILL | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER SUPPLIES | 56.28 |
| 07/07/15 | 146837 | ARAMARK CHICAGO LOCKBOX | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM MEALS-SDSU | 681.50 |
| 07/07/15 | 146837 | ARAMARK CHICAGO LOCKBOX | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM MEALS-NSU | 618.75 |
| 07/07/15 | 146854 | BRAVEHEART, JESSICA | 10 2549 224 334 | GEAR UP SUMMER TRAVEL | 19.59 |
| 07/07/15 | 146894 | FARRINGTON, MARY JO | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM WORKSHOP | 600.00 |
| 07/07/15 | 146962 | MCGOWEN, TIM | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM WORKSHOP | 700.00 |
| 07/07/15 | 146981 | NORTHERN STATE UNIVERSITY | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM TRAVEL | 555.00 |
| 07/07/15 | 146997 | PIXIE AIR LLC | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM | 10,000.00 |
| 07/07/15 | 147003 | PONDEROSA SPORTSWEAR | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROG. SHIRTS; INV #S35574 | 66.40 |
| 07/07/15 | 147003 | PONDEROSA SPORTSWEAR | 12 2497 000 319 | ADDITIONAL SHIRTS-GEAR UP SUMMER PROG | 725.00 |
| 07/07/15 | 147008 | QUALITY INN & SUITES MALL OF AMERICA | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROG. TRAVEL ACCT #2206392 | 20,000.00 |
| 07/07/15 | 147014 | RAPID CITY AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT | 12 2497 000 319 | GUP SUMMER PROG. TRAVEL; INV 3500050315 | 8,995.49 |
| 07/07/15 | 147015 | RAPID CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT | 12 2497 000 419 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM FINGERPRINTS | 1,215.00 |
| 07/07/15 | 147021 | ROMAN, CHRIS | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM PAYMENT | 550.00 |
| 07/07/15 | 147025 | SCHOOL SPECIALITY | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM SUPPLIES | 166.53 |
| 07/07/15 | 147058 | US GAMES | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM SUPPLIES | 46.92 |
| 07/07/15 | 147067 | WESTON, MARIAH | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM SUPPLIES | 94.29 |
| 07/09/15 | 89 TEACHERS MENTORS RAs | SUMMER GEAR UP PAYROLL APPROVED | 118,721.64 | ||
| 08/13/15 | 147136 | AMAZON.COM | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER SUPPLIES | 358.70 |
| 08/13/15 | 147141 | BANKCARD CENTER | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER TRAVEL-SCIENCE MUSEUM | 1,410.00 |
| 08/13/15 | 147142 | BANKCARD CENTER | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER TRAVEL-GROUP SALES | 3,770.24 |
| 08/13/15 | 147142 | BANKCARD CENTER | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER TRAVEL-QUALITY INN | 3,740.64 |
| 08/13/15 | 147225 | RAPID CITY AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER TRAVEL | 2,853.62 |
| 08/13/15 | 147235 | SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM PAYMENT | 222,330.44 |
| 08/13/15 | 87 TEACHERS, MENTORS, RAs | SUMMER GEAR UP PAYROLL APPROVED | 142,318.90 | ||
| 09/08/15 | 147291 | CHEYENNE-EAGLE CUTTE SCHOOL | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROGRAM PAYMENT-MS | 5,506.83 |
| 09/08/15 | 147361 | RAPID CITY AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROG TRAVEL | 3986.11 |
| 09/08/15 | 147361 | RAPID CITY AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT | 12 2497 000 319 | GEAR UP SUMMER PROG TRAVEL | 13827.73 |
| 09/10/15 | 38 TEACHERS MENTORS RAs | SUMMER GEAR UP PAYROLL APPROVED | 54970.55 | ||
| Total: | $796,791.35 |
I can see other items that may be related to the summer camp, but these figures alone show that Mid-Central spent at least $800,000 just on the GEAR UP camps. The Regents are saying they can run all GEAR UP summer activities, for students, teachers, and administrators, for $635,000, $165,000 less than camp alone cost under Mid-Central’s management.
