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

Darrell Issa, GOP’s New House Oversight Chair, Asks Businesses Which Regulations Burden Them; where's the replication in Hallandale Beach, Broward?

My comments follow this interesting ProPublica story from last Tuesday that I had originally meant to post and comment on before the end of the week, some of which were shared via an email last Wednesday to the Usual Suspects on my email list.
This is an expanded version of that.

GOP's New Oversight Chair Asks Businesses Which Regulations Burden Them
by Marian Wang
A letter from Rep. Darrell Issa asks businesses and trade groups to help identify regulations his Oversight committee should target.

Because of my delay in posting it, it has since been updated, which is the version below.

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ProPublica http://www.propublica.org/

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=B8tYkNV9BxbjLsyaILpmm1BNoB8NYXjY

GOP’s New Oversight Chair Asks Businesses Which Regulations Burden Them

by Marian Wang ProPublica, Jan. 4, 2011, 12:31 p.m.

1/6: This post has been updated.

We’ve noted that many of the incoming Republican chairs of powerful House committees have criticized the Obama administration’s “job-killing [1]” regulation of the financial and energy sectors, among others.

One of these, Rep. Darrell Issa, has sent letters to more than 150 businesses, trade groups and think tanks calling for their input on which regulations are burdening them and hurting jobs [2], Politico reports. From the text of the letter [3], which NBC has posted:

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is examining existing and proposed regulations that negatively impact the economy and jobs.

In fiscal year 2010, federal agencies promulgated 43 major new regulations. These regulations ranged from new limits on “effluent” discharges to new rules for Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations. The new limits on “effluent” discharges from construction sites will cost $810.8 million annually resulting in the closure of 147 construction firms and the loss of 7,257 jobs. In total, the administration estimated the cost, often referred to as the hidden tax, of the 43 new regulations to be approximately $28 billion, the highest single year increase in estimated burden on record, resulting in thousands of lost jobs. This new burden is on top of the $1.75 trillion estimated burden of existing regulations.

As a trade organization comprised of members that must comply with the regulatory state, I ask for your assistance in identifying existing and proposed regulations that have negatively impacted job growth in your members’ industry. Additionally, suggestions on reforming identified regulations and the rulemaking process would be appreciated. Please submit your response as soon as possible, preferably before January 10, 2010. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact my office at ...

The National Association of Manufacturers and the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association, two groups that received letters, told Politico that in their responses to Issa they pointed to new EPA greenhouse gas rules as an example of burdensome regulation.

As we’ve written, since being named as the incoming chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Issa has sought to allay fears that he will use his new position—which includes subpoena authority—to initiate partisan investigations [4]. He’s already requested information from many administration officials as well.

“Asking a question shouldn’t be labeled as partisan or political,” his spokesman told Politico. He also said that with their letters soliciting feedback on regulation, “[it] was a broad net that we cast.”

Update: The Hill has posted the full list [5]of recipients of businesses and groups that received Issa's letters.

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Far from the sand and surf and perpetual automobile gridlock of Hallandale Beach, a very sharp congressman from SoCal named Darrell Issa, someone who's familiar with all three in his northern San Diego district, and who became a multi-millionaire thru marrying a quality product, marketing savvy and high-technology -Viper car alarms- is asking some very reasonable questions in his role as the new head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

But first, the obligatory back-story: When I first moved to D.C., in those pre-Internet days, one of my best and closest friends was a staffer for that particular Comm. when John Conyers was the voluble Chairman, a man with a knack for getting in the national spotlight.

Sometimes, if I had the time, I'd agree to go with her into her office on Saturdays to help her catch-up on work and make sense of things, since that particular high-profile Comm. was constantly being deluged with requests for materials, like testimony from a hearing, that reporters and columnists and TV networks from all over the country wanted.
But mostly reporters, editors and produccers within the Beltway.

Those Saturday mornings of coffee and bagels and CNN in the background, with she and I walking round and round a large conference table with dozens of envelopes laid out on it with the individual reporter's info request on a Post It, and plopping-down whatever they needed, seem rather quaint now, since it could all be done in seconds digitally.

Obviously, much of our banter centered on our own lives and what was going on in town politically, but as you'd guess, it also included her giving me the low-down on which reporters we were helping out were friendly and professional, and who was not.
Over the years, her diagnosis was close to 100%, as I met many of those very same people in work-related or social situations.

