Mr. DeSantis, Are You A Governor, Or A Gangster?

9 August, 2019

A few months ago, Neva King Cooper School (NKC) school principal Dr. Tracy Roos and assistant principal Mrs. Alicia Fernandez (Screamer) faced an investigation into allegations that they had cheated on the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA). The FAA is the yearly achievement test given to Profoundly Mentally Handicapped (PMH) students. Those allegations were so serious that had these two administrators been found guilty of this infraction, they could have potentially been terminated and lost their pensions as well. Fortunately for these two administrators, the State of Florida decided to pass the buck and allow Miami Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) to investigate itself, despite the fact that MDCPS faced severe sanctions had it found two of its administrators guilty of cheating on this test. MDCPS had a clear conflict of interest. As the whistleblower, I BEGGED the Florida Office of inspector General to turn the invesdtigation over to an independent investigative body, such as the Florida Bureau of Investigation, or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but this was not done. To the surprise of no one, MDCPS absolved Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) of all wrongdoing, despite considerable evidence to the contrary (such as the fact that staff were awarded bonuses for outstanding achievement on the FAA ONLY after Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) became the NKC administrators A reasonable and rational administrator, after being investigated for this potentially career ending charge, would temper his or her future actions, at least for a brief period of time following the investigation. Dr. Roos does not give the appearance of being a reasonable or rational administrator. I say this because just days after being let off the hook for alleged cheating on the FAA, Dr. Roos allegedly summoned Mr. Ray Morrison, an African American NKC staff member, for a closed door meeting. It is highly likely that Mrs. Alicia Fernandez (Screamer), the NKC assistant principal, also attended this closed door meeting. At that meeting, Dr. Roos allegedly demanded that Mr. Morrison give her an accounting of any conversation(s) Mr. Morrison had had with myself (Bill Detzner) during Mr. Morrison’s off duty hours. This is a highly illegal activity that Dr. Roos has allegedly done many, many times over the past 7 years with many different staff members, including myself. I can think of three possible reasons why Dr. Roos chose to engage in this clearly illegal activity just days after being absolved of potentially career ending charges.

The first possible explanation for this breathtaking lack of respect for obeying the MDCPS contract and state and Federal laws is that it is possible that Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) are unable to restrain themselves from engaging in clearly illegal activities, even after recently facing potentially career ending charges. The second possible explanation is that Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) have experienced few or no adverse consequences from their superiors , even after committing numerous egregious offenses. Indeed, Dr. Roos, shortly after allegedly illegally threatening to involuntarily transfer a grieving African American mother to another school shortly after the brutal murder of that woman’s daughter, found herself nominated as a candidate to the most prestigious award a MDCPS principal can earn . (the Principal of the Year Award). The third possiblity is that both possibilities are simultaneously true. Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) give the impression of being unable to restrain themselves from engaging in numerous egregious illegal behaviors. Additionally, Florida educational bureaucrats, both at the state of Florida level and at the MDCPS level seem to have little or no motivation to require these two NKC administrators to obey the MDCPS contract, Florida state law, or Federal law. I personally feel that the third possibility is the most likely scenario.

Although over the past 4 years, I have sent 9 certified letters to United Teachers of Dade (UTD) president Ms. Hernandez Mats, 33 certified letters to MDCPS school board members, and 9 certified letters to MDCPS superintendent Alberto Carvalho, I have received not a single word of response from any of these people. NOT. A. SINGLE. WORD. Additionally, I have also sent 3 certified letters to the Florida Office of Inspector General, 6 certified letters to Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran, and 4 certified letters to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. ( I have retained my green cards to prove these people received my certified letters.) Neither Dr. Roos or Mrs. Fernandez behavior has improved even slightly or temporarily as a result of all those letters over a 4 year period of time.

Governor DeSantis, I am wondering if during the sham, make believe “investigation” of cheating on the FAA by Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez if a question very different from what I hoped was being asked was the actual focus of that investigation. The question that myself and the frightened, desperate parents of the severely mentally retarded students of NKC (most of whom literally cannot speak for themselves) HOPED was being asked was : Did Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez cheat on the FAA? The question the NKC stakeholders FEAR was asked was: Have the NKC stakeholders made a substancial financial contribution to Governor DeSantis reelection campaign? As the answer to that second question is “No”, the stakeholders fear we were given a sham, make believe investigation, with a predetermined not guilty verdict. Florida has a well deserved reputation as a “Pay to Play” state. Any party that has not made a substancial contribution to the pertinent Florida politician’s reelection campaign can expect little or nothing from that “public servant,” even if it is part of that politician’s job to perform the duty asked of him or her. In the sham FAA cheating investigation, although I listed 6 people the investigators needed to talk to, only 2 of those people were interviewed. Furthermore, those people were only asked very carefully worded questions that were designed to let the two NKC administrators off the hook. For example, the two people interviewed were asked if they had observed the STAFF cheating on the FAA. That was not my accusation. My accusation was that Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) might have cheated by erasing some incorrect answers on the answer sheets AFTER teachers had turned in the completed answer sheets and then filling in correct answers.

