Dear Governor DeSantis, Fl. Education Commissioner Corcoran, Superintendent Carvalho, 9 MDCPS School Board members, and Ms. Hernandez Mats,
Hello. My name is Bill Detzner. For the fifth straight year, I am writing a letter asking that at the end of the school year, Dr. Tracy Roos and Mrs. Alicia Fernandez (Screamer) be removed as the Neva King Cooper School (NKC) administrators and replaced with the two former NKC school administrators, Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol. As I will refer frequently in this letter to incidents that I have described in detail in my blog, that blog can be accessed at mdcpsallegations.com
I want to very strongly emphasize that if Superintendent Carvalho is allowed to merely remove the present two NKC administrators and replace them with different administrators of his choosing, Mr. Carvalho’s new hand picked administrators may choose to continue the seven (7) year on-going rape of NKC, while continuing to expose the profoundly mentally handicapped (PMH) children to the danger of choking to death on their food at mealtimes, continuing to expose the severely retarded children of NKC to alleged physical assaults at the hands of the school principal, and continuing to punish the NKC staff for their (supposedly) legally protected decision to attempt to convert from a public school to a charter school. There are many reasons why Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol are the best choices to replace the present NKC administrators. First, both of these gentlemen had been the NKC administrators for many years prior to their illegal removal. Profoundly Mentally Handicapped children have characteristics unique to them alone. An administrator who has not worked previously with this unique population would need a few years just to reach the level of competence that Dr. Fernandez and Mr. Cristobol already have. Dr. Fernandez and Mr. Cristobol can hit the ground running, where another principal will need a minimum of 2-3 years to reach the level these two previous NKC administrators already have. Also, both Dr. Fernandez and Mr. Cristobol have achieved some of the highest ratings in MDCPS in the annual staff satisfaction surveys among both staff and parents. Dr. Fernandez and Mr. Cristobol have also cultivated deep ties among businesses and stakeholders in the city of Homestead, where NKC is located. I say this because for years, every spring, under the leadership of Dr. Fernandez and Mr. Cristobol, NKC hosted a golf tournament, which raised thousands of dollars that were used to buy physical therapy equipment for our students. These two fine administrators also cultivated a warm relationship between NKC and the Ryder Corporation, a Fortune Five Hundred corporation. That relationship continues to this day. At one point, the Ryder Corporation gave a six figure check to NKC to install Smart Boards in every classroom in the school. At one point, Dr. Fernandez was lauded as the most effective administrator in MDCPS. Finally, and most importantly, returning Dr. Fernandez and Mr. Cristobol to their posts as NKC administrators would send a clear and unmistakable signal that MDCPS is FINALLY ending the SEVEN YEAR punishment imposed on NKC for engaging in the (supposedly) legally protected activity of exploring conversion from a public school to a charter school. (as documented in DOAH 13-1492) As Superintendent Carvalho and /or the Miami Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) school board members are extremely unlikely to take the action of removing the present NKC administrators and replacing them with Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol,, I am asking that Governor DeSantis and/or Commissioner Corcoran use their authority to order Superintendent Carvalho to take this action.
As there is at this point in time a 2 month gap between the end of the 2018-2019 school year and the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, and as the 2019 legislative session has ended, the governor has a great deal of free time to attend to this pressing and urgent problem. If the Governor and or Commisioner Corcoran choose to do little or nothing at a time when the Governor’s chief duty seems to be cutting ribbons at various locations, the voters will assume the Governor has a reckless and negligent disregard for the safety of Florida’s most vulnerable citizens, severely mentally handicapped children.
