For the record, his name is Mitch Kraft, or, how one story reveals the larger journalism problems in South Florida, esp. the Miami Herald's

For the record, his name is Mitch Kraft, or, how one small new story that's little remembered today by 99.9% of you, offers a peek into the much-larger reporting, editing and management problems with South Florida news outlets, and in my opinion, the Miami Herald in general and Herald reporter Patricia Mazzei in particular.

I originally wrote parts of this as an email to friends and my Circle of Trust on May 24th, 2010, but post excerpts of it now to prove a point or two about some of the self-evident lazy reporting in South Florida that too many people are consciously ignoring.

For months, practically the entire 19-month time period since the following news story first appeared in print in the Miami Herald and South Florida Sun-Sentinel, I've used it as instructive example of how glaring the problem is.

Though this was originally written in January of 2010, when Broward School Board member Stephanie Kraft's departure was a current issue, even now it's an insightful reminder of how basic aspects of news reporting and journalism that newspaper readers and TV viewers are entitled to expect, have been completely Missing-In-Action in South Florida for years.

This is just the first in a number of future pieces focusing on the recent past that will appear here before the end of the year on that sore subject, which has only gotten worse with time.

Much worse!

But first, the article that was the predicate to all of this.

Much of this will be familiar to many of you who are regular readers of the blog, less so to others.

And there's been huge news regarding all the principals mentioned here, but those changes are NOT the focus of this post.

Today, the errors of omissions are the problem -the information that was NOT conveyed to readers

-----

Patricia Mazzei of the Miami Herald writes, "Kraft's announcement, which was not unexpected..."

It's all down-hill from there!!!

Miami Herald

BROWARD SCHOOL BOARD

Stephanie Kraft won't seek fourth term on Broward School Board

A School Board member announced she won't run for a fourth term -- and a parent activist filed for her seat.

By Patricia Mazzei

January 13, 2010

Broward School Board member Stephanie Kraft will not seek reelection to her seat, she said Tuesday, shortly before Coral Springs parent and school district volunteer Shelly Solomon Heller filed to run for the post.

Kraft's announcement, which was not unexpected, throws open the race for her Northwest Broward seat. It may be the only one of five School Board contests on the August ballot that will not have an incumbent running for reelection.

For now, Heller, a mother of four and an attorney who helped craft the district's anti-bullying policy, will face Dave Thomas, a history and psychology teacher at J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs who filed last year. There is still time for more candidates to file.

Three other School Board members have put in papers for reelection: Jennifer Gottlieb, Phyllis Hope and Ann Murray. Hope faces a challenger, Weston parent Laurie Rich Levinson.

Bob Parks has not yet filed for reelection to his Northeast Broward post, though he is expected to run.

Kraft, a lawyer and one of the most tenured members on the board, is known for her ability to discuss at length the finer points of policy issues. She cited her daughter's graduation from a public high school in June as her main reason for stepping aside.

``If you don't have children in the system, you just don't understand a lot of the issues that the parents are dealing with,'' particularly in a district with many young families, she said.

Kraft said when she was sworn in to her third term in 2006 that it would be her last four years in office, but she had not officially announced whether she would seek reelection.

On Tuesday, Kraft said she waited until she knew other people were interested in running for her seat before making a final decision.

Heller has served as Kraft's appointee on several school system committees.

Kraft said the arrest of suspended School Board member Beverly Gallagher in a federal corruption sting in September did not influence her decision to not seek reelection.

``I've been saying this for years,'' she said.

Kraft drew scrutiny since revealing -- after Gallagher's arrest -- that her husband worked for board lobbyist Neil Sterling. Federal authorities familiar with Gallagher's case said they were probing Sterling's influence on the School Board.

Kraft's husband, an attorney, did work for a Sterling company that does not do business with the district, Kraft has said. The relationship prompted the school system to tighten its lobbyist rules so lobbyists must declare any conflicts of interest with board members' families.

More questions were raised about Kraft after district records showed developer Bruce Chait told school system staffers that he retained Kraft's husband while negotiating a $500,000 break in fees from the School Board in 2007. Neither Kraft nor her husband, Mitch Kraft, have publicly addressed Chait's claim.

Chait, president of Prestige Homes, and his son, Shawn Chait, were arrested last month after former Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion told prosecutors he accepted $25,000 in cash and a golf membership from the Chaits in exchange for his votes.

Stephanie Kraft said Tuesday she has not been contacted by prosecutors on the Chait case -- and that as far as she knows, she is not being investigated for criminal misconduct. A state ethics complaint against her is pending.

