November 14, 2019
Dear Dept. of Ed. Inspector General and Secretary DeVos,
I am asking that copies of this letter be sent to both Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the Department of Education Inspector General (IG). I am also asking that copies of this letter be sent to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran. I am going to immediately post this letter on my blog so that if a totally preventable act of violence occurs at Neva King Cooper School (NKC), readers of this blog will be able to see the date at which Secretary of Education DeVos and the Federal Department of Education Inspector General were made aware of this crisis situation. As the events I describe in this letter are described in great detail in my blog mdcpsallegations.com the readers of this letter can refer to the blog for further information. My name is Bill Detzner. I spent 25 years of my 30 year career as a teacher at NKC, a public school exclusively for profoundly mentally handicapped children.
I am appealing to both the IG and Secretary DeVos because I have been trying unsuccessfully for 4 years to resolve this issue through both Miami Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) and the state of Florida. I have sent 34 unanswered letters to the MDCPS school board, 7 to the Florida Governor, 10 to Richard Corcoran, the Florida Commissioner of Education, 9 to Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, and 9 to United Teachers of Dade (UTD) president Karla Hernandez Mats. Additionally, I have sent 9 emails to the PTA President of MDCPS (Dr. Nancy Lawther) regarding alleged child abuse of an African American severely mentally retarded student by NKC principal Dr. Tracy Roos. All of these letters were sent via certified mail and I have kept my green card receipts, so I have proof that these people received my letters. With the exception of the Florida IG, who allowed MDCPS to conduct its own investigation as to whether or not MDCPS cheated on the yearly achievement tests we give to severely retarded children (more on that later) I have heard literally not a single word of response. Meanwhile, the situation at NKC has gotten WORSE, not better.
My complaint is that NKC is now entering its eighth year of collective punishment of the severely mentally retarded students, their parents, and the staff of NKC for the supposedly legally protected act of exploring conversion from a public school to a charter school in the nation’s fourth largest school district. I refer the reader to DOAH 13-1492 for the legal findings of Superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s numerous egregious violations of the law in illegally smashing NKC’s attempt to convert to a charter school.
The readers of this letter might also ask yourselves why it is that numerous public schools in Florida have converted to charter schools, but no schools other than NKC have even applied for, yet alone converted to charter schools in Miami Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS).
NKC attempted to convert to a charter school for two reasons. First, we noticed that although the budget for MDCPS increased every year, the amount of money allocated to NKC decreased every year. We also noticed that the already bloated bureaucratic staff of MDCPS increased greatly every year. Our second reason for attempting conversion was that MDCPS was attempting to force NKC to drop the highly effective Small Step Curriculum (SSC) in favor of a very expensive and new curriculum that vastly exceeded the intellectual capacities of our students. That new curriculum is called the Unique Learning System (ULS). That curriculum asked students with IQ’s of 20 and below to (among numerous other things that vastly exceeded our students cognitive abilities) describe the chemical process by which fire reduces a piece of wood to ashes, to compare and contrast the duties of national, state, and city governments, etc. I believe that curriculum is still being used at NKC. When this new curriculum was first introduced at NKC (it was unilaterally imposed on us shortly after the 2 administrators who led the attempt to convert to a charter school were illegally removed from the campus) it was so unpopular with parents that they showed up on campus with picket signs. One parent was so disillusioned that she declined to send her son to school, due to the fact that the new curriculum was so far above his cognitive abilities that he would learn nothing. Unfortunately for this parent, there are no charter schools for Profoundly Mentally Handicapped (PMH) students, and NKC was the only school her son could attend. Dr. Roos, the NKC principal, told this parent to either send the child back to NKC, or have the child involuntarily placed into a foster home. Some of the Florida foster homes are plagued with both physical and sexual abuse. Thus, although this parent has her tax money used to pay for MDCPS, she has no say in what the curriculum for the school will be. MDCPS has a slogan that says, “See something, say something.” The parents of NKC have a cynical addition to this slogan. They say, “See something, say something, lose your child to a foster home.”
Shortly after Superintendent Carvalho illegally smashed NkC’s conversion attempt, he paid his one and only visit to the NKC campus. During that visit, he made the following statement in front of witnesses who are still NKC staff. Mr. Carvalho said, “This is a MDCPS, it will always be a MDCPS, and if anybody wants to change that, they are going to have to come through me.”
Here are some of the violations I would like the readers of this letter to investigate. Every year, PMH students, with IQ’s of 20 and below, are given achievement tests called the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA). These tests VASTLY exceed the intellectual capacities of PMH students. (Dr. Fernandez was the NKC principal who was illegally removed as the principal when he attempted to engage in the supposedly legally protected activity of converting to a charter school.) Dr. Fernandez, when at a meeting of Florida PMH administrators, asked his colleagues if they were also plagued by extremely low performance on this test by their PMH students. Every administrator at that meeting said they also had this problem. They drafted a letter to the Florida Dept. of Education expressing their concerns, and received no response. On two separate occasions, the Federal Dept. of Education notified the Florida Dept. of Education that the Florida achievement test for PMH students was an invalid test and needed to be replaced. The problem is that each time Florida redesigned this test, the new test was indistinguishable from the test it had replaced.
Most of our students are so cognitively impaired that they cannot hold a pencil in their hands. When administering the FAA to our students, it is nearly impossible to get them to even look at the test page. For the many years Dr. Fernandez was the NKC principal, our students established a uniform baseline of very low scores. When Dr. Roos became the NKC principal, and Mrs. Alicia Fernandez (Screamer) became the NKC assistant principal, a miracle occurred. Student test scores increased dramatically, and year after year, NKC students were performing vastly above their intellectual capacity. Two NKC teachers, Ms. Luz Morales and Ms. Julie Besharet complained that Dr. Roos had demanded that Ms. Morales and Ms. Besherat cheat on this test (I personally heard Ms. Morales make this accusation.) At great personal risk to themselves, Mr. Rick Massa (now retired) and one other teacher ( I do not wish to reveal the name of this other teacher because I fear he/she will be retaliated against) forced MDCPS to conduct an investigation into whether Dr. Roos had forced these two NKC teachers to cheat on this test. (MDCPS did everything in its power to attempt to persuade these two brave teachers to drop their demands for an investigation. It is very widely believed by the employees of MDCPS that MDCPS is a criminal enterprise and that its internal investigative bodies exist not to expose wrongdoing, but to cover it up, and then to retaliate against whistleblowers.) When I announced my intention to testify to this body, my friends at NKC pulled me aside and told me I was making a terrible mistake and that MDCPS would absolve itself of all guilt, and then retaliate against me. Both of their predictions were accurate. The MDCPS internal investigative body found Dr. Roos not guilty of attempting to force teachers to cheat on the FAA, and I was retaliated against.
The readers of this letter may wish to examine both how many cases of wrongdoing are bought to the attention of MDCPS internal investigative units every year (the fear of retaliation staff have at the hands of MDCPS as a result of coming forward is ENORMOUS) and the number of cases each year where MDCPS finds itself guilty of wrongdoing.