(Sometimes, during the summer, after our mail distribution project and whatever else on Capitol Hill was history, we'd head over to the large apt. complex of a mutual friend in N.W. Washington that hosted one of the greatest summer pool scenes in the area.
Sometimes, even epic to be honest.

The only problem -if you can call it that- was that my Congressional staffer 'friend' was very
good-looking, esp. in a bikini. Normally, you wouldn't think that would be a problem, and it never had been before, but.. I came to realize over time that because she and I spent so much time together in and around the pool, I was never going to ever meet any interesting women there, even though they were, quite literally, everywhere.
All because of appearances, i.e. her knock-out good-looks and the first impression appearance that she and I were more than just friends.

I know this because more than once, when I'd get up to grab a Coke from the vending machjne nearby, or while by myself at the deep-end of the pool, hanging on the side, just relaxing, whether to actually find out some intel or merely just a harmless meaningless remark, an attractive woman would say to me, "So, is your girlfriend here today?"

When I'd reply, "Oh, you mean X, she's not my girlfriend, she's just a close friend," I guess I wasn't too convincing, because they seemed disinclined to believe the truth.
Apparently all those hours of us talking and being like book-ends in the pool had led to, well, misconceptions. Ladies and gentlemen, let's just say that that chapter of the book ought to be called "When your friend's beauty kills the best laid summer plans!)

When X took off on vacation in the summer, she was kind enough to let me drive her very sporty car. You know, to keep it in good condition!

I was only too happy to oblige her by driving up to Camden Yards on weekends for Oriole games -instead of taking the MARC baseball train from Union Station- or drive over to Annapolis with a date on the Chesapeake.
Those were the days!
End of back-story

To me, one of the great things about Issa, compared to many other congressmen, and GOP congressmen in particular, is that he's never forgotten his roots, when nobody wanted to help him, or the red-tape he dealt with when first starting his company.

He hates red-tape but he also hates business people who talk in generalities -and has little regard for execs born with a silver spoon- so the idea that he is in a key position to tell many well-known American businesses who have complained for years about red-tape of one sort or another, to finally be specific or shut the hell up, is great news for taxpayers and small business owners who aren't cronies of pols or officials in their city, as is the case here in
Hallandale Beach.

Speaking of HB, Issa was the person who personally bankrolled the beginning of the successful recall effort in 2003 against Calif. Gov. Gray Davis.
Hmm-m-m... speaking of recalls, I'll soon have some news about the possibility of one here in the coming months.

He is being very clear -identify what specific rules or regs are problematic to them.
Now if their business is poorly run and not delivering a good quality product or service to consumers at a price they can afford, I think we'd all agree that the regulations are the least of the problems.
But if they're doing what they need to do to remain competitive, well, then, it'll get very, very interesting, and we all benefit from hearing the unvarnished truth.

The recent meeting I attended on the discontent on Fashion Row in HB revealed to me the the true level of the city's myopia with burdening businesses with the most ridiculous rules -practically inviting them to leave the city .

Hallandale Beach City Hall's chronic inability to accept their fair share of the blame for how things are going in this city, much less, show some common sense, was demonstrated over-and-over again.

I wish we could see something like Issa's effort replicated here in Hallandale Beach and Broward County in general, where a public forum could be held to find out what are the most consistently contentious items of disagreement, and why are certain businesses/entities seemingly allowed to violate code compliance -and common sense- for years.

And why the city itself is one of the very worst offenders, something that is self-evident to anyone paying close attention.
Like yours truly.


South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2010-12-31/news/fl-cn-fashion-0102-20101231_1_business-owners-paint-fashion-row-district

Hallandale Beach working to boost Fashion Row District
By Sergy Odiduro
December 31, 2010

After years of wrangling with Hallandale Beach, Michele Lazarow is finally going to paint her building purple.

"For years I have been trying to paint my building. I gave up and then I thought I would paint a mural," said Lazarow, owner of a clothing and accessories boutique in the Fashion Row District, which is situated along Northeast First and Second avenues, north of Hallandale Beach Boulevard.

She told officials at a recent meeting that she struggles to boost her store's visibility while adhering to city codes, and that she often received conflicting information.

"I felt like my head was going to explode," she said.

City officials are now reaching out to business owners like her.

