May 9, 2018 letter

May 9, 2018

Hello Karla Hernandez -Mats,

My name is Bill Detzner, employee 146782. This is the FIFTH certified letter I am sending you. The previous certified letters were sent to you in April 2017, September 23, 2017, October 5, 2017, and October 14, 2017. You can access those four letters, along with the MANY, MANY illegal contract- violating actions of Superintendent Carvalho, and the two administrators at Neva King Cooper(NKC), principal Dr. Tracy Roos and assistant principal Mrs. Alicia Fernandez on my blog. My blog can be accessed at mdcpsallegations.com Karla, you did not have the professionalism, courtesy, or decency to respond to ANY of those four certified letters. Recently, I chatted with a friend who is still teaching at NKC. To my utter astonishment, he/she told me that he/she has had NUMEROUS, in-depth conversations with you regarding the on-going problems that have been plaguing NKC for years. He/She said you have done NOTHING to address those egregious contract violations Ms. Hernandez-Mats, for whatever reason, you CLEARLY are not up to the task of heading the teacher’s union of the nation’s fourth largest school district. An ethical person would step down and not seek reelection for another term as UTD president. I hope you will make that decision. The purpose of this FIFTH certified letter is to make you aware of still more contract violations at Neva King Cooper (NKC) School and ask you to do something that you have never done before, which is to ENFORCE THE CONTRACT. I am also asking that you share this letter with the National Labor Relations Board, any other appropriate

May 9, 2018

Hello Karla Hernandez -Mats,

My name is Bill Detzner, employee 146782. This is the FIFTH certified letter I am sending you. The previous certified letters were sent to you in April 2017, September 23, 2017, October 5, 2017, and October 14, 2017. You can access those four letters, along with the MANY, MANY illegal contract- violating actions of Superintendent Carvalho, and the two administrators at Neva King Cooper(NKC), principal Dr. Tracy Roos and assistant principal Mrs. Alicia Fernandez on my blog. My blog can be accessed at mdcpsallegations.com Karla, you did not have the professionalism, courtesy, or decency to respond to ANY of those four certified letters. Recently, I chatted with a friend who is still teaching at NKC. To my utter astonishment, he/she told me that he/she has had NUMEROUS, in-depth conversations with you regarding the on-going problems that have been plaguing NKC for years. He/She said you have done NOTHING to address those egregious contract violations Ms. Hernandez-Mats, for whatever reason, you CLEARLY are not up to the task of heading the teacher’s union of the nation’s fourth largest school district. An ethical person would step down and not seek reelection for another term as UTD president. I hope you will make that decision, The purpose of this FIFTH certified letter is to make you aware of still more contract violations at Neva King Cooper (NKC) School  and to ask you to do something that you have never done before, which is to ENFORCE THE CONTRACT. I am also asking that you share this letter with the National Labor Relations Boars, any other appropriate

