A perfect end to a perfect Wednesday night thinking about ethics: Jennifer Gottlieb and Eleanor Sobel FINALLY get exposed; hot pizza, cold Heineken beer, '80's fave Lisa Whelchel on "Survivor," and reading some of the fascinating Grand Jury testimony re Beachside Montessori Village; Miami Herald: Records in Broward schools investigation reveal affairs; #BeachsideMontessoriVillage

 

Jennifer Gottlieb, standing, Ann Murray, sitting, Hollywood Beach Culture & Community Center, Hollywood, FL. Photos are all from February 22, 2011, all by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Nineteen months later, I haven't forgotten how pitiful it was to watch the organized group of brainwashed Beachside Montessori Moms in attendance that night cheer Gottlieb and Murray's serial lies, spouting their Kool-Aid nonsense that denied the self-evident reality of how the school came into being and how it came to be the particular way it was - racial whitewash.

Yes, the same two School Board members from next-door Hollywood who couldn't be bothered to attend the long-in-the-planning event at the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center four months later in June of 2011 on the longstanding funding/physical problems at Hallandale High School, where the parents and taxpayers got a chance to vent as well as hear from some of the original litigants in the successful lawsuit against the Broward Schools to end the unequal funding.

My friends Csaba Kulin, Catherine Kim Owens and myself were the only objective people from Hallandale Beach in attendance that night in Hollywood to see the entire dog-and-pony show, which sadly, only Channel 7 bothered to cover, despite the opportunity to ask two people with some real culpability for the whole sordid mess to explain in their own words what had really happened.

 

 

The devastating article that the Miami Herald is printing in its Thursday edition -see at bottom- regarding the unethical conduct of former Broward County School Board member Jennifer Gottlieb leads me to make the following observation:

Bob Norman: 1

Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Channels 4, 6, 7 & 10: 0

Bob Norman wins.

Here's my post of July 26, 2010 on the subject that remains one of the most-read posts I've had in over five years:

Weeks later, Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel & Miami TV newscasts STILL consciously ignoring Bob Norman's spot-on story re School Board's Jennifer Gottlieb

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/weeks-later-miami-herald-sun-sentinel.html

The latter members of the South Florida press corps were, sadly for of us, all too gutless to print or report on TV what some of them knew, she was putting taxpayers at risk, so instead of simply reporting the news and letting readers or viewers people draw their own conclusions, news reporters here didn't just actively avoid reporting the news -they actively suppressed it! 

Surprise! Welcome to Egypt!

Meanwhile, all the time, the Herald's supposed Education reporter at the time, Patricia Mazzei, well, she "knows nothing, nothing" -just like Sgt, Schultz!

But then as many of you know from prior conversations with me where I have cited specific articles of her's and the subjects, among people I know and trust, Mazzei is better known for what she consciously chooses NOT to report, rather than what she writes.

Which helps readers how, exactly?

Two months ago I saw Mazzei at a M-D County Commission meeting in the chaotic and almost-Third Worldly Steve Clark Bldg. in downtown Miami, and it was all I could do to not to laugh hysterically when I saw her just a few feet away from me, thinking about all the interesting facts and points I'd heard at the meeting we'd both been awake for, but which I knew she'd make sure never saw the light of day in the newspaper, leaving readers in the dark yet again. 
Mazzei would make a very good "minder" in North Korea.

This Herald article below, two years too late, comes as the perfect end of a perfect Wednesday night thinking about ethics: hot pizza, cold Heineken beer, '80's fave Lisa Whelchel on "Survivor," and reading some of the fascinating Grand Jury testimony re

Beachside Montessori Village. 

My favorite so far? 

Someone under oath posited that mendacious former Broward County School Board member Eleanor Sobel wanted to use the school "to bolster  her campaign for the Florida Senate."

That's 100% believable because that's the same woman who had the nerve to actually use a HB City Commission meeting as an opportunity to get signatures from the audience -during the meeting- so she could run for School Board, even though we all 'knew' she'd not stay, and was just using that job to get a salary and govt. pension while waiting to run for Steve Geller's Senate seat.

And that's what she did, isn't it?

