Speaking of diversity and backsliding on ethics, Broward County School Board becoming an all-female enclave is NOT good news for concerned taxpayers & parents: expect even more micro-managing and time wasted on trivial matters made melodramatic because these particular people, literally, can't help but pander; Broward Schools Supt. Runcie in Hollywood on Thursday night at the Boulevard Heights Community Center

 

Speaking of diversity, as a result of last Tuesday's election results, the Broward County School Board will now be an all-female enclave: expect even more micro-managing and time wasted on trivial matters made melodramatic because these particular people, literally, can't help but pander; Broward Schools Supt. Robert W. Runcie to be in Hollywood on Thursday night at  Boulevard Heights Community Center

I was going to post this collection of news and tidbits last Friday afternoon but thought better of it since I thought few would see it then, and as you'll see, I'm glad I waited, since in the time since I first typed some of these words last Friday morning, I've already seen others in the community and in the press writing about the composition of the new School Board who, in my opinion, lack appreciation for why having an all-female School Board is not exactly reason for taxpayers or students to celebrate.

Based on my own observations and what others who are much closer to all things education in Broward County have shared with me about some of the people elected, I think Broward taxpayers and parents have good reason to be concerned about backsliding on ethics.

While I could always turn out to be wrong, my overall sense of things is that this new crew might not only be more spiteful than professional at times, and attempt to make far too many issues that come before them personal, but also indulge a bit too much in creating straw men for them to attack when the Board is being properly chastised by the public or the news media, or otherwise held to account for inaction or bad judgment or lack of fidelity to rules and procedures.

I also suspect that there will be more instances than perhaps need be when after talking for hours, Supt. Robert W. Runcie will say that it's time to stop the talking and time for voting and actions.
This particular crew seems destined to try to talk everything to death, as if that wasn't already enough of a problem with the current crew of characters.

As most of you already know by now, here's what happened last Tuesday:
District 4: Abby Freedman defeated Shelly Solomon
District 5: Rosalind Osgood defeated Torey Alston
At-Large District 8: Donna Korn defeated Franklin Sands
At-Large District 9: Robin Bartleman defeated Barbara Houston Wilson
http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/FL/Broward/42272/111826/en/summary.html#

Over the past 2-3 months of observing political campaigning all throughout Hallandale Beach -and Hollywood- such as it was, given that there were never any chance there'd be actual bona fide candidate debates of the sort that everyone here desperately wanted, owing largely to Mayor Joy Cooper, Comm. Anthony A. Sanders and former Comm. Bill Julian desperately NOT wanting to be a part of any event in the city that they could not control, where they'd be forced to answer pointed questions from well-informed citizens, I only once saw a re-elect Robin Bartleman yard sign in a HB resident's front yard.

As it happens, it was located in a front yard in Southwest HB of someone who also had one for do-nothing Comm. Sanders, so you can well imagine what I thought every time I drove past it,
just off of S.W. Third Street -it's not exactly the sort of illustrious company you'd necessarily choose to be associated with.

While I was certainly glad that Bartleman attended the educational forum in HB in June of 2011 on what was REALLY going on at Hallandale High School with respect to what the School Board was doing to remedy longstanding problems that led to a lawsuit that the School Board lost, a forum that my friend, Catherine Kim Owens hosted and superbly moderated, THE first such serious meeting on education in this city during the eight years that I'd lived here up to that point, despite how crucial that subject is in this community for reasons I've previously mentioned here -and yes, Ann Murray was a no-show at that meeting in HB (again) just like Jennifer Gottlieb was!- considering what I'd seen and read about Barteleman's involvement and performance during the disturbing Douglas High School cheerleading coach saga, I'm not sure if her winning was really such a great thing for Broward taxpayers and parents long term.

See my post on that subject from October 8th, titled,
Dynamite! Bob Norman adroitly uses facts and context to lower-the-boom on the Broward School Board for their abysmal handling of the purported Douglas H.S. cheerleader coach 'scandal" -and drops School Board member Katie Leach squarely on her head; One month before the election, docs show Donn Korn opponent Franklin Sands funds his race with lots of money from his stepson’s lobbying firm -shocker!; @mattgutmanABC
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/dynamite-bob-norman-adroitly-uses-facts.html

Last Wednesday I received the following message from the City of Hollywood with the subject header: Meet and Greet Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie

City of Hollywood residents and members of the community are invited to meet Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie on Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. at the Boulevard Heights Community Center, 6770 Garfield St. in Hollywood. Mr. Runcie will be available to answer questions from the public about local public schools and other education issues. Members of the public who are interested in attending and asking Mr. Runcie a question are encouraged to arrive early to fill out a question card. 