investigative body, all members of the UTD executive council, all school board members, all members of the Superintendent’s Cabinet, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and with your chum, Superintendent Carvalho. Here are the latest contract violations at NKC. Dr. Roos has data chats with both teachers and para-professionals. If it is illegal for Dr. Roos to have data chats with para-professionals, I ask that Dr. Roos be ordered to stop this practice. During these para-professional data chats, Dr. Roos allegedly asked the para-professionals if they were in contact with me (Bill Detzner) during their off-duty hours. Contractually, Dr. Roos does not have the authority to ask staff about off-duty activities that are not in violation of the law. Dr. Roos then allegedly, (also during the para-professional data chats) forbade the para-professionals from having any contact with me during the para-professionals off-duty hours. Again, contractually, Dr. Roos does not have the authority to forbid staff from engaging in activities that are not in violation of the law during their off-duty hours. I suspect that Dr. Roos did this because many, many NKC staff are reporting the contract violations of BOTH Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez to me in their off-duty hours. My guess is that these violations are reported to me because UTD members at NKC have lost all confidence in UTD to enforce the contract, no matter how egregious those contract violations are. I also suspect that UTD members at NKC report contract violations to me because it affords them the luxury of remaining anonymous, and thus safe from retaliation from one or both NKC administrators, while still bringing those contract violations to the uncaring and apathetic attention of UTD. Karla, you give the appearance of suffering from terrible cowardice and timidity. If you can screw up your courage, (perhaps the UTD executive council can buck you up), you might want to send the very rarely seen Caridad Pupo (or whoever the UTD person assigned to NKC is) onto the almost never visited NKC campus and inform Dr. Roos that forbidding NKC employees from having contact with me is a bit like throwing gasoline onto a fire in an attempt to extinguish that fire. My phone rang off the hook with reports of this incident. This is NOT the first time that Dr. Roos has forbidden staff members from having contact with other people in their off-duty hours. As I explained to you in great deal in one of my previous UNANSWERED letters, after Dr. Roos allegedly tricked and trapped me by ordering me to write a letter urging parents to join the school PTA. Dr. Roos then read my letter, APPROVED it, and told me to have the school secretary type it up for mass distribution to parents. Dr. Roos then received one of her famous “anonymous” phone calls, informing her I had violated an obscure rule forbidding PTA business to be discussed on a paper containing the school letterhead. During the THREE subsequent meetings attended by both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez where I was SCREAMED at and spoken to very disrespectfully by both administrators, Dr. Roos demanded that I tell her (Dr. Roos) whether I was in contact with either of the two former NKC administrators (Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol) who had been illegally removed by MDCPS from their posts as NKC administrators prior to the end of the school year. (This is covered in legal case DOAH13-1492) Although my off-duty contact with associates had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with a PTA letter I had written, I was afraid that if I declined to answer this question, I would be written up for insubordination. Although at that point I had been a UTD member for THIRTY YEARS and had in the past been the UTD steward at my school for 10 years, my fear that was UTD would fail utterly to back me up if I reported this incident, and the look the other way when Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez then retaliated against me for reporting their illegal activities. I therefore very meekly and truthfully answered their illegal question, and I never reported the incident. However, I am now a retired member of UTD. Neither Dr. Roos or Mrs. Fernandez can retaliate against me, so on behalf of the terrified UTD members of NKC, I am asking UTD to ENFORCE THE CONTRACT and forbid BOTH NKC administrators from asking any contractually unauthorized questions of NKC staff. To complete the story of what appears to be a deliberately set trap for me by BOTH NKC administrators, Dr. Roos threatened to place a disciplinary letter in my file for carrying out her order to distribute a PTA recruitment letter to parents that she ordered me to write, and then approved. I was saved from this NOT by UTD, but by a powerful friend who tipped off MDCPS officials who called Dr. Roos to a meeting and ordered Dr.Roos to apologize to me and not place a letter of reprimand against me. At that meeting, Dr. Roos promised not to retaliate against me. Dr. Roos word seems to be worth very little, as she failed to keep this promise.

Given the fact that both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez have BOTH engaged in numerous egregious contract violations over the past 6 years, I am asking Mrs. Hernandez-Mats to submit a written request to Mr. Carvalho asking that both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez be removed from their posts as NKC administrators as quickly as possible. Furthermore, if an investigation (preferably by an agency not affiliated with MDCPS) finds illegal activities by one or both of these administrators, I ask that penalties commensurate with their offenses be assigned to them. The staff at NKC have a fear that Mr. Carvalho, in an effort to further punish NKC for its legal attempt to convert from a public school to a charter school (DOAH13-1492) will appoint new administrators to NKC that are as bad or worse than the present administrators. (During His one and only visit to NKC, shortly after He illegally removed BOTH NKC administrators DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR) Mr. Carvalho made a very sinister statement to the NKC secretaries. He said: “This is a Miami Dade County Public School. This will always be a Miami Dade County Public School, and if anyone wants to change that, they are going to have to come through me.” To prevent possible further retaliation against the NKC staff, I am asking that Mrs. Hernandez-Mats submit a written request to Mr. Carvalho that principal Alberto Fernandez and assistant principal Mr. Henny Cristobol be named as the new NKC administrators. (They were the previous NKC administrators, prior to their illegal removal by Mr. Carvalho.) Due to the many egregious contract violations that have occurred at NKC, and I suspect throughout MDCPS, I am also asking Mrs. Hernandez-Mats to submit a written request that the National Labor Relations Board (or whatever the appropriate investigative agency is) do a system wide audit of MDCPS. Again, if violations are found, I ask that penalties commensurate with those violations be assigned to the appropriate officials. If possible, I would like to receive copies of the letters that Mrs. Hernandez-Mats sends to investigative bodies. I am including with this letter (as I have several times in the past) a paper titled “Fourteen Problem Situations at Neva King Cooper School.”