Kraft said she does not have a job lined up and has no plans to run for county or statewide office, though she left the door open to seeking higher office.

``There's always a possibility of filing in the future,'' she said.

Actually, contrary to what was written above and below, if you relied solely on the Herald or Sun-Sentinel for your non-TV news information, Stephanie Kraft's departure WAS unexpected ONLY in that none of the local print reporters covering education issues had ever bothered to publicly hint or write that Kraft was on the way out, however that might happen.

The reporters covering Kraft were the only ones who were caught unaware.

It was common knowledge to people actually paying close attention.

There's a big difference.

But that's far from the only problem.

Let's try an experiment.

See if you can spot the recurring pattern below, which is lifted word-for-word from Patricia Mazzei's article:

Kraft drew scrutiny since revealing -- after Gallagher's arrest -- that her husband worked for board lobbyist Neil Sterling. Federal authorities familiar with Gallagher's case said they were probing Sterling's influence on the School Board.
Kraft's husband, an attorney, did work for a Sterling company that does not do business with the district, Kraft has said. The relationship prompted the school system to tighten its lobbyist rules so lobbyists must declare any conflicts of interest with board members' families.
More questions were raised about Kraft after district records showed developer Bruce Chait told school system staffers that he retained Kraft's husband while negotiating a $500,000 break in fees from the School Board in 2007. Neither Kraft nor her husband, Mitch Kraft, have publicly addressed Chait's claim.

It's not until the fourth time he's mentioned -her husband, an attorney, Kraft's husband, her husband- that Mazzei finally spits out his name. What's the big mystery?

Jesus, say it the first time and be done with this teeth-pulling and faux mystery!

That's to say nothing of the inexact way that Mazzei and other Herald reporters who now or formerly have written about education in South Florida, have consistently failed to mention how individual School Board members actually voted on the particular agenda items that have come up, which are, after all, the reasons the reporter is there in the first place.

It's as if they can't be bothered with something so simple as the actual vote.

But that's true of 99.5% of all the Herald reporters, as I wrote about several times here about articles about the Broward County Charter Review Commission in 2008, it's just that with other legislative bodies, it's easier for citizens to find out who voted which way.

Even today, the Broward School Board does NOT have that basic voting info on their website for quite some time.

But when Congress is in session, I can find out in seconds how a congressman in Montana voted today or yesterday or even send him or her an email.

Perhaps if the Herald actually had an Education blog in January of 2010, that news about Kraft and her attempts to o hand-pick her successor might've come up before.

In the year 2011, the Herald might want to consider getting around to that since they have so many other blogs that, to be kind, are nothing but fluff or issue advocacy.

Since it's not reasonable to expect that all, most or even half of Herald readers know who was on the Broward School Board before they moved here, much less, who is on it now -esp. since in Ann Murray's case now, she's seldom if ever present publicly in the Hallandale Beach portion of her district- Fort Lauderdale businessman/lobbyist Neil Sterling was a member of the Broward School Board from November 1984 until he resigned in January of 1991.

Gov. Lawton Chiles replaced him by selecting Miriam Oliphant.

I mention this since Neil Stirling's past experience as a Broward School Board member before becoming a lobbyist is NOT mentioned in the Mazzei article.

It's called historical context

"Oh, now I get it!"

-----

Good for the goose, good for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Why is the name of Stephanie Alma Kraft's husband's so TOP SECRET?

His name is Mitch Kraft.

Why is this simple fact NOT mentioned in this Sun-Sentinel article?

Instead, he is referred to below, as I have emphasized, as, a.) "her husband's" b.) "her husband"

Why is his name the one that is not spoken?

Or, apparently, written down, so that readers know who the hell you're talking about?

Does it have something to do with casting a spell?

Or is it like 'the Danish play"?

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

KRAFT WON'T SEEK NEW SCHOOL BOARD TERM - RECENT CONTROVERSIES NOT A FACTOR SHE SAYS

By Kathy Bushouse Staff Writer

January 13, 2010

Broward School Board member Stephanie Kraft announced Tuesday she won't seek re-election in August, but she said it had nothing to do with the recent ethics complaint against her or speculation she is the latest Broward politician under scrutiny by federal and state prosecutors.

She has no job lined up, she said, and doesn't dismiss an eventual return to public office. Her decision to give up the northwest Broward seat she has held for 12 years came in part because her daughter had graduated from the Broward school district, she said.

"I just think it's better to be able to relate to the people in this particular district when your kids are going through the same thing," said Kraft, 53, an attorney. "And honestly, after 12 years, I think it's time to have some new blood."

