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 

Lesson learned! A final slap in the face! How countless hours of hard work & persistence are rewarded by Broward School Board's Ann Murray

Below is a copy of an email I sent out late Monday night regarding what I believe is the incredibly shabby and disrespectful way my friend and fellow Hallandale Beach activist -and LONGTIME education volunteer- Catherine Kim Owens was treated within the past week by disreputable Broward School Board chair Ann Murray, the subject of so many blog posts here over the past few years -and never for a good reason.

For those of you who come to this blog often and pay attention, it's a sad and familiar refrain about what passes for the sorry state of education policy and community involvement in Broward County, where no good deed goes unpunished.

And who is the elected leader of this Crew?

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 WFOR-TV/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 in some fashion or another-more than thirty!- can be found here:

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

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If I can find the time, later today I will try to post on this post some of the many photos I snapped of Murray and Gottlieb at that Hollywood Beach meeting that my friends Catherine, Csaba Kulin and I all attended.

Broward County Schools' dysfunction junction continues to rile taxpayers, parents & pols in S.E. Broward County who want honest answers

July 13, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier of the Broward County Public Schools HQ in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Other than tap-dancing around the truth, what exactly is it that Broward School South Area Supt Joel Herbst is doing, and why is it that the Broward School system and the School Board remain unable to tell the truth and communicate effectively with taxpayers, parents and voters?

It just never ends with them.

First, how goes that search for a new Superintendent of Schools?

Well, according to their not-so-useful website:

Deadline for applications is August 16. The slate of semi-finalists will be presented to the Board on August 29 and finalists will be interviewed the week of September 12. The School Board is expected to make a selection at the conclusion of the process.

Or not.

Which is to say that just as I predicted here months ago, dear readers, despite having ample time to make some solid selections, they will NOT have someone in place by the time the new school year begins on August 22nd.

Maybe not even the first month of the new school year.

This inability to appreciate how this rolling-tumbleweed of a deadline looks to students, parents and taxpayers, who all have to meet deadlines, says a lot about who's running things.

And it only reminds me all over again that they need to select someone from outside of the state who has never heard of any of the sorry characters inhabiting that building.

Speaking of people who want to be Supt, or rather, who for now are publicly saying they don't want to seek it, late Monday night, a not-so-secret fact known to more than a few people hereabouts, finally came to light in a Sun-Sentinel story by Cara Fitzpatrick about some clearly unethical shenanigans that took place under Herbt's tenure as principal at South Plantation High School.

Unethical on its face, unethical when you think about it, and unethical when you get to know the facts about how long it was tolerated by people who should have known better.

Yet Herbst would have us believe he didn't know it was wrong.

Frankly, that sort of sheer stupidity is more than enough to dis-credit him for good in my book.

I wonder if Herbst mentioned this moral indiscretion of his to the FBI last year when they interviewed him about the longstanding culture of corruption in the Broward School system?

www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/plantation/fl-broward-schools-secret-fund-20110716,0,1046137.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

South Plantation High kept $200,000 a year in undisclosed fund

By Cara Fitzpatrick, Sun Sentinel

3:49 PM EDT, July 18, 2011

For at least a decade, principals at South Plantation High allowed hundreds of thousands of dollars in school funds to be diverted to an outside bank account, bypassing rules imposed by the Broward School District to safeguard its money from misuse.

In one flush year, records show more than $350,000 was in the account; in the last two years, it was $200,000 or more. The district's chief auditor, Patrick Reilly, called it a "clandestine bookkeeping operation," and said it paid for about $4,200 for Florida Marlins tickets, $4,450 for shoes and clothes for the baseball team, and $1,600 for a Back-to-School barbecue.

The school even had a $75,000 investment fund, not authorized by the district.

District auditors say it's possible other schools are using similar accounts. "We don't usually ask the question, 'Where's your other, second set of books?''' Reilly said.

