Reader’s Comments 7/20/2010

-from Nancy RE: Treasure Island Union files unfair labor practice charge against Adams & Associates

So true ALL of it, wouldn’t you think that something that is “suppose to be monitored ” by the DOL, it the last place you would see “discrimination”. Well guess again, because in the Job Corps, particularly one’s run by ETR, discrimination is WORSE than ANY where else in the United States. Trumped up, FALSE reviews, Lies about people that “arent’ SLIME BUCKETS, because they are the only one’s that survive there any length of time at all. Falsified documentation. I spoke with a young man name (removed by Job Corps Fraud), who worked at Oneonta. He’s from the United Emerites, and has “dark skin”. Wouldn’t you think he wouldn’t be discriminated against?????? Well guess again, short of calling him every thing but the N word, that is the treatment he said he got working as and ILA at the Job Corps.

-from Josephine RE: Treasure Island

He was probably discriminated against, not because he had “dark skin”, but because he was perceived as an “Arab” and therefore, a terrorist.

-from Edward RE: Treasure Island

Yes it is definitely a disadvantage to be a salaried employee at Iroquois. Some of them work twelve hours a day and come in on weekends and yet are not allowed to take time off when needed
Regarding the performance evaluations, you cannot attain above a “good” rating. It does not matter anyhow because the raises are so miniscule. Most staff will not receive a raise more than 2%. This enables ETR to have money left over to pay the huge quarterly bonuses to upper management. They get rewarded for manipulating the numbers.

-from Nancy RE: Treasure Island

What difference does it make, ISN’t IT still discrimination.

-from a Job Corps Student on Job Corps An Unfailing REcord of Failure

I am currently attending a Job Corps and am very disappointed. I feel it is below standards.

Filed under: Adams and Associates, Comments, Contractors, DOL, Education and Training Resources (ETR), Iriquois Job Corps, Job Corps, Labor unions, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Reader's Comments, Adams and Associates, below standards, DOL, ETR, Iroquois Job Corps, Job Corps discrimination, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Treasure Island Job Corps, unfair labor practice

Reader’s Comments July 15, 2010

-from Martin Luther

“Job Corps is a great opportunity. Name one free program that will deliver what a youth desires if they work hard to get it. There is none. Karl Rove is just a chess piece that gets told what to do and who to attack. Rich people like him want the good old days when poor person’s only shot at a decent life was to $ their souls.

By the way, failures of Job Corps whine and complain. And, as for the staff, the only thing that needs to be done is remove the staff who are not doing their jobs. Also, remove the $ stealing government “chess pieces” who are not doing their jobs. Replace them with real American citizens who are there to improve-educate-train impoverished youth who need positive directional motivation.”

-from Nancy

“The Job Corps is a NOTHING LESS THAN A CRIME AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND TAXPAYERS in these economic times.

I have also worked for Job Corps twice, the same one in, NY, thirty years ago when it started, I was the purchasing agent, and recently I went there again to help them set up contracts for their stimulus funding.

Two million dollars that someone might as well take a match to, the way they are spending it. Numbers are massaged in the accounting area, in the procurement area, and in the student success rates area. The actual # of students who improve their lives, or are successful is SO minimal it is NOT worth the almost $30,000 each they spend on each student. And the $30,000 each in tax dollars is a low estimate, much more is probably actually spend. The first administrative manager I worked for 30 years ago, immediately started “writing bogus purchase orders that were phony”, they were for contractor work he said was being done at the center, when it was actually ALL being done at his house. He tried to encourage me to get involved in the scam, saying do you want a new washer and dryer? Well, write up a PO for it, buy it, when it comes to the center tear up the paperwork, and take it home. I would not get involved with it. And as a result he, didn’t want me there. ITT was the contractor. I filed with EEOC/and HR, and was called to a hearing in Syracuse I believe, and ITT actually did offer me some type of settlement, to buy me off from the filing. CAN YOU SAY CROOKED, BOYS AND GIRLS.