Here are some, but not all of the incidents that I believe merit both the administrator changes at NKC, and the MDCPS system wide audit by members of the National Labor Relations Board. As I have discussed these incidents at length in my blog, I will merely list them here. 1) Dr. Ross has allegedly physically assaulted at least one NKC staff member, (and perhaps more than one staff member) That alleged victim has since transferred to another MDCPS work site. If that person can be protected from retaliation by MDCPS, perhaps he/she may be willing to come forward and testify. 2) In DOAH145-2439, Ms. Luz Morales was improperly terminated from employment, on the recommendation of Dr. Roos. The case against Ms. Morales was so weak that MDCPS called NOT A SINGLE WITNESS to defend its illegal action, and Ms. Morales was ordered to be reinstated, recovering 50% of her lost wages. 3) Shortly after her home was seriously damaged by Hurricane Irma, an African-American para-professional at NKC named Mrs. Green experienced the tragedy of the murder of her daughter. The alleged perpetrator was Mrs. Green’s son-in-law. Mrs. Green’s five- year- old grandson was at home at the time of this brutal murder, and was seriously traumatized by the event. Possibly because she felt Mrs. Green was authorized more emergency leave time than Dr. Roos felt was merited, Dr. Roos then allegedly ordered an African-American custodian named Aaron Jackson to tell Mrs. Green that Dr. Roos was considering involuntarily transferring Mrs. Green to another school. Allegedly, when this incident caused unfavorable consequences for Dr. Roos, Dr. Roos then allegedly summoned Mr. Aaron Jackson to a closed -door meeting in Dr. Roos office and Dr. Roos allegedly threatened to terminate Mr. Jackson’s employment unless Mr. Jackson issued a statement stating that Dr. Roos had not ordered Mr. Jackson to deliver this threat to Mrs. Green. Although MDCPS scheduled two meetings with Mrs. Green to discuss this incident, MDCPS cancelled both of these meetings, and the meeting never took place. MDCPS gives the appearance of being so arrogant that Mrs. Green is not even entitled to an explanation of MDCPS inexcusable behavior. If Dr. Roos and Mrs. Frenandez follow their past practices, both Mr. Jackson and Mrs. Green will be left alone for the remainder of the 2017-2018 school year. However, during the 2018-2019 school year it is entirely possible that Dr. Roos may receive one of her famous “anonymous” phone calls, accusing Mrs. Green and or Mr. Jackson of sexually or physically abusing a child, or some other potentially career ending charge. 4) On very short notice, Mr. Rick Massa, a strong supporter of exploring converting NKC to a charter school, was summoned to a meeting downtown. Mr. Massa’s lawyer was not allowed to attend this meeting. At that meeting, MDCPS officials told Mr. Massa he had two options. Those two options were to retire immediately or be terminated immediately. What Mr. Massa was NOT told was that due to the fact that almost all charges against him had been dropped, due to a lack of evidence, and the only unresolved charge was of a very minor nature, he had a third option, which was to simply exit that meeting and continue his teaching career. Fortunately for Mr. Massa, his attorney made him aware of this option, which he exercised. 5) Mrs. Alicia Fernandez wrote up possibly career ending charges against Mr. Massa, charging Mr. Massa with cheating on the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA). The FAA is the high stakes annual achievement test given to Profoundly Mentally Handicapped (PMH) students. As only a few copies of the test are given to the school, the testing materials are shared among several teachers. When Mr. Massa received those testing materials, they had already been used by a first-year rookie teacher, who had circled in pencil the correct answer to each question. When Mr. Massa received those testing materials, he immediately took them to assistant principal Mrs. Alicia Fernandez, in her office and showed the marked testing materials to Mrs. Fernandez. THERE WAS ANOTHER ROOKIE TEACHER PRESENT IN MRS FERNANDEZ OFFICE WHO WITNESSED THE ENTIRE CONVERSATION BETWEEN MR MASSA AND MRS FERNANDEZ. Mrs. Fernandez thanked Mr. Massa for this information and ordered Mr. Massa to go to his classroom and administer the test. Mrs. Fernandez then waited 15-20 minutes, used her master key to enter Mr. Massa’s classroom, and was SHOCKED, SHOCKED to discover that Mr. Massa was “cheating” on the test. Mr. Massa then went back to this rookie teacher and asked if he/she would be willing to testify to what he/she witnessed. Due to the new rules, tenure no longer happens, and a teacher can be dismissed at the end of the school year for his/her entire career. This teacher said he/she had a family to feed, and greatly feared termination of employment if he/she testified. This teacher still works at NKC If this teacher can be protected from retaliation by MDCPS, perhaps he/she will be willing to testify. This will reveal that Mrs. Fernandez allegedly both knowingly and willfully filed false charges against Mr. Massa, and then allegedly perjured herself in her deposition at Mr. Massa’s pending lawsuit against MDCPS 6) A student in Mr. Massa’s class, who has it written on his Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that he is prone to choking incidents, began to choke on his food one day in the cafeteria. Mr. Massa took immediate appropriate action, and the child ejected the food without losing consciousness. The child then went back to eating his lunch. Although both our on-site nursing staff and the ambulance crew that Dr. Roos summoned to the school found the child to be fine, and suffering no harm, Dr. Roos chose to write Mr. Massa up on I believe child neglect/child endangerment charges. As the entire school eats in the cafeteria at the same time, and thus witnessed this event, the opinion of the staff is that Dr. Roos has made the decision to use choking incidents as a weapon to file potentially career-ending