A Second Plea For Help From UTD

September 23,2017
Dear Karla Hernandez Mats,
Hello, my name is Bill Detzner, employee 146782. Last spring, I wrote you a letter detailing the serious violations of the contract rights of UTD members at Neva King Cooper (NKC) School that have been going on at NKC for the last FIVE YEARS. When I did not hear from you, I telephoned. You initially told me you never received my letter. However, when I told you I had a signed receipt for that letter, you quickly recalled (in detail) the contents of my letter. (Certified letters have a way of clarifying a person’s foggy memory.) You agreed to send the organizer (I believe her name is Caridad Pupo) to NKC to investigate alleged contract violations. When a few weeks passed, with no further word, I sent you an email asking if the UTD visit occurred. Your response was that the visit had taken place, and not a single UTD member at NKC expressed any unhappiness with the two NKC administrators. Considering the egregious contract violations both these administrators commit on a regular basis, and the atmosphere of great fear and anger that exists at NKC, I was flabbergasted to hear this.
Karla, not a single NKC employee that I spoke to was aware that Caridad Pupo (or any other UTD official) visited NKC during the spring of 2017. Can you please get some information from Ms. Pupo regarding her visit to NKC? On what day was she there? What was the total length of time of her visit? At what location on campus did her visit occur? Was there a Public Address (PA) announcement of her presence, her location, and the purpose of her visit? Was there any other notification given of her visit (such as a note in UTD members mail boxes, or a PA announcement by Mr. Brett Darwin Brown, the building steward?) Was Mr. Brown aware of Ms. Pupo’s visit?
In your email to me, Karla you seemed to suggest that UTD had visited NKC, and found no unhappy UTD members, and therefore UTD considers the matter closed. Ms. Hernandez Mats, I would be astonished if Ms. Pupo was able to find one single UTD member on the NKC campus who is not deeply afraid of, and very, very angry at both principal Dr. Tracy Roos and assistant principal Mrs. Alicia Fernandez. A little background information will clarify the situation.
During the 2011-2012 school year, the 2 previous NKC administrators were illegally removed from their posts prior to the end of the school year. I use the term illegally removed because in case DOAH 13-1492, the judge ruled that MDCPS was guilty of unlawful reprisal and abuse of power. Here are some (but certainly not all) of the contract violations of both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Alicia Fernandez.
Ms. Luz Morales, a 30- year member of UTD, was illegally terminated as a teacher on the recommendation of Dr. Roos. In case DOAH 145-2439, a judge ruled that Ms. Morales had been terminated without cause and ordered her reinstated. The MDCPS case against Ms. Morales was so pathetically weak that the district presented NO DEFENSE WHATSOEVER and presented NOT A SINGLE WITNESS, not even Dr. Roos, who recommended the termination. Ms. Morales, a former Teacher of the Year recipient, was unemployed, with almost no income, for almost an entire year. She suffered enormous stress and very nearly lost her home to foreclosure. Shockingly and appallingly, UTD did NOT file a grievance against Dr. Roos for terminating Ms. Morales on such flimsy grounds!!! Unfortunately, UTD’s failure gets even more stunning. The judge recommended that Ms. Morales be paid 100 % of the salary she forfeited during her illegal termination. The school district said that despite its illegal and indefensible actions against Ms. Morales, it would pay her only 50% of her forfeited salary. Appallingly, UTD did NOTHING WHATSOEVER to help this 30- year UTD member to secure the money she was cheated out of. Ms. Hernandez Mats, would you say this 30 -year member was treated fairly by UTD? Other than a calendar in the fall, do UTD members get anything for the over $800 union dues they pay every year?
Ms. Hernandez Mats, I have a question for you. Should courtesy and respect be extended only by teachers and paraprofessionals to administrators, or do administrators also have an obligation to extend courtesy and respect to teachers? I ask this question because for the last 5 years, courtesy and respect have been a one- way street at NKC. It is given by the terrified staff to the administration. Shamefully, the administration, for the last 5 years has chosen not to return that courtesy and respect to staff.