"We have met with the Fashion Row District to get some of their concerns," said Liza Torres, manager of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. "We want to create a district committee to present their priorities and goals so that we can bring it back to the commission."

At the meeting, a range of planned improvements for the area was discussed, including creating a two-way street and increased police patrols. Also discussed were expedited permitting and commercial loans and grants offered by the CRA.

Participants were urged to fill out a survey ranking goals for the district, including landscaping, increased public parking and signage improvements.

Mayor Joy Cooper said the outreach is part of an overall strategy to jumpstart the area.

"We want to make it a fun and funky district where there is entertainment and shopping, creativity and artists, and bring it back to what it used to be during its heyday, but with a little bit of edge," she said.

The district, formed in the 1960s, was a haven for tourists and bargain hunters who sought out trendy and unique clothing and accessories. But the rise of nearby shopping malls and large retail stores have hurt the area.

Some merchants said that dealing with a labyrinth of city codes and regulations has hurt their competitiveness.

"They talk a lot about beautifying the area, but there aren't enough business owners on the board to push the businesses' agenda," Josh Glansberg said. "There are so many rules and regulations, and they are so unclear that the people that are enforcing them don't even know what they are."

Sue Gordon, who has operated a business in the area for more than 30 years, was cautiously optimistic after the meeting.

Another piece of Deutsch's Ben Gamla in HB puzzle -Keep costs low and give enough people outside HB what they want so you can laugh at HB residents

This post below, on the website of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, was among Sunday's Google Alerts for "Ben Gamla" that I received.

Similar to dozens of others in thought and scope that I've seen and received the past two years in that they put the lie to Peter Deutsch's contention that he is not trying to go after the religious schools.

He is, he just realizes that he doesn't have to actually say it himself, since the parents will come to this realization by themselves, when they see something education-wise they can live with.

Just think how very different the tenor would be here now if Deutsch, rather than adopt the bullying, scorched earth approach he's used here, where he openly castigates and maligns HB citizens and publicly dares the city's elected officials to stop him, he'd come to the community 2 years ago and said simply,

"What would YOU like to see in Hallandale Beach in the way of educational alternatives to help HB kids?
In an area that could use an economic jolt?"

But that's not his style or personality, either now or while he was in Congress.
After all, he once famously hired a Harvard college student as his Chief of Staff for his Washington office.
Not a Harvard graduate, a Harvard student.

(That this fact has been completely forgotten by the South Florida news media bringing up Allen West's here-and-gone choice for Chief-of-Staff this week, surprises me... not at all.)

His move really riled Floridians living and working up in D.C. -esp. on the Hill, at the law firms and at Think Tanks- like someone taking a baseball bat to a bee hive, and then standing around to admire what they did, knowing that someone would notice.
That it was a dumb move hardly mattered.

I know this because I was living and working in Washington at the time, and not surprisingly, knew lots of people from all parts of Florida with all sorts of positions in town, high and low, Democratic and Republican.

You won't be shocked to hear that they all thought this hiring of his did nothing to improve his longstanding rep for stand-offishness and grandstanding of a sort that embarrasses, yes, even other pols.
Deutsch didn't care what others thought, not even his own constituents.

Then as now, Deutsch dares and he bluffs and calculates that nobody will call him on it , or put real resources or money into the fight, whatever the fight happens to be about.
That's how he's gotten to this point.

And from his p.o.v., why should he change now for the sensibilities of Hallandale Beach residents who, rightly, feel angry, dis-respected and ignored even BEFORE a final decision is made by the City Commission?

I've said what seems like a million times before, here in emails and on my blog, that Peter Deutsch doesn't care what you think or feel or say.
Now, people actually see that's true.

He thinks, quite naturally, that this Ben Gamla plan of his is a ridiculous franchise idea whose time has finally come, just like McDonald's.
(Except he and his colleagues own all the franchises.)

Keep your costs low and give enough people whaty they want that you can laugh at all the others.
Laugh all the way to the bank.

Like Henry Ford and his 'Model T' -he'd give you any color you wanted as long as you wanted black- Deutsch realizes that he genuinely DOESN'T have to be either reasonable or fair-minded, he just has to be determined to be stubborn, which, in his case, comes naturally.

Peter Deutsch fully expects the HB City Commission to cave-in to his demands, and really, given what everyone here has seen of them, why shouldn't he think this?
Profiles in Courage they aren't.
Backbones are, indeed, at a premium.