charges against staff she doesn’t like, even if the staff member takes immediate appropriate action, and is not responsible for the occurrence of the choking incident. As a result of this fear, a staff member who has a student who begins to choke, fearing his/her job may be at stake, may hesitate for 30-60 seconds before notifying administrators or the nursing staff, hoping the child spontaneously ejects his/ her food. That 30-60 second delay can mean the difference between life and death for a Profoundly Mentally Handicapped child, as it can take 2-3 minutes to dislodge the food a child is choking on. While it is true that our school has an on-site nursing staff, during the 3 near death stopped breathing incidents that happened while I taught at NKC, it was NOT the nursing staff, but a teacher who was also a fully trained paramedic who rode ambulances on weekends who saved those three lives. That teacher was Mr. Frank Lozada. Regrettably, Mr. Lozada has joined the LONG, LONG line of staff who have left NKC since Dr. Roos and Mrs. Alicia Fernandez became the NKC administrators. I have sent Superintendent Carvalho FOUR certified letters telling him of this entirely preventable accidental choking death danger at NKC. Mr. Carvalho has not seen fit to reply to any of those letters, nor has he instituted any of the 3 steps I suggested that would eliminate this entirely preventable danger. Mr. Carvalho gives the appearance of being willing to use Profoundly Mentally Handicapped children as bait to get rid of teachers who dared to explore converting from a public school to a charter school, even if this tactic results in a horrible choking death by one or more profoundly mentally handicapped children. 7) Dr. Roos filed charges against Mr. Rick Massa for possibly sexually molesting a child. The entire NKC staff is aware of these charges. My guess is that these charges caused Mr. Massa a great deal of embarrassment, and loss of esteem by his colleagues. Investigators might want to interview any paraprofessional who worked with Mr. Massa during the year these charges were filed against him (I believe it was the 2014-2015 school year) to see if Dr. Roos pressured them (those paraprofessionals) to make knowingly false statements against Mr. Massa. 8) A yawning chasm seems to exist between the disciplinary action Dr. Roos appears to take against those teachers who supported converting to a charter school as opposed to those who did not support converting to a charter school. Those who supported exploring the conversion process seem to have draconian disciplinary charges leveled against them, with evidence that appears to be either flimsy, or even wholly false. Those who opposed the conversion process to a charter school seem to get off without even a slap on the wrist, even when they commit potentially career-ending offenses. An example of this occurred in I believe the 2015-2016 school year. A para-professional, who still works at NKC, came to Dr. Roos and reported that she (the para-professional) had witnessed a teacher using corporal punishment on a student. The teacher who used corporal punishment to punish a student was strongly opposed to converting to a charter school. He/She was also one of the very few staff that Dr. Roos appeared to approve of. Under law, Dr. Roos is OBLIGATED to report any suspected child abuse to the authorities. Failure to do so can result in the permanent revocation of Dr. Roos professional licenses. Dr. Roos allegedly failed to report this incident, and merely transferred the child to another class. That para-professional is still working at NKC. Perhaps if he/she is guaranteed protection from retaliation by MDCPS, he/she will be willing to testify. That would also make it possible to determine whether or not Dr. Roos followed the MANDATORY abuse reporting procedures. 9) Shortly after Mr. Brett Brown, the UTD steward at our school testified on behalf of Ms. Luz Morales at her illegal termination hearing (DOAH145-2439), Dr. Roos received one of her famous “anonymous” phone calls, alleging that Mr. Brown, and the two paraprofessionals assigned to his classroom, Ms. Yolanda Deya, and Ms. Zenaida Castellanos were using a ruler to administer corporal punishment to one of the students in that classroom. This happened during the end of the 2014-2015 school year. Again, it should be checked to see if Dr. Roos took the MANDATORY step of reporting this “anonymous” phone call regarding alleged child abuse to the authorities. 10) For the last six years, Dr. Roos and Mrs. Alicia Fernandez have had some of the lowest ratings on BOTH the staff and parent satisfaction surveys in the entire MDCPS district. Additionally, the NKC staff turnover percentage rate is also among the highest in the district. Why do you suppose that is? In contrast, the previous NKC administrators, Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol were very highly evaluated for several years on BOTH the staff and parent satisfaction surveys. BY MDCPS own measure, Dr. Alberto Fernandez was rated one year as the most effective administrator in the district. 11) The Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA) has been administered to NKC student for many years. When Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol were the NKC administrators, NKC students performed very poorly on this test, year after year. In the 6 years that Dr. Roos and Mrs. Alicia Fernandez have been the NKC administrators, student performance on this test has skyrocketed. Year after year, under Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez, NKC student are achieving test scores that are statistically improbable. It should be noted that Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez receive financial bonuses for these amazing test results. There are two people who are no longer at NKC who were heavily involved in the testing process who may be able to shed some light on how these remarkable test results have been achieved. If they can be protected from retaliation from MDCPS, perhaps they will be willing to testify.