To obtain funding for my college education to become a teacher, I enlisted in the U.S. Army. The first task an army enlistee must successfully complete is called basic training. Basic training is designed to be very stressful, both physically and mentally. During basic training, myself and my fellow enlistees were often screamed at by army drill sergeants in a very disrespectful manner. However, the most prolonged and disrespectful screaming episode of my life did not occur during my military basic training. The loudest, most prolonged, intense, and insulting screaming episode where I was at the receiving end occurred in the spring of 2015. The person screaming at me was the assistant principal, Mrs. Alicia Fernandez. Mrs. Fernandez SCREAMED at me for 20 minutes! I literally was not allowed to speak. Every time I attempted to interject, Mrs. Fernandez shouted me down. The occasion of Mrs. Fernandez tirade was my teacher evaluation post observation chat. (I think “chat” is an ironic term for Mrs. Fernandez disgraceful and unprofessional behavior) Mrs. Fernandez observed me for merely 20 minutes, the bare minimum of time needed for an observation to be considered legal. The contract states that a teacher can fail his/her observation only if the observation lasts for the entire class period, but I guess the contract doesn’t mean much in “The People’s Republic” of NKC. To add insult to injury, Mrs. Fernandez was on her cell phone during almost the entire time of my observation, and made no attempt to hide her cell phone use from me. Ironically, Mrs. Fernandez told me that even though she had failed me, she felt I had presented an outstanding lesson! I am a previous Teacher of the Year recipient. In my 30 -year teaching career, this was the only time I failed my teacher observation. Just a few weeks prior to my failed teacher observation, I had engaged in the protected activity of appearing in court on behalf of Ms. Luz Morales at her termination appeal. The contract states that a teacher who fails an observation is entitled to a second observation. If he/she passes that second observation, the failing observation is voided in favor of the acceptable evaluation. The next day, Mrs. Fernandez again observed me and awarded me a satisfactory observation. (This happened on the very last day that an observation could legally take place during that school year.) Since I passed my second observation. Mrs. Fernandez was technically not in violation of the law against reprisals for engaging in protected activities (unless of course you consider the fact that she failed me after a 20-minute observation, she was on her cell phone for almost the entire length of my observation, and she screamed at me for20 minutes during my post observation “chat”) I again want to emphasize that Mrs. Fernandez screaming tirade was louder, longer, and more insulting than anything I ever experienced from army drill sergeants during basic training. I also want to emphasize that the stress I experienced during the 3 years when Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez were my NKC administrators FAR exceeded the stress I experienced during army boot camp. Dr. Roos is aware of Mrs. Fernandez egregious behavior during my failed observation because I gave her an 8-page written report of what transpired. I am including the letter I sent to Dr. Roos with this letter. Please share that letter with all the other stakeholders reading my letter to you. I was very disappointed but not at all surprised that neither Dr. Roos or Mrs. Fernandez ever offered me a word of apology for Mrs. Fernandez appalling behavior during my observation. I do not think it was an accident that Mrs. Fernandez failed me on my yearly teacher observation shortly after I engaged in a protected activity on behalf of Ms. Morales. Another NKC person who engaged in that protected activity was Mr. Brett Darwin Brown, the NKC building steward. Shortly after Mr.Brown’s court appearance on behalf of Ms. Morales, Dr. Roos claimed to have received one of her mysterious “anonymous” phone calls, telling Dr. Roos that Mr. Brown and his paraprofessionals were using a ruler to beat an unruly student in their classroom! (This is the one and only allegation of child abuse ever made against Mr. Brown, or his paraprofessionals.) Both Mr. Brown and myself felt this was the NKC administrators’ way of firing a warning shot across our bow, and informing us that legally protected activities don’t mean much in “The People’s Republic” of NKC. Vladimir Lenin once said that the object of terror is to create terror, and both NKC administrators have worked very hard (and successfully) over the past 5 years to create an atmosphere of terror at NKC. I am not the only staff member to have experienced Mrs. Fernandez towering rage. I know of two other NKC staff members (both are UTD members) who have experienced Mrs. Fernandez’ monumental screaming jags. One unfortunate soul has been the victim of Mrs. Fernandez screaming jags on two occasions. This gentleman has asked that his union steward be present for all future “chats” involving Mrs. Fernandez. I am not saying that Mrs. Fernandez has engaged in “only” four screaming jags against NKC staff who are UTD members. I am saying these are the 4 incidents I am aware of. If Ms. Pupo can screw up her courage, and venture back on the NKC campus (and make both her presence and the purpose of her visit known,) I suspect she will hear of other instances of Mrs. Fernandez and Dr. Roos out of control temper tantrums. (Although Dr. Roos seems to prefer allegedly physically assaulting NKC staff members.)
