In the latest chapter of the ongoing drama between the Chicago Public Schools and the US Department of Education, school officials are kicking a private tutoring firm out of some of its elementary schools after learning, for example, that some of the firm's tutors were playing hangman and Wheel of Fortune with their young charges.

Given the history here, it's not clear if the district learned of the company's sloppy tactics by chance or if it has been leaving no rock unturned looking for trouble. It's not been any secret that Chicago school officials were bitter about a directive from the US Department of Education which stated that the district must hire private firms to tutor kids with NCLB money, and which turned down a district plan that involved some schools managing their own tutoring programs. While district officials seized on the opportunity to score some PR points, expressing outrage and indignation over the company's misbehavior, the feds remain unfazed. They continue to call down the district, pointing out that if there had been any abuse by a contractor, it was the state's job, not the district's to address the problem.

"We agree that providers should be held accountable," says Michael J. Petrilli, the acting assistant secretary in the Education Department's Office of Innovation and Improvement. "However, it is the state's role, not the district's, to ensure that providers implement the program design promised in their provider application."