Kraft has a reputation for asking multiple, pointed questions of the district staff and for her love of school arts and music programs. She is credited with leading the charge in 2006 to fire then-Superintendent Frank Till, saying she had no confidence in him.

But she has been under fire since October, when she disclosed her husband's business ties to School Board lobbyist Neil Sterling, who also lobbied for Vista Healthplan. Kraft led the advisory committee that chose Vista to be the district's sole health insurance provider. This year, Vista upset district employees by raising premiums for their children by 46 percent.

In addition, Kraft is being investigated by the Florida Commission on Ethics over allegations she misused her position to help Prestige Homes developer Bruce Chait and failed to disclose that her husband was working for Chait's company.

She has long known she would not run again, Kraft said, but she was going to hold off on a formal announcement until the ethics complaint against her was resolved. She said she changed her mind "in deference to people who wanted to start their campaign ... so there's no question that the seat's going to be available for people to run."

By the end of the day Tuesday, two candidates were in the race to fill her seat: J.P. Taravella High School teacher David "Dave" Thomas, of Coral Springs, and Coral Springs parent volunteer Shelly Heller.

When asked whether she had been contacted recently by the FBI or state or federal prosecutors, Kraft said she hasn't "heard a word since the day that Bev [Gallagher] was arrested and I got interviewed."

Gallagher, who has been suspended from the School Board, was arrested Sept. 23 on federal corruption charges, including bribery, extortion and honest services fraud. She was accused of taking money to steer school construction contracts to favored companies.

Several board members took time at the end of Tuesday's school board meeting to praise Kraft.

"Truthfully, some of us knew way back when that you were thinking about retiring," said board member Bob Parks. "We are really gonna miss you."

Board member Maureen Dinnen said while the two didn't always agree, she appreciated Kraft's attention to detail "and the passion that you bring to those arguments."

There will be five School Board seats up for election Aug. 24. So far, board members Jennifer Gottlieb, Phyllis Hope and Ann Murray have filed papers to seek re-election; Parks still has not filed but said he will run again.

Kraft said she's "accomplished pretty much everything I wanted to accomplish on the board," and will keep working "until my time is up."

She said she won't run for anything in November because "right now there are no elected offices that are open in my district."

She mentioned the Florida Senate seat currently held by Jeremy Ring and the Broward County Commission seat held by Stacy Ritter but added, "I certainly wouldn't run against an incumbent in my district for anything."

"I'm just going to keep myself open," Kraft said. "I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason, and they happen when they're supposed to happen. I think between now and next November something will be revealed. I just don't know what it's going to be yet."

INFORMATIONAL BOX:

Stephanie Kraft: Key dates in her School Board career

May 6, 1998: Filed papers to run in District 4 against 16-year incumbent Donald Samuels. The Broward Teachers Union didn't even bother to interview her.

Sept. 1, 1998: Wins District 4 seat.

Nov. 16, 2004: Board elects Kraft chairwoman.

Feb. 25, 2005: Joins elected officials from across Broward County to urge voters to reject slot machine gambling.

2006: Received $2,000 in campaign contributions from Vista Healthplan and its affiliates. Kraft served as chairwoman of the School Superintendent's Insurance Advisory Committee, which screens plan proposals. Her husband, Mitch Kraft, ran for Coral Springs City Commission but lost. Vista Healthplan and its affiliates donated the maximum allowed by law to his campaign.

Oct. 17, 2006: School Board fires Superintendent Frank Till. Kraft led the push to oust Till.

August 30, 2007: Vista Healthplan wins the $1.7 billion contract to be the sole health insurance carrier for 6,000 eligible Broward County employees beginning in 2008.

2008: Vista uses an adjustment provision to dramatically raise rates for dependents.

Oct. 13, 2009: Kraft discloses that her husband had worked as an independent contractor since late 2007 for SRG Technology LLC, a company owned by Neil Sterling, one of the school district's biggest lobbyists who represent a number of companies that do business with the district, including Vista Healthplan.

Oct. 20, 2009: Sun Sentinel reports that Prestige Homes, a Tamarac developer, won a $500,000 break in fees to the Broward School District after hiring Kraft's husband, Mitch.

Oct. 31, 2009: Philip Sweeting, former deputy police chief of Boca Raton, filed a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics against Kraft.

Nov. 24, 2009: School Board unanimously agrees to eliminate the health insurance advisory committee's three board member positions held by Bob Parks, Kraft and Robin Bartleman.