Light refreshments will be provided. 
For more information, contact Donna Green at hollyed1@aol.com.

I've now seen and heard Broward Schools Supt. Robert W. Runcie three times in person since he was hired by the Broward School Board -twice in Hollywood and once in Hallandale Beach.

(Surprise! Not present at that meeting in HB was School Board Chair Ann Murray, who is this area's representative on the Board, but whom as I've mentioned here so many times, has assiduously avoided showing her face in public in Hallandale Beach for well over a year.)

I've personally videotaped Runcie all three times -and have taken plenty of photos, too- though I've chosen not to post them here or on my YouTube Channel.

At this point, I feel fairly confident that I can tell what direction he's going to take a discussion based upon what the question posed to him is.
That's actually part of the problem -how the questions have so often been posed to him.

I don't know who first told told Mr. Runcie that the idea of having Broward taxpayers and parents write questions via index cards -read by someone else- was a great idea, but it's not.
I see it as both patronizing and condescending and it's precisely the sort of awkward attempt at (mis)communication that the Broward Schools needs to get away from -quick.

Mr. Runcie is very articulate and an agile conversationalist who can talk about a host of issues for long period of time if he wanted to.
He does not need -nor do taxpayers want to see- someone there as a handler, largely to translate what are almost always very understandable questions.

If I'm going to show up for something like this, I think I can also pretty well frame a relevant question for him in the hours and days leading up to the meeting. 
Maybe several, and having attended three of these before, I also know what NOT to ask.

For those folks who show up and can't ask a question in the form of a question, it's not my problem.
Everyone there can either laugh at them or ignore it, but I have to say that this notion that so many School employees are necessary to be present at these get-togethers, to form a phalanx of protection, is getting more preposterous with each passing meeting.
One person will do, nicely, thanks!

If you ask me, that same person could/should also pop a videocamera onto a tripod and point and then get out of the way.
That there hasn't been at least one person within the school system who had the common sense to tape the remarks he's made at any of the dozens of places he's been and put them online on a School system website or a YouTube Channel for taxpayers and parents to see, is ridiculous.
Not tape every meeting but at least one of them?

I seem to personally have more of them on DVDs near my computer than the entire Broward School system does.
What gives with all the continued indifference and half-assed effort?
Where are the signs of those positive changes we were promised? 

Some content originally contained in this post has been moved to: 
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/more-business-as-usual-at-broward.html
More business-as-usual at Broward School Board is NOT good news for students, parents or taxpayers; Why the need by Broward Schools officials to impose omertà on school volunteers in Broward?; the very curious Hallandale High School roof situation reveals much about School Board's culture; Why is South Florida news media largely ignoring Broward Schools Diversity Comm. and their Audit Comm.?

Days before school starts, Broward County has a rudderless & clueless education system on auto-pilot, and the mice just jumped ship...

RedBroward's video: Amateur tape of Channel 10's newscast with investigative reporter Bob Norman. August 2011.

http://youtu.be/kjFW2r5SvWs

Days before school starts, Broward County has a rudderless & clueless education system on auto-pilot, and the mice just jumped ship. It's time to re-think the idea that they are in any way Social Media/Tech. savvy... or competent.

Broward County School Board

K.C. Wright Administration Building,

600 SE 3rd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

(754) 321-0000

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Broward Schools, "We are Broward County Public Schools, the 6th Largest District in the Nation"

http://www.browardschools.com,

@browardschools,

http://twitter.com/#!/browardschools,

On June 20th they tweeted, "Follow BCPS This Summer on Twitter and Facebook"

http://www.browardschools.com/press/release.asp?press_id=1313

Following this Tweet they generated 3 more Tweets, the last one of which was on June 30th.

There was NOTHING in July or August.

Nothing about the resignations of School Board members Dave Thomas or Jennifer Gottlieb.