In DOAH 145-2439, it was found that MDCPS had terminated Ms. Luz Morales without cause from her employment at NKC. I volunteered to testify on behalf of Ms. Morales at her hearing. The law says a person cannot be retaliated against for testifying at such a hearing, but the law is rarely obeyed in “The People’s Republic of MDCPS.” Again, my friends pulled me aside and told me I was making a terrible mistake by testifying at this hearing, and warned me I would be retaliated against. Once again, their predictions were accurate. I was retaliated against in 2 ways. The first was that Dr. Roos attempted to place a letter of reprimand into my personnel file for a letter I wrote at her request THAT SHE HAD APPROVED urging parents to join the school PTA. (See blog)The second was that for the first and only time in my 30 year career, I failed my yearly teacher evaluation. ( I am a former winner of the Teacher of the Year Award). Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) observed me for 20 minutes, the bare minimum of time needed to make the observation legal AND WAS ON HER CELL PHONE during the entirety of my observation. The UTD contract stipulates that if an administrator spends the bare minimum of 20 minutes for an observation, it is MANDATORY that the observation be scored as acceptable (see blog).
Mrs. Fernandez later told me I had presented an outstanding lesson, although I do not know how she knew that, as she was on her cell phone during the entire time of my 20 minute observation. Mr. Tebilio Diaz, who also received a summons for the hearing, also for the first time in his 25 year career failed his yearly observation. Mr. Darwin Brown (also a witness at Ms. Morales hearing) is the UTD steward of NKC. Mr. Brown was the victim of one of Dr. Roos’ famous “anonymous phone calls”, (see blog). The “anonymous” person making that phone call supposedly accused Mr. Brown of using a ruler to discipline an unruly student. (see blog) Mr. Rick Massa, the fourth person who accepted a summons for the hearing, was hit with 7 potentially career ending charges, including possibly sexually molesting a student, child endangerment (this charge was leveled after Mr. Massa took prompt and effective action on a child who would have choked to death on his food had Mr. Massa not intervened,) and cheating on the FAA (see blog).
Also, as my blog details, there is a teacher who was in Mrs. Fernandez office when Mr. Massa showed Mrs. Fernandez the FAA test booklet he received from the rookie teacher who had administered the test to his class and then turned in the testing materials to Mr. Massa so Mr. Massa could use those same materials to test his (Mr. Massa’s) class. As the FAA test administration can be confusing, the rookie teacher had penciled in all of the correct answers in the test booklet. Mr. Massa, acutely aware that both NKC administrators intensely disliked him and would use any excuse to get rid of him, attempted to protect himself by taking those testing materials to Mrs. Fernandez and showing her he received the materials with the correct answers already penciled in. Mrs. Fernandez told Mr. Massa that was not a problem and told him to administer the test to his class. Mrs. Fernandez then waited 15 minutes, used her master key to enter Mr. Maassa’s classroom, and was “SHOCKED, SHOCKED” to discover that Mr. Massa was “cheating” on the FAA. Mrs. Fernandez then filed potentially career ending charges against Mr,. Massa. When Mr. Massa approached the teacher who had observed Mr. Massa showing the marked in test booklet to Mrs. Fernandez and asked if this person would be willing to testify as to what he/she had observed, this person said'”Rick, I will never have tenure (MDCPS has ended teacher tenure, so teachers can be terminated very easily) and I have 2 young children to feed.” If the Federal Dept. of Education is willing to protect this person from retaliation, this person will probably be willing to testify as to what he/she observed when he/she was in Mrs. Fernandez office. (If you are a MDCPS employee, the slogan is, “See something, say something, lose your job.”) Mrs. Fernandez then allegedly perjured herself in her testimony in the resulting lawsuit that Mr. Massa filed..
The charges against Mr. Massa were so flimsy that Mr. Massa’s attorney was able to get 6 of those 7 charges dismissed for lack of evidence. (The seventh charge, hastily and falsely filed by MDCPS, was of a very minor nature. Perhaps this charge was introduced in an attempt to disguise the flimsiness of the charges filed against Mr. Massa.) Is it merely a coincidence that all 4 people who received a summons to testify at DOAH 145-2439 were the recipients of actions that give the appearance of being retaliatory in nature?
As bad as this incident was, the second investigation of Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez for cheating on the FAA is the one I would like the readers of this letter to investigate. As I stated earlier, under former principal Dr, Alberto Fernandez, our students scored very poorly on the FAA, year after year. When Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) became the NKC administrators, student performance on the FAA skyrocketed. While the staff never received a financial bonus for student performance on the FAA for the many years when Dr. Fernandez, was the NKC principal, for 2 years while I was an NKC staff member after Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez became the administrators, we all received cash bonuses for our students performance on the FAA. I want to strongly stress that these financial bonuses are awarded ONLY for outstanding student performance on the FAA. Although I have been retired for 4 years now, my bet is that the NKC staff are still receiving cash bonuses for outstanding student achievement on the FAA. My contention is that after the penciled in answer sheets were turned in to the administrators, Dr. Roos and/or Mrs. Fernandez erased some of the incorrect answers and penciled in the correct answers. I urged that an agency independent of MDCPS examine those answer sheets and look for frequent erasure marks. I was notified by the Florida IG that they were going to conduct such an investigation. A few weeks later, I received an email stating that the investigation had been completed, and that not only had no erasure marks been found, but that there was no difference in test performance between the tenures of Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Dr. Roos. As financial bonuses had never been won under Dr. Alberto Fernandez, and they HAD been awarded under Dr. Roos, I wondered how this could be possible. I phoned the Florida IG Office and asked who had done the investigation. The secretary said she could not answer that question unless she had my case number. When I supplied that information, the secretary told me MDCPS had been allowed to conduct the investigation, with no supervision by the state of Florida, and that the MDCPS findings were accepted without review.
As I stated in my blog, investigators looking into this matter might want to interview 6 former staff members of NKC. Those 6 people, in order of the importance of their testimony are: Mr. Adrian Sanchez (the assistant principal during Dr. Roos first year at NKC,) Ms. Luz Morales, Mr. Rick Massa (now retired, but willing to be interviewed) Ms. Julie Besharat, Ms. Mary Surca, and Dr. Morales
I am asking that the Federal Dept. of Education task an independent agency such as the FBI with examining those test answer sheets for every year that Dr. Roos has been the NKC principal. If frequent erasure marks are found, and if it can be proven that Dr. Roos and/ or Mrs. Fernandez cheated on the FAA, I am asking that the proper punishment be given, which includes termination of employment and loss of pension. If MDCPS falsified its report on whether cheating occurred on the FAA by the NKC administrators, I am asking that the MDCPS officials who falsified that investigation receive the proper punishment. If Superintendent Carvalho participated in a falsification, I am asking the Dept. of Education to impose the proper sanctions on Mr. Carvalho. If MDCPS falsified this report, the Dept. of Education has grounds to believe that falsification may have occurred in other areas as well. For example, MDCPS had 8 schools that received failing grades every year. A few years ago, all 8 of these schools received passing grades, all in the same year. This might be an area the Federal Dept. of Education might want to examine. A districtwide audit of MDCPS may be in order.