A person not familiar with how MDCPS operates could be forgiven for believing that as a result of these actions, both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez had been dismissed from their posts, and awaiting trial, or perhaps serving prison sentences. Regrettably, MDCPS is not a typical school district. It operates more like a criminal enterprise, with Al Carvalho playing the part of the Godfather. Dr. Roos is a loyal and unquestioning lieutenant, appearing to be willing to carry out ANY order to rid NKC of all supporters of exploring conversion to a charter school. To my utter astonishment, I found that Dr. Roos was nominated for the highly prestigious Principal of the Year award this year. If Dr. Roos is one of the finest principals in MDCPS, can you imagine what the poorly performing administrators must be like?

Recently, a very fine and professional NKC teacher with over 30 years of teaching experience who is a UTD member, allegedly went on an uncontrollable crying jag at school that lasted for hours. Ms. Hernandez-Mats, I know what you are probably asking yourself: “What could she possibly be crying about? Doesn’t she know how lucky she is to have a boss who was one of the nominees for Principal of the Year???” Ms. Hernandez Mats, do you suppose that having to endure FOR SIX YEARS the strain of seeing several of your colleagues charged with potentially career ending offenses, and on any given day, knowing you could be next, on scant or possibly wholly false evidence, with UTD nowhere to be found, with administrators who have received not so much as a slap on the wrist for their numerous egregious contract violations, and a principal who is a candidate for Principal of the Year could have had an adverse effect on this poor soul’s well-being? Ms. Hernandez-Mats, that teacher pays $800 per year to be a UTD member. As far as I can see, all he/she gets for $800 is a desk calendar. Ms. Hernandez-Mats, do you think that is good value for money? If UTD members at NKC were offered a prize of one million dollars if they could identify the UTD organizer for NKC out of a line-up, I don’t think anyone, including the NKC building steward could collect on that offer. Ms. Hernandez-Mats, if you were a rank and file UTD member, would you vote to retain as president someone with your record during the last two years?