There is a second investigation pending against Dr. Roos for allegedly physically assaulting an African American profoundly mentally retarded child. I have had three or four in-depth conversations with the man conducting the investigation, so he knows who all the pertinent witnesses are. The concern that myself and the other NKC stakeholders have is that given the fact that none of us have made a substancial financial contribution to Governor DeSantis reelection campaign, this will also be a sham, make believe investigation, with a predetermined not guilty verdict. Then, when a severely mentally retarded child dies a violent and entirely preventable death of choking to death on his/her food, or Dr. Roos has yet another emotional breakdown, and allegedly physically assaults yet another PMH student, or another NKC staff member, Governor DeSantis can shake his head sadly and say, “This cannot be blamed on me, because I conducted not one but two [sham] investigations. and found no wrong doing”

Governor DeSantis, the desperate and badly frightened parents of NKC children fear that not only have you slammed the door in their faces, you have locked and bolted the door as well. Although you have known about the crisis at NKC since December 2018, and even though I have sent you 4 certified letters, and even though you have had 2 months between the end of the 2018-2019 school year and the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, and even though the legislative session finished several months ago, leaving you with little to do besides cutting ribbons and going on a junket to Israel, you give the appearance of having done little or nothing to safeguard the lives of PMH children in that intervening time.. The new school year will begin in one week, and I guess to you it will be business as usual, and PMH children must face another school year with the threat of choking to death on their food (a form of Russian Roulette) or allegedly being physically assaulted by a principal who has allegedly confessed to suffering from an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and who has repeatedly demonstrated that she appears to have little or no ability to control her abusive and at times physically violent behavior. It will be the 8’th consecutive year that the student and staff inmates of NKC are under lockdown for the “crime” of attempting the [supposedly] legally protected action of exploring conversion from a public school to a charter school. It will be the 8’th consecutive year that NKC staff will be screamed at and spoken to in a very harsh and disrespectful way by both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer). Although I have never been a prison inmate, I suspect that the way myself (prior to my retirement) and the other NKC serfs/staff are treated and spoken to by both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez closely resembles the interactions between prison guards and prison inmates. There is one notable difference between the staff and residents of a prison and the administrators and serfs/staff of NKC. The difference is that although the serfs/staff of NKC are spoken to very harshly and disrespectfully by the two NKC administrators, those two administrators expect and get very servile, meek, and deferential treatment from the serfs/staff. As you already know, one of the alleged victims of Dr. Roos physical assault was a social worker employed at NKC. This person was not a UTD member. It speaks volumes about the fact that a SOCIAL WORKER, a “canary in a coal mine” if there ever was one, did NOT feel confident enough in the internal investigative MDCPS policing bodies to report this crime. MDCPS employees have the very well founded belief that the internal investigative bodies responsible for policing the district function NOT to protect employees, but to hide the abuse of employees by MDCPS administrators and to retaliate against those employees foolish enough to report that abuse. Governor DeSantis, if you or any person conducting this investigation is interested in interviewing this social worker, he/she is still a MDCPS employee at a different school. (I can’t imagine why this person chose to no longer work at NKC!)

Mr. Carvalho has been the MDCPS superintendent for over 10 years. He gives the appearance of being a very corrupt man. Many people say that MDCPS is in fact a criminal enterprise and that Al Carvalho runs the nation’s fourth largest school district the same way Al Capone ran his criminal enterprise. A Florida governor who genuinely wanted to pursue educational reform might want to conduct a district wide investigation of MDCPS. I think such an investigation would reveal a treasure trove of corruption by Al Carvalho and his top lieutenants. Governor DeSantis, are you a governor who is interested in educational reform?