During my last year of employment at NKC, I had a very unusual encounter with assistant principal Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer). Every month we gave a pretest at the beginning of the month and a posttest at the end of the month on the material covered in the ULS curriculum. (Again, the ULS curriculum is VASTLY above the intellectual capacity of the NKC students.) One of my student was 100% blind. She was also nonverbal. Additionally, both her arms were encased in heavy braces, making it impossible for her to point to a correct answer on these pretest and the post tests. She therefore scored a zero on both the pretest and post test every month. One day Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) used her master key to come storming into my classroom and in a towering rage was SCREAMING at me that it was inexcusable that this student was scoring double zeros every month. When I explained why this was happening, Mrs. Fernandez, in a very menacing voice told me that from now on I was to look at the young ladies eyes when I tested her.and if in my judgement, the young ladies eyes seemed to be looking at the correct answer, I was to give her credit for a correct answer! I was too afraid of being written up for “insubordination” to tell Mrs. Fernandez that the young ladies eyes were almost always staring off into space and not even on the test page.
Mrs. Fernandez’ command put me in a terrible bind. What she was actually asking me to do was to cheat on this test. Cheating could cost me the permanent loss of my teaching credentials. However, my friends Luz Morales and Mr. Rick Massa had false and potentially career ending charges leveled against them by the 2 NKC administrators. I feared that if I failed to falsify this young ladies pretest and post test results, I might find one or both NKC administrators also filing false and career ending charges against me as a punishment for my not cheating on these tests.. I was saved from this Catch-22 by the fact that I had secretly decided to retire at the end of the school year. Other NKC teachers do not have this luxury.
I should also note that during his tenure, former NKC principal Dr. Alberto Fernandez sternly warned the faculty that cheating on any student test by faculty was absolutely forbidden, even if it resulted in the school receiving a failing grade for the school year. Dr. Fernandez also told the staff that when scoring the FAA, those few student who were high functioning enough to know they had to choose between 3 possible answers were to be scored solely on the basis of whether or not they chose the correct answer. This meant that a student who chose the correct answer got credit for that answer, even if the teacher thought it was merely a lucky guess on the part of the student.
A second area I would like the readers of this letter to investigate are the two alleged physical assaults committed by Dr. Roos. One was against a social worker who was an NKC staff member This alleged incident occurred in Dr. Roos office. Dr. Roos was SCREAMING at the social worker. The social worker’s head was bowed in a position of submission, and he/she was staring at the floor. Dr. Roos then allegedly seized this person by the jaw, jerked his/her head upward until the serf/victim was looking into Dr. Roos’ eyes, and SCREAMED “Look at me when I am talking (i.e. screaming) to/at you.” This person was not a UTD member, so he/she could not go to the union and file a grievance. (Had this person been a UTD member and filed a grievance, it is highly unlikely that UTD would have acted on that grievance, or that they would have shielded this person from the inevitable retaliation by MDCPS for filing that grievance) This person never reported the incident to the internal investigative bodies of MDCPS. Would the readers of this letter agree with me that a social worker is the proverbial “canary in a coal mine?” WHAT DOES IT TELL YOU WHEN A SOCIAL WORKER DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH CONFIDENCE IN THE MDCPS INTERNAL INVESTIGATIVE BODIES TO REPORT A PHYSICAL ASSAULT BY THE PRINCIPAL OF THE SCHOOL??? If the readers of this letter will guarantee this person protection from retaliation by MDCPS, this person is still an employee at another school and would probably be willing to testify as to what happened to him/her.
Dr. Roos also allegedly physically assaulted an African American profoundly mentally handicapped student. Here is what allegedly happened. At the end of the school day, this student’s parent/guardian was not at the bus stop to pick him up at the end of the school day. As a bus driver is not allowed to drop off a PMH student unless an adult is at the bus stop, this student was returned to the NKC campus at the end of the bus driver’s route. By this time it was so late in the afternoon that the child’s teacher had already gone home for the day. Dr. Roos was still on campus, so the bus driver phoned Dr. Roos to announce that the bus driver had been told by her supervisor to release the child to Dr. Roos’ custody. Although Dr. Roos was contractually obligated to accept custody of the child, she allegedly attempted to shirk her duty and told the bus driver that she (Dr. Roos) would NOT accept custody of the child. The bus driver then said she intended to obey her supervisor and release the child to Dr. Roos custody. Dr. Roos then went to the bus loading area and accepted custody of the child. When Dr. Roos accepted custody of the child, BOTH the bus driver and the bus aide allegedly saw Dr. Roos allegedly physically abuse this child. They stopped the bus, got off the bus, and demanded that Dr. Roos stop physically abusing the child. There was allegedly a third witness who is African American, and an NKC staff member who has been a MDCPS employee for over 25 years. This person also witnessed this physical abuse but is too terrified of retaliation by MDCPS to testify as to what he/she observed. If the readers of this letter will protect this person from retaliation by MDCPS, perhaps this person will be willing to testify as to what he/she observed. The bus driver and the bus aide then filed formal charges against Dr. Roos (and were heavily discouraged from doing so by MDCPS).
Although it is MANDATORY that a MDCPS employee accused of abusing a child be removed from campus until an investigation is done, this was not done with Dr. Roos. In fact, MDCPS never investigated the incident. I (Bill Detzner) phoned the Florida child protective agency and had several lengthy conversations with them about what had happened and who all the witnesses were. I was told I would not be informed as to the findings of that investigation. As Dr. Roos is still the principal of NKC, I am assuming this crime was swept under the rug. I am hoping the readers of this letter will question the Florida Child Protective Services and question them as to who they talked to, and what their findings were.
The guardian/parent of this child was FURIOUS about what had allegedly been done to her child. She said she was going to both hire an attorney and go to the MDCPS authorities. However, this African American parent very quickly dropped the matter. I am hoping the readers of this letter will question this woman to see if Dr. Roos and/or MDCPS officials threatened to involuntarily place this child in a foster home if the mother raised a fuss. I am also hoping that the readers of this letter will open an investigation into this matter and interview the bus driver and the bus aide, and the third potential witness (if this person is guaranteed protection from retaliation by MDCPS). The investigators might also want to look into the findings of the Florida child protective services and look at what was or wasn’t investigated and what the findings of that investigation were.
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In the bad old days. “Uppity” African Americans who demanded that their children be treated with courtesy and respect by the public schools were cowed into silence by a burning cross on their lawn. While those days are thankfully gone forever, the same outcome is achieved by threatening to involuntarily place the child (who does not have the option of transferring to a charter school, because charter schools do not exist for PMH children) into a foster home. Again, “See something, say something, lose your child to a foster home.”