Really.

So, the very same well-paid people at Broward Schools who weren't smart enough to figure out a way to use the resources they already had at BECON TV to televise the INTEGRITY meetings on their own station -the resources and equipment that Broward taxpayers had already paid for!- a subject of several fact-filled blog posts here last year, and a station that appears on both cable and satellite, have now shown themselves to be completely incapable of competently using the Social Media they claim to be hip to in order to share the fact that suddenly, they were a Board of 7, not 9.

Monday, when you went to the Broward School Board's website and looked at their Press Release homepage, http://www.browardschools.com/press/, you would see for yourself that they STILL have nothing about the Thomas and Gottlieb resignations posted, days later.

Even though it's less than a week 'till school starts.

When you go to the school system's website, check the left corner links under News/Links and click "Ethics Panels."

Guess what you are directed to?

Instead of the county's homepage for INTEGRITY or whatever they're calling their feeble Ethics efforts these days, which would be the logical guess, you are instead sent to a fake education website full of ads. http://www.browardschoolsintegrity.org/

Surprise!!!

And not to sound heavy-handed or anything but there's a Twitter page for a kids show on BECON called Teen News.

Why? http://twitter.com/#!/browardteennews

Their last Tweet was September 2nd, almost a year ago.

Apparently someone named Jeb Brunt is in charge, but is it really too much to ask if this group or their Twitter feed

is really necessary in the year 2011, if they're so poorly organized that almost an entire year has gone by...

I think that's your clue that they are un-necessary.

It's time to eliminate extraneous and superfluous!

But then the School Board members themselves are hardly role models for Social Media as now-former At-Large School Board Jennifer Gottlieb so ably demonstrates.

She has authored a grand total of two Tweets in 29 months and her last one was in April 2009, 28 months ago.

http://twitter.com/#!/jenjengottlieb

I'm curious why her 147 Followers still, apparently, follow her if she can't figure out something to say in 28 months.

http://twitter.com/#!/jenjengottlieb/followers

isn't that kind of a sign that it's not really working out?

While she only has 6 Followers compared to Gottlieb's 147, At-Large School Board member member Robin Bartleman

http://twitter.com/#!/rbartleman at least writes more often...

Well, actually I don't know if she does or not since...

@rbartleman's Tweets are protected.

You'll excuse me for wondering just what the point is for an elected official like Bartleman to have a Twitter page, using her real name and her official School Board photo in a Social Media site, as well as a link to her School Board bio, but "protect" her Tweets on a site designed to share information.

It's like they're gold bars in her 'panic room' at home, and only her 6 pals, her BFFs, can see them /read them.

Seems sorta weird and about what you'd expect from a twenty-year old Rush Comm. Chair at a college sorority, but not what you expect in an elected public official.

(I dated a few of the former while at IU and was even friends with the President of PanHel, and they would've absolutely killed to have something like Twitter.

Instead, they had old-fashioned face-to-face meetings.)

If you want to have a Twitter page that you can share private information with your select circle of pals and don't want to send emails instead like most people, please DON'T use that official photo and don't link to the School Board website.

On a related matter, curious about why I never saw or heard anything in newspaper articles, blogs or on local TV newscasts about what the person who is supposed to be representing the pro-active voice of involved school parents thinks about what has been going on, I checked the website and Twitter page of the Broward County Council of PTAs, too.

BCCPTA is the parent 501(c)(3) non-profit for roughly 170-plus PTA groups throughout Broward County.

I found out that the president of that well-meaning group is named Linda Nestor and never having heard of her, I did a search to see what I could find out about her and what she and they have been saying of late about what's been going on this summer, with one scandal and embarrassing revelation after another dropping straight from the skies here, including the ones below.

Well, not surprisingly, being where we are, it's a deadly case of Pete and Repeat, if you're familiar with that conundrum.

BCCPTA

http://www.ptabroward.org/,

@BCCPTA Broward County, Florida,

http://twitter.com/#!/BCCPTA,

Their last tweet was on June 25th, six long weeks ago.

Hmm-m... has anything happened here with the School system since then?

I'd say yes, but she says no.

That's not a good sign.

Seriously, does anyone over at the K.C. Wright Bldg. or the supposed parent organizations know how to stay pro-active and focused like a laser beam, or in general, know what the hell they're doing?