That's our community's collective tragedy, but Peter Deutsch's business opportunity.

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Charter Schools Can Reinvigorate the Movement

by Rabbi Paul Plotkin

There is a joke that asks what is the most effective form of birth control in the observant Jewish world.

The answer? Day school tuition.

The cost of raising a family seriously committed to a Jewish life is becoming prohibitive. Jewish day schools report declining enrollments and increased requests for financial assistance; in some communities three children in grammar school can cost more than $60,000 a year. Then there are synagogue dues, JCC dues, tzedakah donations, and Jewish summer camp fees. We are in danger of allowing Judaism to become available only to the wealthy.

Read the rest at:

http://www.uscj.org/Charter_Schools_Can_8504.html

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel

www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/hallandale/fl-cn-bengamla-1114-20101113,0,2837479.story

Proposed charter school divides the community

By Sergy Odiduro, Forum Publishing Group

November 13, 2010

More traffic, more noise, more pollution in a small neighborhood with an already-strained infrastructure.

Some Hallandale Beach residents say that's exactly what they are expecting if the city approves Ben Gamla, a proposed Hebrew-English charter school.

They voiced their opinions at a recent community meeting at the city's Cultural Community Center to discuss the project, alongside others who think the school would be a welcome addition.

Margaret Schorr said there are limited educational opportunities in the city.

"A school like this in the area can only enhance Hallandale," she said.

The school, slated to serve 600 students in grades 7-12, would operate out of the Hallandale Jewish Center, 416 NE Eighth Ave.

Peter Deutsch, a former U.S. congressman, founded the first Ben Gamla site in 2007 amid controversy over whether it would be a religious school.

School district officials approved the courses, and Deutsch has moved on with expansion plans that include locations in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Deutsch said city staff has concluded that there is capacity on Eighth Avenue for this project, and traffic should not be a concern.

Some residents were skeptical, however.

"This is a rainy afternoon," Cynthia Cabrera said as she held up a large photo of a flooded street. "Why are you pushing so hard to have a school on a street where the infrastructure is so poor?"

Some at the meeting questioned whether those who spoke out in favor were actually from the neighborhood.

"How many parents are receiving volunteer hours for attending this meeting?" asked Josephine Alongi, who smiled when several people raised their hands.

Sharon Miller, principal at the school's Hollywood location, confirmed that some parents will receive volunteer hours for attending.

"Meetings that parents can earn volunteer hours include PTO, student advisory committee and monthly parent workshops," she said. "If there are meetings that pertain to our school, and the high school pertains to the growth of our organization, parents will receive volunteer hours for their attendance."

Mitchel Levin, who supports the school, said it could be a boon to the area.

"Don't close your mind to this," he said. "Six-hundred families will be spending their money here."

Barbara Southwick, who serves on the city's education advisory board, was opposed.

"The nature of Ben Gamla will not draw our most financially, educationally and environmentally deprived, which was the original concept of charter schools," she said. "Since schools are paid through your taxes per pupil, our public schools suffer when we fund such a specialized school."

Catherine Kim Owens, who also serves on the board, cited the small percentage of black students at Ben Gamla's Hollywood location.

"Obviously, this is not an inclusive school for all of the community," she said.

Deutsch refuted that categorization.

"We make an effort to recruit [a diverse student body]," he said. "We reach out to political leaders and church leaders. We advertise in Creole and Spanish. We make an effort, but we can't make someone come to our school."

Owens said residents would continue to fight the proposal.

"They told me the Diplomat [hotel expansion proposal] was a done deal, but this community showed those powerful lobbyists and politicians what grassroots movement voters can do," she said. "This Ben Gamla school is another example of a powerful ex-politician and well-heeled friends trying to shoehorn into a tiny area an over-the-top development at the expense of 10- to 50-year residents."

Why is Hallandale Beach City Hall allowing Peter Deutsch's REQUIRED Ben Gamla public meeting at a religious facility, instead of HB Cultural Center?