I know that we're all still waiting to see Norman's promised interview with our mendacious mayor Joy Cooper on his blog on Channel 10's website re the city's red-light camera report that repudiates everything she's been saying, and her receiving mayoral campaign contributions from the Arizona firm spearheading that RLC effort in South Florida, American Traffic Solutions, just days after she wrote an essay in support of red-light cameras in the Sun-Sentinel.

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/bob-normans-blog-post-re-red-light.html

Yeah, I guess nobody at the Sun-Sentinel had the good sense to ask truth-averse Cooper

if she'd received any campaign contributions from the firm when the paper asked her to write essay. Oops!!!

That was real nice of the firm to wait until AFTER Cooper wrote a pro-RLC Op-Ed before giving her thousands and thousands of dollars.And damn convenient, eh?

That's how Joy Cooper rolls!

By the way, for those of you who didn't get the word earlier today, some other things have come up, so my long-in-the-works blog post that publicly crushes Hallandale Beach beat reporters, the Sun-Sentinel's Tonya Alanez & Herald's Carli Teproff, for their longstanding lack of curiosity and attention to detail -esp. re Comm. Sanders and the ethical scandal that has been swirling around him and his wife Jessica for the past three years, and specifically, his abject refusal to meet with HB taxpayers and tell them the truth- originally slated to appear this week, will appear on Saturday or Sunday morning instead.

Trust me, it's NOT going to be very pretty for them, but then given their dismal track record covering news here, of almost going out of their ways at time to avoid reporting what was right in front of them, a fact which has ill-served Hallandale Beach residents who want real reform and transparency at Hallandale Beach City Hall, how could it be otherwise?

-----

Miami Herald

Records in Broward schools investigation reveal affairs

By Michael Vasquez

Posted online September 19, 2012

While still in office, former Broward School Board member Jennifer Gottlieb engaged in two different romantic affairs with men who worked for a company doing business with the school district, according to law enforcement records now made public.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show that two employees of Citigroup, which was hired to help Broward finance bonds used to build schools, admitted to sexual trysts with Gottlieb.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/19/3011179/records-in-broward-schools-investigation.html

In case you didn't see it yourself, here's Bob Norman's take on the situation:
http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bobnorman/FDLE-School-board-member-had-voting-conflicts/-/3223354/16654466/-/2p6c5vz/-/index.html

-----

See also:

WPLG-TV, Miami

Bob Norman's Blog

Has school brought segregation to Hollywood?

Published On: Mar 24 2012 01:25:20 PM EDT  
Updated On: Mar 24 2012 01:31:53 PM EDT

  

I saw former Broward School Board Member Jennifer Gottlieb at a kids' event not long ago and she mentioned that the controversial school she helped build in her city of Hollywood, Beachside Montessori Village, was rated third-best in the state for FCAT scores.

I thought about saying, "Yeah, it's amazing what $20 million in taxpayers' money can do."

Read the rest of the post at 
http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bob-norman/Has-school-brought-segregation-to-Hollywood/-/3223354/9693822/-/2m3qr1z/-/

And be sure to read my friend, Charlotte Greenbarg's comments below it!

Ethics questions re someone (Rosalind Osgood) who teaches ethics -and her Tallahassee lobbyist friend- who also happens to be a candidate for Broward School Board District 5

Might be time for the South Florida news media to have a nice heart-to-heart talk with Broward School Board candidate Rosalind Osgood, cited in this disturbing piece that I first discovered via one of my many Google Alerts:

Media Trackers
Broward School Board Candidate Tapping Funds from Controversial Lobbyist

By Tom Lauder

24TH AUG 2012 AT 17:05

Broward School Board candidate Rosalind Osgood is tapping funds from controversial Tallahassee lobbyist David E. Ramba, official campaign records show. Heading into the November runoff for the School Board position, Ramba, his companies, and political committees under his control have already given $4,000 to Osgood.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://florida.mediatrackers.org/2012/08/24/broward-school-board-candidate-tapping-funds-from-controversial-lobbyist/

The most obvious question of several would be to ask her what she SPECIFICALLY plans to do for Broward County kids, parents and taxpayers if elected from District 5 that doesn't involve churches.
But then there are all those other obvious questions, too.