$165,000 in savings? Dang—that’s enough to hire another consultant!
Either the Regents are significantly underestimating the cost of running a quality summer program for a couple-three hundred American Indian students, or Mid-Central was burning up an awful lot of money each summer without delivering added value for the kids it was supposed to serve.
p.s.: Did you notice that neat July 7 payment for exactly $10,000 to Pixie Air LLC? That company was incorporated in January 2014 by Brinda C. Kuhn of Rapid City. Kuhn has made hundreds of thousands of dollars working for Mid-Central Educational Cooperative on the GEAR UP, Teacher Quality, and College Access grants. Kuhn wrote the 2009 formative evaluation of GEAR UP for project director Keith Moore before that evaluation contract bounced to Moore’s friends at PerGroup and then to a research group at USD that included Board of Education member and previous recipient of Mid-Central largesse Kelly Duncan.
It is so reassuring that the state government is pushing this cover-up from pillar to post.
A former GEAR Up employee was interviewed by KELO: “It wasn’t a mystery what we were doing and the money we spent wasn’t mysterious. And in fact, this program is seen nationally as the poster child of great programs in GEAR UP,” Drew Lerdal said. (http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/fired-gear-up-worker-defends-stacy-phelps/?id=187781)
I have a hard time believing that it was the “poster child.” A very hard time.
Spend 50 plus % of the grant on salaries and benefits. Pretty sure they could do a whole lot better than 50 plus % overhead.
Pixie Air…hmm Articles of Incorporation show a business address of 117 Quincy St in RC.
Looks like a business was being run out of a residential home: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/117-Quincy-St_Rapid-City_SD_57701_M70554-31489
Zoning?
Exsqueeze me, She was paid over a $$$million since 2011 from MCEC and that’s not the only business B Kuhn runs from that address, she also has Kuhn Properties. Do ya suppose the $10k Pixie Air got paid from MCEC on 7/7/15 was to fly kids or someone to play at Mall of America where they spent another $20k not including the amount on the credit card at that Quality Inn? ParTEE til the morning light!!!!!
How is she connected to Guy D out in West Virginia, whom she transferred property to last year? I’d give it to him for cheap too if I was yanking in all the $$$$$ cash she was for that extra special evaluation that as Dr. Newquist states has zero statistical relevance.
Well the match will be easier for the pardners now, let’s all sit back, put our feet up and relax til the dust settles and grass is growing on the graves :(
Hey maybe Guericke should get a raise???
Why do I have a feeling that this will be on Keloland soon
I don’t know if anything is illegal, but it sure looks dirty as all hell
Angela covered this story yesterday on Keloland.http://www.keloland.com/videoarchive/?type=kelo&videoFile=151130gearup&s=
Also: http://www.keloland.com/videoarchive/?type=kelo&videoFile=151130gearup&s=
Nothing illegal unless you want to talk about all of the grant fraud at MCEC and DOE with the Melmer, Moore, Duncan, Kuhn conflict of interest, no bid contracts, and of course the suicide murders and arson.
So it’s unclear to me, even after watching KELO’s report last night, what happens to the difference b/t $3.4 & $2.8 million (that’s $600,000 for those keeping score at home). Does the federal grant get reduced by that much? Or does the state find some other way to spend that money?
I’m thinking of info new to me recently from another commenter that GEAR UP was the idea of President Bill Clinton, aimed at all disadvantaged youth, not only Native Americans. I’m wondering if there could be some other plans being hatched under that dome in Pierre.
The luxuries of not living in South Dakota anymore, don’t get to watch Keloland every night.
The conflict of interest laws are so weak in South Dakota, however with the Board of Regents, I did think that you had to disclose all outside work and get it ok’d with the BOR’s, maybe I’m wrong.