It doesn't really seem that way to me or to the many people I know and respect who pay MUCH closer attention to the Broward County Schools.

In fact, the preponderance of the evidence to date suggests that a lot more resignations and firings are desperately needed here, because Broward County taxpayers are definitely NOT getting a dollar's worth of value for a dollar given to the Broward County Schools.

Just saying...

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It's Official: School Board Member Jennifer Gottlieb Resigns

By Bob Norman

POSTED: Friday, August 12, 2011

UPDATED: 9:41 pm EDT August 12, 2011

http://www.local10.com/bobnorman/28851873/detail.html

Bob Norman's Blog archive: http://www.local10.com/news/28120953/detail.html

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/education/fl-broward-school-maintenance-buildin20110814,0,1710879.story

The contract for the $5.2 million construction project expired 13 days after it was signed in 2008, but work has continued amid questions about whether the facility is even needed.

By Cara Fitzpatrick, SUN SENTINEL

August 15, 2011

For three years, the Broward School District has allowed work to proceed on a $5.2 million office building in Pembroke Pines, despite a deepening budget crisis that prompted at least one board member to question whether it was still needed.

Now the district has racked up $2 million in construction costs but has only an unfinished project, an expired contract and a potential legal and financial nightmare to show for it.

"We are stuck in a mess that should never have happened," said Nora Rupert, who unsuccessfully tried to persuade fellow board members in June to consider shelving the project.

In the two months since then, Royal Concrete Concepts, of West Palm Beach, performed about $514,000 in work on the project, or about a quarter of the total. The company has declined comment.

The project, which is near Stirling Road and SW 202 Avenue, has been planned for more than a decade, and the School Board approved a building contract for it in April 2008. District officials said the new offices would save about $608,000 a year by decreasing the time maintenance employees spent driving every day from other district offices to job sites.

But earlier this month, district auditors discovered the contract for the project expired just 13 days after it was approved. Despite that, about eight months later, district staff gave the company the green light to start working, issuing a "notice to proceed."

District officials said they aren't sure why the expired contract wasn't noticed before now but said they haven't yet paid most of the $2 million.

Without a valid contract, J. Paul Carland II, the district's general counsel, said Thursday the district could risk a lawsuit from Royal Concrete if it called off the project altogether. He said it was also difficult to keep building without a legal agreement to spell out the price, deadlines and responsibilities of the district and the company.

"We just have to scramble," Carland said.

Further complicating matters is how the project was financed, district officials say. The district used federal stimulus bonds, which can't be used for salaries or school maintenance projects. To switch to another project, the district likely would have to come up with another $2 million, said Omar Shim, the district's capital budget director.

Board member Ann Murray called the project a "total mess" that had been propelled by "gentlemen's agreements" rather than with valid contracts and other documents. District staff should have known there wasn't an up-to-date contract, she said.

"It's your job to sort this out," she told Interim Superintendent Donnie Carter at last Tuesday's meeting.

Carter, who declined an interview with the Sun Sentinel, put a temporary stop to work at the site last week. Tom Lindner, the district's construction chief, said the project has gone through at least four project managers.

District officials gave Royal Concrete the go-ahead in May to pour the foundation, level the property and start erecting pre-fabricated buildings for the maintenance offices, Lindner told board members Tuesday. He said the project proceeded slowly because the district first wanted to finish school construction.

District officials also wanted to be closer to finishing a neighboring project, a controversial $18 million bus depot with office space, a bus wash and fueling station. When that was first planned, district officials said the bus depot would cost about $4.5 million.

The district has used the site, at times, to store old buses. Lindner said the final building on the site is about 93 percent complete.

The price for the maintenance offices also has fluctuated. It was originally approved as a $4.8 million project. Lindner said he's not sure why the cost changed but said the district still plans to use both facilities.

Board member Patricia Good said at this point it's difficult to know what to do.

"Do you stop the project? Do you continue with the project? With what's been raised, I don't know," she said.

Reader comments at:

http://discussions.sun-sentinel.com/20/soflanews/fl-broward-school-maintenance-buildin20110814/10

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Jennifer Gottlieb resignation is proof that EVERYTHING surprises Ann Murray: the sunrise, her own shadow, gravity...

