There is something radically wrong with the way school buildings have been maintained in Medway.
When the council was formed in 1998 it took over more than 100 from Kent County Council. Many had not seen a lick of paint since they were built in the Sixties, let alone any proper maintenance. Few have since.
One of the most appalling features has been a lack of proper care over asbestos in the buildings.
Asbestosis and mysothelioma are cruel ways to die. Get a speck of asbestos on your lungs and half a century later you could be drowning in your own body fluids as your lungs become encased in asbestos-instigated "concrete". One the other hand, you might be lucky, played with it and never had a problem.
For decades there have been safety measures in place to protect workers and those (like children and teachers) who might be in classrooms surrounded by asbestos.
In Medway, however, school caretakers and contractors have happily banged in nails. They have drilled holes through walls and columns.
No-one has warned some of them that they were letting asbestos fibres loose.
A major Health and Safety Executive investigation has revealed two schools where, despite warnings, council education chiefs have failed to give staff warnings.
You would think it was a resignation case. It probably isn't.
If that wasn't bad enough, a Gillingham school (and no-one is quite clear how) has somehow been able to spend £1.2 million on an extension.
No-one has yet found evidence of any competition for the job - or details of the development - or who gave the job approval.
Nor how it was that for a year or more then money was paid out in dribs and drabs without anyone saying: "Why?"
Councillors gave officers across the council the power to award and run sizeable budgets. In some cases they can spend £1 million. After all, elected councillors have far more important things to do when running a £600 million business.
Last week I was repeatedly told there was no suggestion of anything illegal, it looked like incompetence.
Directors, assistant directors and planners, finance managers, teachers, governors, councillors and parents, all had accepted things were OK at Woodlands school. No-one checked.
The one thing that was authorised was planning permission. It was given by a junior officer.
The work began but (apparently) no one from building control went to look.
It was only when the cost, once estimated at £25,000 but later revealed to be £750,000, went over £1 million that alarm bells rang.
The contractors building Grange Farm paid the council (under a legal agreement called a Section 106) to provide educational facilities for their residents. It was from that money the school drew the cash to build their extension.
When the building work was stopped last year, investigations then began.
Ironical, really, that those investigations revealed that areas with asbestos in were disturbed.
Tomorrow, Cabinet councillors and the audit committee will start considering what lessons to learn.
There are many.
Councillors need to get closer to what is happening under their noses.
We elected them: We expect them to do their jobs.
What happened at Woodlands was done in our names and with our money.
Why?
It's the fourth time there has been high-profile, over-spending in the past five years.
There was Borstal's primary school where £300,000 was spent on architects' fees only for them to be told to return to the drawing board.
Walderslade Primary School's rebuilding was costed at £3.2 million. It is still not finished, and the bill is more than £5 million.
There were queries over the costs of Strood Academy, which was delayed three months until council chiefs could justify their plans.
Now there is Woodlands. Officers have often tried to reassure councillors by saying the cash is provided by the government - so don't worry.
Who pays the government?
In the past there has been plenty of criticism of the housing department's handling of contracts at Medway Council.
The education mess is far worse.
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