Erich Martel
Request for records audit results
November 16, 2003

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To: Dr. Paul Vance, Superintendent emeritus
Dr. Elfreda Massie, Acting Superintendent
Dr. Johnnie Fairfax, Contracting Officer's Technical Representative
Ms. Glorious Bazemore, Contracting Officer
DC Public Schools
Ms. Peggy Cooper-Cafritz, President, and Members DC Board of Education

Cc: Mr. Anthony Williams, Mayor, Washington, D.C.
Mr. Kevin Chavous, Chairman, and Members, Education Committee, Council of D.C.
F. Douglas Hartnett, Esq., Government Accountability Project
Justin Blum, The Washington Post
Beth Cope, NW Current Newspaper

Fr: Erich Martel, Department of Social Studies, Woodrow Wilson H.S., Washington, D.C.

RE: Contract No. GAGA-2003-C-0020
Caption: Records Audit
DCPS & Gardiner, Kamya & Assoc, PC
Initial Contract Date: November 7, 2002

I am formally requesting copies of the complete documents of the above contracted audit of student academic records in all 16 high schools of the D.C. Public Schools. Any "executive summary" of the auditor's report produced by the auditors or DCPS or any employee or consultant hired by DCPS does not replace the complete documents of the auditors' report. This request includes, but is not limited to, the specific, unedited and unabridged documents that established the audit and its standards and procedures and the preliminary and final reports of the auditors' findings. They include (details spelled out following the summary list):

• The initial "Letter Contract" signed on November 7, 2002;
• All subsequent extensions, amendments to the contract;
• Details of the actual "Engagement Plan and Technical Approach";
• The Preliminary Report of the auditors;
• The Final Report of the auditors.

The auditors' field (on site) work was completed by April. Although the final reports were sent to Superintendent Vance in May or June 2003, they have not yet been released. Since there is no reason for these reports and documents to be edited or in any way altered, they need to be immediately released.

As the leadership of DCPS changes and as school governance is being debated, it is important that the full documentation of the findings of this audit be released, so that the public and responsible officials, from Board of Education to Council to Mayor know what the auditors found and what corrective steps, if any, need to be taken.

Thank you for giving this your immediate attention; I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,
Erich Martel
ehmartel@starpower.net
202-282-0120 (Wilson H.S.)

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Erich Martel
ehmartel@starpower.net
202-282-0120 (Wilson H.S.)

The request spelled out:

1. The initial "Letter Contract" signed on November 7, 2002, including the "Technical Proposal" submitted by Gardiner, Kamya & Associates (hereinafter, GKA) and all preliminary correspondence, such as the "Request for Task Order Proposal" (RTOP);

2. Subsequent extensions, amendments to the contract and instructions and procedures not described in the initial "Letter Contract." (By early December 2002, DCPS had extended the contract beyond the initial 970 hours and $64,310.00);

3. Details of the "Engagement Plan and Technical Approach"

a. Full description of the audit method,

i. "examination of DCPS' assertion that it is in compliance with [mandated] requirements"; OR
ii. an "Agreed Upon Procedures" audit; 

b. Full description of all control attributes to be tested;
c. Complete listing of all the files, sub-files, file configurations in the Student Information System (SIS) (trade name, POISE from Campus America, Inc.), that the auditors were instructed to use in order to determine the completeness and accuracy of the SIS files of each student whose academic records were reviewed;
d. Description of the sampling selection methodology and sample size that was examined at each high school;
e. Standards for determining which staff members would be interviewed at each high school site;
f. Description of the details of the three phases of this particular audit:

i. Planning
ii. Testing, with specific reference to the other school jurisdictions used as benchmarks; 
iii. Review and Reporting (see #4 & #5, next).

4. The Preliminary Report of the auditors:

"[GKA's] results and conclusions on each of the 16 sites/ high schools based on a valid statistical projection to the total population of the results of our testing of a statistical sample of student records at each site/ high school" (Letter Contract, p. 11). 

5. The Final Report of the auditors:

As stated in the "Letter Contract," the final report was to be issued after the auditors had provided DCPS officials with the preliminary report and they were given the opportunity to comment:

"After the management of the DCPS and other appropriate officials have reviewed the Preliminary Report, we will solicit their comments that we will consider in the issuance of the Final Report" (Letter Contract, p. 11).

Since it is not clear that statement to what extent the auditors' preliminary report can be amended following examination of it by DCPS officials, the preliminary report and the final report are considered separate documents and are both subject to this request.

Background:

In May of 2002, I released to the principal of Woodrow Wilson H.S. and the Superintendent and Chief of Staff summary reports of extensive falsification of student academic records and the certification of ineligible students for graduation: 77 in 2001 (out of approximately 190 records examined) and15 in 2002 (out of approximately 80 records examined). Falsifications included:

• grade changes unauthorized by the teacher;
• inflation of credits and grades listed on incoming transcripts;
• repeat credit for the same course;
• credit for courses the student never took;
• credit for courses in religious doctrine.

I requested that the students' records be corrected by removing fabricated information. When I received no response other than threats of discipline, I released the redacted details (with no "personally identifiable information") to the Washington Post (June 2002). 

In November 2002, as I originally requested, an audit of the 16 high schools was ordered.