$600 to wash a car that never got washed: Oakland...

Construction projects spiraling tens of millions of dollars over budget, outside consultants being paid for work already done by staff and $600 in car-wash charges for a car that never got washed — those are just a few of the scathing findings in an Alameda County civil grand jury report on the troubled Oakland Unified School District.

“The Board of Education has known about these things for years and done nothing,” said Raymond Souza, a grand jury member who helped write the report.

The report chronicles administrative ineptitude, wasted money and nepotism in what jurors called a “What’s in it for me?” culture.

First up, ineptitude.

The Oakland school board was forced to hit the brakes on nine building projects after being told in August that cost overruns had climbed to $160 million, including $51 million for a new academic building, a wellness center, new gymnasium, football and soccer stadium at Fremont High School, and $12 million for a new campus for Glenview Elementary School.

The overruns “meant that new and renovated science classrooms and labs, playgrounds, security upgrades, and kitchens at many schools would not be built as promised,” the grand jury said.

A plan to overhaul the district’s central kitchen was penciled in for $23.2 million. The cost ballooned to $41.8 million before the district finally fired the contractor — after paying an additional $5 million in go-away money, the grand jury said.

Then there are the outside consultant contracts. Last year, the district paid $334,500 for a consultant to monitor compliance with its own local-hiring policy. The consultant used information provided by district staffers to prepare reports for the school board.

And there’s the nepotism.

Until 2017, the school district’s facilities department sponsored a paid summer internship program for high school students. The program was funded by donations from architects and contractors doing business with the district.

“A terrific idea, especially when it helps students with compelling financial needs,” the grand jury said.

Jurors learned, however, that the program’s interview panel included the facilities department’s own employees.

“They selected 11 high school students for the paid internship positions, three of whom were the children or relatives of the interview panelists, including the child of the (district) employee managing the program,” the grand jury said.

The interns spent the summer working with an outside contractor who worked with the district. The contractor, in turn, charged the district for the costs of the program, including the students’ wages — then added a markup for administrative services.

The district eliminated the internship program this year.

“Some witnesses felt strongly the program was a valuable community asset that should be reinstated if managed correctly. Other witnesses viewed the program as only benefiting family and friends of select facilities employees and unavailable to most students within the district,” the grand jury said.

“Either way, the summer internship program was a small but shining example of the ‘What’s in it for me?’ culture that permeates OUSD.”

And then there was the employee who filed a complaint about $600 that a division in the facilities department paid for car washes.

“This raised a red flag because the small department had only one vehicle,” the report said.

And to top it off, the car was never washed.

“When asked about this discrepancy, the department’s leader responded that these spending decisions ‘could be improved,’” but no disciplinary action was taken, the grand jury said.

“While the money involved is trivial,” it was also “example of the (school district’s) broken culture,” the report said.

In a statement, Oakland school board President Aimee Eng said, “Coming out of an intense few years during which we wrestled with fiscal stresses including midyear budget cuts and an employee strike, this report raises important questions. Many of the issues are familiar, but we will use this report to face these issues head on and improve how we operate.”

Souza, the grand jury panelist, said there was “one final point” to make: “The district board is an elected body, so Oakland voters ultimately share responsibility as well.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX-TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 415-777-8815, or email pmatier@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @philmatier