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

Job Corps and the Forty Million Dollar Question…

A forty million dollar Job Corps center in St. Petersburg, FL sits empty and… the Department of Labor refuses to tell the taxpayers what is going on.  Sound familiar?

From 10Connects.com: Read the story here:

“…the facility, which was supposed to be open last year, sits empty and the company that is acting as the care taker for the building doesn’t want you to see what is going on.”

“… the Federal Government…seems more concerned with keeping a lid on the problem than getting it up and running…”

Filed under: Department of Labor, Job Corps, Newspaper Reports, 10Connects.com, Department of Labor, FL, Job Corps St. Petersburg, taxpayers

Readers Responses to Job Corps and National Labor Unions (Part One)

From Susie-

“i can’t say enough good things about job corps
i think you’re all way off base
my son was in job corps at 16
got his ged and drivers license
and finish one trade in office technology
his second(computer networking) trade lost their instructor to a higher paying job
so after 2 months and still no new instructor
no one would take half the pay of a jr college instructor
my son chose to
come home
and has always had a job till lately when the jobs just dried up every where
so he decided to go back to job corps
and try a more hands on trade
he is now 20 and was excited to go back
and likes the idea of a union
he’s going to learn heavy equipment repair
i dare anyone to argue the point that it takes a huge financial burden of the families of young adults just spinning their wheels
they pay for everything
and my son came home much more nature then when he left the first time
i’m sure the same will happen again.”

Response from Harold-

Susie:

“I would like to address a few of your comments.

You state “you are all way off base” and then you follow up with “after two months and still no new new instructor, no one would take half the pay of a junior college instructor, my son chose to come home.” Well, Susie that’s one of the things that we have addressed in this blog – sub-standard pay. You said it yourself – so how are we off-base?

Then you say “they pay for everything”. Do you know that “they” are the taxpayers of this country? The corporations that run these centers don’t pay anything, they just take money from the taxpayers and it through a their bank account and into their pockets.

We also state that there are many success stories coming out of Job Corps – but that doesn’t excuse the fraud on the part of the contractors and the government that is supposed to be monitoring these programs. I am willing to bet that you have not worked at a Job Corps Center; therefore, you are entitled to your opinion, however misinformed you are.

You can’t possibly have read all the information contained in this blog and think we are “off base”.”

From Sandra-

“Your son is 20 yrs old and spinning his wheels? Maybe if he actually had to pay for an education he wouldn’t be spinning his wheels so much. The huge financial burden taken off your family is assumed by taxpayers – it is not free. Maybe your son should be giving something back to the taxpayers that paid his way.

The GED at 16 was a short-cut for him. In some states, like New York, a Job Corps student can’t get a GED at 16, they can’t even take the test until they are 17. The Dept of Ed in NY states that they also have to have been enrolled in Job Corps for at least three months before they can take the GED test. But contractors have forced the Academic Depts on their centers to violate the state Dept of Ed’s rules and send students to take the test before they have been in the program for three months. This is so they can play their number manipulation games.

They also have forced the Academic Depts to ignore the state’s guidelines for reading and math levels before a student should take the GED. That’s why so many students fail the exam and have to earn a “high school” diploma from one of the on-line high school mills. This is also why GED testing sites (run by traditional educational institutions) are so upset with Job Corps programs – their students can’t pass the GED and these numbers are reflected in a test site’s statistics.”

Filed under: Contractors, Fraud, Job Corps, Reader's Comments, Job Corps contractors, Job Corps Fraud, off base, taxpayers