Department of Education Signs Controversial Contract With Verizon

NEW YORK—Amid ongoing conflicts with the unions representing its employees, Verizon Communications managed to seal a $120 million contract with the city’s Department of Education (DOE) that will allow the company to provide Internet and phone services for 1,600 schools in the city.

The panel vote for the contract took place on Wednesday evening at Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan. Thousands of teachers, parents, and striking workers from Verizon represented by Communication Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) attended the meeting to protest the contract.

Despite the strong opposition, the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) approved the deal. The DOE issued a statement saying the contract would provide the uninterrupted service for the schools with “significant cost savings” for New York City.

“We think it’s outrageous that the DOE signed this contract with Verizon at a time when the company is attacking 45,000 middle-class jobs,” said CWA spokesperson Bob Master. “In addition, there are unresolved allegations of corruption in a previous wiring contract involving Verizon, so we [think] that this contract should be postponed.”

Councilman Fernando Cabrera and PEP member Patrick J. Sullivan both requested that the vote on the contract be postponed due to the recent theft of $3.6 million dollars of public funding by a former DOE consultant that allegedly involved Verizon, as well as the unresolved conflict with the company’s striking employees.

Parents and teachers were concerned that the contract will drain funding from education priorities.

“This, at a time when our school budgets are being slashed to the bone for the fifth year in a row, and while spending on testing, technology, consultants, bureaucrats, and private contracts like this one are ballooning into the billions,” wrote Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters and founder of the NYC Public School Parents blog. “The resulting cuts are forcing principals to raise class sizes to 30 (even in grades two and three) teach classes themselves, and patrol the halls.”

Verizon has countered the opposition by stating that the contract would be beneficial for the city and the union members.

“For those who were criticizing it and calling for it to either be postponed or denied need to realize that the contract would give the strikers work who want to return to work,” said Verizon spokesperson John Bonomo. “ A nice contract to wire the schools in New York City, that keeps a lot of people employed,” said Bonomo.

In regard to the fraud conducted by consultant Willard Lanham, Verizon has stated that the company played no part in the theft of public funds and was unaware of Lanham’s actions at the time.