Governor DeSantis, consider the following scenario. Two women stand accused of committing a murder. The state of Florida decides to allow these women to conduct the investigation of their guilt or innocence. If the two women find themselves guilty, they face substancial penalties. These two women have a clear conflict of interest, so naturally, they are going to find themselves not guilty, no matter how damming the evidence against them is. Any witnesses against these two women would be extremely reluctant to truthfully testify against these two women, knowing a not guilty verdict was preordained, and knowing that the two women would then be free to retaliate against witnesses at the conclusion of the sham “trial.” Any witnesses who did testify at this sham “trial” would have a very strong motivation to be less than truthful, or to be completely untruthful, just to protect themselves from retaliation. (Perhaps this was the thinking of both Mrs. Mary Surca and Dr. Diana Morales when the Office of the Inspector General dropped the ball and allowed Miami Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) to investigate itself and question these two women) Only a madman or a very negligent person wouls allow a party accused of wrongdoing to investigate itself. Astonishingly, that is what the state of Florida did when it allowed MDCPS to investigate itself concerning alleged cheating on the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA) by Dr. Roos and Mrs. Alicia Fernandez (Screamer). To quote from my May1,2019 letter to you “When I received the OIG email announcing that my claim had been investigated, found to be without merit, and dismissed, I phoned the OIG office and asked who conducted the investigation. The OIG person asked for my OIG correspondence number. When I gave him/her that number, he/she told me that MDCPS had been allowed to conduct the investigation , and that the OIG accepted the results of that investigation, wholly and without question…The second issue I am hoping you [Governor DeSantis] will ask the OIG about is the dispute as to whether or not FAA scores at NKC showed a dramatic Improvement when Dr. Alberto Fernandez ceased to be the NKC administrator, and Dr. Roos took over as the NKC principal. To quote from the email I received from OIG: ” The OIG also analyzed the test scores from 2013-2018and found the scores were anything but astonishingly high, let alone high.” When Dr. Alberto Fernandez was the NKC pribcipal, the students were tested for a period of many years on the FAA. Never once during that time was the staff ever offered a bonus due to high scores on the FAA. Diring two of the three years I worked at NKC under Dr. Roos, the staff won a financial bonus based on our school’s performance on the FAA. I want to emphasize that those bonuses are awarded SOLELY on the basis of outstanding student performance on this test. Governor DeSantis, can you please ask the OIC why the NKC staff was awarded bonuses for two years if a dramatic improvement in FAA scores did not occur once Dr. Roos and Mrs. Alicia Fernandez (Screamer) became the NKC administrators?”
Governor, a person who allowed such a sham “investigation” in this hypothetical murder trial would be rightly viewed as NOT wanting to learn the truth of the matter, and merely attempting to evade responsibility when further travesties of justice by these criminals occur in the future. At the conclusion of this sham “trial” when these two criminals were awarded their inevitable not guilty verdicts and released to continue their crimes, the highly negligent person who allowed this travesty to occur could shrug his shoulders and say, “Isn’t it awful? However, I am NOT to blame, because a “trial” was held, and the defendants were found not guilty.” Governor De Santis, the public would rightly conclude that such an official could care less about the public’s right to safety from harm by criminals. The public would rightly assume that the SOLE concern of the negligent person who allowed this travesty of justice to occur was to evade responsibility for being blamed for failing to take action to protect the public from the harm caused by these criminals, while giving himself the excuse of pretending to take action on behalf of the public. Governor, this is what many politicians do, and it is the reason the public has very little trust or respect for politicians. Governor DeSantis, with all due respect, this is what YOU appear to have done with regard to the sham “investigation” of cheating on the FAA by the two NKC administrators.
Governor DeSantis, I am going to ask you a very blunt question. If one or more of the severely mentally retarded children of NKC chokes to death on his/her food ON YOUR WATCH AS FLORIDA’S GOVERNOR, are you ok with that, provided you will not be held accountable, as your OIG held a sham “investigation” of wrongdoing by NKC administrators? Do you think Florida voters will buy that argument in the next gubernatorial election? As you are well aware, Dr. Roos has also allegedly physically assaulted an African American severely mentally retarded NKC student and a social worker. You are also well aware that Dr. Roos has allegedly confessed to suffering from an Obsesive Compulsive Disorder, and gives the appearance of having very poor control of her ability to control her destructive and antisocial actions such as alleged uncontrollable and prolonged crying jags she has had in front of staff. Governor DeSantis, if Dr. Roos again alleged physically assaults one or more staff members, or (may God forbid it) another severely mentally handicapped child, (in front of three witnesses, two of whom filed a formal report of this incident) who cannot speak to tell what happened to him/her, and who may be unable to defend himself/ herself in any way, are you ok with that, provided you will not be held accountable,as your OIG held a sham “investigation” of wrongdoing by NKC administrators on the FAA achievement test? In my blog, I described in great detail how Mrs. Alicia Fernandez (Screamer) allegedly filed potentially career ending charges against Mr. Rick Massa for his alleged cheating on the FAA test. She did so, knowing the charges were false, and that no cheating had occurred. She then allegedly perjured herself in her deposition in Mr. Massa’s resulting lawsuit. (If an investigative body INDEPENDENT OF MDCPS conducts an investigation of this, I can provide the name of a person who can verify that Mrs. Fernandez knowingly and willfully filed false charges of cheating by Mr. Massa on the FAA.) Governor DeSantis, if Mrs. Alicia Fernandez (Screamer) allegedly knowingly and willfully files false potentially career ending charges against one or more additional NKC staff members in the future, are you ok with this, provided you will not be held accountable, as your OIG held a sham “investigation” of wrongdoing by NKC administrators on the FAA achievement test?