My hope is that the readers of this letter have noticed how both NKC staff and NKC students (who are profoundly mentally retarded) are both allegedly physically abused and in the case of NKC staff, also frequently shouted at by both NKC administrators. NKC staff and NKC students are treated more like prison inmates who have committed a crime as opposed to employees and students. This collective punishment has been ongoing for 7+ years. I hope the readers of this letter will realize that the only “crime” committed by the inmates/staff of NKC was the “crime” of exercising their supposedly legally protected option of exploring conversion to a charter school. My hope is that the readers of this letter will also recall Superintendent Carvalho’s shocking statement during the only visit he ever made to NKC (shortly after he illegally smashed the conversion attempt). Many NKC staff members believe that Superintendent Carvalho believes NKC to be enemy and conquered territory that needs to be punished. Given the fact that this is now the eighth year of this punishment, and given the fact that Superintendent Carvalho knows that every NKC staff member who supported charter school conversion has been terrorized out of that campus and that the remaining staff are too terrified to even utter the words “charter school,”the belief of NKC stakeholders IS THAT SUPERINTENDENT CARVALHO INTENDS TO CONTINUE THIS COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT IN PERPETUITY.
Superintendent Carvalho has known since June 2015 (See blog for letter sent to MDCPS) that the serfs of NKC have completely abandoned their supposedly legally protected right to explore conversion to a charter school. Superintendent Carvalho has been completely successful in illegally smashing NKC’s charter conversion attempt. In spite of this, Superintendent Carvalho has continued FOR FOUR YEARS to play Russian Roulette with the lives of PMH students. He does this by allowing Dr. Roos to continue to use PMH children as “bait” in an attempt to get rid of teachers she does not like when those children experience choking incidents. The parents of NKC students were very strong and vocal supporters of NKC’s exploration of charter school conversion. IT IS THE BELIEF OF NKC STAKEHOLDERS THAT SUPERINTENDENT CARVALHO IS WILLING TO RISK THE LIVES OF PMH CHILDREN TO COLLECTIVELY PUNISH PARENTS WHO SUPPORTED THE CONVERSION ATTEMPT. AGAIN, THE PARENTS OF NKC STUDENTS ARE FORCED TO HAVE THEIR TAX MONEY SPENT TO PAY THE SALARIES OF THE MDCPS OFFICIALS WHO ARE RUNNING THE GENOCIDAL PROGRAMS AGAINST THEIR CHILDREN.
The hope of NKC stakeholders is that the readers of this letter will realize that numerous Federal laws that prohibit this kind of abuse of NKC staff, NKC students, and NKC parents are egregiously and routinely violated with impunity in “The People’s Republic of MDCPS.” Our hope is that the Federal Dept. of Education will see fit to order an investigation of NKC by the National Labor Relations Board. (NLRB) If these violations are found to have occurred at NKC, perhaps a district wide audit of MDCPS by the NLRB is in order. If the Dept. of Education finds cause, perhaps Superintendent Carvalho can be relieved of his position for noncompliance with Federal Labor laws. If that is the case, perhaps MDCPS should be put under Federal authority until such time as MDCPS is judged to be in compliance with Federal Labor Law. Working conditions at NKC are comparable to a nineteenth century sweat shop in a Charles Dickens novel. Recall that I have sent 9 unanswered certified letters to UTD President Karla Hernandez Mats advising her of the deplorable working conditions at NKC.
Prior to becoming the MDCPS superintendent, Mr. Carvalho served as the MDCPS public relations czar. The education reporter for the Miami Herald newspaper wrote only glowing stories about MDCPS during Mr. Carvalho’s tenure as the school district’s public relations czar. Later it was discovered that Mr. Carvalho, a married man, was having an affair with the Miami Herald education reporter. For whatwever reason, UTD President Karla Hernandez Mats gives the appearance of giving Superintendent Carvalho a free pass on his numerous and egregious contract violations.
According to a recent Miami Herald story, UTD President Karla Hernandez Mats had a very curious relationship with a teacher who was accused of sexually abusing some of the students in his classroom. The Miami Herald noted that MDCPS did not follow its own policies in removing this teacher from the classroom until an investigation was done (thereby exposing vulnerable students to needless and easily avoidable risk) The Herald noticed that it also took a few years for this grave matter to finally be investigated. The Herald further noted that not only was this alleged child abuser the UTD steward for his school, he arose to a position of very high power within UTD, and became a member of the UTD Executive Council. The Miami Herald noticed one other very peculiar habit this alleged child abuser had. Once a month, there is a districtwide meeting of all UTD building stewards. At these meetings, stewards are allowed to speak to the entire assemby and express their concerns. Many UTD stewards feel that Ms. Hernandez Mats does little or nothing to enforce the contract or to seek redress for MDCPS violations of the contract. When certain stewards who were frequent critics of Ms. Hernandez Mats nonenforcement of the contract got in line to voice their complaints, this very large and imposing alleged child abuser would also get up and stand very close to them and glower at them. The Herald wondered if there was some kind of quid pro quo where Ms. Hernandez Mats and MDCPS collaborated in suppressing an investigation into this alleged abuse in return for this person attempting to intimidate critics of Ms. Hernandez Mats. If the National Labor Relations Board conducts an investigation of MDCPS, perhaps this matter should also be investigated.
There is yet another person who could and should act as a protection against Superintendent Carvalho from abusing his position. This person appears to have been compromised and now gives the appearance of being a rubber stamp to Mr. Carvalho. That person is the PTA President for MDCPS. Her name is Dr. Nancy Lawther. When Dr. Roos allegedly physically assaulted an African American profoundly mentally retarded student, I sent Dr. Lawther 9 unanswered emails regarding this matter. My feeling is that because Dr. Lawther was unwilling to intervene even in the case of the most vulnerable and fragile population of all (PMH children), she is probably unwilling to be an advocate for ANY child in MDCPS. While I hope I am wrong, Dr. Lawther gives the appearance of placing her own political ambitions and maintaining a good relationship with Mr. Carvalho above the needs of the children of MDCPS.
This is especially troubling because Dr. Lawther has now declared her candidacy to become the school board member that will serve NKC. If elected, she will replace Dr. Larry Feldman. I sent Dr. Feldman 9 unanswered certified letters regarding the ongoing crisis at NKC. The stakeholders of NKC have a long history of being very poorly served by the school board member charged with representing their interests The NKC stakeholders are fearful that if elected, Dr. Lawther will serve only the interests of Mr. Carvalho and school vendors and be as ineffective in representing NKC as Dr. Feldman was.
Superintendent Carvalho has been the MDCPS czar for over 10 years. During that time he appears to have compromised all parties that could act as a check against him assuming too much power. The NKC stakeholders are hoping that the Federal Department of Education will rein in Mr. Carvalho’s numerous abuses of power or better still, relieve him of his duties.