On the other hand, her opponent, Torey Alston, has been specific, consistent and articulate about what tangible goals he supports in changing the fractured culture at the very unpopular, disconnected and self-serving elected Broward School Board, where along with their top-heavy administrative staff, their policy-making for years has largely consisted of chasing their tails and getting upset about how they are portrayed (accurately) by the news media who holds a mirror up to them. (That's Ann Murray's specialty!)

Alston has also been specific, consistent and articulate about how he would accomplish those goals if elected -including expanding vocational training opportunities- which is precisely the sort of specifics that civic-minded parents and taxpayers are always calling for in an election year, right?

I mention that here because the political romantic in me thinks THAT should really count for something, something positive, but if nobody in the South Florida news media notices...

And just so we're clear about what I mean by that, that's REAL reporting about the race in the Herald and Sun-Sentinel that consists of more than a dozen two-sentence paragraphs about their bios AFTER Early Voting has already started.
To say nothing of what ought to be on TV newscasts.

That is, if the news media really believes that public education is as important as they keep saying it is, even while the Herald STILL lacks an engaged and well-informed Education blog in the year 2012.

Just saying...

Broward School Board redistricting/incumbent-protection racket set to get first dose of public criticism tonight in Hollywood. Just don't say racial whitewash & Beachside Montessori together aloud or Ann Murray's head will explode. Both are Ann Murray's idea of success stories! LOL!!

Broward School Board redistricting/incumbent-protection racket set to get first dose of public criticism tonight in Hollywood. Just don't say racial whitewash & Beachside Montessori together aloud or Ann Murray's head will explode. Both are Ann Murray's idea of success stories! LOL!!

"Ann Murray could not be reached for comment despite messages left at her office..." 

Hell, this despicable woman won't even answer reasonable questions posed to her when she's sitting right in front of you at a public meeting that's supposed to inform the public.

She is such a disaster for this county's school children and this part of it in particular.

Wait until you see the upcoming videos I have of her sitting stone-faced at Supt. Robert Runcie's Listening Tour visit to Hollywood Hills High School and repeatedly refusing to answer questions posed to her by Hallandale Beach residents.

-----

http://www.browardschools.com/press/articles/3-21-2012a.htm

Broward Schools Press Release

School Board Redistricting Steering Committee Schedules Public Hearings and Mapping Workshops             The Broward County School Board recently appointed a 19-member Redistricting Steering Committee to lead the single Board member reapportionment process, and create a recommended map with new district boundaries to balance the populations of the seven School Board districts based on 2010 Census data.             Although proposed changes to School Board member districts will modify the geographic areas for single member districts one through seven, countywide seats eight and nine will not be impacted. Map revisions also will not affect attendance boundaries and student transportation.             The Redistricting Steering Committee has scheduled three mapping workshops to be held in each of the District’s south, central and north administrative areas. These workshops will provide instruction, requirements and assistance to those who wish to create a new School Board member district map for consideration. The first of three mapping workshops will be held on Monday, March 26th at 5:30 p.m. at McArthur High School, Auditorium (6501 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood).             The 2011-2013 redistricting project provides for extensive public participation through a series of seven public hearings – one in each of the seven districts throughout the county – to inform community members and receive public comment. The second in a series of public meetings to inform the public about the process for drawing new School Board district map alternatives will take place on Thursday, March 29th from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center, Board Room (600 SE Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale).             For more information about the redistricting process and dates and locations of future public hearings and mapping workshops, visit:(www.broward.k12.fl.us/redistricting) or contact Patrick Sipple, School Boundaries, at 754-321-2480.

-----

www.sun-sentinel.com/news/elections/fl-school-board-protects-incumbents-20120322,0,6761748.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward School Board protects incumbents, fails to redistrict for 2012 elections

By Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel

9:27 PM EDT, March 22, 2012

One criterion Broward School Board members are unabashedly using to redraw district boundaries: saving their own jobs.

"Protection of incumbents" is one of the seven principles board members have said should be used to remake district boundaries for electing the School Board to take into account the latest Census results.

Though it's not illegal, and incumbent protection has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, plenty of people are displeased.

"We all know that's the unwritten rule in redistricting. But someone put it in black and white?" asked Kevin Tynan, a former Broward Republican Party chairman who served a year as an appointed School Board member and lost a 2010 campaign for a full term. "That's so wrong."