Then most recently in a temporary job setting up contracts for ARRA stimulus funding, I SAW NO CHANGES FROM THE SITUATION 30 YEARS AGO. Job Corps has NEVER been a successful program, Yet the government spends billions on it. THE AMERICANS CANNOT AFFORD THIS PROGRAM, AMERICA CANNOT AFFORD THIS PROGRAM.

DISBAND IT NOW, DISBAND IT NOW. AND CLOSE ALL JOB CORPS CENTERS.”

*Note from Job Corps Fraud: thirty years ago Oneonta may have been managed by a contractor called ‘ITT’, today it is managed by Education and Training Resources (ETR), Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Filed under: Contractors, Education and Training Resources (ETR), Fraud, Improper billing, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, number manipulation, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Reader's Comments, ARRA, bogus work orders, EEOC, ITT, Job Corps, Job Corps crimes, Karl Rove, Martin Luther, Oneonta, taxpayers

Reader’s Comments About Job Corps 6/17/2010

Regarding St. Petersburg Job Corps Center and the forty million dollar question…

-Allison

“Call the Atlanta Job Corps Regional Office to find out why the center is still empty, or better yet, the National Job Corps Director, Edna Primrose. Or maybe the Secretary of Labor.

With Edna Primrose as Director,  just wait and see how many contracts end up going to Adams and Associates.”

Regarding Oneonta and Iroquois Job Corps Centers and Education and Training Resources Corp:

-Josephine

“How is the latest contractor doing at Oneonta?  ETR is the same company that runs Iroquois Job Corps and the Corporate Liaison for Oneonta is the same person who oversaw Iroquois for the last five years – and we know all about the complaints under her watch at Iroquois.

This 2008 article just quotes the same concerns that have been in existence since Oneonta Job Corps opened about thirty yrs ago. Wake up Oneonta, nothing is going to change unless the taxpayer/voters decide to do something about it.

The conservative corporation that runs the center, ETR, will continue to fleece the taxpayers of this country because they can. Conservatives love to criticize “big government”, but they are first in line when it comes to handouts like Job Corps contracts.

They don’t give a damn about the population they serve, just the profits they can generate at taxpayer expense. Pigs at the trough.

We’ve all seen how government oversight and regulation work.  Just look at the mines, oil drilling, Arizona border issues, the big banks, etc. Big business runs this country and buys off our legislators – Job Corps is just another symptom of our society run amuck.”

Filed under: conservative, Education and Training Resources (ETR), Job Corps Centers, Oneonta Job Corps Center, politics, Reader's Comments, St. Petersburg Job Corps, Adams and Associates, Atlanta Job Corps Regional Office, Edna Primrose, Education and Training Resources, ETR, National Job Corps Director, oil drilling, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Readers comments, St. Petersburg Job Corps Center

“Job Corps Leaves Us Concerned” (2008) Oneonta Job Corps Center

Read all the concerns from the DailyStar.com

A few excerpts:

“We’re concerned that the local center, which is designed to prepare young men and women for the work force by offering education and vocational training, is being badly led and administrated.”

“We’re concerned that the Department of Labor ranked the nearly three-decade-old facility 94th out of 122 national Job Cops centers for the program year ending June 30.”

“We’re concerned that the overwhelming majority of the Oneonta program’s students are from New York City rather than from our area and that only now are halting steps being made to attract local youngsters.”

“We’re concerned that during the program year covered by the evaluation, 157 of the 509 students enrolled at OJCA were expelled for disciplinary reasons.”

“We’re concerned that some of those who have been expelled have stayed in our area and have been arrested for dealing illegal drugs.”

Oneonta Job Corps Center is managed by Education and Training Resources

Filed under: Education and Training Resources (ETR), Job Corps Centers, Newspaper Reports, Oneonta Job Corps Center, badly led, dscipline, Education and Training Resources, Job Corps concerns, Oneonta Job Corps Center, thedailystar.com, U.S. Department of Labor

Assaults, Arrests and False Alarms at Oneonta Job Corps (2008)

Read the Article from the Daily Star Here:

“In the last six months, Otsego County 911 operators fielded two assault complaints, two harassment complaints and six reports of fights at Job Corps, Otsego County Sheriff Richard Devlin said Monday.”