Ms. Hernandez Mats, here is another area of confusion you will hopefully be able to clear up for me. Does the contract state that administrators treat staff with courtesy and respect at ALL times, or only when witnesses are present? I ask this question because at NKC, staff who supported converting to a charter school are often shouted at, or spoken to disrespectfully if no witnesses are present. Throughout my entire 30-year career, school administrators addressed me as “Bill”, and I had no problem with this because my administrators and I had a relationship of mutual respect. However, Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez were so rude and disrespectful that I put it in writing that in the future I wished to be addressed as “Mr. Detzner” by both administrators.
I wish I could say that frequent disrespect and verbal abuse are the worst offenses NKC administrators commit against the staff. Regrettably, it is not. Ms. Hernandez Mats, this may come as a tremendous shock to you, but did you know that it is against the law for school administrators to physically assault their employees? This action is illegal even in “The People’s Republic” of MDCPS! I say this because Dr. Roos allegedly physically assaulted one of her employees, in her office, during school hours. Dr. Roos was allegedly being her usual self, shouting at the staff member and being insulting and verbally abusive. The employee had his/her head down and was meekly staring at the floor. Dr. Roos then allegedly seized the employee’s jaw in her (Dr. Roos) hand and jerked the employee’s head upward until the terrified employee was staring into Dr. Roos eyes. “Look at me when I am speaking to you”, Dr. Roos allegedly screamed at the employee. Regrettably, this person was not a UTD member. He/she never reported the incident to the internal investigative bodies of MDCPS, because he/she feared (probably correctly) that MDCPS would sweep his/ her assault under the rug, and then retaliate against him/her. In one of my two letters to Superintendent Carvalho, I asked him if he was comfortable with the fact that one of his employees, after being allegedly physically assaulted by a school principal, did not feel safe enough to report that incident to the MDCPS authorities. Mr. Carvalho never bothered to answer either of the two certified letters I sent him. This person has since transferred to another worksite and is still a MDCPS employee. This person might be willing to discuss the incident with a Federal labor law investigator, provided this investigator is able to protect him/her from retaliation by MDCPS. But I have digressed. The reason this alleged assault victim was not a member of UTD is because both the alleged physical assault victim and his/her spouse are MDCPS employees and their finances did not allow them both to be UTD members. Only the spouse who was NOT allegedly physically assaulted was a UTD member. I know this because the alleged assault victim told me of his/her situation when I was the UTD building steward at NKC. Perhaps the reason the alleged assault victim had no faith in the internal investigative bodies of MDCPS is because he/she observed what happened to another NKC staff member who was foolish enough to trust the above named investigative bodies. This other NKC employee forced MDCPS to open an investigation on Dr. Roos for alleged cheating by Dr. Roos on the Florida Alternate Assessment test. (I use the word forced because it took a great deal of effort on the part of this courageous NKC staff member to overcome the district’s repeated efforts to not conduct that investigation.) Sure enough, the MDCPS investigation absolved Dr. Roos of cheating on the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA). Sure enough, MDCPS did indeed appear to turn a blind eye as Dr. Roos appeared to retaliate against this staff person. In a period of under two months, both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez filed 7 charges against this staff person who had an unblemished record of over 30 years. Six of those charges were very quickly dismissed due to a lack of evidence. The seventh and last remaining charge was of a very minor nature. In June 2015, I sent a 16- page letter to 5 very senior officials of MDCPS. Three of those 5 people are school board members. In that letter, I explained in detail the charges against this staff member. It is very difficult to believe that none of these 5 very senior MDCPS officials made Superintendent Carvalho aware of my letter. Four months AFTER I sent my letter, that staff member, on very short notice, was summoned to a meeting downtown. At the time this meeting was held, 6 of those 7 charges had been dismissed. The only remaining charge against that staff member was of a very minor nature. Despite this, MDCPS officials told that staff member he had only 2 options. Those two options were to either retire immediately or be terminated. What that staff member was NOT told by MDCPS officials was that given the fact that the only remaining charge against him was very minor, he had a third option, which was to continue his employment. Fortunately, this staff member’s attorney had previously advised his client of this option, which the staff member exercised. Ms. Hernandez Mats, would it be correct to assume that MDCPS committed an egregious violation of the law when it told this staff member to either retire or be terminated? Would it be safe to assume that this meeting could not have taken place without the knowledge and consent of very high ranking MDCPS officials, possibly including Superintendent Carvalho?