Dec. 3, 2009: Teachers union files a lawsuit against the School Board, seeking to prevent Vista Healthplan from increasing rates by 46 percent for dependent coverage, pending the outcome of a state ethics complaint filed against Kraft.

Compiled by Barbara Hijek, news researcher

Sources: Sun Sentinel archives, Broward School Board, Miami Herald

March odds & ends about Broward Schools: audits, personnel cuts and School Board lobbyists who are leaving -or are they?

Last week I asked whether anyone else had seen
Broward School Superintendent James Notter's
appearance on CNN.
http://www.browardschools.com/

Well, it looks like I struck-out and it was beamed
only to my home in a super-secret location near
stately Wayne Manor.

There's no video of the appearance but here's
a transcript of the March 10th appearance.
http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1003/10/cnr.04.html

The Sun-Sentinel's Education Blog now has
a YouTube page that you may find worth
checking out.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SSEducationNews
which I joined as a subscriber early this A.M.
becoming, apparently, their first subscriber,
so if you have an interest in things ABC,
you might want to consider joining as well.

As I've previously mentioned thru emails and
here on my blog, I'm somewhat frustrated
and confused by the newspaper's use of
their FLIP camera(s).
http://www.theflip.com/en-us?gclid=CI2M_Zz2xaACFY2F7QodqnYHfA
Not to play TV News Director or newspaper
Editorial Director or anything, but... well, I am.

To me, the cameras seem to be used too much
on covering the doings up on Andrews Avenue,
a few blocks north of the County Govt HQ,
at Fort Lauderdale City Commission meetings
and anything involving mayor Jack Seiler,
since I've never seen the camera in use at any
of the many Broward Ethics Commission,
Broward Legislative Delegation or Planning
Council meetings I've attended (and recorded)
since last September.

Personally, you'd think there'd be more general
interest in those topics than the routine City
of Fort Lauderdale meetings, though at some
of the Ethics meetings, I was the only member
of the Broward public present for more than
an hour or so at a time, so my use of the word
"interest" is used advisedly.

Frankly, why doesn't the Sun-Sentinel send
an intern to those meetings, which they must
deem a Junior Varsity event if a regular
Sun-Sentinel reporter can't cover it.
The interns can set-up the camera on tripod,
play cameraman and take notes so that the
other reporters/columnists can benefit from
seeing what's what at a later time.

Plus, the best parts, such as they are,
can be edited and put uploaded to their own
YouTube page where they can attempt to
grow their online presence.
That's what I'd do if I had anything to do
with it, which I don't, of course.

See video of Notter and Broward School Board
Chair Jennifer Gottlieb -running for re-election-
speaking to the Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board;
video was posted on Feb. 23rd.

As of today, the Miami Herald still lacks an
Education blog and what I deem to be their
VERY mediocre politics blog, Naked Politics,
still has no online video component

In fact, they run stories about Lauren Book's possible
candidacy for Broward School Board there since they
have no blog:
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/

http://www.youtube.com/user/BrowardPolitics
http://www.youtube.com/user/adamsptimes1
http://www.youtube.com/user/actsofsedition

That ticking you hear is the Herald's future winding-down...
if they don't get relevant and hyper-local toute-de-suite.


South Florida Sun-Sentinel
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/education/fl-school-construction-audit-20100318,0,7378161.story
Overpayments won’t be tolerated, Broward schools construction chief says

By Akilah Johnson, Sun Sentinel
March 18, 2010

After a blistering audit that detailed unauthorized work and overpayments to contractors, the Broward School District's interim construction chief said Thursday he has warned staffers such practices will not be tolerated.

"As long as we have a culture that doesn't hold these people accountable, you will continue to have audits like this one," said Tom Lindener, acting deputy superintendent of facilities and construction.

The 51-page report described a department that ignores or skirts policies, laws and contracts. It claimed overpayments cost taxpayers almost $1 million and that two employees earned $93,000 in overtime in the past two years without documenting when, where or what work they did.

The report went to the district's audit committee Thursday and goes before the School Board on April 20.

Lindener told the audit committee he has already demanded that Pavarini Construction Co. refund the district $290,683 paid for work done without a contract. He said he met with at least two other contractors identified as owing the district money.

And he now requires project managers to use picture IDs at schools to document when they arrive and leave.

His only disagreement with the audit centers on a recommendation to create new policies. The problem isn't that rules aren't there, he said, it's that they're not being followed.

"I will hold people accountable, and, in fact, have already started calling people into my office," Lindener said.