The next area I would like the readers of this letter to investigate is alleged prejudice and civil rights violations of both the African American and Hispanic staff of NKC. In my blog, I described the horrendous treatment of African American NKC members Ms. Green and Mr. Aaron Jackson. Shortly after Ms. Green’s home was severely damaged by a hurricane, her daughter was brutally murdered in her home, while her 5 year old grandson was home. The alleged murderer was Ms. Green’s son-in-law. As a result of these tragedies, Ms. Green was granted an emergency leave to gain custody of her traumatized grandson. At NKC, both administrators expect AND GET extreme servility, deference, and meekness from ALL staff, especially African American staff. While ALL staff are treated very poorly by both NKC administrators, there is a caste system at NKC. African Americans are treated the worst, followed by Hispanics, then Caucasians. Ms. Green, reeling from the tragedies of a hurricane damaged house, a murdered daughter, a severely tramatized 5 year old son, and the horror of having her son-in law as the murder suspect, somehow forgot to be sufficiently meek and humble her first day back on the job. Perhaps Dr. Roos looked upon Ms. Green as an “Uppity African American” who needed to be “put in her place.” For whatever reason, Dr. Roos allegedly ordered one of Ms. Green’s closest friends (African American custodian Aaron Jackson) to deliver a threat from Dr. Roos to Ms. Green. Dr. Roos allegedly told Mr. Jackson to tell Ms. Green that if Ms. Green was unhappy at NKC, Dr. Roos would arrange for an involuntary transfer of Ms. Green to another school! MDCPS staff are told that ALL directives issued by administrators are to be obeyed, even if the staff member believes the order to be in violation of the contract. Failure to obey ANY administrator directive is grounds for a charge of insubordination to be filed against the employee. Can you imagine the shame and rage Mr. Jackson must have felt as he delivered Dr. Roos threat to a friend who was so devastated that getting out of bed in the morning and coming to work was a difficult task? When Mr. Jackson delivered Dr. Roos alleged threat, Ms. Green had a “Rosa Parks moment.” She decided she was tired of being treated like a serf. Knowing that the MDCPS investigative bodies work to cover up wrongdoing, and then retaliate against the whistleblower, Ms. Green nevertheless contacted every MDCPS official she could think of. Word got around to Superintendent Carvalho, who telephoned Ms. Green to tell Ms. Green that she would not be involuntarily transferred to another school. That was the one and only action that Mr. Carvalho took in this egregious contract violation. Ms. Green requested that a meeting be set up between herself and MDCPS officials. Mr. Carvalho agreed to this condition, and a date and time was set for the meeting. When the date of the meeting arrived, Dr. Roos allegedly lied and phoned the district claiming Ms. Green was absent that day. The meeting was then rescheduled for a later date. MDCPS never showed up for that rescheduled meeting either. To this day,Ms. Green has never been given a chance to discuss her alleged abuse by Dr. Roos with MDCPS officials. By failing to keep his promise to Ms. Green that a meeting would be held to discuss Ms. Green’s alleged shameful treatment by Dr. Roos, Superintendent Carvalho gave a crystal clear picture of how seriously he takes alleged abuse of African American MDCPS employees.
Regrettably, it gets worse. After (allegedly) telling MDCPS that Ms. Green was absent that day, Dr. Roos then allegedly told Ms. Green to wait for an hour in the assistant principal’s office for a meeting Dr. Roos had canceleed. While Ms. Green was out of sight in the assistant principal’s office, Dr. Roos then allegedly summoned Mr. Jackson to her office for a closed door meeting, At that meeting Dr. Roos allegedly told Mr. Jackson that unless he immediately recanted his story about Dr. Roos ordering him to threaten his best friend (after the murder of her daughter,) he would immediately be terminated from his job. Mr. Jackson, having a family to support, yielded to this blackmail. If the readers of this letter wish to question Ms. Green and/or Mr. Jackson about this matter, they are both still serfs/employees of NKC.
Within a month of this event (which should have cost Dr. Roos her job) MDCPS saw fit to nominate Dr. Roos for the most prestigious award a principal can earn, the Principal of the Year Award! Mr. Carvalho could have taken the step of removing Dr. Roos as a candidate for this award, but he did not do so. This sent an unmistakable message to the African American employees of MDCPS that discrimination and ill treatment of African American employees will not only be tolerated, but highly rewarded! As I informed both Mr. Carvalho and all 9 school board members in one of my many unanswered letters, the African American employees of NKC refer to that unhappy place as a “Plantation.” I believe this is an accurate and fair label.
I (Bill Detzner) have known Ms. Green for many years. She served as my paraprofessional (teachers assistant) for many years. Ms. Green is a very religious woman who is active in her church. She is very loved by the NKC faculty. She is a past recipient of the Paraprofessional of the Year award. Ms. Green never passes up an opportunity to do an act of kindness for another person. Although Ms. Green is paid a paltry salary. if an NKC student comes to school wearing very old clothes, Ms. Green goes to WalMart and buys new clothes for the child. Although I do not know Mr. Jackson quite as well as Ms. Green, he is a very hard working and conscientious employee who always has a kind word and is well liked by the NKC staff.
Every spring, MDCPS has a MANDATORY survey that ALL employees of MDCPS are required to complete. It is called the “Staff Satisfaction Survey.” It measures the staff’s level of satisfaction with their worksite and their school administrators. Prior to their illegal removal from NKC by Superintendent Carvalho, principal Dr, Alberto Fernandez and assistant principal Mr. Henny Cristobol received some of the highest ratings in the county by both parents and NKC staff, year after year. In contrast Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) receive some of the lowest ratings in the county by both parents and staff, year after year.
In an effort to boost her dismal scores on the Staff Satisfaction Survey, Dr. Roos allegedly decided to violate MDCPS policies and forbid NKC paraprofessionals from taking this MANDATORY survey. As many NKC students are confined to wheelchairs and wear diapers and need to be lifted out of their wheelchairs to change their diapers, there are almost as many paraprofessional at NKC as teachers. The paraprofessionals are almost exclusively African American and Hispanic. Can a Federal agency responsible for Civil Rights enforcement come down to NKC and do an investigation as to whether the Civil Rights of the NKC African American and Hispanic employees are being respected? If NKC is found to be in violation of Civil Rights laws, can an audit be done of the entire MDCPS system be done to see if Civil Rights violations are occurring countywide? If MDCPS is in violation of Federal Civil Rights laws, can Fedreal funding to the district be cut off, and the district placed under Federal control until such time as MDCPS is in compliance with these laws?
As I mentioned earlier, the profoundly mentally retarded student Dr. Roos allegedly physically assaulted is African American. Can this matter also be looked into? Can the mother of this child be interviewed to see if Dr. Roos and/or MDCPS threatened to place this child in a foster home if the mother made a fuss about the alleged abuse of her child.
Mr. Jerry Terry was an African American custodian at NKC with an unblemished 30 year record. One day, during an extremely stormy meeting in Dr. Roos office, Mr. Terry allegedly made some remarks that were better left unsaid. Doesn’t it seem odd that a man who has a 30 year unblemished record suddenly has a verbal dispute with a principal who is also having very insulting conversations with almost her entire staff? Mr. Terry is now retired. If Civil Rights investigators wish to invite Mr. Terry to tell them about his encounters with Dr. Roos, Mr. Terry might agree to do so.
Ms. Latanya Stephens is an African American who has been a secretary at NKC for nearly 30 years. (At this point I want to make it very clear that I have not spoken a single word to Ms. Stephens since I retired from NKC. I find it necessary to say this because as my blog states, serfs who work at NKC that I mention in my blog are summoned to closed door meetings with both NKC administrators where in violation of their rights, they are grilled about whether or not they are in contact with me during their off duty hours. As I was also grilled by the two present NKC administrators as to whether I was in contact with the two previous NKC administrators, I can tell you it is a very intimidating and humiliating experience.) When the head secretary of NKC retired, Dr. Roos took the highly unusual step of by passing Ms. Stevens and hiring someone from outside the school to become the head secretary. Ms. Stephens has excellent computer and secretarial skills skills. Ms. Stephens is punctual, has excellent attendance and an excellent work record. She is an extremely pleasant and professional person who has excellent interpersonal people skills. There appears to be no logical reason why Ms. Stephens was passed over for a promotion she was clearly deserving of and qualified to receive.