Shortly after he illegally smashed NKC’s attempt to investigate converting to a charter school and illegally transferred both NKC administrators during the school year, Superintendent Carvalho paid his one and only visit to the NKC campus. During that visit, in front of witnesses who still work at NKC, Mr. Carvalho made the following statement: “This is a Miami-Dade County public school. It will ALWAYS be a Miami-Dade County public school, and if anyone wants to change that, they need to go through me.” In my letter of June 2015, and in my 2 certified letters to Mr. Carvalho (which I have enclosed with this letter) I described in detail what seems to be 5 years of punishment that NKC has been suffering ever since it attempted to convert to a charter school. Superintendent Carvalho is aware of the illegal punishment going on for the past 5 years. He had an opportunity to replace Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez in the summers of 2015, 2016, and 2017, and declined to do so.
Ms. Hernandez Mats, in view of the seemingly egregious violations of Federal labor law by MDCPS at Neva King Cooper School, I am asking you to pick up the telephone and contact the appropriate Federal agency that investigates violations of labor law. I am asking you to invite Federal labor law attorneys to do a system-wide audit of MDCPS. My fear is that numerous, serious violations of labor law are occurring throughout MDCPS. Some areas these attorneys may wish to investigate include: A) Are the complaints of MDCPS whistleblowers thoroughly and honestly investigated? B) Are MDCPS whistleblowers retaliated against? C) Do MDCPS internal investigative bodies function merely to shield and protect the wrongdoing of MDCPS administrators? D) If Federal investigators will offer protection from retaliation by MDCPS, perhaps the person who was allegedly physically assaulted by Dr. Roos will agree to talk to them E) Federal investigators could ask if any other NKC staff are alleging physical assault by either Dr. Roos or Mrs. Fernandez F) Given the fact that Mr. Carvalho seems to give the appearance of engaging in unlawful retaliation and punishment against the NKC staff for over 5 years, investigators might ask him if he plans to replace the two current NKC administrators if it is proven those 2 administrators are in violation of the law. Mr. Carvalho might also be asked if he intends to continue to engage in practices at NKC that appear to be retaliatory in nature. G) Investigators could invite input from both NKC staff and parents to determine why Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez are rated so poorly year after year on staff and parent satisfaction surveys. H) Investigators might want to interview Ms. Luz Morales, Dr. Roos, and MDCPS officials to determine why Ms. Morales was terminated, given the fact that the district’s case against her was so weak that the district offered no defense whatsoever in court. Investigators might also ask why Ms. Morales was only awarded 50% of her forfeited salary. I) Investigators might wish to investigate why NKC’s performance on the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA) rose so dramatically after Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez became the NKC administrators. Students’ performance on the FAA should be compared and contrasted between the last two NKC principals (Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Dr. Roos) There are two female staff members who were deeply involved in monitoring the FAA under Dr. Roos who are no longer at NKC that investigators might wish to question to determine if these two people were asked to do anything illegal. J) In my blog mdcpsallegations.com I listed 14 additional areas that need to be remedied K) Investigators might want to examine Mr. Carvalho’s seeming willingness to put profoundly mentally handicapped (PMH) children at risk for choking to death for over two years My blog update (Update on Multi-Year Disaster At Neva King Cooper) describes this in detail.
I want to make both Ms. Hernandez Mats and the UTD Executive Council aware that if UTD does little or nothing in response to this letter, I will send all my information to every single member of the Florida Senate and House members who serve on the Education Committee during the next legislative session. It is possible that they may craft new legislation that UTD finds extremely distasteful in response to this letter.