Oldhag,
I feel like I know you. Unfortunately, no-bid contracts are perfectly legal in South Dakota. As is grant fraud, unless federal law enforcement ever wakes up.
Or outside work resulting in over X amount of dollars. Could be wrong
I love this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwLI6D6g-xk&list=UUvIqwD0p1sBNopE_MfxKIsg&index=5&feature=plcp
Whither you do or whether you don’t….It is Awesome they can do this for only $635k :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNajMww_BCI
Really?…no WAY!
Nobody knows how anyone could get hurt in this situation in combination with the amounts paid to the RAs…did you do the math on those “approved” payroll expenditures…well that amount was in keeping with what you pay the people who really do the work! Save the real cash for Pixie Air and Melmer!!!
you know, there are other educational cooperatives in South Dakota. i wonder what their cookbooks look like….
Hey check out how much cheaper BHSU used to do this 6 week summer program:”Black Hills State University recently received a $373,786 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to continue funding for the Upward Bound program.
The Upward Bound program at BHSU, under the direction of Carol Gritts, includes a six-week summer residential component during which high school students from across the state reside on the campus to attend basic and advanced college preparatory classes, receive educational and career guidance and counseling, and are encouraged to develop creative thinking, effective expression, and positive attitudes toward learning. The students also tour various educational and cultural sites, explore career opportunities, and meet others who share similar goals.”
http://www.bhsu.edu/bh/news/currents/2003/issue25/index.html#upwardbound
hmmmm…well look at that expensive teacher pay…it must be due to those increases in RAs.
But at least SD via BHSU got s chunk of $$ http://niea.org/data/files/policy/niea_upward_bound_letter_06152012.pdf
Moore is a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. He left the BIE in June 2012 to work for the South Dakota Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
http://www.indianz.com/News/2014/015874.asp
That has to be just a coinkydink…Thanks Easter Bunny Bak Bak!!!!
http://madvilletimes.com/tag/utah/
Oldhag-Chad Haber was involved in West Virginia real estate fraud. I wonder if there is a connection to the present.
This is pretty tentative. All you can really say from the BOR document is that BHSU will probably be running SD GEAR UP, under two 10% FTEs (oh academic effort reporting, you are hilarious in your made-up percentages). But its nice to see a preliminary budget and organizational chart from the BHSU crowd. The direction laid out here appears to be a scholarship-less version, holding as close to the original structure as possible, which runs counter to what some groups have expressed recently. Holding to the original structure is probably ideal to make original stakeholder (Federal DoE) happy, as that means continuity.
I have to wonder if the proposed budget might be low-balling the cost of the summer program just due to lack of information. They might be just as in the dark as us as to what the real costs of the summer program were!
The biggest issues I see, and the document is pretty explicit about this, is finding appropriate matches, and until those are finalized, there could be a lot of changes to this proposal. Nothing is set in stone yet.
On the subject of matches, did anyone notice the following strangeness in a recent KELOLAND interview (http://m.keloland.com/news/detail.cfm?newsstoryid=187783):
————————–
While it wasn’t as serious, there was one other thing that struck Walking Eagle as odd while her daughter attended GEAR UP. All the parents were asked to provide receipts for their travel to and from the program and any expenses they incurred for their child to attend.
“We had to put our gas money, tolerates, bedding–anything we spent to get our kids there–we had to put that in there; sign it an turn it in,” Walking Eagle said.
But it wasn’t to reimburse the parents. Drew Lerdal says the program was using what parents spent as a match for the GEAR UP grant. South Dakota must match every dollar in GEAR UP funds to get the money. But typically a match is made by an institution or business in the form of donations, services or personnel.
Angela Kennecke: These Native American parents are supposed to be served by GEAR UP, yet they’re providing the match?
Drew Lerdal: Yes, in this case they are–but we provided for their students for seven weeks: room, board activities, education. It’s a pretty good deal.
“I felt if this was going to keep this program going, I’ll do it,” Walking Eagle said.
——————————————–
Woah, what do they mean here? That they donated ‘stuff’ to SD GEAR UP which was then used as part of the evaluation of the match? That seems kinda… sketchy.