Civic activist Charlotte Greenbarg — president of the Broward Coalition of 200 homeowners associations representing 150,000 people and an appointed member of three School District advisory committees — termed it "bizarre."

Tynan, Greenbarg and Carol Smith of the League of Women Voters of Broward County are also concerned about the School Board's failure to redraw the political boundaries for seven board members in time for the 2012 elections. The two other board members are elected countywide.

District boundaries are normally redrawn every 10 years to reflect population changes as shown by the Census. Instead of redrawing boundaries for elected members' districts for the 2012 elections, the Broward School Board is delaying until 2014.

The state is redrawing districts for the Legislature and Congress in time for this November's elections. The Broward County Commission and the Palm Beach County School Board have already completed their redistricting.

Board members' district boundaries have no impact on where students attend school. The delay means unequal representation for residents in decisions affecting the county school system because the populations in the existing districts are so out of whack. District 2 in southwest Broward has 45,700 more residents than it should. District 5 in central Broward has 20,300 too few, and District 7 in the northeast part of the county is short 16,500 people.

As long as those inequities aren't remedied, the School Board is pretty clearly violating the principle of one-person, one-vote handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Tynan, a lawyer, said the board is "lucky" it hasn't been sued.

"It's something they needed to do. There's no excuse," he said.

The School Board was blasted in a February 2011 report from a statewide grand jury looking into corruption which found the board was so lacking in leadership that it deserved to be abolished.

Scott Spages, a Davie political activist, said the School Board's redistricting priorities will do nothing to improve its reputation. "This School Board has ranged from criminal to dysfunctional, and it just further speaks to the issue of them being dysfunctional," he said.

Both Spages and Greenbarg said they couldn't understand how the School Board bobbled a task that other Florida government bodies have managed to complete. After all, they said, the 2010 Census and need to redistrict in keping with its results weren't exactly secrets.

"Redistricting isn't rocket science," Greenbarg said. "They should have done it the first opportunity they had to put the numbers in the computer and get the districts."

Michael Rajner, chairman of the School Board's Redistricting Steering Committee, referred questions about the timing of redistricting and the incumbent-protection mission to board members.

School Board Chairwoman Ann Murray could not be reached for comment despite messages left at her office on Wednesday and Thursday. Laurie Rich Levinson, the vice chairwoman, said she wasn't happy with the failure to redraw districts in time for the 2012 election.

She said she raised the matter at workshops with other board members in August and September, but that district staff balked, arguing that it would be too difficult to redraw the map by the end of 2011. State law requires setting school board boundaries in odd-numbered years.

"In retrospect I think there should have been more pushing to go out and get it done when everybody else managed to go out and get it done," she said.

The Census Bureau provided population information in April. The Palm Beach County School Board held hearings around the county and adopted its new districts in November. The Broward School Board appointed its Redistricting Steering Committee that month. The seven criteria the board told them to use: compactness and contiguity; preservation of political subdivisions, communities of interests, prior districts and incumbents; and compliance with federal Voting Rights Act requirements for creating districts that help elect members of minority populations.

Though disappointed by the delay in redrawing the map, Rich Levinson, who was elected to the school board in 2010, said there's a positive element to what's happening now. The series of public hearings the redistricting steering committee plans around the county means process will be "very thorough and transparent," he said.

Details on 11 hearings and workshops planned by the Redistricting Steering Committee at SunSentinel.com/BrowardPolitics.

Reader comments at: http://discussions.sun-sentinel.com/20/fl-school-board-protects-incumbents-20120322/10?sort=asc

-----

WPLG-TV, Miami

Bob Norman's Blog

Has school brought segregation to Hollywood?

Published On: Mar 24 2012 01:25:20 PM EDT  Updated On: Mar 24 2012 01:31:53 PM EDT

    

I saw former Broward School Board Member Jennifer Gottlieb at a kids' event not long ago and she mentioned that the controversial school she helped build in her city of Hollywood, Beachside Montessori Village, was rated third-best in the state for FCAT scores.

I thought about saying, "Yeah, it's amazing what $20 million in taxpayers' money can do."

Read the rest of the post at 
http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bob-norman/Has-school-brought-segregation-to-Hollywood/-/3223354/9693822/-/2m3qr1z/-/

And be sure to read my friend Charlotte Greenbarg's comments below it!