He said he has issued four oral reprimands and two letters of reprimand for mismanagement and personal accountability issues since taking over in January.

He noted that part of the culture change must involve a safety net for employees to do what's right or document that they were following the orders of a superior, including School Board members who "have reached down into middle management, project managers," without fear of retribution.

Superintendent James Notter said he intends to address this issue during the board's May workshop on ethics.

"I see a spirit of cooperation that we haven't seen before," said Henry W. "Hank" Mack, the committee's chairman emeritus. "What makes me feel particularly good is to get a response to an audit that is positive and not designed to make the auditor look like they don't know what they are talking about."

Chief Auditor Patrick Reilly said more construction audits are in the works.

Reader comments at:
http://discussions.sun-sentinel.com/20/soflanews/fl-school-construction-audit-20100318/10





Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/19/1536770/audit-finds-building-funds-misspent.html
Audit finds Broward school building funds misspent
By Patricia Mazzei
March 19, 2010

A scathing internal audit has found that the Broward school district's construction department overpaid hundreds of thousands of dollars to contractors, allowed unauthorized projects to move forward and kept sloppy employee overtime, attendance and mileage records.

Among the most troubling items:

• Paying more than $1 million for bleachers for a high school because a contractor was paid twice.

• Paying nearly $400,000 for drawings of middle school classroom additions before the projects had been approved.

• Paying employees overtime without specifying what extra work was done.

The report expands on problems with Broward's construction practices raised since the September arrest of former School Board member Beverly Gallagher, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to accepting bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as consultants for contractors.

But in a striking departure from thorny reports in the past, members of the district's watchdog audit group praised Broward's acting construction chief, on the job since January, for agreeing with the criticism -- in some cases, bringing forth problems himself -- and promising to turn his department around.

"The culture, I think, is changing,'' said Tom Lindner, who was appointed to head construction after the Dec. 31 retirement of department chief Michael Garretson.

He said his goal is to enforce rules already in place and reprimand employees who don't stick to them.

"As long as we have a culture that does not hold those people accountable, you will have audits like this one,'' he said.

Lindner said he has sent letters to the overpaid contractors to try to get money back. He has also met with two contractors to sort out what work they did and did not do.

The report says a project to build 2,500 bleachers at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale cost more than $1 million -- after being budgeted for about $500,000 -- because a subcontractor, Seating Constructors USA, was paid twice.

The district is referring the case to law enforcement to see if "criminal negligence or fraud'' took place.

Three contractors began doing the same work because the district mismanaged the project, the audit says. Seating was paid by both the district and the project's general contractor, Grace & Naeem Uddin, Inc. -- though the building permit was issued to a third firm, Florida Blacktop.

"Internal controls do exist and were ignored,'' Lindner wrote in his response to the audit's findings.

Grace & Naeem Uddin, Inc. has since sued Seating and the district over the project, the audit says.

PROJECT CALLED OFF

In a separate instance, the district overpaid contractor Pavarini Construction $290,683 to design a classroom addition at Westglades Middle in Parkland that has been postponed indefinitely due to budget cuts.

Design work began without School Board approval and the district agreed to pay before the architect had turned in design drawings.

Lindner said the school system's attorney has gotten involved in the case.

The Westglades project was bid in April 2008 and work began in May of that year -- though funding was not set aside for the project until August 2008, and board members did not approve it until April of last year, according to the audit.

District records had previously shown facilities auditor Dave Rhodes refused to sign off on the project in January 2008 because the Parkland area didn't need the extra space.

According to this week's audit, the project moved forward ``based on informal approval'' from Garretson, the former construction chief, and his staff, even after a project manager had questioned whether the new classrooms were needed. Coral Springs Middle, two miles from Westglades, had 359 empty seats at the time, the report says.

With projections showing that Broward will have about 33,000 more seats than students by the 2013-14 school year, the state has ordered the district to stop building new classrooms.

In November, Garretson said he had urged his staff to get projects put to bid quickly knowing a state-imposed halt to construction was coming.

Separately in the audit, the district overpaid a third contractor, James A. Cummings Construction Inc., twice for design work: once $22,225.08 for a classroom addition at Seminole Middle in Plantation and a second time $79,025.08 for three classroom additions at Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach and Sunrise middles.

Both times the board had not authorized work to begin on the projects. The overpayment happened because the original scope of the additions was reduced.

The audit also found that some employees did not complete daily attendance sheets, padded their mileage for reimbursement, left vacation and leave request forms unsigned and did not get approval for overtime or compensatory time.