A person may think that the danger of a child choking to death on his/her food while at school is extremely remote. In a school for normal children, this is indeed the case. (Although at my older brother’s Catholic all boys high school, a young man came within seconds of suffering permanent and irreversible brain damage when he accepted a dare and a bet that he could eat an entire hamburger, including the bun in one bite,) Due to both physical and cognitive disabilities, the chance of a severely mentally retarded child choking to death on his/her food are FAR, FAR greater than they are for a normal child. Indeed, some of our students have suffered this tragic fate in the group homes they reside in. While it is difficult to put an exact number on how much more at risk the student population of our school for severely retarded children is for choking to death on their food, as opposed to a normal child choking to death on his/her food, I would estimate that it is reasonable to say a severely retarded child is a thousand times more likely to choke to death on his/her food than a normal child is. While choking incidents are not a daily occurrence at NKC, they are not uncommon events either. In ANY choking incident, the sooner intervention occurs, the greater the chances of a happy outcome. In my blog, I described in great detail a choking incident that occurred in Mr. Rick Massa’s class. (Mr. Massa was a very strong supporter of converting NKC from a public school to a charter school). Although the child in question was so prone to choking incidents that his choking danger was listed in his Individual Education Plan (IEP), and although Mr. Massa took immediate and highly appropriate action that resulted in the child promptly ejecting the food he was choking on without losing consciousness, and promptly went back to eating his lunch, Dr. Roos nevertheless filed potentially career ending charges against Mr. Massa for negligence! As the entire staff gathers together in the cafeteria at mealtimes to feed the students, the entire staff witnessed that although Mr. Massa acted in a highly appropriate and indeed a heroic manner, the NKC principal attempted to have Mr. Massa terminated. (I strongly urge readers of this letter to read about this event in my blog, as Dr. Roos went to ASTONISHING lengths to have Mr. Massa terminated for saving a child’s life) As a result of what the rest of the staff witnessed in the cafeteria that day, the staff have a well founded fear that if a child in their class begins to choke on his/her food, even if the choking incident is not the fault of the staff member, and even if the staff member immediately intervenes and the child makes a complete recovery, Dr. Roos and/or Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) may use that as an opportunity to file career ending charges against the staff member. For that reason if a choking incident occurs, a staff member, fearing his/her job is on the line, may hesitate for30 seconds to a minute before summoning help from our on-site nurses, hoping the child spontaneously coughs up the food. That 30 second to one minute delay can literally mean the difference between life and death for a Profoundly Mentally Handicapped (PMH) child. (Sometimes it takes 2-3 minutes, or more to dislodge food that is deeply lodged in a person’s throat. I’ll discuss that in more depth later on.) Superintendent Carvalho has known about this danger for FOUR YEARS and done NOTHING to eliminate this easily preventable tragedy from happening. At NKC, BOTH NKC administrators appear to have made a decision to use choking incidents as a weapon to file potentially career ending charges against staff one or both administrators do not like.
Every meal that is served at NKC has the potential to result in a child choking to death on his/her food. For this reason, NKC staff monitor children very closely at mealtimes The ideal goal for staff is to maintain eye contact with students at all times during mealtimes. Regrettably, this cannot be done. Some of our students do not have the ability to feed themselves and need to be spoon fed by the staff. Staff do a visual check of their class after every spoonful of food they feed to such a child. Often classes have more than one child who needs to be spoon fed by the staff.There are additional distractions. Some students experience violent and prolonged seizures. These seizures come with no warning. If a child experiences a seizure during mealtime, the teacher will monitor the child having a seizure while the teacher assistant continues to monitor the rest of the class. If two children from the same classroom experience a seizure at nearly the same time ( an infrequent but occasionally occurring event) the teacher montors one student, while the teacher assistant monitors the other student. This leaves the remainder of the class unattended until a schoolsite nurse arrives. Other staff will attempt to monitor these unattended students as they feed and monitor the students of their own class until a school nurse arrives. NKC students have a very low frustration threshold. When they feel overwhelmed, they attempt to physically harm either themselves or their peers. If a child has an emotional meltdown, he/she may begin to beat his/her head against the nearest object, or beat his/her face with his/her fists. or the child may physically assault a peer Here again, the teaher or the teacher assistant will immediately intervene to prevent the child from physically harming either himself/herself, or a peer. This again results in a temporary diminished capacity to monitor the rest of the class. Finally, even though mealtimes are times of maximum danger for PMH students, astonishingly, both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) will occasionally use mealtimes to summon staff to the office for trivial matters that could have easily been delayed for a more appropriate time. Both NKC administrators expect and receive extremely meek, servile, and defferential treatment from staff. Although I would have liked to have asked the NKC administrators to not summon me during mealtimes except in an emergency, making this request might have resulted in me receiving a letter of reprimand for isubordination! (Are you listening, Ms. Hernandez Mats?) Every time either Dr. Roos or Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) did this to me, I would be both frantic with worry the entire time my class had only my teaching assistant to watch them during mealtime, and seething with rage that an NKC administrator saw fit to put my class at risk for a trivial matter that could have easily waited for a more opportune time. Clearly, the welfare of NKC students was not and is not a priority for the present NKC administrators.