Mr. Ray Morrison is an African American Paraprofessional (teacher’s assistant) who has been the victim of two of Mrs. Fernandez screaming episodes. Additionally, when I mentioned Mr. Morrison in my blog, he (Mr. Morrison) was called into Dr. Roos office for a closed door meeting with both NKC administrators who demanded to know if Mr. Morrison was in communication with me in his off duty hours. For the record, Mr. Morrison has not said a single word to me since the day I retired.
A Hispanic teacher, who transferred to another school due to the hostile work environment he/she experienced at NKC, attempted to visit his/her former colleagues at NKC one day between 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM. At this time, the students have gone home for the day. The entire staff has their planning period during this time. Although this teacher signed in at the office, followed all rules for visitors to our campus, and was very pleasant in his/her demeanor, Dr. Roos allegedly directed the school security person to tell this Hispanic teacher to either leave the campus immediately or face arrest by the school police. Does Dr. Roos own the NKC campus, or is the campus owned by the taxpayers who have a right to visit that campus?
In another incident that I discussed in my blog, this same teacher had some shirts made that said “Straight Out of NKC” on them. The contract only forbids obscene or inflammatory shirts. (A previous group of NKC staff printed up and wore to school another shirt with a printed message on that shirt, without Dr, Roos permission and with no reaction from Dr. Roos.) In contrast, when this Hispanic teacher did the same thing, Dr. Roos disciplined this Hispanic teacher and anyone who wore that shirt. Each staff member who wore that shirt allegedly had a closed door disciplinary meeting with the two NKC administrators. One NKC staff member who said he/she was not in violation of the contract and therefore not obligated to obey Dr. Roos’ directive to never again wear that shirt on campus was denied summer school employment. This person had never before been denied summer school employment
In yet another incident, this same Hispanic teacher, during his/her lunch break, made the innocent comment that in his/her view, the FAA was not an accurate instrument for measuring the achievement levels of PMH children. Unfortunately for this naive and unsuspecting teacher,, a school “snitch” (more on school snitches later) overheard this comment and ran off to inform Dr. Roos of this heresy. Although this innocent comment was none of Dr, Roos business, and although the contract states that the serf is entitled to an UNINTERRUPTED 30 minute lunch break, Dr. Roos allegedly got on the P. A. and sternly ordered the serf to report to Dr. Roos office immediately. Dr. Roos then SCREAMED that the serf was never again to make any disparaging remarks about the FAA. Although the UTD contract forbids both screaming at an employee and interrupting the 30 minute lunch period (unless it is a crisis situation) Dr. Roos had little fear that Karla Hernandez Mats, the UTD President, would insist that the contract rights of this UTD member be observed. If the readers of this letter are willing to guarantee this person will not be retaliated against by MDCPS, this person knows something that Dr, Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) would very much like to keep hidden.
Dr. Roos gives the appearance of being a very emotionally fragile person. I say this because on at least two occasions, She has suffered uncontrollable and prolonged crying jags in front of the NKC staff. The first event I (Bill Detzner) personally witnessed. It occurred at an after school faculty meeting. Dr. Roos was attempting to bully staff members into saying they had observed a faculty member that Dr. Roos was trying to terminate from his/her job physically abuse a child. The NKC staff (unlike Dr. Roos, who stands accused of physically abusing a PMH student) are extremely protective of the children of our school, and will not tolerate abuse of a PMH child by any staff member. (except Dr. Roos who seems to have the permission of Superintendent Carvalho to physically abuse PMH children with impunity. The principal of the school, who is supposed to be a model of the behavior she expects her staff to follow, is the most egregious violator of Federal, state and MDCPS laws and rules.) The funny thing is, the staff member Dr. Roos was attempting to bully the staff into lying about had been dismissed from his/her employment at NKC by MDCPS for prolonged and egregious contract violations. It was Dr. Roos who rehired this person to return to NKC. Many people felt Dr. Roos attempted to terminate this rehired person because he/she refused to be one of Dr. Roos “snitches.” When no staff member stepped forward to falsely accuse this person of physically abusing a student, Dr. Roos became very nasty and verbally abusive to the entire staff (while weeping uncontrollably). At the conclusion of that very uncomfortable faculty meeting, well over two thirds of the NKC staff signed a letter that we sent advising the MDCPS authorities of what transpired at that faculty meeting and asking that Dr. Roos be removed as the principal of NKC.. As is the custom of MDCPS, we received not a single word of reply, although we were retaliated against for sending the letter.
The second alleged uncontrollable crying jag occurred at the faculty meeting where the entire staff was again berated by Dr. Roos for wearing shirts to school that were not in violation of the contract and offended no one other than Dr. Roos.
There is another reason why I say Dr. Roos seems to suffer from extremely fragile mental health. One day, I was summoned to Dr. Roos office for a conference. Dr. Roos cheerfully told me to have a seat. She had a circular table with several chairs around the table. I randomly picked a chair and sat in it. Dr. Roos demeanor immediately changed to a very noticeable and uncomfortable resentment. She gave me what I can only describe as a “death stare.” A very long pointed silence followed. I had clearly done something to offend Dr. Roos, but I had no idea what offensive action I had taken. After a very long silence, Dr. Roos told me I was sitting in the wrong chair, and directed me to sit in the chair right next to the chair I was sitting in. When I did so, Dr. Roos again assumed her cheerful demeanor and told me that she suffers from an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). My point here is that Dr. Roos gives the appearance of being an extremely vindictive person and that a person can displease her by violating a rule that only Dr. Roos knows exists! Had Dr. Roos not told me that even though she told me to have a seat, there was a particular seat she wanted me to sit in, I would have offended her and very likely suffered adverse consequences for violating a rule I didn’t even know existed! Due to what appears to be Dr. Roos extremely fragile emotional health, her wild mood swings, her erratic behavior, and her recklessness and unpredictability, I have heard reports of several heated shouting matches during school hours between Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez in Dr. Roos office. I am wondering if these altercations are the result of Dr. Roos ordering Mrs. Fernandez to do things that would place Mrs. Fernandez education career at risk of termination?
After I retired, my wife told me that when I came home from work, she would not speak to me for an hour to give me time to decompress. Every day I went to work, I feared that Dr. Roos and/or Mrs. Fernandez would file false and career ending charges against me. I had friends at NKC that I had worked with for 20 years beg me to never speak to them while at NKC, because I was one of “the bad people” who supported exploring converting NKC to a charter school! They had a very well justified fear that merely talking to me would put them on Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez list of people to be punished. Nearly every NKC staff member comes to work every day (FOR THE LAST 7+ YEARS!!!) wondering if false and career ending charges will be filed against them by the present two NKC administrators. Readers of this letter might wish to examine both the level of staff departures from NKC, and staff and parent responses to the yearly Staff/Parent Satisfaction surveys during both the tenures of Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Dr. Roos.