Peter Deutsch desperately wants to make the facility above another campus of his Ben Gamla Charter Hebrew School empire, for which he and his financial partners will be paid over $2 million a year by the Broward County School system if the HB City Comm. gives him the zoning variance he needs to build the K-12 project in that quiet single-family home neighborhood.
April 30, 2010 photos of Hallandale Jewish Center by South Beach Hoosier

Last Thursday, April 29th, I sent out an email around the area saying the following:
By 5 p.m. Friday, this community's citizens ought to demand an official explanation from HB City Manager Mike Good on why he has okayed a REQUIRED public information meeting on May 6th for Ben Gamla Charter School at the Hallandale Jewish Center, instead of at the much-larger city-run HB Cultural Center, like every other single developer or project has been required to do.
Why the special treatment for former Congressman Peter Deutsch?

And why were they NOT required to run a public notice for their required information meeting in the Herald like the Diplomat was last year, below?
Again, why the special treatment?


This was published in the Miami Herald on 10/25/2009

These questions about special treatment afforded Peter Deutsch and the Ben Gamla Charter School proposal are not just ones that are percolating inside of my head, but also in the heads of many other concerned Hallandale Beach citizen taxpayers, who are not at all happy with the way this process has been handled, going back to last year.

It's an especially relevant question after what the community witnessed by Deutsch and his associates last year.

First, their rather creepy self-evident behavior at the HJC, when after being greatly surprised at the number of people attending who were opposed to their project -for a VERY POORLY noticed public meeting that the City of Hallandale Beach all but winked at- the Ben Gamla people intentionally played around with the building's air conditioning in order to make it so hot and miserable that opponents would start leaving.
Talk about an unfair home advantage!

An eyewitness to this is a friend of mine and was standing right next to HB City Manager Mike Good at the time and pointed it out to him.
I'm further told that even Good seemed somewhat shocked they'd be so obvious about what they were trying to accomplish.

I don't believe this location decision on the information meeting is appropriate, and think it sets a very bad precedent for all sorts of logical and legal reasons.

It seems that in Coral Gables, regardless of whatever other problems they may have at City Hall, they seem to prefer required public information meetings on Charter schools actually be held on neutral city property, NOT religious property.
We should follow suit.

Miami Herald
April 28, 2010
POSTPONED: Charter school meeting moved to May 7
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/28/1602750/postponed-charter-school-meeting.html

The last time this Ben Gamla proposal was in the news was five months ago, in early December.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Ben Gamla Charter School proposed for Hallandale Beach
By Sergy Odiduro South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 6, 2009

A proposed charter school in Hallandale Beach is getting the cold shoulder from some residents.

Those opposed to the Ben Gamla Charter School are hoping that Peter Deutsch, the founder and former U.S. congressman, will seek an alternate site.

"We understand that Mr. Deutsch is very enthusiastic about his project, but we just don't think this is a good area," said Gerry Brady.

Brady joined a roomful of residents who voiced their disapproval during a recent meeting hosted by Commissioner Keith London at the Hallandale Beach Cultural Community Center.

London said one of the goals of the meeting was to provide answers to some of the community's questions.

"This was a unique opportunity to come face to face with the developer," he said.

The often-contentious exchange left some people calling out their complaints, including one woman who worried about all the noise it would cause.

"My bedroom window is just seven feet from where all this action is going to take place," she said.

Deutsch is hoping to move the school into the Hallandale Jewish Center at 416 NE Eighth Ave.

Ed Napolitano is convinced this is a ruse for taxpayers to foot the bill for a religious school using public funding.

"They're trying to use this charter school nonsense as a loophole," he said.

Others worried over the increased traffic they say would be brought to the area.

"This is a nice quiet neighborhood," said Etty Sims. "We already have the traffic coming in from the racetracks."

Deutsch countered by saying that he's revised plans submitted to the city in order to address residents' concerns.

"This is a plan that is in response to what the neighborhood wanted," he said. "I think that we have made pretty significant changes. We have decreased the number of students from [852] to 600. We're also going to put up a 6-foot solid wall plus landscaping to separate the property from the homes."

Traffic, he added, will be mitigated by the smaller number of students and by rotating dismissal times.

"Theoretically, there should never be cars waiting in the road to get into the school, he said.

He was emphatic in saying that it is not a religious school.

"This is not a Jewish school," he said. "This is a dual-language Hebrew English school. We cannot be a Jewish school. That would be illegal ... and if we did anything illegal, we would be shut down. Period."

This is not the first time Deutsch has had to answer questions about Ben Gamla.

In 2007, when he launched the first Ben Gamla charter school in Hollywood, he faced opposition, and school district officials temporarily suspended Hebrew lessons while they sent in experts to scrutinize the curriculum.