In a particularly egregious example, two employees routinely received two hours of overtime a day starting in 2005. In the last two years, that amounted to $93,000 in extra pay for those employees.

Lindner said he put a stop to those overtime payments. Auditors had pointed to overtime problems elsewhere in the district in a June report that found Broward has been paying employees who have two jobs within the school system overtime for their higher-paying primary job -- even if the overtime work was done in the second, lesser-paying position.

REPRIMANDS

Auditors plan to present a second part of their review of the construction department in May. In the meantime, Lindner said he has verbally reprimanded four employees and written letters of reprimand to two others.

"It certainly showed some material weaknesses,'' Superintendent Jim Notter said Thursday. "How does a division pay overtime and not necessarily document the hours that they were working? That's clearly not right.''

Still, members of the audit committee, which is made up of experts not employed by the district, were happy with Lindner's response.

"What makes me feel particularly good is to get a response to an audit that is positive and not designed to make the auditors [seem] like they don't know what they're talking about,'' said Henry Mack, the committee's chairman emeritus.

"And I see a spirit of cooperation . . . that we haven't seen before.''

Reader comments at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/19/1536770/audit-finds-building-funds-misspent.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1 ------

Broward Beat
Another Browardbeat First: Key Lobbyists Drop School Board Registration
By Buddy Nevins

Two of the school system’s leading lobbyists, both connected to disgraced School Board member Bev Gallagher, are no longer registered to work at the school system.

It’s the end of an era.

Not able to represent clients at the School Board because they are not registered are Barbara Miller and Neil Sterling – who once were the go-to lobbyists at the school system.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.browardbeat.com/end-of-an-era-key-lobbyists-drop-school-board-registration/

-----

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
South Florida Schools blog
Parents lobby to save Broward elementary school specials

Posted by Kathy Bushouse
March 17, 2010 11:16 AM

Ever since news broke last week that the Broward School District is considering cutting elementary school specials, parents are writing letters, going to meetings and starting Facebook groups in hopes that they'll be able to save art, music, P.E. and media classes.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/educationblog/2010/03/parents_lobby_to_save_broward_elementary_school_specials.html

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
South Florida Schools blog
Broward Schools Superintendent on facilities audit

Posted by Akilah Johnson
March 17, 2010 04:55 PM

Broward Schools Superintendent James Notter stopped by the Sun Sentinel to talk about an audit that says -- and I’m loosely quoting Hamlet here -- something’s rotten in the state of school construction.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/educationblog/2010/03/broward_schools_superintendent_5.html

Here's something to consider, which explains
a lot of what passes for logic locally with the
Broward School system. The South Adminstrative
HQ that deals with schools in Hallandale Beach
and Hollywood is 14.6 miles from Hallandale
High School.


View Larger Map


But the distance from Hallandale High School
to the School system's Main Office in downtown
Fort Lauderdale, home of the School Board
600 S.E. Third Avenue, is 10.6 miles.
Yes, the South office is both north and farther
away from the school than the Main Office.


View Larger Map

Bob Norman zeroes in on Broward School Board; MP's political gaffe on video

Here's the reality we live with now:
In the Coastal Ft. Lauderdale Yellowbook,
the phone number for the "Broward County
School District" is given as 754-321-300.
But when you call that number, you're told that
that number is now the North Central Area office,
except they've now merged with the South office
and are given yet another phone number to call.
Then you are told if you don't know your extension
number, hit # or 411 and an operator will be
right with you. But they won't.
Instead, you get a tape that goes ROUND AND
ROUND like a carousel.
And so it goes at the Broward County School
System.

By the way, I mentioned the other day that Miami
Herald education beat reporter Patricia Mazzei
never stated in her July 31st Herald article who
the four School Board members were who didn't
attend the July 30th meeting, the first budget meeting.

The "draft" of the minutes answers that question.
http://eagenda3.broward.k12.fl.us/eAgenda/1512/Files/07-30-09_1st_public_hearing_budget.pdf

Just so you know, they were Beverly Gallagher,
Phyllis Hope, Benjamin Williams and our own
representative, Ann Murray.

Were they sick, on vacation, at another meeting,
out-of-town for a family wedding...who knows.

As I've previously stated, Murray really needs
to start meeting with the Hallandale Beach and
Hollywood communities in visible ways that she
hasn't so far, and consider creating a website
so that she can get her reform message about
accountability out, such as it is, because right now,
her reform message of last year is completely
muted and she's all but invisible.
Even her friends and supporters know that does
NOT bode well for her re-election prospects
next year.