Additionally, my blog has been published on 8 occasions on www.drswier.com This website receives 1,000,000 (one million) viewers a month. If UTD does little or nothing in response to this letter, I will feel free to publish in full both letters I have written to UTD on that website. I will also feel free to publish both letters I have written to Superintendent Carvalho on that website.
Ms. Hernandez Mats, I am asking you to share this letter, and my blog mdcpsallegations.com with the UTD Executive Council, Superintendent Carvalho, all school board members, members of the Superintendent’s Cabinet, and Federal labor law investigators.
There is a second reason I would like the appropriate Federal agency (that investigates violations of labor laws) to be very visibly and heavily involved in a thorough investigation of the treatment of employees throughout MDCPS. My second reason for this request is that UTD has very clearly lost its “mojo.” Assistant principal Alicia Fernandez was aware of the fact I had been the NKC building steward for 10 (ten) years. Do you honestly think Mrs. Fernandez would have: A) failed me after a 20 -minute observation B) been openly on her cell phone for almost the entire length of my observation C) SCREAMED at me (worse than my army drill sergeants during army boot camp) for 20 minutes if she had any respect for UTD or the contract? (It is interesting to note that Mrs. Fernandez screaming tirade was equal in length to her 20- minute observation of me. The only difference was that Mrs. Fernandez was not on her cell phone during her screaming jag!) Do you honestly think Dr. Roos and MDCPS would have fired Ms. Morales, a 30-year member of UTD, and then at her court case, have LITERALLY NOT A SINGLE WORD to defend that unwarranted termination if Dr. Roos and MDCPS had any respect for UTD and the contract? Do you honestly believe that MDCPS would have told an employee with only one very minor charge against him/her that he/she had to either retire or be terminated if MDCPS had any respect for labor law? Do you honestly think MDCPS would have illegally transferred both NKC administrators during the school year if they (MDCPS) had any respect for the Florida statutes that protect personnel from retaliation for investigating a conversion to a charter school? The system is very badly broken. There is a power vacuum, and MDCPS is repeatedly and blatantly violating the law, with virtual impunity.
It is not just MDCPS and school site administrators who have the impression that UTD has become an impotent and powerless organization. This perception is also held by the (dwindling) UTD membership. I will use myself as an example. I was a member of UTD for the entire length of my 30-year teaching career. Additionally, I was the UTD building steward at NKC for 10 years. Finally, I am a member of the retired chapter of UTD. On the surface, this may seem like a glowing endorsement of UTD. Rest assured, it most certainly is NOT any such thing. I am a member of the retired chapter of UTD only to give me legal standing to be a voice for the voiceless. By this I mean the terrified and very angry UTD members of NKC, who have been illegally punished for FIVE YEARS for engaging in the (supposedly) legally protected activity of exploring conversion to a charter school. These UTD members are legally forbidden from taking their concerns to the media. These people fear that if they take their concerns to the internal investigative bodies of MDCPS, their complaints will be dismissed, and then they will be retaliated against. Ms. Hernandez Mats, do you know why the UTD members of NKC have this fear? They have this fear because when an NKC staff member forced MDCPS to do an investigation of Dr. Roos for alleged cheating on the FAA, she was indeed exonerated and the whistleblower (who had a 30-year unblemished record) was suddenly hammered with 7 charges, 6 of those charges being potentially career ending. UTD members at NKC do not feel safe taking their concerns to UTD, because they saw how UTD failed to protect Ms. Morales when she was unjustly fired. Inexcusably, UTD failed to file a grievance for the unjustified termination of Ms. Morales. Even more astonishing, UTD failed to insist that Ms. Morales be paid 100% of her salary while she was unjustly terminated! Additionally, UTD members at NKC (and possibly throughout MDCPS) fear that if they take their concerns to UTD, the union will only PRETEND to investigate the matter, and then these whistleblowers will be retaliated against when the sham investigation is concluded. Ms. Hernandez Mats, do you know why NKC staff have this perception of UTD? Recall that when I sent you a very detailed letter, you initially denied receiving that letter. When I informed you that I had a signed receipt for that letter, you were then able to recall the contents of my letter in detail. You then sent Caridad Pupo for a very tepid and very timid single visit to NKC. Ms. Hernandez Mats, not a single NKC person I spoke to WAS EVEN AWARE OF MS. PUPO’S VISIT TO NKC!
