October 9 2018 letter to the NAACP.docx

October 9, 2018
Dear President of the Miami Chapter of the NAACP,
Hello. My name is Bill Detzner. I am a retired school teacher and a former union steward from Neva King Cooper (NKC) School. I am writing this letter at the request of many African American staff of NKC. The Miami Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) appears to be a very vindictive organization that retaliates against any staff member who reports the misdeeds of MDCPS. As I am retired, I cannot be retaliated against, and that is why many African American staff at NKC have asked me to write this letter. I have written three previous letters to the NAACP (beginning in October 2017) that have not been answered. The first thing that the staff of NKC have asked me to say is that they have the deepest love, respect, and admiration for the NAACP. Having said that, the NKC staff is very worried that the NAACP has known about the serious civil rights violations committed by MDCPS against the African American staff of NKC for over a year, and do not appear to have responded in any way. The NKC staff want to strongly emphasize that they are alone and friendless. At this point, no person or organization has stepped forward to protect the civil rights of the African American staff of NKC. I have sent 6 unanswered certified letters to Superintendent Carvalho, 6 unanswered certified letters to United Teachers of Dade (UTD) president Karla Hernandez Mats, and at least one (and as many as 5 to some members) unanswered certified letters to every MDCPS school board member. The NKC staff have been punished for over six years for attempting to convert from a public school to a charter school. My blog mdcpsallegations.com contains many examples of the horrendous things that have happened at NKC for over six years. For example, a staff member said he/she was physically assaulted by Dr. Roos and had so little confidence in the internal MDCPS investigative bodies that, fearing retaliation, he/she was too frightened to report the alleged assault. Are there other NKC staff, including African American staff who have experienced similar situations? That answer is unknown. The NKC staff has asked me to ask the NAACP to ask the National Labor Relations Board or another agency not controlled by MDCPS to do a districtwide audit of MDCPS. The possibility exists that NKC African American staff have either been physically assaulted by the NKC administrators, or they have a fear that they will be assaulted by NKC administrators. The NKC African American staff have asked me to ask the NAACP if it will enforce these staff members rights to work in a non-hostile work environment. In a previous letter, I stated that although all NKC staff are shouted at and spoken to in an insulting and disrespectful manner, African Americans are treated the worst of all by both NKC administrators. I said that an African American staff member experienced two lengthy screaming tirades from assistant principal Mrs. Alicia Fernandez. The African American NKC staff have asked me to ask the NAACP if it (the NAACP) will enforce these staff members rights to be spoken to by NKC administrators in a courteous and respectful manner. In my letter, I stated that two African American staff, Ms. Green and Mr. Aaron Jackson are at risk for retaliation and possible termination during the 2018-2019 school year. If Dr. Roos does what she has done in the past, she will receive one of her famous “anonymous” phone calls, accusing one or both of these employees of career ending charges. The African American staff of NKC have asked me to ask the NAACP if it will protect these people from unlawful termination of their employment. I stated that for the last three years, the severely mentally retarded children of NKC have been placed at a needless and easily preventable risk of choking to death on their food. Many of these children are African Americans. The African American staff of NKC have asked me to ask the NAACP if it intends to safeguard the lives of these African American children who literally cannot speak for themselves and had nothing to do with the attempt to convert NKC to a charter school.
In my September 4, 2018 letter to the NAACP. I listed six actions that the African American staff of NKC would like the NAACP to take on their behalf. I have enclosed a copy of that letter for your convenience. It is the hope of the long suffering NKC staff that the NAACP will take as many of these actions as possible. The most urgent action is to partner with NKC in filing a grievance with the U.S. Dept. of Education, Office for Civil Rights, in Atlanta GA. Last May, MDCPS had a MANDATORY staff satisfaction survey that ALL staff are REQUIRED to fill out. The NKC administrators, in violation of the law, did not allow paraprofessionals to fill out this survey. This meant that only a tiny fraction of the African American staff of NKC were permitted to fill out this MANDATORY survey. The Atlanta address of the Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights can be found in item #2 of the six suggested actions listed in my September 4, 2018 letter. As stated in my previous letter, this action needs to be taken as soon as possible, as civil rights violations must be reported within six months of the occurrence, and that deadline is rapidly approaching. If the NAACP allows this deadline to occur without lodging a grievance, the African American staff of NKC are going to be greatly disappointed.