Looks like I may finally have some incentive to dig-up and post that video I shot of Jennifer Gottlieb and Ann Murray up in Hollywood Beach one night back in January, making one lame excuse after another, for the excesses at Beachside Montessori Village -and the school system- before many of the cliquish Montessori moms, who, you should know, think they are either the bee's knees or the cat's pajamas!

They are neither, just the sort of sycophants who swallowed their self-serving prattle and have been funding these two despite their dubious character and judgment..

The meeting that only Channel 7 News of the 4 English-speaking Miami TV News operations bothered to cover as mentioned here at the time, with then-7 News reporter Reed Cowan asking Ann Murray some tough questions.

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Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/12/2356823/broward-school-board-member-jennifer.html

Second Broward School Board Member steps down

School Board member Jennifer Gottlieb becomes the second person to resign from the nine-member board and the resignations come at a time when school is about to start in the troubled district.

BY LAURA FIGUEROA

August 13, 2011

Jennifer Gottlieb makes two.

Just before the Aug. 22 start of the school year, Gottlieb, a veteran member of the Broward School Board, notified Chairman Ben Williams that she is stepping down.

Gottlieb’s departure comes a day after freshman school board member Dave Thomas announced that he was leaving the board to focus on his wife’s health issues.

While she did not give a specific reason for her resignation, a formal letter of resignation would be forthcoming, Williams said in a phone interview.

“I was surprised that she was resigning, but we didn’t go into detail, “ Williams said.

Calls to Gottlieb’s cell and home phone numbers were not returned Friday.

Though rumors of Gottlieb’s eventual resignation had been swirling around, especially after Thomas’s announcement, many political insiders, education activists and those who serve on the board with her, say Gottlieb’s abrupt departure came as a surprise, especially since she just won another term on the board in a tight August 2010 race.

“That really floored me,” said school board member Ann Murray, when learning of Gottlieb’s resignation. “She’s done a great job. I’ve supported and admired her, and if this is based on what’s in the best interest of her family then I support her.”

Gottlieb, whose district covers much of Hollywood, has come under sharp criticism in the past year. While never naming her directly, a state grand jury report released in February blasted her for pushing for the construction of the Beachside Montessori School Village in Hollywood.

The $25 million K-8 center had been championed by Gottlieb, who said it was a way to replicate the successes of a similar charter school in Fort Lauderdale.

But, the grand jury report dubbed the Hollywood project as the “beachside boondoggle” and blasted it as “a microcosm of everything that is wrong with the Board and District.”

“Beachside cost the taxpayers over $25 million, including over $6 million in land acquisition, displaced dozens of residents, razed almost all of a local community park, and built in an area and a time where there was an abundance of empty elementary and middle school seats,” notes the grand jury report.

Gottlieb, a mother of two, who is married to Broward Court Judge Ken Gottlieb, got her start in education as a teacher at Dania Elementary School in Dania Beach. She also worked for the Broward Teachers Union as a government relations manager.

The union threw their support by Gottlieb when she ran for the board in September 2006, and she was able to defeat incumbent Darla L. Carter, who had served on the board for 10 years.

BTU President Pat Santeramo, said he was surprised by Gottlieb’s resignation, but also noted over the years the union’s relationship with their one-time ally grew distant. He cited Gottlieb’s support of former Superintendent Jim Notter’s calls for impasse during contract negotiations as a major reason for the rift.

Notter has resigned his superintendent post and the board is currently searching for someone to lead the country’s sixth largest district.

“As a former employee, she contributed a lot to building up the government relations between the two sides,” Santeramo said. “It’s unfortunate that over the past couple of years she lost her connection to her background in the classrooms.”

The two vacancies leave room for Republican Gov. Rick Scott to make board appointments in line with his conservative policies. Though the seats are non-partisan, Democrats have largely had a stronghold over the board.

“I have no doubt the governor is going to identify professional individuals who can continue the functions of a board member,” Williams said.

The board has many issues to deal with while awaiting Scott’s appointments, including the search for a school’s chief and the appropriate response to the critical grand jury report. Scott’s appointments are likely to take several weeks.

The board also is dealing with the fallout from charges of corruption against former board member Beverly Gallagher and Stephanie Kraft.