When Donald Trump declared his candidacy for the Presidency, he was a laughingstock. The conventional wisdom of the “experts” was that the voters were not angry enough to elect Donald Trump. Ms. Hernandez Mats, are you making the same mistake? Are you vastly underestimating the level of anger and discontent among the rank and file of UTD?
The two mandates of UTD are to negotiate a living wage for employees and to enforce the contract. Most people I know have the opinion that both yourself and the executive council of UTD have performed very poorly with respect to both these mandates. Mr. Carvalho and UTD have grown so accustomed to no steps or raises being given, year after year, that it has become the new normal. Mr. Carvalho now seems to be moving things to the next level. Not only will there be no increase in salary (even though there are no failing schools in MDCPS), but reduced benefits, or perhaps no benefits at all are now on the table. If UTD begs hard enough, perhaps Mr. Carvalho will be gracious enough to fund benefits this year. Will UTD then proclaim “victory”, and hope the bargaining unit doesn’t notice that once again, there have been no salary increases? UTD also seems to have become extremely risk aversive when it comes to enforcing the contract. Failure to enforce the contract does not win concessions from MDCPS. It wins contempt and a lack of respect from MDCPS, and a loss of confidence and membership from the bargaining unit. UTD is on the verge of becoming irrelevant. If members conclude the costs of membership exceed the benefits, the trickle of members heading for the exits will become a stampede. My fear is that in the future, when UTD members discuss “the good old days”, they will be referring to the times when they got absolutely no raise whatsoever, as opposed to facing the prospect of experiencing decreases in salary and/or benefits. One of my reasons for possibly posting my two letters to UTD on www.drswier.com if UTD chooses to do little or nothing to end the FIVE YEARS of punishment of NKC staff is that I am hoping that bright new people will assume the leadership of UTD in the next election, if that needs to happen.
Ms. Hernandez Mats, it wasn’t until two months prior to my retirement that I felt safe enough to insist that both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez honor my fundamental human right to be spoken to in a courteous and respectful manner. I did this by asking that my building steward be present at all future conferences involving both school site administrators. I want to strongly emphasize that the ONLY reason I felt safe enough to insist that I be spoken to in a decent and dignified manner by NKC administrators was that I was going to retire in two months, and I felt they would not be able to file false, possibly career ending charges against me during that time frame. For three years, I endured several egregious violations of the contract by both NKC administrators because I (a ten-year building steward) was too terrified to notify UTD about what was happening to me and my colleagues at NKC. My fear was that UTD would do little or nothing to help me and then turn a blind eye when both my NKC administrators retaliated against me. Here is why I had that fear. I have a friend who was a UTD building steward for 20 years. This man was a very reasonable, courteous, and diplomatic steward. He was not a man to fault administrators for minor infractions. However, he was also not a pushover, and when contract violations occurred in his building, he conferred with his administrators in private and insisted that the contract was followed. To punish him, his school site administrators put very large numbers of students with behavior problems into his classroom. In many of his classes, all the students had severe behavior problems. The steward contacted UTD who “studied” the problem for TWO YEARS and did nothing. Shortly into the third year of his punishment, this steward was at the end of his rope and he abruptly retired (during the school year). He had 29 years of service, which was not enough to qualify for a full pension. My view during my last year of employment at NKC was that given the fact that UTD was either unwilling or unable to defend a sitting building steward, (who had been a building steward for 20 years) my safest course of action was to silently endure whatever contract violations Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez cared to dish out to me.