A few months ago, Hollywood was rocked by a scandal involving one of the titans of the industry. A few very brave women risked career suicide to step forward and accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse. It turned out that fear was the only thing keeping things quiet. It was common knowledge that if only one or two brave souls tried to be whistleblowers, they would be utterly destroyed. Once more than a few courageous people stepped forward, the dam broke, and it was revealed that Mr. Weinstein’s alleged abuses involved very large numbers of women and stretched back over decades. Then it was revealed that Mr. Weinstein was not a lone wolf, and that in fact, it was a fairly common occurrence for the powerful in the industry to abuse underlings who had little power. The “Me Too” Movement was born. You might be saying, if those actors had a union, this systemic sexual exploitation could not have been so widespread and so prolonged. That assumption is incorrect. The actors DID have a union. The name of their union is The Screen Actors Guild, and as you can see, it failed utterly to protect its members from unwanted sexual advances. Perhaps the president of the Screen Actors Guild thought it was ok if union members were sexually exploited, as long as things were swept under the carpet and he or she continued to receive a very generous salary as president of that union. Ms. Hernandez-Mats, would you and I be in agreement that a union that is either unwilling or unable to protect its members from exploitation is just a make- believe union? Ms. Hernandez-Mats, I am proposing that during your watch (and perhaps even before you became the UTD president),UTD became (and still is) a make- believe union, and either cannot, or will not protect its members from exploitation from both Mr. Carvalho and from school site administrators. For example, you have known for quite some time that Dr. Roos allegedly physically assaulted at least one member of the NKC staff. You have done NOTHING with this information. Has Dr. Roos and or Mrs. Fernandez allegedly physically assaulted more than one NKC employee? You don’t know, and you seem remarkably uncurious about the answer to this question. Have other school site administrators allegedly physically assaulted one or more of their staff? Again, I am betting that you neither know or are very curious about the answer to this question. How about alleged sexual assaults, either by administrators against staff, or staff against other staff. I am betting that you also do not know the answer to this question. I am hoping that physical and or sexual abuse experienced by MDCPS employees is NOT ok with you, even if it stays under the carpet, and even if in spite of this, you continue to receive your very generous six figure salary. Ms. Hernandez-Mats, MDCPS will NEVER investigate this matter. That is why I am urging you in the strongest terms to write a request for a systemwide audit of MDCPS by the National Labor Relations Board. Otherwise, in a few years, people may talk about how UTD members were exploited while you happily drew your six- figure salary.

Europe has experienced a massive influx of refugees in recent years. The internet now contains numerous stories saying certain parts of numerous European cities have become so dangerous and crime ridden that the police no longer venture into those parts of town. The areas of cities where European policemen no longer dare to go are called “no go zones.” Ms. Hernandez-Mats, does MDCPS have “no go schools,” places where abuse of the contract by school site administrators is so egregious and pervasive that UTD officials no longer dare to go there? I have a feeling you know the answer to that question as well as I do. Ms. Hernandez-Mats, I used to work in a “no go school.” That school is NKC. Not only do you and the union organizer Caridad Pupo not dare to go there, you don’t even dare to answer the 4 certified letters I have sent you! Is NKC the only “no go school” in MDCPS? I seriously doubt that. I am willing to hazard a guess that a significant and GROWING percentage of Miami Dade County Public Schools are becoming “no go schools” for UTD. I am also willing to bet that for all practical purposes, the “contract” between MDCPS and UTD no longer exists. My guess is that it is no longer a “contract,” but a “suggestion” that school site administrators are free to violate with impunity.