Some of you will recall that in an email earlier this month, I shared with you the URL to the Westside Gazette story that Bob Norman notes above re Bethune Elementary, the day after it first appeared.

http://www.thewestsidegazette.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=112729&sID=4&ItemSource=L

 

February 22, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Further, I not only haven't forgotten the joke of a public meeting that Jennifer Gottlieb and Ann Murray had on Hollywood Beach on February 22nd last year at the Hollywood Beach Culture & Community Center, following the devastating final report of the grand jury that so many of us hoped ended with some more people in hancuffs.

http://www1.wsvn.com/pdf/BrwdStateGrandJuryReport.pdf

I haven't forgotten how pitiful it was to watch the organized group of brainwashed Beachside Montessori Moms in attendance cheer Gottlieb and Murray's serial lies, spouting their Kool-Aid nonsense that denied the self-evident reality of how the school came into being and how it came to be the particular way it was - racial whitewash.

February 22, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.  

February 22, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier. 

(Yes, the same two School Board members from next-door Hollywood who couldn't be bothered to attend the long-in-the-planning event at the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center four months later in June on the longstanding funding/physical problems at Hallandale H.S., where the parents and taxpayers got a chance to vent as well as hear from some of the original litigants in the successful lawsuit against the Broward Schools to end the unequal funding.)

Csaba Kulin, Catherine Kim Owens and myself were the only objective people from HB in attendance in Hollywood to see the entire dog-and-pony show, which sadly, only Channel 7 bothered to cover, despite the opportunity to ask two people with some real culpability for the whole sordid mess to explain in their own words what happened.

 

I would have liked to have been able to link or post the Channel 7 video with then-7 reporter Reed Cowan interviewing Murray, and her patently absurd alibis and claims that persuasive information was coming soon that would make the public see the Board's side of everything and agree with them, but unfortunately, it is no longer available on their website -though I have it saved on my computer.

(Cowan is now at KSNV-TV, Channel 3, the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas. Quick, someone tell http://www.sfltv.com/ )

Disappearing TV news videos are a blogger's perpetual lament, of course, as well as for anyone seriously interested in public policy, and yet it's become a depressingly familiar routine at South Florida TV stations.
Unfortunately for me, that includes a few rare stories I've seen in the past eight years down here that actually paint an accurate picture of government financial funny business and government agencies run amok, ones that I'd love to keep permanent links to on my blog for everyone to see, some for the very first time.
But once they're taken off the station website, they're never to be seen again except on a demo or portfolio reel for some future employer. 

Sorry, no Jen-Jen for you today!

 

Part 2 of 2: Ann Murray -she's a phony, a bigot and a no-show. Consistently. That's what voters have seen of her tenure on Broward School Board so far -she needs to go!; update on projects at Hallandale High School

Ann Murray -a failure in every way that counts for southeast Broward taxpayers & parents 

Part 2 of 2: Ann Murray -she's a phony, a bigot and a no-show. Consistently. That's what voters have seen of her tenure on Broward School Board so far -she needs to go!; update on projects at Hallandale High School


Today's chapter: Broward School's sneak attack on Hallandale Beach: Hallandale HS's SAF was ALREADY held on January 23rd -and the public wasn't told
-----



January 29, 2012


This is a follow-up to my email of last week.


Like you, I've always assumed that the Broward County School system had an easily-understood hierarchy chart -somewhere- I just wasn't sure where.
A chart where the citizen taxpayers of this county were formally recognized as one of the legs of the table, lest it collapse.
You'd just think so, huh?


Well, there's something like that, but owing to the fact that this is Broward County and simply calling it an organizational chart would be too easy, here, it's called a Coherent Governance and Systemic Alignment.


Yes, it just flows right off your tongue, doesn't it?


Well, when you go to the Broward School Board's website, http://www.browardschools.com/ it does have a nice little flow chart of circles of interest and brackets of units on page 9 of http://eagenda3.broward.k12.fl.us/eAgenda/1803/49075/Files/superintendent_s_evaluation_presentation_120611.pdf and there seems to be some recognition of our role.
At least it does when it comes time to evaluate Supt. Robert W. Runcie's performance.
Yes, when it comes to that, everything has a clear delineation of responsibility.
Us, we're called "Community."