Ms. Hernandez Mats, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE pick up the phone and ask the appropriate Federal agency that investigates violations of labor law to do a complete audit of the very broken MDCPS system. PLEASE ask them to do an extensive investigation of NKC. Please ask them to invite NKC staff to submit their input regarding their interactions with Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez. Please ask them to review staff and parent satisfaction surveys over a period of several years, both when Dr. Alberto Fernandez was the principal of NKC, and the five years Dr. Roos has been the NKC principal. Please ask them to also compare and contrast staff retention rates under both Dr. Fernandez and Dr. Roos. Please ask them to invite people who left NKC when either Dr. Alberto Fernandez or Dr. Roos were the NKC principals and invite these people to state their reasons for leaving NKC. If, after an investigation, UTD and a Federal labor law investigative body find Dr. Roos and/or Mrs. Fernandez to have acted sufficiently inappropriately, I am hoping these two bodies will recommend to Superintendent Carvalho that those two NKC administrators be removed from their posts. If these two NKC administrators are found to be in violation of the law (especially alleged cheating on the FAA), I am asking UTD and the Federal agency recommend these two administrators receive a punishment commensurate with their infractions. If Dr. Roos is removed from her post, I am hoping the two above named investigative bodies recommend that Dr. Alberto Fernandez be returned to his post as the NKC principal. At one point in his career, Dr. Alberto Fernandez was recognized as the best principal in MDCPS. Both staff and parent satisfaction surveys indicate a very high level of satisfaction with Dr. Fernandez by all significant stakeholders over a period of several years. Dr. Fernandez was the principal of NKC for 14 years, and thus has a thorough grasp of the needs of the school. He has also cultivated a wealth of community resources eager to help NKC meet the need of its students. His excellent people skills, coupled with his care and compassion make him ideally suited to heal the divisions and problems that have developed over the last five years at NKC.
Ms. Hernandez Mats, it’s time we talked about the 800- pound gorilla in the room. Although both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez have allegedly committed several appalling violations of Federal and state law, and violations of the UTD contract, and although UTD members at NKC have suffered HORRIBLY as a result of those actions, my guess is that both of these administrators have received sterling yearly evaluations year after year, and suffered little or no adverse consequences from UTD as a result of their numerous and egregious contract violations. The truth of the matter is that UTD has a vested interest in continuing to allow its members at NKC to go through hell every day at the hands of the two NKC administrators. UTD benefits from the horrendous working conditions at NKC in two ways. First, the Terror that Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez have carefully and deliberately cultivated among UTD staff insures that UTD membership will remain extremely high. Secondly, MDCPS and UTD have a shared interest in insuring that no public schools convert to charter schools. For MDCPS, it means a loss of revenue. For UTD, it means a loss of members. Is it possible, Ms. Hernandez Mats, that MDCPS and UTD have a “sweetheart” deal where UTD turns a blind eye and pretends to see no evil and hear no evil while MDCPS violates Federal and state law, and the UTD contract to pound (for five years, now continuing into a sixth year) the one school bold enough (and stupid enough) to believe that the Florida state laws forbidding retaliation against a public school attempting to convert to a charter school will be enforced? Ms. Hernandez Mats, as you and Superintendent Carvalho probably know, word gets around, and five years is plenty of time for every school in MDCPS to get a view of what happens to a school that takes this foolish step. As Superintendent Carvalho said during his conqueror’s visit to NKC,” If any school wants to convert to a charter school, they’re going to have to come through me!”
Fortunately, Ms. Hernandez Mats, there’s good news for you. Schools throughout MDCPS now understand that any school stupid enough to attempt to exercise its legal right to convert to a charter school will be swiftly, brutally, and illegally stopped. Superintendent Carvalho can do this because although he is willfully and deliberately breaking the law, he will suffer no legal repercussions whatsoever. Although numerous schools throughout Florida have successfully converted to charter schools, Florida law simply does not apply in “The People’s Republic Of MDCPS.”
Ms. Hernandez Mats, it’s time to stop straddling the fence. UTD needs to either get off its well- paid bottom and end the madness that has been going on at NKC for FIVE YEARS, or stop stealing money from the NKC staff.
In Unity,
Bill Detzner
P.S. Please find the following additional materials enclosed with this letter 1) My April 6, 2015 letter to Dr. Roos, asking that my building steward be present in all future meetings between myself and my two NKC administrators 2) MY March 19,2015 letter to Dr. Roos where I informed her of what transpired during my 20- minute failed observation from Mrs. Fernandez 3) My June 8, 2015 letter to five high ranking MDCPS officials 4) My two letters to Superintendent Carvalho, dated April 20, 2017, and June 28, 2017 5) Fourteen Problem Situations at Neva King Cooper School
Bill Detzner/ 7722 S.W. 99 Street/ Miami, FL. 33156