The smartest PMH students are the ones most at risk for choking to death on their food. They are smart enough to realize that a momentary lapse on the teacher’s attention is an opportunity for them to be sneaky and stuff ENORMOUS amounts of food into their mouths. Regrettably, they do not have the cognitive capacity to understand that their actions have consequences (i.e. cause and effect), and they do not ubderstand that quickly stuffing vast quantities of food into their mouths will cause them to choke. They will not grasp this concept, even if it is repeatedly explained to them. A student who experienced enormous distress from choking on his/her food will repeat that behavior in the future if given the opportunity because the child does not understand the adverse consequences of his/her actions.. A person may think that ending a choking incident can be done quickly and easily. One merely administers the Heinlich Maneuver, the person coughs up the food, and the danger has passed. This is true if the person is choking on only a small amount of food. However, if a person has stuffed vast quantities of food into his/her mouth, that food will become deeply lodged in a person’s airways, and need to be removed by hand. This process can take 2-3 minutes, or longer. In my blog, I described an incident where an NKC student had attempted to swallow an entire pancake in one bite and lost consciousness. It took Mr. Frank Lozada, an NKC teacher who was also a fully trained Fire Academy graduate who rode ambulances during the weekend between 2-3 minutes to clear this child’s breathing passages. Thus, an NKC staff person, fearing his/her job is at stake if one of his/her students begins to choke on their food may hesitate for 30 seconds to a minute before summoning help from our on site nursing staff. That thirty second to one minute delay can literally mean the difference between life and death for an NKC student. If you have read my blog, you know that I have proposed 3 steps that would quickly and easily end this entirely preventable danger to the lives of PMH students. Those three steps are: 1) Replace Dr. Roos and Mrs Fernandez (Screamer) with former NKC administrators Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol 2) Have Superintendent Carvalho issue a memorandum to all NKC staff stating that in the future, NKC staff who properly execute their duties will not suffer adverse consequences. This memorandum will be meaningful only if Superintendent Carvalho chooses to honor his promise. 3) Reinstate the mandatory annual training in life saving techniques that all staff received when Dr. Fernandez and Mr. Cristobol were the NKC administrators. If you have read my blog, you know that for FOUR YEARS I have sent EIGHT unanswered certified letters to Superintendent Carvalho, BEGGING him to make these three changes (I have saved the eight signed and dated green receipt cards to prove he received my letters). Mr. Carvalho has declined to make ANY CHANGES AT ALL during this four year period.
A person may think that the fact that NKC has an on site nursing staff means that students who begin to choke on their food are at little or no risk of dying. This is untrue for two reasons. First, although the NKC nurses are deeply compassionate people who do an excellent job of both tube feeding the NKC students who need this service, and administering medication to students, they do not give the appearance of being trained in emergency life saving techniques, I say this because in the three emergencies where life literally hung in the balance that occurred during my time at NKC, the nurses just stood there and did nothing, because they did not know what to do. In all three instances, it was a teacher at NKC, Mr. Frank Lozada who saved the lives of the three people who nearly died at our school. Two of those incidents were choking incidents. The third incident was a staff member who suffered a massive heart attack and had no pulse and was not breathing. Regrettably, Mr. Lozada is one of the MANY,MANY staff who have left NKC due to the semmingly deliberately bullying, and abrasive personalities of both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer). The second reason the nursing staff of NKC appears to be of questionable competence is because that staff is in a constant state of flux. Again, due to the extremely abrasive personalities of both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer), nurses do not last long at NKC. At one point, Dr. Roos purged the entire NKC nursing staff en mass. It is possible that the NKC nursing staff is composed of nurses who have few other work options.