Murray's is the name that ought to be the one
that's on the tip of people's tongues for zealously
defending the work product of School auditors
-and taxpayers wallets- in anticipation of
Tuesday's School Boar meeting.
Ought to be, but what is she doing?

She's the one who ran on a platform
of fundamentally changing things dramatically
at the Broward School Board, and not
becoming a compliant clone of the existing
members and the pervasive culture of
corruption and cronyism.
Her fate is in her own hands, up to a point,
to be sure, but ultimately, you and I will
decide if she's performed well enough to
be rehired next year.

Broward Palm Beach New Times

Broward School Board Digs Itself Deeper Hole

By Bob Norman

Wednesday, Aug. 12 2009 @ 8:40AM

​If you're really paying attention to the Broward County School Board, you're mad as hell.

Read the rest of the story at:

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/08/broward_school_board_digs_itse.php
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London Calling...
Just received this amusing story and video a
few minutes ago in a Snowmail from
Channel Four in England, written by
Krishnan Guru-Murthy

DUNCAN GAFFE
Alan Duncan may just get away with a gaffe which might have done him in had it come at a different point in the political year. The shadow Leader of the House issued a grovelling apology today after being secretly filmed telling a campaigner what he really thinks about the new regime of MPs expenses and pay. He says he was joking, but he not only says MPs are being "treated like shit" but also suggests nobody talented from outside politics would want to be an MP now. Given a GP has just been elected as the Tory candidate to fight for the seat of Totnes, this is a surprising view. Mr Duncan seems safe for now but there is no doubt it is a major embarrassment.
Watch the video: http://bit.ly/xvQqG

URL: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=33512746001



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Broward School Board's policies/results are deal breakers. Let Murray be Murray!

My comments follow this Sun-Sentinel Broward politics blog post from yesterday and article by Anthony Man and Akilah Johnson today on the Broward School Board, and one of their typically bad PR moves, and the Hannah Sampson article on the same that appeared today in the Herald.

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Broward Politics blog
Broward schools want some federal bailout money
Posted by Anthony Man at 4:21 PM
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/school_board_elections/
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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/breaking-news/story/804598.html
Miami Herald
Broward School Board to vote on bailout request
By Hannah Sampson
December 8, 2008

Potentially joining the ranks of auto executives and banking mavens, the Broward School Board will vote Tuesday on whether it is going to ask the federal government for a bailout.

''We're certainly at the edge of a cliff and anywhere at the state or federal level that we can seek help, we will,'' said Broward Schools Superintendent Jim Notter.


The Broward school district is predicting cuts of $160 million for the upcoming school year. Already this year, the district has been told it will lose $34 million from the budget.

Board member Beverly Gallagher, who asked Notter to put the request on the meeting agenda, said she has been getting e-mails from worried parents for weeks asking what the board will do to counter the cuts.


''This is a good start,'' Gallagher said. She said she hoped the request for federal aid would get the attention of state lawmakers, too.

''We know they don't have any money, but we'd like a bigger slice of the pie from them,'' she said.

The board will not vote on a specific amount of money Tuesday. The request says the assistance would be for construction and operating costs.


Broward's vote comes just weeks after Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho called on the federal government to rescue public schools with a bailout.
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www.sun-sentinel.com/news/schools/sfl-flbschools1208sbdec08,0,2449279.story
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Board might request federal bailout include Broward County schools
Two members say education should be included in Barack Obama's plans to broadly assist the U.S. economy
By Anthony Man and Akilah Johnson
December 8, 2008

Wall Street got one. Detroit automakers may get one this week. Some governors have put their hands out for federal cash, citing their difficulties coping with the national economic crisis.

Now, the Broward School Board is pulling out its own tin cup.

"We will ask Barack Obama for bailout money for public education," School Board member Beverly Gallagher said Sunday. "We think if he bails anybody out, it should be public education."

Gallagher said she has asked Superintendent James Notter to prepare a resolution for the board to consider Tuesday. She expects the proposal to pass.

School Board Chairwoman Maureen Dinnen said Sunday the district would be "derelict within our duty if we didn't say, 'Hey, here is our list of things that we need you guys to pay attention to.'"

President-elect Barack Obama announced Saturday that his administration will institute a massive public-works initiative for such infrastructure projects as repairing roads and bridges, while also increasing technology and so-called green jobs.

"Certainly, schools rank as high as a roadway or a bridge or something," Dinnen said.

Gallagher agreed, saying schools deserve special consideration from federal taxpayers."