But what does that organization chart really mean in the real world if, as the email below clearly shows, one of THE most-involved people in this community, my friend, Catherine
Kim Owens, does NOT know, and never hears about that SAF meeting that's actually OPEN to the community, has been moved WITHOUT any public notice?
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/sbbcpolicies/docs/P1.3.000.pdf


It tells me that there's someone in the Broward School system earning a paycheck from taxpayers who thinks that these organizational charts, while fine for filling-up space on
their website, are, in fact, just for naive chumps, parents and taxpayers.
When the powers-that-be want to do things on their own, the lines and arrows on that flow chart are meaningless.


There is nothing about that SAF meeting being changed from tomorrow, Monday the 30th, to LAST Monday, the 23rd, on the Broward School Board's website, nor is there anything about it on the official Hallandale High School website http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/hallandalehigh/ or even on the webpage where that information should be located: http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/hallandalehigh/sacsaf.htm


If you spend even thirty seconds looking at the other threads that directly come under the subject of Parent Info, what do you find?


What you find are web pages that either have generic boilerplate, nothing on them other than the title of the subject area that is supposed to be there, or, you find information
that in some cases is well over THREE YEARS OLD.


See for yourself:

http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/hallandalehigh/parentinfo.htm
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/hallandalehigh/annualcustomersurvey.htm
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/hallandalehigh/fcat.htm
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/hallandalehigh/brace.htm
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/hallandalehigh/pinnacle.htm
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/schoolimprove/
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/hallandalehigh/sacsaf.htm
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/hallandalehigh/titleI.htm
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/hallandalehigh/veryinvolvedparent.htm
http://www.getinvolvedineducation.com/volunteers/index.htm
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/hallandalehigh/summerreadinginformation.htm

My favorite one is that last one above, since at the bottom of the page it reads
"Click the link below for all auxiliary information and resources."
There is NO LINK.


That is, unless my favorite is the one that reads "Our partners in excellence"
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/hallandalehigh/communitypartners.htm
It's blank!!!


Yes, your tax dollars at work.
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/Comptroller/pdfs/Budget/District%20Budget/DISTRICT%20BUDGET%2011-12%20award%20091511.pdf
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/comptroller/pdfs/Financial%20Rptg/CAFR/cafr_2011_board.pdf
Or, in this case, NOT.


Speaking of structure, organization and community involvement, or rather the complete lack of it, why don't you contact School Board Chair Ann Murray and ask HER to FULLY EXPLAIN to you as a Broward taxpayer in District 1 why that change in date happened, why it was never made public despite all thes resources available, and why it is that two months after SHE threw overboard two hard-working members of the Diversity Committee, James Sparks and Catherine, here in the last week of January 2012, she STILL only has one citizen representative instead of the number she is supposed to have?
Shouldn't she have already had people who were ready to serve?


After all these years in office, why CAN'T Ann Murray act competently and professionally?


And while you're at it, ask her when and where, exactly, she'll be showing her face in Hallandale Beach in the future, whose residents she is SUPPOSED to specifically represent
on the School Board?


Here's Murray's office phone number and email address so that you can ask her yourself, but DON'T hold your breath. 
754-321-2001  ann.murray@browardschools.com


Two months after the fact, Murray has still NEVER contacted Catherine to say why she consciously chose NOT to re-appoint Mr. Sparks or her to the Diversity Committee, despite all the hundreds and hundreds of hours they have put into it, including last year's public meeting at the HB Cultural Center, where, yes, Ann Murray, was a noticeable no-show.


Two months, and not so much as an explanation or thank you for all of Catherine's hard work.


In case you're wondering, this email tonight was my idea.
And lest you think that I and other concerned residents of HB and Hollywood are going to let this sort of continued disrespect and malignant neglect to our community continue unanswered, I've got other ideas in mind for Ann Murray and her future, some of which you will be hearing about in the near future.


As for Ann Murray, she ought to read up on the Law of Unintended Consequences.


Dave 


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Catherine Kim Owens 
Date: Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 4:17 PM
Subject: The SAF meeting at Hallandale High School

apparently, this meeting to update the community on Hallandale HS's project updates was already held! on 1/23/12, with no notification to me or anyone else that I know of...  hmmm.....