Both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez give the appearance of being openly and blatantly racist. I have given several examples of this in my blog. I will briefly describe them here once again. For many years, we had an African American custodian at NKC named Mr. Jerry Terry. Mr. Terry was a conscientious 30 year employee who had a spotless record. As I said before, both NKC administrators are extremely rude, abrasive, insulting, and they frequently shout at NKC staff. During one such heated exchange between Mr. Terry and Dr. Roos, in the heat of the moment, Mr. Terry said some things that he probably shouldn’t have said, and he was involuntarily transferred to another school. I do not know why the fact that Mr. Terry’s 30 year unblemished record prior to Dr. Roos arrival, coupled with the fact that Dr. Roos has also had major clashes with numerous other NKC employees did not raise some questions about Dr. Roos fitness to be a school principal. Mr. Terry’s nephew, Mr. Ray Morrison , also an African American, has been an NKC employee for over 20 years. Prior to Dr. Roos arrival, Mr. Morrison also had a spotless record. On at least two occasions, Mr. Morrison has been the victim of a prolonged SCREAMING jag by assistant principal Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) Although Mr. Morrison REPEATEDLY asked Mrs. Fernandez to both lower her voice and to speak in a respectful voice. Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) declined to do either one of these things. Mr. Morrison, remembering what had happened to his uncle, and fearing he was in danger of sinking down to the level of assistant principal Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer), announced he was leaving Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) office, and that he (Mr. Morrison) would be happy to resume the “conversation” when Mrs. Fernandez had regained control of her emotions and was willing to address Mr. Morrison in a professional, polite, and courteous manner.
To put things into perspective, I (Bill Detzner) have also been the victim of one of Mrs. Fernandez(Screamer) tirades. I have described it in detail in my blog. Her tirade went on for twenty (20) minutes! On four separate occasions, I asked Mrs Fernandez (Screamer) to lower her voice. The first time, she briefly lowered her voice. The other three times, she simply ignored me. I literally was not allwed to speak. Every time I attempted to speak, Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) simply shouted me down. I am an army veteran. At no time during my boot camp basic training did a drill sargeat scream at me for more than two or three minutes, and never as loudly or as disrespectfully as Mrs. Fernandez did. In my blog, I also mentioned that because I am Caucasion, I did not experience nearly as much venom as African Americans experience at the hands of both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer).
At the end of the school day, Mr. Morrison was summoned to a closed door meeting with Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer). If any of the readers of this letter think the purpose of that meeting was to offer Mr. Morrison an apology for Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) inexcusable behavior, and to assure Mr. Morrison that this inexcusable behavior would never occur again, you are a very naïve person. The purpose of that meeting was to inform Mr. Morrison that if he ever again excused himself from one of Screamer’s unprofessional screaming jags, he would suffer the same fate as his uncle.
One of the school secretaries is a woman named Ms. LaTanya Stephenson. She has been an NKC employee for over 20 years. She also has a spotless record. She is punctual, has excellent attendance, dresses very professionally, has excellent people skills and conducts herself at all times in a professional manner, and completes all of her duties in a timely and professional manner. Her computer skills are astonishing. When the school lead secretary retired, everybody just assumed that Mrs. Stephenson would get the promotion as the lead secretary. Unfortunately, Mrs. Stephenson appears to have one characteristic that seems to have disqualified her in Dr. Roos eyes. Mrs. Stephenson is an African American. Dr. Roos recruited a person from another school to become the new lead secretary of NKC.
I have described in great detail in my blog the incident involving Dr. Roos and two African American NKC employees. Those two employees are Mrs. Green and Mr. Aaron Jackson. Shortly after the murder of Mrs. Green’s daughter, Dr. Roos allegedly ordered Mr. Jackson, one of Mrs. Green’s good friends, to deliver Dr. Roos threat to have Mrs. Green involuntarily transferred to another school. When this action caused Dr. Roos to get into trouble, she (Dr.Roos) allegedly hastily summoned Mr. Jackson to her office for a closed door meeting and allegedly threatened Mr. Jackson with immediate job termination unless he immediately recanted his testimony saying Dr. Roos had ordered him to deliver Dr. Roos alleged threat to Mrs. Green. A few weeks after this event, which should have cost Dr. Roos her job, MDCPS saw fit to honor Dr. Roos by accepting her as a candidate for the most prestigious award a principal can earn. She became a candidate for the Principal of the Year Award. Although MDCPS promised to conduct a meeting with Ms. Green to discuss this incident, MDCPS cancelled this meeting twice, and the meeting was never held. Almost two years later, Mrs. Green is still waiting for MDCPS to address the abuse she suffered at the hands of Dr. Roos
As I described in my blog, a few months ago, Dr. Roos allegedly physically assaulted an NKC student. (Readers of this blog, if you like riddles, I have one for you. See if you can guess the race of the student Dr. Roos allegedly physically assaulted. I’ll give you a hint. The initials of this student’s race are A.A.) Yep, you readers are truly astute. This child is African American. Although MDCPS has a MANDATORY policy that a principal accused of physically assaulting a child be removed from campus until an investigation of that alleged incident is completed, (for the protection of the child) this was never done
As I described in my blog, MDCPS has an annual MANDATORY survey that EVERY employee is required to take. It is the annual staff satisfaction survey. Last year, the NKC administrators, possibly in an attempt to boost the phenomenally low scores they receive year after year on this survey, decided to illegally forbid teaching assistants from taking this survey. This meant that very few African Americans from NKC were allowed to take this survey.