After several revisions, the board unanimously approved the lesson plans, paving the way for the school to flourish. Ben Gamla in Hollywood now has a waiting list to enroll.

Since then, Deutsch has seized the opportunity, announcing plans for additional locations in Miami-Dade and Broward.

Some Hallandale residents, however, were not convinced.

"It's like a David and Goliath type of issue here," said Jacqueline Crucet. "Peter Deutsch knows politics. We're all working-class, middle-class folks who have to get educated on the system and how it works and on the issue itself. We've made public statements at commission meetings. We've organized together. ... We want to at least go down fighting on it."

"If [a commissioner] votes for this, I am voting against them in the next election," Brady said. "That's not a threat. That's a promise."

-------
For the record, I note that it was not until the October 2009 HB Planning & Zoning meeting that the city definitively stated for the record that the RAC's eastern border north of HBB was the West side of N.E. 8th Avenue, and so did NOT include the area across the street, adjacent to the Hallandale Jewish Center.

As that critical meeting on Thursday draws near, I'd like to share some well-chosen words on the Ben Gamla project, as well as on the supercilious antics of bully-boy Peter Deutsch, who really took his large ego and sense of entitlement into hyper-drive last year at one of Comm. Keith London's monthly Resident Forum meetings.

Deutsch publicly declared to the crowd that nobody-but-nobody in the city, county or state could stop him from getting what he wanted.

When an older gentleman at the meeting -where Deutsch spoke for about 80 minutes- asked Deutsch a question he didn't particularly care for, in front of a crowd of Hallandale Beach citizens he ought to have been trying to inform and charm, Deutsch responded by striking his classic bully posture, and actually had the nerve to mockingly ask the older HB resident just who he though he was to be asking him such a question.

Deutsch played the bombastic bully-card to the hilt, and, essentially dared HB residents to stop him, implying that it was already a 'done deal,' and actually saying that we were all powerless to stop him, as if Peter Deutsch and his investor pals were entitled to whatever they wanted in Hallandale Beach, while we get all the additional traffic -twice a day.

Sadly for us, this is YET ANOTHER instance where completely invisible School Board member Ann Murray's complete betrayal of her pro-reform campaign promises has real negative consequences for the community, just as is the case with HAAS, since from what I have been told by several people, Murray is NOT at all interested in opposing bully-boy Deutsch publicly in any way, shape or form.

If there is a bigger disappointment to me in Broward than Murray, I don't know whom that could be.
She is a complete empty-suit, mind and body.

Speaking of that meeting where Deutsch threatened hell and brimstone for anyone publicly opposing him, HB residents attending the meeting reacted VERY, VERY NEGATIVELY to Deutsch, as my cell phone and email inbox literally blew-up with more angry and outraged comments about that performance than any other single issue since I started my humble little blog.

In fact, a good friend's teenage daughter was so incredulous at what she'd seen, that days later, she actually felt the need to do an impression of Deutsch's tongue-lashing to that man to show how upset she was.

Seriously, how creepy do you have to be to get kids to immediately turn on you and size you up as a first-class bully and jerk the first time they ever see you?
Well, I guess we have our answer, no?

Like I've said so many times, in emails, on the blog and in personal conversations with some of you, when you really get right down to it, Peter Deutsch is really quite the insufferable bastard.

There's a reason that his reputation on Capitol Hill was what it was.
He is all about whatever is best for Peter Deutsch and his friends.
Period.
To him, you are nobody.

And if he has to threaten or sue to get his 852 students into that single-family HB neighborhood -and their parents cars, twice a day- he will do just that. Deutsch publicly dares anyone to stop him, and it's pretty clear to me from all the available evidence that Mayor Cooper has already caved-in on this issue.

In all sorts of important ways, starting last year when she continually showed her lack of proper preparation by repeating her nonsensical and inaccurate remarks about what form the school would take, grade-wise, and more importantly, on the actual number of proposed students, she showed me that she doesn't want to publicly challenge or anger Peter Deutsch.

Whether that's done for her future political purposes or not is a judgment you'll have to make on your own, but I already have my suspicions.

Regarding the problem of the 852 kids and their parents' cars that Peter Deutsch and Co. want to bring into a residential HB single-family neighborhood, I'm told that a P&Z meeting
on Ben Gamla will take place in June.