Gallagher was arrested in 2009 and is serving a three-year sentence in federal prison. Kraft who left last year, is under a corruption investigation by the Broward State Attorney's office.

Board member Robin Bartleman, who, like Gottlieb, fills a countywide at-large-seat on the dais, said the board could not let the resignations distract from the business at hand.

“There’s still seven of us,” Bartleman said. “We have to continue working on the budget, implementing new legislation, and making sure the doors open on the first day of school.”

Herald Staff Writer Patricia Mazzei contributed to this report

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http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-08-06/news/fl-broward-schools-overtime-20110806_1_highest-overtime-earners-bus-drivers-broward-school-district

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Despite budget woes, Broward schools continued to pay huge overtime

By Cara Fitzpatrick, Sun Sentinel

7:39 p.m. EDT, August 6, 2011

Even as it grappled with a $171 million shortfall, the Broward School District continued to pay some school employees more than three times the usual rate for driving an activities bus, cleaning or working in an after-school program.

Although district auditors recommended ending the practice about two years ago, Broward paid some employees with second jobs overtime at the hourly rate of their primary positions. That meant some staffers earned up to $48 an hour as bus drivers— jobs that typically pay $11.58 to $21.73 an hour. Others earned up to $38 an hour as custodians, a job that starts at $11.23 an hour.

Related

Watchdog reports: Are schools misspending taxpayer money?

But making a change is "not just a simple measure," said Gracie Diaz, associate superintendent of human resources. Most school employees with second jobs are entitled by federal labor law to the same rate as their primary position if the work duties are similar.

Only about 6 percent, or about 417 employees, could be paid the lower rate, she said.

Still, that would have saved about $200,000 a year, or about five new teachers' salaries, according to district officials.

Another suggestion by district auditors to eliminate a pay supplement for bus drivers would have saved about $1.5 million a year. But it has been ignored because it would require re-negotiating union contracts.

The latest audit of overtime pay was released on Aug. 2, the same day the School Board approved a tentative $2.9 billion budget that calls for increased class sizes, a reduction in the arts and the loss of about 2,400 jobs, many of them teachers on annual contracts.

"It shouldn't be two years to implement things from an audit," said board member Nora Rupert, who along with Laurie Rich Levinson voted against the budget. Jennifer Gottlieb was absent.

In the first three months of this year alone, Broward paid about $1.3 million in overtime to 6,946 school employees working second jobs in the district, auditors found.

And, while total overtime — about $3.7 million — went down during that period, overtime paid to employees with second jobs actually increased 33 percent, or about $310,000, according to auditors.

District auditors recommended in 2009 that overtime costs could be cut by hiring outside workers for some jobs, switching employees with second jobs to a lower hourly overtime rate and cutting the supplement for bus drivers.

Diaz said the overtime rates will be cut, but former Superintendent Jim Notter wanted to wait until the start of the new fiscal year, July 1, to lessen the effect on employees. The district also had to change its policies and payroll systems, which took time, she said.

The district hired about 907 outside workers last year, she said, but because of training issues it's not always as effective as using an existing employee. Those workers also are the first to be let go so laid-off district employees can have their jobs, she said.

Other auditor suggestions haven't been used.

Patrick Reilly, the district's chief auditor, said bus drivers were among the district's highest overtime earners, despite having lower base salaries than many other employee groups.

Drivers who have routes longer than six and a half hours are entitled by contract to an extra 30 minutes a day in pay to clean the buses and do paperwork, he said. But those duties already are included in their job descriptions and cutting the extra pay could save about $1.5 million a year.

Senior drivers are entitled by contract to first choice of routes with overtime, inflating the costs.

The transportation department is more than $50 million in the red, according to the district, and officials say they're looking into some cost-saving measures there.

Board member Ann Murray, who used to work in transportation, told Reilly to stop "badgering" departments where problems have already been identified. "It's easier to blame then fix sometimes," she said Tuesday.

But Rich Levinson said Friday the district can't wait for years to make changes.

"At all cost we need to protect our schools," she said.

Reader comments at:

http://discussions.sun-sentinel.com/20/soflanews/fl-broward-schools-overtime-20110806/10

Soon I'll be sharing some informed and uninformed thoughts on whom Gov. Rick Scott should consider appointing as interim members to the Broward County School Board.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: If defendant cages at trials are good enough for Mubarak, they're good enough for Dinnen, Gottlieb & Murray!