(That said, when I first introduced to the concept of volunteer hours used as a source of match for grants, I thought that was fairly odd too, especially since it means assigning value to something that has no available recompensation…)
Here is an idea that does not have a snowball chance in hell of being considered. Use every penney of the Gear-up funds to raise teachers’ salaries for those teachers who teach Native American children in public schools. Teachers have the greatest influence on children’s educational future. Does anyone, other than out gov and his good-ole-boys really think some college administrator has ANY influence on students in any public K-12 school? As coach Vince Lombardi once said, “What the hell is going on out there?”
Feeling Blue, I suspect that zoning isn’t an issue, as long as she isn’t landing planes there or putting up a big sign. :-)
Oldhag, indeed, I can’t figure what role a private air company has in the summer program. Suggestions?
There was a Native mother on TV that said that her ninth grade daughter had almost no supervision while living at Gearup summer camp. No supervision for ninth graders is ridiculous. She said the only person there said they were there only if one had to go to the hospital and when he daughter had to go to the hostpital mother had to drive from the res to take her there. Gear up was not only not watching the books, they were not watching the kids either. If they were that worthless that long, just dump the whole program. Native parents can do better than Republican government.
So now the whole goal is to save money. Does anyone around here believe in doing a good job or keeping people accountable.
CH: I suggest you ask Vern Degeest.
Knowing what I know about this crew, they:
1. flew to West Virginia to get cookies Gary D Kuhn baked for the kids
2. flew to West Virginia to get the qualitative data (from phone calls made to kids after camp)
3. flew Melmer, Moore, Duncan & Guericke to Mall of America for a stay at the Quality Inn for remake of Caligula
Ok, I just threw-up in my mouth, gotta go, but no matter what they did “an even $10k is absurd”, will be interesting what the auditor is told on that type of crap.
Show me in the grant app that they included this air travel, oh that’s right it’s not in there!
Brinda Kuhn – Pixie Air – Gear-Up Kids take flight
http://www.lakotacountrytimes.com/news/2014-06-12/Front_Page/UAVS_Robots_and_fractals_oH_mY.html
Interesting—thanks, Comet!
So did the UNITE program’s collaboration with GEAR UP count toward the state match for the GEAR UP funds?
I don’t see Pixie listed in any of the 2014 minutes; I’ll need to check the payments to Kuhn to see if any of them mention her aviation tutorial and rides.
And golly, couldn’t Kuhn, who’s already made hundreds of thousands on her GEAR UP work, have contributed her $10,000 in services toward the state match and thus helped the GEAR UP money go further instead of draining more of it for herself?
“When the SD GEARUP staff was first approached with the opportunity to partner with the UNITE program, the staff was pleased to be included in this adventure. One of the great things about the Summer GEARUP Honors Program is that if an opportunity presents itself, and it fits with the SD GEARUP educational goals, GEARUP can figuratively spin on a dime to accommodate the needs of the partnering organization.”
That’s a dime x 5 more zeros!!!! That’s a massive conflict of spinning!
Root out waste, fraud and abuse. That’s how so many Republicans propose to cut government budgets. Maybe they are onto something.
root1
ro͞ot/Submit
Look, Wow! Who knew?
a : something that is an origin or source (as of a condition or quality)
b : one or more progenitors of a group of descendants such as TIE or BHSS —usually used in plural
c : an underlying support : as in Guericke or his loyal BODs basis
d : the essential core : heart —often used in the phrase at root
e : close relationship with an environment : tie —usually used in plural
will Gearup employees have wrongful termination actions against the daugaard, his s-i-l, the state, BOR, melody, ect a few years down the line?:)
if BHS(“U”) cuts credits AND takes over Gearup under Regent’s far seeing guidance, will Indian kids go to trade school for associates degrees to clean-up uranium messes, past and future, a career requiring trained labor?
please cory, show the bug-eyed daugaard photo again!