Finally, as I mentioned in my blog, many of the African American Professionals refer to NKC as a “Plantation.”
Every day,The parents of NKC children are faced with a cruel choice.Their two choices are: 1) Send their children to school at NKCwhere the child faces the risk of possibly choking to death on his/her food, or exposing their child to the risk of allegedly being physically assaulted by Dr. Roos should she experience yet another emotional meltdown. 2) Keep the child out of school and have Child Protective Services forcibly remove the child from his/her home and placed in a foster home where the child runs the risk of being physically and/or sexually assaulted by an abusibe foster parent. There are no charter schools for PMH children in MDCPS, so these are the only two choices available to the parents of NKC children. Also, parents of NKC children are forced to pay the salary of a principal who has allegedly physically assaulted an utterly defenseless and speechless profoundly mentally handicapped child. This principal, along with assistant principal Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) , on a daily basis also allegedly exposes these children to an entirely preventable horrible death by choking on their food.
Governor DeSantis, you are a father. WHAT LEVEL OF RAGE WOULD YOU FEEL IF ONE OF YOUR CHILDREN WERE TO DIE A HORRIBLE AND CRUEL DEATH BY CHOKING ON HIS/HER FOOD AT SCHOOL? WHAT IF YOU KNEW THAT AN ELECTED OFFICIAL WAS FULLY AWARE OF THE SITUATION, COULD EASILY HAVE PREVENTED THAT SITUATION FROM HAPPENING, AND CHOSE TO DO NOTHING? (HINT: THINK MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL ) DO YOU THINK FLORIDA VOTERS WILL NOT TURN YOU OUT OF OFFICE IF YOU ALLOW A PROFOUNDLY MENTALLY HANDICAPPED CHILD TO DIE A HORRIBLE,SENSELESS, AND EASILY PREVENTABLE CHOKING DEATH? If you choose to do nothing, the chance of a PMH child suffering this fate on your watch is nearly 100%. Governor, I am hoping you will read that last sentence over again as many times as you need to. The next few sentences are also very important. WHEN that happens (not if, but when), I am going to take my blog to the Florida Democratic Party. They have enough “pull” to get excerpts from my blog published in every major Florida newspaper, and you will suffer a “Michael Dukakis Moment” in the next election.
Perhaps the noble slogan of “Never Again” that has been popularized by Parkland High School students ought to be changed to “Again and Again!” If an NKC child chokes to death on his food, it will be for the same reason 17 people needlessly died at M.S.D. That reason is that bureaucrats, who could have prevented the tragedy, did nothing.
Governor DeSantis, on bended knee I am BEGGING you to reopen the investigation of the alleged cheating on the FAA by Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez. Only this time, I am asking that a REAL investigation be done. I am asking that either the Florida Bureau of Investigation or the Federal Bureau of Investigation examine the NKC answer sheets for all the years answer sheets were used after Dr. Roos became the NKC principal. I am asking that the examiners look for frequent erasure marks on the answer sheets I am asking that the investigators interview ALL of the people that I asked to be interviewed. These people include Dr. Roos, Mrs. Fernandez, Mrs. Surca, Dr. Morales, Mr. Adrian Sanchez (the former assistant principal of NKC), Mr. Rick Massa (although he is now retired, Mr. Massa has exprtessed his willingness to be interviewed), Mrs. Luz Morales, and Mrs. Julie Besherat. I am asking that if it is determined that Dr. Roos and/or Mrs. Fernandez are found to have cheated on the FAA that the penalties prescribed by law for this offense be imposed on them. Also, if it is determined that the MDCPS authorities who investigated this alleged offense are found to have engaged in a cover up, that the proper penalties be assigned to them as well. If a cover up by MDCPS occurred, would that give the Florida authorities legal grounds to conduct a district wide investigation of MDCPS? If so, a good place to start might be the eight chronically failing MDCPS who suddenly all received passing grades on the standard achievement test a few years. If Governor DeSantis finds that the profoundly mentally handicapped children of NKC are in danger, and if Superintendent Carvalho refuses to take appropriate steps to safeguard those children, I am hoping the governor will see fit to remove the two NKC administrators from their posts, and Superintendent Carvalho as well if this needs to be done.
