January 16, 2007

QUESTIONS ABOUT MARSHALL AND THE SCHOOL SYSTEM

With all the articles about ethics and Tom Marshall and his contracts with the Memphis City Schools, I researched my files and found two contracts involving Tom Marshall. One is for the controversial consulting services and the other is for the controversial (at the time) nutrition center. While these contracts are certainly unethical, in my opinion, they are not technically illegal. There are three interesting questions.

Did Mr. Marshall give up only his consulting services contract or did he give up all architectural contracts?

I have shown below several pages from the extensive MGT study done on the Memphis City Schools. These pages show $55 million dollars in construction cost overruns for 13 schools and $25 million in renovation cost overruns for 17 schools. Were Marshall’s firms involved in any or all of these projects?

The MGT report recommended a 15% reduction in the space standards for high schools and a 10% reduction in space standards for middle schools. The report showed that elementary space standards were 14% higher than the average by other states, middle school space was 55% higher and high schools were 100% higher. The reply from school system personnel was that “we are not interested in “cookie cutter” type school designs. Was Mr. Marshall involved in this excessive school space decision?

This is a callous remark from a system with a huge budget which is mainly responsible for our out of control City and County debt.

Click here to see the controversial nutrition center contract.

Click here to see the consulting contract between EFS and the school system.

Click here to see the MGT report on school construction and renovation cost overruns.