I spoke w the Chair of the Site Visition Committee and the chair of the Diversity Committee.  They reaffirmed my opinion that no school board member nor staff member can cancel a site re-visit, which the main Diversity Committee voted on...this issue will be brought up at the next Diversity Meeting, with the new members.  This meeting will be held on February 2, at 6:30 pm.  My understanding is that Superintendent Runcie wll attend to speak and induct new officers.  I am planning to attend this meeting.  These are public meetings that are open to the public.  It would be great if we had a strong turnout from the Hallandale community.

Due to the fact that we could not hear of the updates to the projects this month, we will need to catch up on updates and have a HHS Task Force meeting in February.  I will confirm the date and send out a notice..but, usually, it's the 3rd Tuesday of the Month.
again, the SAF updates will not be given on Monday, the 30th, as previously indicated.

Catherine Kim Owens


Appointments to:
Hallandale Beach Education Advisory Committee
  Chair of Hallandale High School Task Force
  Graduation Task Force
2nd Vice Chair of Commission on Women's Status-Broward County

Part 1 of 2: Ann Murray -she's a phony, a bigot and a no-show. Consistently. That's what voters have seen of her tenure on Broward School Board so far -she needs to go!; update on projects at Hallandale High School

Ann Murray -a failure in every way that counts for southeast Broward taxpayers & parents 

Because of how poorly I think the South Florida news media has been covering the Broward County Schools and the dysfunction junction of politics, policy and taxpayers dollars that exists at the Broward School Board, and the important matters that continue to be ignored by that snoozing press corps, my next two blog posts here will consist of emails that I have either written, received or commented on since last Friday that concern Broward School Board member Ann Murray, its current Chair, who is supposed to be southeast Broward's representative.


In my opinion, and as the available public facts have shown for quite some time, Ann Murray isn't just a phony -who was first elected running as a reformer but who has shown she's anything but one- she's also a genuine bigot, not to mention, a constant no-show at public events in the community where concerned parents want honest answers and accountability from their elected officials, but she's missing-in-action, MIA. 


Copies of this were sent to roughly 150-175 concerned Broward school activists, policy makers, residents of Hollywood and Hallandale Beach and others who closely follow politics, government, civic affairs and education policy in Broward County, the fourth-largest county in the U.S.'s fourth-largest state.


For those of you who don't know, Hallandale High School also draws its student population from next-door Hollywood, not just kids from Hallandale Beach.


The only thing that I've changed or removed from below are personal phone numbers and email addresses.
-----

January 27, 2012

I've chosen to copy & paste my friend Catherine's email of this afternoon here so you could see the last time I mentioned this sore subject, seven weeks ago, and the links I mentioned, though there are several others.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Catherine Kim Owens 

Date: Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 2:15 PM

Subject: Hallandale High School's SAF meeting on Monday, 1/30/12, at 7pm, will give us an update on the projects at Hallandale High School.

Sorry for the delay in this email.  I've been out w pneumonia while still negotiating several real estate contracts.... I had this email drafted a couple of weeks ago, but didn't get to edit & send out earlier, as I had planned. 

The Diversity Committee had requested a re-visit/tour after upcoming Monday's SAF meeting when I chaired the Site Visitation Committee, but as you might have heard, School Board member Ann Murray unceremoniously removed me, with no advance notice nor cause, from the Diversity Committee.  And, even though she has only filled 2 of 3 appointments for the Diversity Committee, she has not responded to my email nor to other numerous emails of support from leaders of this community, who were kind enough to send emails of support for my advocacy for equitable quality education. 

As a parent of a high schooler in one year, and a resident of Hallandale for 13 years, it greatly concerns me, along with hundreds of other parents of this area, that this High School is still only receiving a C grade, when the Elementary School has been an A school for years, and Gulfstream Middle now has a fantastic STEM lab and a B grade.  Our HHS Task Force brought public & media attention to Hallandale High School in order to achieve some gains, and we were making progress.  It is up to all of us to attend this meeting and voice our concerns and keep the pressure on, despite Ms. Murray's attempt to quiet James Sparks' and my active voice for this and other schools of South District. 