In biology, there is a term for an organism that takes from another organism without giving anything in return back to its host, and then either harming or even killing the host in that process. Biologists call such an organism a parasite. Ms. Hernandez-Mats would it be fair and accurate to say that UTD has become a parasitic organization? I think the answer to that question is an emphatic YES! Here is why I say that. UTD charges members $800 per year to be a part of UTD. The union has two basic functions, which are to secure adequate salaries/benefits, and to enforce the contract. UTD has failed utterly at both these tasks. How about the last part of the definition; the part that says “while harming or even killing the host in the process.” Recently, Mr. Carvalho torpedoed his chances of becoming the Chancellor of New York City Schools. Many UTD people, myself included, would say that Mr. Carvalho has by a landslide been the WORST superintendent MDCPS has ever had. Although MDCPS teachers have significantly improved test scores, wages have been frozen for years. Prior to Mr. Carvalho, the contract was largely observed by MDCPS. Under Mr. Carvalho, the contract has become little more than a worthless scrap of paper. When Mr. Carvalho hosted his recent “please beg me to stay” circus, you, Mrs. Hernandez-Mats willingly joined Mr. Carvalho’s amen chorus! I heard that you used UTD funds to host a party when it was discovered that we would not be rid of the curse of Mr. Carvalho after all. Ms. Hernandez-Mats, I know a great many UTD members who consider your urging Mr. Carvalho to stay in MDCPS, and then spending UTD money to throw a party when he took that horrible advice to be treason to the hopes and aspirations of the UTD rank and file. Ms. Hernandez-Mats, it seems that the goals of you as UTD president are diametrically opposed to the goals of UTD members. Mr. Carvalho is as welcome as cancer to most UTD members that I know.   Getting back to that poor soul from NKC who allegedly had an hours long uncontrollable crying jag on the NKC campus, will he/she be better off, or worse if UTD ceases to exist? My guess is that he/she will be better off if UTD ceases to exist. Here is why. At NKC, the contract has not existed for the last 6 years. If UTD ceases to exist, this poor soul will still be utterly at the mercy of Dr. Roos, but he/she will have $800 more in his/her pocket. Ms. Hernandez-Mats, this may be hard for you to hear from a 30- year UTD member who was also a building steward for 10 years, and a member of the retired UTD chapter, but if UTD ceases to exist, the only difference it will make is that former members are $800 richer. Only a fool or a sucker would pay $800 a year for an organization that does nothing except give them a desk calendar once a year.

I got a frantic email saying that if UTD is unable to achieve 50% membership of the bargaining unit, it will be decertified. Fifty percent membership seems like a ridiculously low bar to achieve, but as I said before, only a fool would give $800 a year to an organization that neither provides a decent salary or enforces the contract.

Many of my UTD friends are puzzled by the fact that even though UTD is literally fighting for its life, President Hernandez-Mats seems nearly catatonic. I hope I am wrong about this, Ms. Hernandez Mats, but I can’t help but think that you engage in activities that seem suicidal in terms of UTD’s survival (such as spending UTD funds to throw a celebratory party for Mr. Carvalho’s unfortunate decision to remain in MDCPS) because you have been captured by an anti-union organization. Is it possible that you have been offered a lucrative, multi-year contract with an anti- educational union think tank in exchange for your cooperation in the destruction of UTD?

Some of my friends have warned me that this letter may result in you (Ms. Hernandez-Mats) using scarce UTD funds to get a court injunction against me to silence my criticism of your leadership of UTD. I don’t know if my friends are being paranoid or realistic, but to protect myself, I have given several friends copies of this letter and copies of my blog, and permission to publish and distribute any part of my blog they wish when it comes time for the next UTD presidential election. In closing, Ms. Hernandez-Mats, I would again like to urge you in the strongest terms to NOT seek reelection as the UTD president. You clearly are NOT up to the task. Finally, I want to emphasize that my membership in the retired chapter of UTD does NOT mean I believe in the union or have any confidence in it. I belong to UTD ONLY to give me legal standing to report the numerous abuses at NKC that terrified UTD members there are too frightened to report.

In Unity,

Bill Detzner

Bill Detzner/ 7722 S.W. 99 Street/ Miami, Fl. 33156