TimesCast | Mubarak's Trial Begins

By Anthony Shadid, August 3, 2011

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/08/03/multimedia/100000000981164/timescast-mubaraks-trial-begins.html

In Broward County, when the corrupt and unethical members of the Broward School Board gang finally get their overdue date with justice, the taxpayers will be screaming for blood in Fort Lauderdale on a street where the County Courthouse is but a block from the Broward County Schools HQ.

Now that's convenient!

Or, as they say on TV, great "optics."

I wonder if the three of them will go "Shabby Chic" in their furnishing in their defendant cages?

With their grand sense of entitlement, you know they'd try to charge the taxpayers for the furniture in their cage.

That's the despicable caliber of people we're talking about.

Unless they want to use some furniture from their second homes, but I suspect by then, that may already be held as prosecution's "evidence," if you know what I mean.

RedBroward video: At the August 2nd, 2011 Broward County School Board meeting, member Maureen Dinnen speaks and makes clear that she doesn't like public scrutiny by the local news media -and Channel 10's Bob Norman in particular- regarding the number of her relatives currently working for the Broward School system, or, as school-connected contractors. August 2, 2011. http://youtu.be/xt153Yf5Wmw

Me, I love the scrutiny!

The more intense, the better!

WPLG-TV/Channel 10 News

Bob Norman's Blog

A Response To Maureen Dinnen

By Bob Norman

POSTED: Friday, August 5, 2011

UPDATED: 10:17 am EDT August 6, 2011

http://www.local10.com/bobnorman/28779442/detail.html

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The predicate to the above:

UPDATED: Maureen Dinnen Breaks Silence On Local 10 Report

By Bob Norman

POSTED: Tuesday, August 2, 2011,

UPDATED: 5:05 pm EDT August 2, 2011, http://www.local10.com/bobnorman/28742464/detail.html

If defendant cages at court trials are good enough for Hosni Mubarak, they're good enough for Broward School Board's Crew of Dinnen, Gottlieb & Murray!

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Despite budget woes, Broward schools continued to pay huge overtime

By Cara Fitzpatrick, Sun Sentinel

7:39 p.m. EDT, August 6, 2011

Even as it grappled with a $171 million shortfall, the Broward School District continued to pay some school employees more than three times the usual rate for driving an activities bus, cleaning or working in an after-school program.

Although district auditors recommended ending the practice about two years ago, Broward paid some employees with second jobs overtime at the hourly rate of their primary positions. That meant some staffers earned up to $48 an hour as bus drivers— jobs that typically pay $11.58 to $21.73 an hour. Others earned up to $38 an hour as custodians, a job that starts at $11.23 an hour.

But making a change is "not just a simple measure," said Gracie Diaz, associate superintendent of human resources. Most school employees with second jobs are entitled by federal labor law to the same rate as their primary position if the work duties are similar.

Only about 6 percent, or about 417 employees, could be paid the lower rate, she said.

Still, that would have saved about $200,000 a year, or about five new teachers' salaries, according to district officials.

Another suggestion by district auditors to eliminate a pay supplement for bus drivers would have saved about $1.5 million a year. But it has been ignored because it would require re-negotiating union contracts.

The latest audit of overtime pay was released on Aug. 2, the same day the School Board approved a tentative $2.9 billion budget that calls for increased class sizes, a reduction in the arts and the loss of about 2,400 jobs, many of them teachers on annual contracts.

"It shouldn't be two years to implement things from an audit," said board member Nora Rupert, who along with Laurie Rich Levinson voted against the budget. Jennifer Gottlieb was absent.

In the first three months of this year alone, Broward paid about $1.3 million in overtime to 6,946 school employees working second jobs in the district, auditors found.

And, while total overtime — about $3.7 million — went down during that period, overtime paid to employees with second jobs actually increased 33 percent, or about $310,000, according to auditors.

District auditors recommended in 2009 that overtime costs could be cut by hiring outside workers for some jobs, switching employees with second jobs to a lower hourly overtime rate and cutting the supplement for bus drivers.