Everyone needs to know what sort of self-righteous jerk we're really dealing with, and what's at stake for this community, where there are practically no White students attending the high school bearing this city's name.

There's a very good reason why Peter Deutsch was among the least-liked FL elected officials in Washington while he and I were both living there.

Not just among my well-informed and opinionated friends who were also from Florida, and who worked on the Hill and throughout the federal agencies and interest groups, but among other FL reps, too.
People I'd regularly see at parties and functions pretty regularly.

In fact, he's the same guy who hired a Harvard college student to be his number one staffer in Washington, an AA, while the kid was still up at Cambridge.

That's how smug and condescending he is.

People on the Hill were aghast at that decision for many reasons, but they also knew that his volatile personality was such that he would never earn loyalty and thus a party leadership post, or become an important committee member, and so that hiring decision was seen for what it was,
Deutsch setting himself up for some other position on the political food chain.

Last spring, following an email that I sent around, I received a phone call about Ben Gamla's application in HB from Akilah Johnson, who wrote this blog post below, and most of the stuff on Ben Gamla the paper has written, ALL of which has been extremely positive, but without ever writing anything about ANY of our legitimate concerns in HB.

Since then, she has not returned any phone calls of mine, including the one I made filling her in on Peter Deutsch's really outrageous threats at Comm. London's December meeting, that so freaked everyone out.
Just something to think about when you read her articles and blog posts.

By the way, nobody has commented on her blog post on their Ed blog web page. You might want to consider doing that if you feel the urge.
Especially since Mayor Cooper has never held a city-wide forum or meeting of the City Commission on the sad state of education in this city since I returned to South Florida in Oct. of 2003.
Why not?

The high school has received poor grades two years in a row; is she waiting for three?
And lest you forget, the school also serves kids from Hollywood, whose parents surely must wonder what it takes for HB City Hall to get off their butt and get more involved in changing the mix of options for kids in the area.

From Sun-Sentinel's Education blog: http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/educationblog/ http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/educationblog/2009/11/hallandale_to_school_board_don.html

Hallandale to School Board: don't close our schools

Posted by Akilah Johnson
November 20, 2009

As it specifically affects the beleagured residents of Hallandale Beach, where the local public schools are poor-mediocre, where the rampant White/Middle Class Flight to other schools is common knowledge, the idea of telling HB taxpayers, parents and students who want REAL options -not marketing-driven educational choices which don't DIRECTLY
address the needs of the majority of HB kids- that Ben Gamla is an answer, is, in fact, an insult.

It's an insult to our fellow residents' ability to accurately see the unfortunate reality for what it is.

To me, the only thing that could be worse for HB's kids and taxpayers than Ben Gamla coming here, would be the creation of a Charter School directly run by the certified geniuses at HB City Hall, who prove their serial incompetency 24/7/365.

As opposed to the HB citizens who already live in the immediate area under consideration for the Ben Gamla Charter School, who would be forced to deal with that huge increase in daily traffic in their quiet family neighborhood if this got approved -and who will surely move out as many have already told me in private- consider how this looks if you're someone who currently lives out-of-state, and considering relocating and investing your family's financial future into a condo here, for example, over at The Beach Club, how does this educational environment sound for your kids?

On top of the city's already very unsatisfactory performance in doing the basics, I think I know what people from outside this area will think.

People who are used to normally-performing city services and normally-performing albeit not-perfect public schools, who expect, at a minimum, some public accountability from elected officials and govt. employees whose salaries they pay for, and hope that it'll even be better than whatever it is they used to live.
For them, Ben Gamla sounds like a deal-breaker.

Well, much as we might wish that it weren't so, that's our reality here in Hallandale Beach, isn't it?

As my friend Catherine wrote yesterday: Let’s get all of our community members out at this meeting and let them know how we feel about their wanting to add an additional 900+ cars to Atlantic Shores and 8^th Ave. Let’s not let Peter Deutsch & Gang dictate what they’re going to do in our neighborhood!

The meeting is Thursday at 6 p.m., 416 NE 8th Avenue


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Deutsch

Here's Ben Gamla's Wiki page -guess who's name doesn't appear? Peter Deutsch http://www.corporationwiki.com/Florida/Miami/the-national-ben-gamla-charter-school-foundation-3661040.aspx