There is only one way a person can get taken off Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) “bad” list of people who are candidates for having false and career ending charges filed against them.. One does this by becoming a “snitch” on one’s fellow employees. I never availed myself of this option, because I knew I would pay too high a price in terms of my self respect. Those who take this option get peace of mind by surrendering their self respect. (When Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol were the NKC administrators, all staff knew that if they were conscientious in the performance of their duties, their jobs were secure.)
Becoming a snitch has its own problems. As staff are hyper afraid of losing their jobs, they are very careful to dot every “I” and cross every “T.” This means there is very little to snitch about, and a silent snitch very quickly loses the protection of Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez. Therefore, as almost nothing that violates even the most obscure rule happens at NKC, the school “snitches” have to either wildly exaggerate or completely falsify their reports to keep their own heads off the chopping block.
This means that obeying every rule will not safeguard a serf from having potentially career ending charges filed against him/her by Dr. Roos or Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer). The serf may have unknowingly violated a rule that exists only in Dr. Roos vindictive, OCD head, they may the victim of a wildly exaggerated or completely false story concocted by a “snitch” to save his/her own skin, or Dr. Roos or Mrs. Fernandez may be in a bad mood or bored and in need of a little excitement by watching someone whose livlihood is on the line squirm. At NKC, staff and parents (whose children are daily exposed to possible physical abuse at the hands of Dr. Roos, or choking to death on their food) are fish in a barrel at the mercy of a very vindictive school superintendent and two equally vindictive school administrators. All of this 7+ years of punishment is the result of the NKC staff pursuing the supposedly legally protected right to convert to a charter school!
Not surprisingly. last year a teacher (who is a UTD member, not that that did him/her any good) had a nervous breakdown, during school hours. This person is a former Teacher of the Year award winner. This teacher is the kind of teacher I would want my child to have if I had a PMH child. If job security at NKC was based on merit, this teacher would have nothing to worry about.
Dr. Roos, who never misses an opportunity to publicly humiliate her staff, devised a truly ingenious way to send her entire staff home on the last day of school prior to the summer vacation feeling very degraded and used. Dr. Roos ordered small trophies for every staff member…except. of course for the outstanding teacher who had suffered a nervous breakdown at school. On the teacher work day on the last day of school, Dr. Roos called a MANDATORY meeting for all staff. One by one, the awards were presented. The NKC staff immediately smelled a rat, as Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez had never before had words of praise for them. At the end of the meeting, it was painfully and embarrassingly obvious who the one person was who did not receive an award. The entire staff is very fond of the excluded person and felt very dirty and used by Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer). (But hey, enjoy your summer!)
I began my teaching career in 1984 by teaching at a middle school where a high percentage of the students were economically disadvantaged minorities. When I began my career, all male teachers were under orders to break up all fights between students. While I frequently broke up fights among boys, I never broke up fights between girls. I did not intervene in fights between girls because I feared for my physical safety. Some of these young ladies, through no fault of their own, had suffered terrible emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and they were filled with a terrible rage. They would stop at nothing to win a physical altercation.
The African American community that I experienced both in the army and as a teacher at a middle school appear to have a code of conduct that stresses not saying or doing things that lead to conflict with others. If someone says or does something that offends an African American, the offended person will often first offer the offending person an opportunity to deescalate the situation without losing face. If this initial offer is rebuffed, a second chance may or may not be offered. If a second chance is offered and rebuffed, the code of conduct very strongly emphasizes that the verbal or physical challenge MUST be met. The code of conduct seems to dictate that since offer(s) to peacefully deescalate the situation were rebuffed, the response to that verbal or physical aggression DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PROPORTIONAL. An African American person, whether male or female who does not respond to a verbal or physical attack loses enormous prestige among his/her peers. That person also suffers a significant drop in his/her self esteem.
The code of conduct stressed by MDCPS differs significantly from this code. The MDCPS code stresses that a person experiencing a verbal or physical challenge NOT respond, but report the transgression to an authority figure. As a MDCPS employee, I enforced the MDCPS code of conduct among my students. The MDCPS code of conduct both puzzled and enraged African American children and their parents. In instances where one person confessed to being the instigator of a conflict between students, African American parents could not understand why their child was also being disciplined for responding to that challenge.
Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez give the appearance of being intolerable bullies who appear to derive enormous pleasure out of the misery they inflict on the serfs who are the NKC staff. A bully who gets away with bullying does not become a nicer person. He or she becomes an even more intolerable bully. Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez are “the Teflon Administrators.” No matter how frequent and egregious their violations of the MDCPS contract, Florida or Fedreal law, they skate away without so much as a reprimand. They have allegedly cheated on the FAA, filed knowingly false chargers against Mr. Massa for cheating on the FAA and then committing perjury on a deposition (Mrs. Fernandez allegedly did this ) physically assaulted both a staff member and a profoundly mentally handicapped child, engaged in prolonged screaming attacks against staff (by Mrs. Fernandez), and discriminated against minorities (by both administrators.) Not only have they not been punished, Dr. Roos was a candidate for the Principal of the Year award! As there are no charter school for PMH students, parents are obligated to continue to send their children to a very dangerous school. Parents deeply resent the fact that their taxes are going to pay the salaries of administrators who may allow one or more NKC children to die a violent and completely avoidable death from choking on their food (I’ll discuss that later on in this letter.)
The fact that frequent and egregious violations of the law go unpunished makes the two NKC administrators bolder and more reckless. They think Superintendent Carvalho has given them a green light to do almost anything they please. (The NKC staff and NKC parents think this is a correct assumption on the part of the NKC administrators.)
Some of the NKC staff who tell me what is going on at NKC have become more cautious. While they still tell me what is going on, they are now requesting that I no longer report those incidents in my blog. They are asking this because Karla Hernandez Mats has done nothing for 7+ years to protect them, and they are tired of being punished for sticking their necks out when things are getting WORSE, not better at the “Plantation” that is NKC. Having said that, I can state that both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) are recklessly escalating their aggression among both parents and staff of NKC. The African American NKC staff are neighbors and fellow church members of some of the African American parents of NKC children. As their common rage and impotence rise, a peaceful solution to the 7+ year crisis at NKC seems less and less likely. A famous person once said,”When peaceful change becomes impossible, revolution becomes inevitable.” That statement was not made by a wild eyed radical. That statement was made by the President of the United States. His name was John F. Kennedy. So far, the violence at NKC has only been one way. That violence has been practiced by Superintendent Carvalho and the two NKC administrators against profoundly mentally handicapped children, the parents of those children, and the NKC staff.
President Harry Truman famously stated that “The buck stops with me.” Mrs. DeVos, you are the commander-in-chief of every educator in America. Does the buck also stop with you? Do you have the courage and the moral fiber to hold Superintendent Carvalho and the two NKC administrators accountable for their actions? Does accountability apply only to teachers, or does it apply to school superintendents and school administrators as well?
