October 16 letter to Dr. Feldman

October 16,2017
Hello Dr. Feldman
My name is Bill Detzner employee 146782. I recently retired after teaching at Neva King Cooper (NKC) for 25 years. I was also the UTD building steward at NKC for 10 years. (I taught for a total of 30 years in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS))
In June 2015, I sent you a 16- page letter detailing the pervasive problems that NKC administrators Dr. Tracy Roos (principal) and Mrs. Alicia Fernandez (assistant principal) have caused at NKC for over FIVE YEARS. You never responded to that letter.
I am sending you this SECOND letter because the intolerable situation at NKC appears to be at a crisis point. If the present situation results in a scenario where not even the seemingly extremely docile Miami media can no longer afford to remain silent, I do not want you, Dr. Feldman to be able to bleat that you had no idea of what was happening in a school that you (supposedly) represent. If you want a more in-depth understanding of the FIVE Year on-going crisis at NKC, my blog can be accessed at www.mdcpsallegations.com I am also sending you copies of the 4 (unanswered) letters I sent to Mr. Carvalho, the 16-page (unanswered) letter I sent you in June 2015, and a page titled “ Fourteen Problem Situations At Neva King Cooper School.”
Dr. Feldman, the current level of very high tension that exists at NKC can be traced to the recent actions of Dr. Roos. Mrs. Green, an African-American staff member of NKC, recently suffered the tragedy of having her daughter brutally murdered. During Mrs. Green’s first day back at work following this tragedy, Dr. Roos deliberately and pointedly turned her back on Mrs. Green when the two of them crossed paths on the NKC campus. During Mrs. Green’s second day back at work, Dr. Roos summoned an African-American NKC custodian (Mr. Jackson) and allegedly ordered Mr. Jackson to deliver the following verbal message to Mrs. Green. The message was that if Mrs. Green was unhappy at NKC, Dr. Roos would be happy to arrange for a transfer to another school for Mrs. Green. This was a VERY, VERY humiliating experience for both Mrs. Green and Mr. Jackson. The entire NKC staff is aware of this incident and the entire staff is VERY, VERY angry, as this is just the latest incident in a FIVE YEAR illegal punishment of the entire staff by BOTH Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez after Superintendent Carvalho illegally smashed NKC’s attempt to explore charter school conversion.
Regrettably, Dr. Roos follow-up actions were even more despicable. Mrs. Green went through proper channels and filed a complaint with the MDCPS investigative bodies. An on-campus meeting was scheduled to address this issue. Although the meeting was postponed until the week of October 16-20, Dr. Roos never informed Mrs. Green of this fact. Mrs. Green sat in an empty room for over an hour for a meeting that never occurred. While Mrs. Green was out of sight, Dr. Roos summoned Mr. Jackson to a lengthy, closed door meeting in Dr. Roos office. (At least one witness has stepped forward who knows when Mr. Jackson entered Dr. Roos’ office and when Mr. Jackson exited her office.) At that stormy and confrontational meeting, Dr. Roos allegedly threatened to terminate Mr. Jackson as an NKC custodian if Mr. Jackson declined to recant the message Dr. Roos allegedly sent him to deliver to Mrs. Green. At the rescheduled meeting, my guess is that MDCPS is hoping that yet another mumbled apolagy for the LONG, LONG list of egregious contract violations for OVER FIVE YEARS by BOTH Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez will end this current crisis, so that the FIVE YEAR persecution of NKC staff can resume in a few weeks, IF things calm down.
Dr. Feldman, do you think this up-coming meeting is going to go smoothly for MDCPS? Both Mrs. Green and Mr. Jackson have been VERY, VERY, publicly DEEPLY humiliated a SECOND time, and the entire staff (who have also been publicly and deeply humiliated for FIVE YEARS) are also aware of this second inexcusable humiliation. The NAACP has been fully appraised of the situation. It is my fervent hope that the NAACP will intervene in the situation, because as surely as day follows night, Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez are going to retaliate against both Mrs. Green and Mr. Jackson. Both of these exemplary employees are in grave danger of being illegally terminated (as Mrs. Luz Morales was illegally terminated.) While I hope I am wrong, my guess is that neither you, Dr. Feldman or Superintendent Carvalho will lift a finger to help these two exemplary MDCPS employees. With each passing day, MDCPS looks less and less like a school district, and more and more like a criminal enterprise.
I have been published 8 times on www.drswier.com (see Multi-Year Disaster At Neva King Cooper) I am considering publishing Mrs. Greens’ and Mr. Jacksons’ plight on this fine website. I am also considering posting other items on this website that might also be of interest to its readers. This website reaches a monthly audience of 1,000,000 highly educated, well connected people. I am also in contact with numerous other media outlets, both nationally and in the Miami area.
Here are some actions I am hoping you, Dr. Feldman and other MDCPS school board members will take. 1) Both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez need to be removed from the NKC campus as soon as possible, until the allegations against them have been investigated. 2) Dr. Alberto Fernandez, the previous principal of NKC, should be appointed to resume his post as the NKC principal. 3) If MDCPS school board members feel that the actions and/or lack of actions of Mr. Carvalho have needlessly tarnished the reputation of MDCPS, or placed MDCPS in a position of needless risk, a new superintendent should be chosen. 4) The current curriculum of NKC is called the Unique Learning System (ULS). It is hopelessly above the cognitive ability of students with IQs of 25 and below. NKC students run the risk of sitting in a classroom for up to 19 years and learning almost nothing. I am hoping the NKC staff will be allowed to develop a new curriculum for NKC students, subject to district approval. 5) For over 2 years, NKC students have been needlessly exposed to an artificially high risk of choking to death on their food, due to Dr. Roos seeming (and unseemly) decision to use choking incidents as a weapon to get rid of teachers who supported exploring conversion to a charter school. While it is true that NKC has an on-site nursing staff, in all three of the near- death experiences that occurred during my tenure at NKC, it was the actions of Mr. Frank Lozada, a teacher who was also a trained paramedic who rode ambulances on week- ends that saved those three lives. Due to the seemingly deliberate cultivation of a hostile work environment by BOTH Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez, Mr. Lozada is one of the MANY fine staff who have left NKC. 6) I ask that the other remaining items on my enclosed list if 14 problem situations at NKC school be investigated 7) If Dr. Roos and/or Mrs. Fernandez are found to be in violation of one or more MDCPS, Florida, or Federal statutes, a penalty commensurate with those violations need to be imposed. Please share this letter with all MDCPS school board members and all members of the superintendent’s cabinet.
Dr. Feldman, if you were a teacher or a para-professional, would YOU want to work at NKC???
Sincerely,
Bill Detzner
Bill Detzner/7722 S.W.99 Street/Miami, FL 33156