The fund, which mixed some district money with fund-raising proceeds, was managed by the Parent Teacher Student Organization, a group outside the authority of district auditors. It was used for about three years by current principal David Basile, and from 2000 to 2006 by Joel Herbst, who is now an area superintendent supervising some principals.

Basile flagged the account to auditors last year after concerns were raised by the PTO president and it was later closed at Basile's request. He declined comment for this article.

Herbst said he wasn't aware the school's use of the account violated district and state policies.

"Certainly, if I was aware I would have immediately taken appropriate measures to correct the deficiency," Herbst wrote in an email to the Sun Sentinel.

Reilly, however, said principals receive ample training in how to manage school funds. Funneling money "outside" the school creates an opportunity for fraud — and makes it difficult to track, he said.

For instance, auditors can't tell who used the Florida Marlins tickets. And the $4,450 check for shoes and clothes went to a "guy in Stuart," violating district-approved vendor contracts, he said.

"Did it get to the kids? I don't know," Reilly said.

District officials aren't sure how long the practice existed. Auditors have been able to review only two complete years of records, though they say it dates back at least 10 years. Area Superintendent Desmond Blackburn put it at 19 years, according to district records.

Auditors only learned of the practice last year and have spent months trying to unravel how much money was spent and where, said Reilly.

Basile, who has been at the school about four years, told district officials he didn't realize the account was in violation of district and state policies. Herbst said it was used for "the welfare of the school" and in keeping with the philanthropic mission of the PTO.

But putting the school money in that account meant auditors could not track it. They only saw financial reports on accounts signed by the principal and school bookkeeper each month.

The PTO isn't obligated to give its records to the district. It filed financial papers as a nonprofit organization dating back to at least 2004, but those records don't clarify how the money was spent.

Auditors might not have discovered the fund at all if PTO president Kay Arnold hadn't raised concerns, prompting Basile to close it last July, Reilly said. Arnold couldn't be reached for comment, despite three phone calls.

Both Herbst and Basile have been honored by the district for excellence as principals. Herbst was named Principal of the Year during his tenure at South Plantation. Basile was a finalist for the award this year.

Neither Interim Superintendent Donnie Carter or school board members could be reached for comment, despite each receiving at least one phone call and email.

Auditors are expected to present their report to the School Board on Aug. 2.

Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.

Reader comments at:

http://discussions.sun-sentinel.com/20/soflanews/fl-broward-schools-secret-fund-20110716/10

To start with the most obvious education-related issue, what's the deal with the new un-named principal at Hallandale High School?

I'm really starting to get the impression that the new "cooperation" that we were all promised at the June 13th forum at the HB Cultural Center, by Herbst and Co. was just, a mirage.

Poof!

Now it's gone!

That meeting was years in the making, real YEARS, not metaphorical ones, and my friend and fellow HB resident Catherine Kim Owens of the Broward Schools Diversity Committee did a GREAT job of mobilizing people in the community to attend and was fair in moderating it.

A meeting that actually ran on-time and on-schedule, that rarest of things here in HB!

A meeting which, as we all know, in someone else's hands -I won't say her name- would have easily taken 2-3 times longer.

Yet a meeting that Hollywood-based Broward School Board members Ann Murray (District 1) and Jennifer Gottlieb, (At-Large), were no-shows at, even while At-Large member Robin Bartleman of Weston could make it.

Murray & Gottlieb?

Too busy.

Schedule conflicts, don't ya know!

Above and below, two checklists re progress mediating longstanding problems at Hallandale High School, from the Power Point presentation made during the forum.

June 13th, 2011 photos by South Beach Hoosier.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Officials update residents on the state of three Hallandale schools

July 15, 2011

By Sergy Odiduro, Forum Publishing Group

A recent community meeting updated residents on the conditions and academic progress at three Hallandale Beach schools.

Discussion at the meeting, sponsored by the Broward School Board's Diversity Committee, the Hallandale Beach Education Advisory Committee and the Hallandale High School Task Force, centered on the high school, Gulfstream Middle and Hallandale Elementary School.

