School trashing good furniture in budget crunch

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Grade-A dunces dumping desks
By AMBER SUTHERLAND and YOAV GONEN

Here's one way to flunk economics.

Officials at a downtown public school wastefully threw out hoards of pricey desks, chairs, cabinets and other classroom furniture yesterday despite steep budget cuts to city schools.

Residents who live near the Greenwich Village Middle School on Hudson Street said they watched in horror as sanitation workers crushed more than 50 pieces of perfectly good furniture -- and perhaps twice that -- in the back of a garbage truck.

"It was perfectly good stuff. It should be used and not thrown away," fumed local business owner Richard Butensky. "There were a lot of desks -- at least 50 -- and those were all destroyed."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/grade_dunces_dumping_desks_KL0D6lY4hvILXTybb1TvUI#ixzz0wOGNRBc8

[amyrose2712]

1. Why not have an auction I wonder. nt

[tammywammy]

7. My first thought as well n/t

[Cassandra]

2. Given that this is in the NYPost...

and the Post HATES the teachers' union, how much of this is true? Perhaps the furniture that looked in good condition was staged for the cameras.

[JVS]

3. what does it have to do with unions? this would be administration's area of responsibility.

[LostinVA]

4. I think because they are always trashing public schools

[Cassandra]

8. Yes, thank you.

I wasn't as clear as I thought, I guess.

[Javaman]

5. Check the source.

I believe nothing morlocks rag prints.

[knitter4democracy]

6. Our school district has a warehouse they sell them from.

They sell first to our charter school (they manage our school) and any other local school and then finally to the public. That's money, and our district is really tight on money.

[felix_numinous]

9. People would pick it up

if they just put it outside. That is done in many neighborhoods. Put a sign on it FREE.

[nykym]

10. You have to be very

careful about picking stuff off the street in NYC, The city is very much into recycling stuff people throw out and the Sanitation dept. issues tickets to those it sees picking up their coveted trash. Short article at link

http://gothamist.com/2010/07/13/garbage_2.php