Governor DeSantis, I am going to ask you a few questions that nobody knows the answers to. 1) What is the present level of student violence in MDCPS? Is the level of student violence in MDCPS increasing, decreasing, or remaining stable? Are the strategies MDCPS is currently using to attempt to lower the level of student violence working effectively? A few years back, the government required all school districts to submit a report showing the level of student violence in the school district. The problem was that no penalties were imposed for school districts that falsified their figures. The result was that Superintendent Carvalho submitted a report with figures so low that on paper, MDCPS had nearly the lowest levels of violence in the entire nation. The falsification was so blatant that MDCPS became the butt of many jokes. Some people say that had Superintendent Carvalho faced severe penalties for submitting a vastly underreported level of violence in MDCPS, his report would have been far more accurate.
A person who wanted to measure the effectiveness of instruction in various schools would probably consult (among other things) the results of the standardized tests given every year. These test results are an accurate measuring tool only if the test results are accurately reported. Obviously, if cheating on these tests were to occur, the test results would show the school to be operating at a higher level than it actually was. The pressure to achieve high scores on these tests is significant for teachers, school administrators, and school superintendents. Additionally, cash bonuses are awarded for high performance, while schools that turn in low test scores for several consecutive years face the risk of being closed. The temptation and the motivation to cheat on these tests is very high. Therefore, severe penalties are assigned to individuals who are caught cheating on this test. I believe those penalties include job termination and forfeiture of pension. On the surface, this seems like a severe enough penalty to keep cheating at very low levels. However, this is true ONLY if these severe penalties are actually ASSIGNED when cheating has been detected. If detected cheating is merely swept under the rug, word gets around that the rules are not being enforced, and the level of cheating will rise dramatically. There are a few factors that almost guarantee that the level of cheating on these tests in MDCPS will be at an unacceptably high level. One factor is that tenure has been eliminated. A teacher can now be terminated at will at the end of the school year. MDCPS has a slogan. That slogan is “See something, say something.” What that slogan means is that if an employee sees something illegal happening, he/she should report it. Again, given the fact that tenure no longer exists, an employee who sees something illegal (such as cheating on the high stakes achievement test) and is foolish enough to report it is likely to end up unemployed at the end of the school year (in addition to the cheating or other illegal activity being swept under the rug.) A more honest slogan would be “See something, say something, lose your job.” A second factor baked into the cake and resulting in higher levels of test cheating is that educators surrender their right to free speech when they become school board employees. School staff who observe illegal activities at their schools are FORBIDDEN BY LAW from reporting these activities to the media. These school employees are directed to report these infractions to the internal investigative bodies of their school districts who will then complete a fair and impartial investigation (wink, wink) School employees who are foolish enough to employ this strategy very quickly learn the meaning of the slogan, “See something, say something, lose your job.” This rule forbidding school employees from going to the media and becoming whistleblowers insures that nearly 100% of public school wrongdoing goes unpunished and unreported. On very rare occasions, a person such as myself, who has retired from the school system and is a VERY patient and persistent person will fight the endless stalling and lying by school bureaucrats and FINALLY get an “investigation” by the OIG. As happened to me, the OIG will allow the school district that stands accused to conduct its own “investigation” into the matter and accept the results of that “investigation” wholly and completely. Thus, with a straight face, the OIG told me that the “investigation” did NOT show any kind of significant gain in FAA scores at NKC, even though the staff were awarded bonuses (for the first time ever) after Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez became the NKC administrators.These bonuses are awarded ONLY for outstanding achievement on the FAA. Governor DeSantis, if somebody told you that it was simultaneously snowing a blizzard while the temperature was well above 100 degrees, would you believe them? For this reason, I am again asking you to reopen the investigation of possible cheating on the FAA by NKC administrators. If cheating on the high stakes achievement test is punished, word will quickly get around, and this test will become an accurate tool for measuring the effectiveness of instruction. If “smoke and mirrors” is all a governor was interested in, that governor would allow cheating to be swept under the rug, and “accountability” would become a meaningless joke. In an era where American students are competing with students from around the globe, Florida cannot afford the luxury of lousy schools. Governor DeSantis, my hope is that educational reform is truly a priority for you.
