D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee on Wednesday said that staffing and procedural changes are being made in the wake of revelations that the school system unlawfully awarded $270 million worth of contracts, but some lawmakers continued to express doubts as to whether proper accountability would be meted out.

Speaking during a D.C. Council hearing, Ferebee apologized for what he called the “unacceptable noncompliance” that had taken place within DCPS, where some 36 contracts had been awarded over the last three years without the required council review and approval that comes with any city contract worth more than $1 million.

He told lawmakers that an internal review and reorganization is being conducted to better understand why the contracts were not properly submitted to the council and to build better safeguards to prevent it from happening again. He also said he is creating a new Office of Fiscal Strategy to oversee all contracts and procurement within the school system — which has a $1.8 billion annual budget — and chose Patrick Ashley, a former senior director of D.C. Health during the pandemic, to lead it.

“I take this issue very seriously and we are addressing the underlying issues to prevent any recurrence,” he said.

But lawmakers continued prodding Ferebee about how the contracts could have been awarded without council approval, and also to better understand what, if any disciplinary actions were being taken against staff and officials who oversaw the school system’s process to acquire goods and services ranging from classroom materials to the school meals students eat everyday.

“My concern is that all the people who should be held accountable are being held accountable,” said Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5). “Sometimes some people are held accountable while others are let off.”

“There is no scapegoat,” responded Ferebee.

While Ferebee has said that disciplinary actions have been taken, it’s unclear how many people have been punished — and if they have, how severely. He said that the school system’s 21-person office that handles contracts and procurements currently has nine vacancies, and hinted that some of those were either firings or people placed on leave. During a separate council hearing last week, Ferebee said at least four people have been fired.

Ferebee also said that any new contracts worth more than $1 million will be subjected to an additional layer of review, to ensure that they get council approval. A representative from the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, the independent minder of the city’s finances that pays vendors who have contracts, said they were taking a similar step to ensure that any contract they issue payments for has been properly approved.

“I’m stuck on this,” said Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, clearly exasperated. “It can’t be that hard to say, ‘Hmm, this is over $1 million, is there council approval?’ This does strike me as an issue of management control.”

The simmering scandal with DCPS could have broader consequences; the D.C. Inspector General is said to be investigating, and there’s already one bill the council is considering that would repeal the school system’s independent procurement authority. (Unlike DCPS, most every other city agency has to go through the D.C. Office of Contracting and Procurement.) While Ferebee has strongly urged lawmakers not to take that path, some responded on Wednesday that they felt they were being left with few other options.

“It’s hard to defend y’all,” said Councilmember Christina Henderson (I-At Large), who has expressed concern with the council’s bill.

For her part, Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At Large) urged Ferebee to be more forthcoming with the council — or run the risk of the legislative body more aggressively using its power.

“In order to understand how things went awry, it would be very helpful if your team could also understand the council is very serious. There’s subpoena power, and I have to bring that to the table,” she said. “I’m just suggesting we need you to be more forthcoming. We’re very serious. A lion’s share of our dollars leave the coffers in the form of contracts and payments. This is very important for us.”

Ferebee promised to report back to the council on the disciplinary measures that have been taken. In the meantime, he urged the council to move quickly and retroactively approve 25 of the unlawful contracts. Mendelson said that was his goal, but also chastised DCPS for not providing information on some of the contracts quickly enough.

“It’s kind of a mess to be approving a contract today from 2021,” he said.

And the drama may not end there: Mendelson reminded Ferebee and his senior aides that they needed to submit a new school meals contract to the council before the end of June. “If I sound a little angry, I am,” he said. “We’re up against a deadline on food service contracts which you know are controversial.”