“There were also 27 calls to 911 that were hang-ups or turned out to be otherwise unfounded, he said.”

Oneonta Job Corps Center is operated by Education and Training Resources (ETR)

Filed under: Arrests, Contractors, crime, Education and Training Resources (ETR), Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Newspaper Reports, Oneonta Job Corps Center, arrest, Education and Training Resources, Job Corps Assaults, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Sherrif Richard Devlin

Oneonta Job Corps Boon or Burden?

As usual, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) paints a different picture of Oneonta Job Corps… Boon or Burden? Depends on which news source one believes.  The polished propaganda from Job Corps or Federal Audit results…

Excerpts from The Daily Star, read the article here:

“Student behavior was poor and marked by the use of profanity, cutting classes, horseplay and disrespect, according to the evaluation.

The Department of Labor also found that after a staff member was assaulted by students and hospitalized, police were not contacted for more than two days as OJCA conducted an internal investigation.

By the time the police were involved, all leads were reportedly lost and the police were said to be stymied in their investigation, the federal report states.

On Sept. 17, the day the Department of Labor assessment team arrived on campus, a baby powder container containing 12 “dime bags” of marijuana was delivered to a student by the U.S. Postal Service, the report indicates.

Rather than call the police and have the student arrested in front of the staff and student population, he was terminated and sent home without police intervention,” the report states.”

Filed under: Arrests, crime, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Newspaper Reports, OIG Reports, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Department of Labor, Job Corps Assaults, Job Corps Propoanda, OIG, Oneonta Job Corps Center, The Daily Star

A Reader’s comment about Oneonta Job Corps Center

From Harris-

“Riots, drugs and alcohol have been commonplace at Oneonta Job Corps for years.  I worked there many years ago, and when RCA was the contractor, student fights were hidden from the Job Corps Regional Directors. As long as companies receive incentives to run these contracts, and OIG audits lead to nothing but a fine when there are infractions, nothing is going to change. Contractors will continue to lie about “significant incidents” and manipulate statistics to meet contract goals and nothing will be done about it. The program is corrupt from the top to the bottom.

Congress doesn’t deal seriously with the negative aspects of the program even though reams of documentation exist about the fraudulent goings-on. Instead,they look at the opportunity to give the students a second chance and of course the salaries paid  and goods and services bought. That’s all well and good, but what about the cost to the taxpayer for a program that is not all that effective?

Job Corps has a new national director. Her predecessor was fired (and then reassigned somewhere in DOL?) because she would not submit a report with statistics reflecting the total number of students who had enrolled in Job Corps – the OMS Reports did not reflect job Corps drop outs.  Her excuse was that the report would be too long and members of Congress could find all the information in other reports published by Job Corps.

You can find these statistics in the Job Corps OMS10 Report, easily found on-line. Also see Job Corps Policy and Requirements Handbook (PRH). The website is:

www.jobcorps.gov/AboutJobCorps/performance_planning.aspx

Filed under: crime, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Reader's Comments, riot, alcohol, Comments, corrupt, Drugs, OIG, Oneonta, riots

Oneonta Job Corps Center Boon or Burden … from the Daily Star (2008)

Read about Oneonta Job Corps Center here:

“…it is a facility with a history of riots, crime and more than its share of troubles…”

Filed under: crime, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Newspaper Reports, Oneonta Job Corps Center, crime, o, Oneonta Job Corps Center, riots

Troopers Arrest Oneonta Job Corps Student for Posession of MDMA (March 22, 2010)

News Roundup  (Read the article here:) From the Daily Star

Troopers arrest man in drug case:

“A Brooklyn man was arrested at Oneonta Job Corps Academy on Thursday for allegedly attempting to sell drugs, state police at Oneonta said.

Devon Thompson, 21, a Job Corps student, was charged with third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, troopers said. He was found to be in possession of about 700 pills containing MDMA _ ecstasy, troopers said.

He appeared in Oneonta Town Court and was sent to Otsego County jail on $7,500 cash bail, troopers said.”

Filed under: Arrests, Drugs, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Newspaper Reports, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Devon Thompson, Job Corps student possession of drugs, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Otsego County Jail