A few years ago, Superintendent Carvalho became a candidate to become the second most powerful person in the US. Federal Department of Education. This is a very daunting and exhaustive process, as a candidate is put under a microscope, and his/her career is very closely examined. A person does not submit to this grueling process unless he/she is deeply committed to getting the job. When Mr. Carvalho had completed the entire process, he had a very curious epiphany and realized he didn’t want the job after all, because he realized he just couldn’t be away from the school children of MDCPS. While this may indeed be the reason Mr. Carvalho took himself out of consideration after completing the entire exhaustive process, another possibility might be that after vetting Mr. Carvalho, the examiners discovered Mr. Carvalho had more skeletons in his closet than there are in a cemetery, and allowed Mr. Carvalho to make this face saving statement. An audit of MDCPS might turn up some very interesting facts about the way Mr. Carvalho conducts the affairs of the school district.
It is ironic and sad that the students of NKC, who played no part whatsoever in the torpedoed NKC conversion attempt are the ones paying the heaviest price for NKC’s (supposedly) legally protected right to attempt to convert from a public school to a charter school. Perhaps this is Superintendent Carvalho’s punishment for the parents who enthusiastically supported NKC’s aborted conversion attempt. Perhaps Superintendent Carvalho is attempting to send a warning message to the parents of any other MDCPS who are thinking about exercising their (supposedly) legally protected right to explore conversion to a charter school
I am reserving my harshest criticism for the Florida legislators who passed a “law” forbidding retaliation against public school employees who attempt to convert to a charter school, yet provide NO PENALTIES WHATSOEVER for superintendents who break that law. Imagine what would happen if a “law” was passed that outlawed robbing banks, but provided no penalties whatsoever for those who break this law! It wouldn’t be long before bank robbers became so brazen that they didn’t even bother to hide their identities when breaking this “law”. They would soon be posting their lawbreaking activities on You Tube. If any of the readers of this letter take the time to read DOAH 13-1492, you will be amazed by both the fact that MDCPS broke every law on the books when they illegally smashed NKC’s conversion attempt to a charter school, and that they made no attempt whatsoever to disguise their numerous illegal actions. Given the fact that there are no penalties for breaking this “law”, there is no point in even trying to hide that law breaking. The staff of NKC has been put through hell for seven years . If you have read my blog, what has happened to NKC for the last 7 years can only be described as a rape. For this reason, I am asking Governor DeSantis, Commisioner Corcoran, and the Florida legislature to either totally repeal this “law” giving public schools the right to convert to charter schools or to put some SUBSTANCIAL penalties in for superintendents who violate this law.
Governor DeSantis, I have two questionsd for you. DO PROFOUNDLY MENTALLY HANDICAPPED CHILDREN HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE SAFE FROM PHYSICAL ASSAULT AT THE HANDS OF THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL? DO THE PARENTS OF PROFOUNDLY MENTALLY HANDICAPPED CHILDREN HAVE THE RIGHT TO HAVE THEIR CHILD SPARED A VIOLENT AND HORRIBLE CHOKING DEATH?
Commisioner Corcoran, I am asking that you bring this letter toGovernor DeSantis attention at your earliest convenience. Superitendent Carvalho, I am asking that you remove Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez from their posts and replace them with Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol. I am asking the nine school board members to write a letter to Mr. Carvalho asking him to immediately remove both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez from their posts as the NKC administrators and replace them with Dr. Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol. If Mr. Carvalho declines to do this and/or if you feel Mr. Carvalho is no longer fit to serve as the MDCPS superintendent, I am asking you to write a letter to Goernor SeSantis asking the Governor to relieve Mr. Carvalho of his duties. Ms Hernandez Mats, I am asking you to write a letter to Mr. Carvalho, asking that Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez be removed as the NKC administrators and replaced with Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol.
I want to disclose a few things about myself before I close this letter. Both my wife and I are retired teachers of NKC. My wife was both a certified music therapist and the NKC music teacher, and I was an NKC classroom teacher for the majority of my career. career. As my wife and I have no children of our own, we have become very protective of the children of NKC. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am like a dog with a bone. As a retired man, I have unlimited amounts of time and energy to advocate for PMH children. This letter will be posted on my blog, along with every other letter I have sent to you.
Sincerely,
Bill Detzner
Bill Detzner 7722 S.W. 99 St. Miami, FL 33156 billdetzner@bellsouth.net