As I was also once summoned to Dr. Roos office to illegally discuss who I was talking to in my off duty hours, I will describe my experience so you can understand what Mr. Ray Morrison, an African American NKC staff member was subjected to just a few weeks ago. These meetings closely resemble what you see on television drama shows when an alleged criminal is interrogated by police detectives. They are VERY, VERY unpleasant and intimidating meetings. An NKC serf/staff member who is subjected to one of these interrogations checks his/her dignity and self-worth in at the door. Please remember, the serf/staff member will be written up for insubordination if he/she either fails to attend or walks out of the illegal meeting. (If you are having trouble understanding why I call this an illegal meeting, try to imagine what would happen if Mr. Morrison or myself summoned either NKC administrator to such a meeting and in a very rude, harsh, and unpleasant voice demanded to know who this administrator was talking to in her off duty hours.) I guess the obvious question is: If it is illegal for staff to do this to administrators, why has Dr. Roos allegedly done this to staff over and over again for 7 years, with 9 unanswered certified letters sent to Ms. Hernandez Mats, and nothing done about it??? I am not the only one to bring the abuses of NKC administrators to the attention of Ms. Hernandez Mats. Another UTD member of NKC, at great personal risk to himself/herself, has had several in-depth conversations with Ms. Hernandez Mats about the numerous egregious contract violations of the two NKC administrators. Ms. Hernandez Mats has done NOTHING to address this UTD member’s concerns.

Both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez will be present at this illegal interrogation meeting. This puts the serf/staff member in a VERY,VERY vulnerable position. Both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fertnandez frequently lie and fabricate untrue and potentially career ending charges against serfs/staff. If the serf/staff member is insufficiently meek, servile, and penitent during this meeting,, he/she runs the risk of the two NKC administrators lying about what took place during the illegal interrogation. My blog mdcpsallegations.com has listed many examples of this. The serf/staff member had better assume an attitude of extreme meekness, and servility or he/she may be written up for insubordination or falsely accused of potentially career ending charges. I was asked if I was having conversations with Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol ( the 2 NKC administrators that crime boss Al Carvalho illegally removed from NKC for pursuing the [supposedly] legally protected activity of exploring conversion to a charter school. If you want to read about the very brazen and egregious lawbreaking done by crime boss Al Carvalho in smashing NKC’s coversion attempt to a charter school, refer to DOAH 13-1492 Theoretically, I had the right to very politely inform Dr. Roos that my after hours activities and conversations were not open for discussion. The reality was that I feared that even though I had been a UTD member for 30 years, and the union steward at my school for 10 years, my UTD president, Ms. Hernandez Mats would not so much as lift a finger to protect me, and then stand by and do nothing when I was retaliated against if I was stupid enough to report Dr. Roos to UTD, or to decline to answer her questions about who I was speaking to in my off duty hours.

While I am talking about Ms. Hernandez Mats, a few months ago, the Miami Herald ran a story about a former MDCPS teacher who was accused of allegedly sexually molesting several of his students. Not only was this person a UTD steward, he was in the top echelons of leadership in UTD. Perhaps it is merely a coincidence, but the very serious charges against him were put on the back burner for a very long time, and he was allowed to remain in the classroom with students. Anytime a UTD steward got up at the monthly UTD stewards meeting to complain that Ms. Hernandez Mats was doing little or nothing to enforce the contract, this very large and intimidating man would allegedly get out of his chair and stand very close to that union steward and glower at them. The Miami Herald article seemed to wonder if there was a quid pro quo agreement between this man and the UTD leadership that these charges would be put on the back burner if this man agreed to attempt to intimidate anyone who criticized the UTD nonenforcement of the contract.

Dr. Roos, the next few lines of my blog are written exclusively for you. In the four years since I have retired, I have had NOT A SINGLE WORD, MEETING, OR COMMUNICATION OF ANY SORT with Mr. Ray Morrison. I WILL HAVE NO COMMUNICATION OF ANY SORT WITH MR MORRISON IN THE FUTURE. For this reason, I am not asking you, I am BEGGING you not to have any further interrogations against Mr. Morrison. The reason I am BEGGING you and not asking you is because I know that even though Governor DeSantis, crime boss Al Carvalho, the 9 school board members, and UTD President Hernandez Mats will all read this blog entry, it is highly unlikely that any one of them will so much as lift a finger to stop Dr. Roos from doing this clearly illegal action of interrogating the serfs/staff of NKC about their off duty actions and/or conversations. As a point of interest, MDCPS supposedly has “A zero tolerance for bullying!!!” I am hoping the readers of this letter are able to see the many, many violations of this rule that I have described in this letter.

Dr. Roos, as you well know, both you and Mrs. Fernandez are above the law and are highly unlikely to suffer even a mild rebuke, no matter how egregious your violations of the law are. (such as your openly discriminatory practices against African Americans.)

An exasperated NKC serf/staff member recently asked me if I thought Governor DeSantis would intervene if Dr. Roos posted a You Tube video of herself physically abusing a severely mentally retarded child. My reply was that unless the governor also received a generous contribution to his reelection campaign, the incident would probably be swept under the carpet, although it might be grounds for crime boss Al Carvalho to nominate Dr. Roos for the MDCPS Principal of the Year award.