All of us can remember the school yard bullies of our childhood. The staff of NKC view Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and the two NKC administrators as school yard bullies that are far too powerful for the NKC staff to confront. Imagine how you would feel if as a small child you were being bullied by the school yard bully, and two of your very strong and very powerful siblings stood by watching and did nothing to help you. In this case, the two very strong and powerful “siblings” are the United Teachers of Dade (UTD) and the NAACP. As I stated previously, I have sent UTD six letters, and BEGGED them to send a UTD official to NKC. The officials of UTD appear to regard NKC as a “no go zone,” as they NEVER visit the campus. UTD has not lifted a finger to help its own members at NKC. Many African American UTD members at NKC believe (with justification) that UTD exists SOLELY to provide generous salaries for UTD staff. The African American NKC staff appear to be baffled and deeply hurt by the fact that so far, the NAACP appears to have done nothing to protect them from the bullying the NAACP has known about for a year. As I said before, these members have asked me to express their love, respect, and admiration for the NAACP. They are asking me to ask the NAACP to pay a visit to the NKC campus to hear the complaints of African American staff. This visit needs to be announced well in advance, and well publicized. If the NAACP is gracious enough to do this, they will hear some eye- popping stories of abuse by NKC administrators. The UTD steward at NKC is Mr. Brett Darwin Brown. He is an African American man. His father was very active in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s. Mr. Brown is a courageous man, who will suffer severe retaliation unless the NAACP makes it very clear that retaliation against Mr. Brown will not be tolerated. Mr. Brown has already suffered retaliation for engaging in protected UTD activities at NKC. A staff member had been terminated from her employment at NKC, without cause, and was appealing her dismissal (DOAH 145-2439) Mr. Brown was subpoenaed, and, as the UTD steward, he agreed to testify at the hearing. (MDCPS lost the case, did not call a single witness to defend this firing, and was ordered to reinstate the teacher at a different school, and pay her 50% of the salary she missed when unjustly fired). A few weeks after the hearing, NKC principal Dr. Tracy Roos received one of her famous “anonymous” phone calls accusing Mr. Brown of using a ruler to discipline an unruly student! This charge could have resulted in the termination of Mr. Brown’s employment.
The NKC staff who asked me to write this fourth letter to the NAACP have asked me to stress that after six years of punishment, they feel that they are at the end of their rope, NOBODY is in their corner, and things at NKC are getting MUCH worse very quickly. When the paraprofessionals had the right to participate in the annual staff satisfaction survey, (On paper, they still have this right, as it is a MANDATORY survey, but a rule that is not enforced does not really exist) the two NKC administrators had to limit their mistreatment of the African American staff, due to fears that they (the NKC administrators) would get a bad evaluation if their illegal punishments of African American staff were excessive. However, Mr. Carvalho, the president of UTD, and the 9 school board members know that the NKC administrators are illegally preventing the African American paraprofessionals from participating in this MANDATORY survey (I sent all of them certified letters informing them of this fact) and they have decided to turn a blind eye and give the NKC administrators a blank check to do whatever they want to do, even if what they are doing is not legal. The African American paraprofessionals of NKC know that now that they are no longer allowed to take this MANDATORY survey, Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez will treat them even worse than they have in the past. Getting back to the school yard bully, what happens when the bully gets his or her way? The bully gets drunk with power and the victim gets treated worse and worse. Dr. Roos has already allegedly assaulted at least one staff member. What happens if she feels safe enough to assault an African American staff member? A person who has been physically attacked has a right to defend themself. However, if an attacked African American staff member defends themself, will Dr. Roos claim that she (Dr. Roos) was attacked by the African American staff member? If so, you can bet your bottom dollar that both Mr. Carvalho and the UTD president will fully support Dr. Roos. There is one word that I heard over and over from the African American staff who were describing working conditions at NKC. Can you guess what that word was? (I’ll give you a clue. That word begins with the letter “P.”) The word they used was the word “Plantation.” The NKC staff have asked me to ask the NAACP if the NAACP is comfortable with the fact that African American staff at NKC are being treated the same way that slaves were treated back in Plantation days?
It should be fairly easy to get both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Alicia Fernandez the “reward” they so richly deserve for the way they have treated the NKC staff for the last six years. Both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez have been responsible for administering the high stakes annual achievement test given every year at NKC. That test is called the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA). For six years, severely mentally retarded students at NKC have been achieving test scores on that test far above their ability. It is possible that cheating has occurred on that test. Both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez have received hefty financial bonuses for the results achieved on that test. A few years ago, some Georgia school officials went to jail for cheating on the yearly achievement test. I know two people who are no longer at NKC who can shed some light on possible cheating on that test if an investigative body independent of MDCPS is brought in. Additionally, it appears that Mrs. Alicia Fernandez willfully and knowingly filed false charges against an NKC teacher for allegedly cheating on the FAA. In the resulting lawsuit, Mrs. Fernandez allegedly perjured herself in her sworn testimony under oath in her deposition. I can provide the name of a teacher who is no longer at NKC who can attest to these facts.
Finally, if the NAACP does nothing, it is likely that there will be some kind of explosion at NKC in the near future. The staff have been punished for over six years. They understand that their treatment is about to become MUCH worse, and that NOBODY will lift a finger to help them. If that happens, please know that all four letters I have written to the NAACP are posted on my website. I am trying to get parts of my blog published in the Miami Herald and/or the New York Times. If wealthy donors discover that the Miami NAACP has known about this crisis for a year and done nothing to stop it, donations may decrease significantly. The African American staff of NKC REALLY, REALLY, REALLY need the help of the NAACP.
Sincerely,
Bill Detzner
Bill Detzner/7722 S.W. 99 St./ Miami, Fl. 33156 billdetzner@bellsouth.net