The Hand Sanitizer Controversy Within CCSD

If you take a look at today's Las Vegas Sun article on hand sanitizer purchases within the Clark County School District, it really isn't a big deal on the surface. But read between the lines, and the way the purchases were made could possibly raise an eyebrow.

The underlying story is not the flu prevention aspect of the story, but the political aspect.

LV Sun:

After fielding dozens of calls from parents concerned about the upcoming flu season, Principal Tam Larnerd decided to provide each of his classroom teachers with hand sanitizer, spending about $450 in school supply money for 60 large bottles at Sam’s Club.

He could have used the Clark County School District’s online purchasing system, and would have paid a slightly higher price — 13 cents per ounce for the name brand, compared with 10 cents per ounce for the discount warehouse’s own product. And he would have gotten free delivery.

Purchasing hand sanitizer through the district’s online system has other benefits too — no tax and the product is more sanitary than the Sam’s Club brand because it has a self-contained refill mechanism, so you’re not unscrewing the top of a bottle when you refill it.

But Larnerd, principal of Bob Miller Middle School in Henderson’s Green Valley, said he wasn’t aware that the district’s online catalog included hand sanitizer until he was asked about it by the Sun.

“Let’s just say this is not something that’s well-advertised,” Larnerd said.
He later found hand sanitizer listed under “custodial supplies,” but couldn’t immediately locate the bulk order option that would bring the price down to near the discount warehouse price. Instead, the largest bottle he could find was 12 ounces for $5.60, or 47 cents per ounce.

At that price, it’s certainly a less attractive purchase for a principal, Larnerd said.

So how many school officials are overpaying for supplies out there?  Especially in these times where money is extremely tight.

I also found this interesting from the article:

Hand sanitizer is one of the many optional items that teachers often end up paying for themselves. And teachers are digging a little deeper into their own pockets this year — the $200 purchasing cards that the district used to hand out every year were eliminated as part of the $120 million in budget cuts.

Given everything else that’s expected of teachers, the least the district could do is provide hand sanitizer for the classrooms,” said Ruben Murillo, president of the Clark County Education Association, which represents the majority of the licensed personnel.

When I used to teach high school back in North Carolina, it was common to dig into your own pockets to pay for supplies.At one of the highly-impacted schools I taught at, we were regularly told not to order anything because there was no money to do so.

Sad, but realistic.

E.C. :)