Governorr DeSantis, although I have said this in the past, I feel I need to repeat it again for your deaf ears. There are no charter schools for severely mentally retarded children in Miami-Dade County. This presents the parents of NKC children with two HORRIBLE choices. The first choice is to send their child to NKC, where that child faces the possibility of an easily preventable horrible death from choking to death on his food, or being allegedly physically assaulted by Dr. Roos. The second choice is to keep their child out of NKC. This choice will result in the child being involuntarily removed from his/her home and placed into a foster home. As you know, some Florida foster homes are staffed by monsters who physically and/or sexually assault the children in their care. Given the fact that these are the only two choices available to NKC parents, I think a fair and reasonable person would draw the conclusion that NKC parents and their children are actually hostages. IF (and I want to emphasize that I am using the word “IF”) it is also true that you will not do your Constitutionally MANDATED duty to step in and protect the most vulnerable children in Florida until and unless a generous contribution is made to your reelection campaign, then I believe it would also be fair to refer to this “Campaign contribution” as a ransom. Hence, the question at the beginning of this blog post: Mr. DeSantis, are you a Governor, or are you a Gangster?

Given the fact that I have sent 33 unanswered letters to MDCPS school board members, over a 4 year period, and 9 unanswered certified letters to MDCPS crime boss Al Carvalho, a reasonable person would draw two conclusions. The first conclusion would be that MDCPS has no intention of protecting these extremely vulnerable children. The second conclusion would be that you as the Governor of Florida are OBLIGATED (campaign contribution or not) to step in and remove the two NKC administrators who have committed numerous egregious violations against the students, parents, and staff of NKC for SEVEN years. Since DOAH 13-1492 clearly shows that crime boss Al Carvalho illegally removed Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol, I am hoping you will very strongly suggest to crime boss Al Carvalho that these two fine gentlemen be restored to their posts as the NKC administrators..

As I stated in the certified letter that I asked Randy Kosec to share with you (Governor DeSantis) and Commissioner Richard Corcoran, since neither the NKC stakeholders or myself have much money, I am going to post an entry on the “Go Fund Me” page asking people to contribute to raise enough money to motivate Governor DeSantis to execute his MANDATED Constitutional duty to protect severely mentally retarded students. I am going to ask the Democratic Party of Florida to give this as much publicity as possible. I am hoping that post will go viral. I am hoping to achieve one of two goals. The first goal would be to raise enough money to motivate you as the governor of Florida to take action to protect Florida’s most vulnerable and at risk children. If that cannot be done, I am hoping the amount of outrage my post generates will be enough to motivate you to protect these children. The heroic students of Marjory Stoneman Douglass have a wonderful slogan (i.e. “Never Again”) While I wholeheartedly support that slogan, I am wondering if your personal secret slogan is “Again and Again, unless I get a large financial contribution.” Your action or lack of action will show if my last statement is accurate.

If you issue a gag order against me, other people have volunteered to continue my blog. As you already know, the parents of NKC children have a fear that if Dr. Roos learns the identity of parents who are going public with their concerns, those parents fear that Dr. Roos or MDCPS will cause their children to be involuntarily removed from their homes and placed into foster homes. It will be just like in “The Bad Old Days.” Back then, when African American parents insisted that their children be treated with dignity and respect in their schools, a large burning cross was thrust on their lawn in an attempt to intimidate them into silence. While this shameful practice can no longer be done, child protective services can be used to accomplish the same goal. Governor DeSantis, if Dr. Roos and/or crime boss Al Carvalho resort to this tactic of using child protective services to remove severely mentally retarded children from their homes if parents have the temerity to insist that the school principal NOT physically assault NKC students, will you allow this to happen on your watch as Florida’s governor?

I will end this letter with a few questions for you: They are questions I have asked you before. 1) Do severely mentally retarded children have a right to be safe from physical assault by the school principal? 2) Do public school employees have the right NOT to be screamed at by the assistant principal? 3)Do African American staff have the right to expect that the FEDERAL laws that (supposedly) protect them from discrimination will be enforced in Florida’s public schools? 4) Do parents have a right to expect that their children will not be physically assaulted by the school principal? 5) When can the serfs/staff of NKC expect MDCPS highly touted “Zero tolerance for bullying” to be implemented for the employees of MDCPS?

Respectfully,

Bill Detzner

Bill Detzner 7722 S.W. 99 St. Miami, Fl. 33156 billdetzner@bellsouth.net