Diaz said the overtime rates will be cut, but former Superintendent Jim Notter wanted to wait until the start of the new fiscal year, July 1, to lessen the effect on employees. The district also had to change its policies and payroll systems, which took time, she said.

The district hired about 907 outside workers last year, she said, but because of training issues it's not always as effective as using an existing employee. Those workers also are the first to be let go so laid-off district employees can have their jobs, she said.

Other auditor suggestions haven't been used.

Patrick Reilly, the district's chief auditor, said bus drivers were among the district's highest overtime earners, despite having lower base salaries than many other employee groups.

Drivers who have routes longer than six and a half hours are entitled by contract to an extra 30 minutes a day in pay to clean the buses and do paperwork, he said. But those duties already are included in their job descriptions and cutting the extra pay could save about $1.5 million a year.

Senior drivers are entitled by contract to first choice of routes with overtime, inflating the costs.

The transportation department is more than $50 million in the red, according to the district, and officials say they're looking into some cost-saving measures there.

Board member Ann Murray, who used to work in transportation, told Reilly to stop "badgering" departments where problems have already been identified. "It's easier to blame then fix sometimes," she said Tuesday.

But Rich Levinson said Friday the district can't wait for years to make changes.

"At all cost we need to protect our schools," she said.

Two days earlier, in the Sun-Sentinel's Schools blog, Cara Fitzpatrick connected-the-dots in jaw-dropping fashion on how poorly served Broward taxpayers are by the elected School Board and its administrator minions.

I was tempted to post about this on Thursday after seeing it on my Blogger Dashboard Reading List just minutes after it went online, but I wanted to wait to see if there ended up being more to this story by the weekend.

Nope.

Still, it's as much of a public dissection of live people as you usually ever see in local South Florida journalism and it was as much-appreciated as it was long overdue!

Name names!!!

South Florida Schools blog

Leaving a message in the Broward School District

By Cara Fitzpatrick August 4, 2011 03:09 PM

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/educationblog/2011/08/broward_school_district_wants.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/world/middleeast/05egypt.html

Bob Norman's Blog archives:

http://www.local10.com/news/28120953/detail.html

http://www.youtube.com/user/REDBROWARD

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...

-----

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

Ann Murray being Ann Murray? That's NEVER a good thing! Bob Norman asks if Ann Murray is "Targeting Whistleblower for Firing?"; Iceland inspires

Visit Iceland 2011
http://youtu.be/yz6GpX3_CQE

On a very warm and miserable day in South Florida with no breeze to speak of, there's nothing like a story from ace sleuth Bob Norman detailing even more of the sordid and slimey behavior that I (we've) come to expect from Ann Murray of the Broward School Board -who represents my corner of S.E. Broward- to make me feel like it's already the first week of August. Miserable, miserable August.

That time of the year where I have to go somewhere far cooler (in more ways than one) to chill out and recharge my batteries.
To get away from both dysfunctional South Florida and Dolphin head coach Tony Sparano's nonsensical annual training camp prattle about Chad Henne's great potential.

Someplace like Iceland?
Could be!

Inspired by Iceland Video from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

In case you missed it earlier, my own comments about the Broward School Board from earlier today are here:
Passing the hat, but ignoring what's in plain sight! Broward School Board's Community Budget Task Force meeting at 5 p.m.; equivocating Bartleman
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/passing-hat-but-ignoring-whats-in-plain.html

BrowardPalmBeach New Times
Daily Pulp
Is School Board Member Ann Murray Targeting Whistleblower for Firing?
By Bob Norman, Wed., Apr. 20 2011 @ 9:03AM

Broward School Board member Ann Murray claims she is trying to tighten the district's purse strings by laying off building inspectors.

Building inspector Michael Marchetti -- a whistleblower who exposed massive corruption by Murray's board -- told Murray during a meeting last week that she's on a "personal vendetta" to fire him. ​

Murray didn't answer Marchetti's charge, but I'm sure he's right.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/04/michael_marchetti_ann_murray.php




Yoko Ono - Inspired by Iceland (2010)
http://youtu.be/ABoAMKOPfBc

For more information:
www.inspiredbyiceland.com

http://www.icelandnaturally.com/

http://goiceland.org/usergallery/

http://www.icelandtouristboard.com/index.php?page=Dateline-April-2011