If you don't have a strong public education system, you don't have a strong work force." Gallagher said.She didn't have a specific dollar amount in mind.

She said she'd like capital funding to help improve older school facilities and operating funding to help pay for work-force training.

After slashing $94 million from this school year's budget, the district, the sixth largest in the nation, expects to lose about $160 million for the 2009-10 school year, according to the preliminary request on Tuesday's agenda.

Notter said in November that he expects more cuts will come when the Legislature meets in the spring.

The district will continue its freeze on filling non-instructional jobs, while looking for other ways to save money, he said. Construction projects have either been scuttled by the state or put on hold by the district.

"It is critical that the federal government include public schools in any financial relief efforts in order to ensure economic recovery in the State of Florida and throughout the nation," the preliminary request reads.
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$160 million loss expected
After slashing $94 million from this year's budget, the district, the sixth largest in the nation, expects to lose $160 million for the 2009-10 school year, according to a resolution drafted for Tuesday's meeting.

Reader comments at:
http://www.topix.net/forum/source/south-florida-sun-sentinel/TPNO8B1H27O5Q5E9T
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Tried to put a shortened version of this on the Herald's website comment area, below the article, but it kept cutting too many words. Hence...

If this foolish idea were actually allowed to reach fruition, don't we already know from experience what we'd be hearing about months from now?

An avalanche of after-the-fact reporting on the closed-to-the-public Workshop/Retreat in Naples or Captiva or somewhere that the Broward County School Board, James Notter & Co. would have to take, so they could focus and concentrate their energy on what they'd spend the money on.

A lot of Broward voters in District 1 like me voted for Ann Murray for Broward School Board over personable Rick Saltrick precisely because despite some very appealing qualities, he was TOO MUCH LIKE the current Board members in policy outlook, and probably wouldn't fight hard enough for taxpayers and parents against either poor administration or union policies when confronted with them.

I met Saltrick a few times in the weeks before the election, in both Hollywood and in Hallandale Beach, and would certainly strongly consider voting for him in the future for another political office.
Hell, I wouldn't mind exchanging him in a heartbeat for about two dozen people I can think of who are currently in office hereabouts.

But for Broward School Board, I felt that his strong connections/ties to current and past Broward education administration types/lobbyists/fixers, which he thought was a plus, and certainly was as far as raising campaign money and producing high-quality campaign literature, became a negative at the ballot box at a time when people really want to see increased accountability.
Or at least say they do.

Perhaps too much "get along" and not enough signs of clear-cut independence.

Apparently, as the vote showed, I wasn't alone in my intuition.

Murray's rhetorical question towards the end of the campaign about why he would spend so much money for a part-time job really hit home with a lot of voters I spoke with, too.
Even ones in his redoubt of Hollywood who had voted for Saltrick in the primary.

Meanwhile, Murray's stated position that her work experience gave her a clear insight into the system's bloat, as well as ideas as to where the bodies were hidden, resonated with voters.

She deserves the chance to use her new position on the Board to do more digging and make those sorts of arguments from the dais, and make the relevant information/policies public before the Broward School Board gets one more cent.

With the exception of Murray, the existing Board members seem to be Educrats in complete denial about how bad most of even the "average" schools are in their system.

Even worse, they seem to fundamentally misunderstand what a deal-breaker that sort of pronounced mediocrity -and inability to effectively deal with crime- is for many companies and individuals/families who are genuinely interested in relocating down here, even after they get over the unjustified housing costs.

And incidents like the one this spot-on Glenna Milberg story from the end of November highlights,
about an incident in Hallandale, only make their apathy and unwillingness to re-examine existing policies look more stark and pathetic.
16-Year-Old Accused Of Bringing Knives To School, 20 Students Expelled For Weapons This Year POSTED: 6:11 pm EST November 24, 2008
Video at http://www.local10.com/news/18053278/detail.html

Sunshine or not, the combination of high housing costs and mediocre, crime-plagued schools is a deal breaker!

The School Board needs to accept that reality, and stop making the same bad mistakes and political arguments, over-and-over, and move on to changing the dynamic with tangible results and less flippant chatter from the likes of Beverly Gallagher.

Until then, save Murray, they simply aren't trustworthy -period.

For more, see this post from the Herald's Naked Politics about my email and post of August 12th
Broward blogger complains about school campaign against amendments 5, 7 and 9
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2008/08/broward-blogger.html

It was written after having seen the School Board's website and reading this August 12th post:
School Board member starts political action committee
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2008/08/school_board_member_starts_political_action_committee.html#more