The parents of my son's graduating class of 104 students will all have to make a tough choice for the selection of a high school next year.  Many of his friends are thinking of going to Cooper City (out of this area) in order to ensure that they receive the kind of education they deserve.  And, thus, the perpetuation of under enrollment of inner city and underfunded schools and over-population of suburban, well-funded schools continue... 

If you care about the values of your homes, and you care about the quality of residents that come to live here, please get the word out to your friends, associates, neighbors, church fellows, and let's all attend this meeting.  Show Ann Murray she can't cut down the voice of our community nor our dedication to our kids

 Catherine Kim Owens 

Appointments to:

Hallandale Beach Education Advisory Committee

  Chair of Hallandale High School Task Force

  Graduation Task Force

2nd Vice Chair of Commission on Women's Status-Broward County

---- My earlier forwarded message, which I've previously posted here on the blog------

Date: Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 11:41 PM

Subject: *FYI: Lesson learned! More re Payback time at the Broward School Board? Diversity activists accuse Chair Ann Murray

Monday December 5th, 2011

Payback time at the Broward School Board? Diversity activists accuse Chair Ann Murray

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2011/12/payback-time-at-the-broward-school-board-diversity-activists-accuse-chair-ann-murray/

I've known about this situation for a bit now, and had been planning on posting something about this situation in the coming days, but overall, this article is pretty complete.

Still, I'd like to raise a point or two that isn't mentioned but which bears mentioning now.

Whatever happened to that public meeting that our SE Broward School Board rep Ann Murray promised the Hallandale Beach and Hollywood community months and months ago, when she was surprised to find both lots of concerned parents AND some unexpected people from Channel 4 present at a February meeting she was at, armed with a TV camera and asking serious questions that she had no interest in answering?

(The meeting held just days after that debacle of a public meeting that she and Jennifer Gottlieb held up on Hollywood Beach re the Beachside Montessori School that was specifically mentioned by the grand jury.  The one that was made up in large part by Montessori Soccer Mom apologists for her and Gottlieb and the school? 

The parents with the attitude that as long as they got their's, they didn't want to know the embarrassing or sordid details about how the process was handled.

Thankfully, due to the efforts of Hollywood city commissioner Heidi O'Sheehan, the federal govt. took an interest in that curious case of student selection, privilege and lack of diversity.)

In a word: NOTHING.

But even now, despite everything that has happened and come out publicly, Murray's remaining army of apologists -esp. in Hollywood- can't wrap their heads around the idea that she completely conned them when they supported her with their votes and campaign contributions.

She sold them an illusory bill of goods they wanted to believe -the reformer who wanted increased accountability.

Yet over-and-over, Murray has done precious little to reform the system and has done almost everything in her power to burrow-in and make herself part of the status quo that has made the Broward Schools such a public laughingstock and deserved object of ridicule.

Something that a PR representative CAN'T spin when concerned residents and voters know the true facts, despite whatever Supt. Runcie may believe, based upon his time in Chicago.

And lest you forget, when a public meeting was finally held in Hallandale Beach in June about the abysmal longstanding conditions at Hallandale High School, a meeting that was, quite literally, YEARS in the making, and largely driven by Catherine's own hard work and resilience, who were the prominent no-shows from the Broward School Board?

Correct, our local representative, Ann Murray, and Hollywood resident and At-Large member Jennifer Gottlieb.

What a slap in the face to the SE Broward community!

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/broward-county-schools-dysfunction.html

(The Channel 10 video link there is dead.)

While Gottlieb and Murray could both find time in their schedules for a meeting in next-door Hollywood, where they knew they'd have 'home-field advantage' and plenty of "ringers" in the room who would verbally attack and challenge anyone who asked hard questions about Montessori and their own actions, the prospect of actually facing angry constituents who want hard answers and the truth caused Murray and Gottlieb to make like outlaws and hide-out.

And now, the final slap in the face, we see how Catherine's countless hours of faithless hard work and persistence in the face of bureaucratic resistance and obfuscation has been rewarded by that mockery of a public servant, Ann Murray. 

And you wonder why the public in Broward County doesn't want to have anything to do with the people in charge of Broward Schools?

Trust me, lesson learned!

My previous blog posts mentioning Ann Murray -more than thirty!- can be found here:

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/#uds-search-results