Several administrators highlighted positive aspects at their schools, including Hallandale Elementary, which pointed to its nine-year record as an A school.

"I can tell you for sure our school is headed in the right direction," said Brian Kingsley, principal at Gulfstream Middle.

Hallandale High School also touted its successes, reporting that 99 percent of its 2011 class participated in the graduation ceremony.

Despite this, lingering questions remained about the condition of the school's facilities.

A report detailing a site visit made in December revealed the observations of the diversity committee, some of whom were upset over conditions at the school.

The report, which described "prolonged years of neglect and lack of resources" at Hallandale High, included pictures of missing portions of a ceiling with exposed plumbing in the boys' locker room, frayed power cords, torn chairs on weight equipment, outdated textbooks, and noted a "a strong odor upon entering the school building."

In response to the report, the school is undergoing a series of upgrades aimed at addressing the top 20 most-needed renovations suggested by the committee.

At the meeting, South Area Superintendent Joel Herbst outlined a number of projects at the school, including new computers, textbooks and novels, a new hydraulic lift for the automotive shop, refurbished bathrooms, and a remodeled boys' locker room.

James Sparks, a member of the diversity committee who voiced concerns about the condition of the softball field, said he wants progress to continue.

"I'm not asking for anything other than what we deserve. I have seen tremendous improvements, but why did it take so long?" he asked.

The Rev. Josh Brown, who graduated from Hallandale High in 1978 and whose daughter also graduated from there, wrangled with officials at the meeting over whether irrigation or drainage was an issue in flooding near the school.

"The school opened its doors in 1977. We are talking about issues that still have not been addressed," he said.

Catherine Kim Owens, co-chairwoman of the diversity committee, said she hopes the conversation with school officials will continue and that the only way to change conditions is by more parents getting involved.

"That's one of the reasons why I joined the diversity committee," she said. "We need to get involved if we are not happy with the facilities. Unless we speak up, we are not going to get heard."

Just to give you a little more idea of how the forum went and the community's dis-satisfaction, watch this Channel Ten news video from a month ago:

Channel 10 News

Parents Upset Over State Of S. Fla. High School,

Work To Be Done To Fix Decade's Worth Of Problems

by Baron James

POSTED: Tuesday, June 14, 2011,

UPDATED: 11:28 am EDT June 14, 2011

Story at http://www.local10.com/education/28228435/detail.html

Video at http://www.local10.com/video/28232462/index.html

So, is it that they have STILL not decided who it is yet, or, that they don't want, anyone to know who it is until they announce it officially this week, reportedly, Wednesday?

In some towns in this country, a new principal at an improving but still, admittedly, 'troubled' school, would be considered "news" and the local press corps would likely attend.

This part of South Florida is NOT one of those places, so if the School Board, in its infinte stupidity, is deliberately keeping us in the dark so they can have a surprise, they're only fooling themselves.

In the year 2011, nobody from the local news media will show-up at School Board HQ just to hear who the winner of their HS principal search is.

Which only gets to the dysfunctional, disconnected universe up there at Broward Schools HQ.

As I've said so many times on my blog, despite all their resources and personnel, Broward Schools and the School Board seemingly have no real sense of how to effectively communicate to parents and taxpayers in the year 2011, something made worse in our case by geography, since we are repped by the uncommunicative and invisible Ann Murray.

Just saying...

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Channel 10 News

Bob Norman's Blog

Superintendent Search: Joel Herbst Says He Won't Apply For Job

By Bob Norman

POSTED: Wednesday, June 22, 2011,

UPDATED: 1:28 pm EDT June 22, 2011

http://www.local10.com/bobnorman/28321408/detail.html

In case you didn't receive this article from me last week:

Washington Post: D.C. Public Schools fires 227 teachers for poor performance, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/more-than-200-dc-teachers-fired/2011/07/15/gIQADnTLGI_blog.html