As horrendous a price NKC staff and NKC parents have paid for their support of exploring converting NKC to a charter school, that price pales in comparison to the price the severely mentally retarded children of NKC have been asked to pay. I have previously discussed how MDCPS appears to have given Dr. Roos permission to physically abuse severely mentally retarded children with impunity. Additionally, MDCPS also gives the appearance of allowing Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) permission to play Russian Roulette with the very lives of the children. If the readers of this letter have read my blog, they will notice that the one theme that pops up in nearly every one of my blog entries is the fact that the children of NKC are being needlessly exposed to a terribly violent and easily preventable death by choking on the food they are served at NKC at breakfast and lunch time. I referred to this as “The Carvalho Tax.” As I have discussed the dangers of one or more choking deaths occurring at NKC exhaustively in my blog, I will not discuss that further in this letter. I will briefly discuss how “The Carvalho Tax” came to be imposed.
Mr. Rick Massa was the most vocal supporter of exploring converting NKC to a charter school. As such, he became the prime target of Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) successful attempt to terrorize the NKC staff and parents (who were enthusiastic supporters of exploring the conversion option) into abandoning their exploration of this option. Mr. Massa had a student in his class who was so prone to choking incidents that this fact was noted on the child’s Individual Education Plan (IEP). One day at lunch, this young man began to choke on his food. Mr. Massa took immediate appropriate action and the child expelled the food he was choking on without losing consciousness. He then went back to eating his lunch. (in my blog, I discuss the incredible lengths Dr. Roos allegedly then went to to twist this into a charge of child endangerment against Mr. Massa.) As the entire school is served in one sitting for meals, the entire staff witnessed both Mr. Massa’s highly appropriate and effective response to this choking incident and Dr. Roos filing of potentially career ending charges against Mr. Massa. As a result, NKC staff now have a well founded fear that if a child begins to choke on their food, Dr. Roos may use that choking incident as an excuse to file career ending charges if the staff person has knowingly or unknowingly done something that displeases Dr. Roos. As a result, the staff member, fearing his/her job may be on the line, may hesitate for 30-60 seconds before summoning the on-site nurses of NKC. As my blog explains, that 30-60 delay can literally mean the difference between life and death for a severely mentally retarded child. (who played no part in the decision to explore converting NKC to a charter school.)
The Nazi Party of Germany took a very dim view of mentally retarded people. Those monsters referred to mentally retarded people as “useless eaters” and “euthanized” them. “Euthanized” is a polite word for cold blooded murder. If a profoundly mentally retarded child from NKC chokes to death on his/her food, the Miami media may attempt to sweep this crime under the carpet by calling it “a tragic, but unforeseeable event.” An honest journalist would refer to it as cold blooded murder.
SECRETARY DEVOS AND FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION INSPECTOR GENERAL, IF AN NKC CHILD DIES A VIOLENT AND ENTIRELY PREVENTABLE DEATH BY CHOKING ON THEIR FOOD. ARE YOU OK WITH THAT? Many NKC stakeholders have the belief that Superintendent Carvalho and MDCPS officials have a viewpoint of mentally retarded students that is only marginally better than that of the Nazi Party of Germany in the 1930’s. The NKC stakeholders hope the readers of this letter are able to see that MDCPS might benefit from Federal oversite of the schools of MDCPS until such time as the MDCPS are in compliance with Federal statutes.
If (may God forbid it) the readers of this letter do not find this situation to be troubling, a geography lesson may be in order. Are you aware of the fact that MDCPS is just one county south of the county where 34 people were shot (17 of them fatally) at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School? The parents and students of that unfortunate school have a slogan that says, “Never again.” How do you think they will react to the needless and entirely preventable death of a severely mentally retarded child who chokes to death on his/her food? The parents of NKC children also read my blog. What do you suppose they will say if it turns out that both the Inspector General and the Secretary of Education were advised ahead of time of the situation and (again, may God forbid this) chose to do nothing?
I have contacts in the alternative press who have published parts of my blog in the past. The creator of that blog wants me to become a regular contributor. He reaches an audience of one million people a month. If a severely mentally retarded child of NKC chokes to death on his/her food, it will become the lead story on this person’s blog. If I am issued a gag order, I have a friend who has volunteered to continue my blog. That friend is much more articulate, passionate, and media savvy than I am.
I see three chilling possible future scenarios for NKC. Dr. Roos gives the appearance of lacking impulse control. She appears to also suffer from poor decision making skills, and she appears to be be drunk with power. As is the case with all bullies, Dr. Roos gives the impression of being a terrible coward. Dr. Roos is probably aware of the fact that physically assaulting a male African American NKC staff member is not a good idea. My fear is that Dr. Roos is not aware of the fact that physically assaulting an African American female NKC staff member is an even WORSE idea. In the past, Dr. Roos allegedly physically assaulted a social worker who not only did not fight back, but was so fearful of reprisals from MDCPS and inaction of the district in response to his/her complaint that he/she merely transferred to another school. There is a possibility that Dr. Roos is stupid enough (and believe me, she is stupid enough to do this) to put her hands on an African American female NKC staff member. Dr. Roos may administer a very light push or grabbing of the person. Her intent may be not to injure, but to demean and intimidate. Dr, Roos may think that the worst case scenario will be that the African American female NKC staff member may respond proportionally. Given the fact that both Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez have treated African American staff very, very poorly for 7+ years, and given the fact that the penalty for assaulting an administrator is the same whether the assault is very minor or an all out attack (i.e. job termination) the assaulted employee may decide she is going to “get her money’s worth” for her assault. The result may be that Dr. Roos suffers a fractured jaw, fractured eye socket, fractured skull, or all of the above. At that point, the NAACP will become involved, and the readers of this letter may lose their jobs as well.
The second scenario is that Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) (who is only marginally less a bully than Dr. Roos) picks the wrong person for one of her screaming tirades. In my blog I described a 20 minute tirade I endured from Mrs. Fernandez. Mrs. Fernandez literally screamed loud enough to drown me out every time I attempted to interject into her tirade. Her language was deliberately harsh and hateful. It was a deeply humiliating experience for me. As I am Caucasian, the screaming tirade I suffered was far milder than the ones experienced by African American or Hispanic staff. As I mentioned in my blog, Mr. Ray Morrison, an African American staff member, has already endured two of Mrs. Fernandez screaming temper tantrums. During one tirade, he felt he was at the end of his rope, so he walked out of Mrs. Fernandez office. He told Mrs. Fernandez he was willing to resume the “conversation” when Mrs. Fernandez regained her composure. At the close of that school day, Mr. Morrison was summoned to Dr. Roos office for a closed door meeting with both NKC administrators. At that meeting, Mr. Morrison was warned that if he ever again walked out while being screamed at by Mrs. Fernandez, he would either be terminated or involuntarily transferred. As Jerry Terry is Mr. Morrison’s uncle, Mr. Morrison took this threat very seriously. Although Mr. Morrison is a UTD member, and although I have sent UTD President Karla Hernandez Mats 9 unanswered certified letters regarding NKC, that unhappy “Plantation” ( I mean school) is a “no go zone.” for UTD officials.
When Mr. Jerry Terry, the African American custodian, raised his voice just once to Dr. Roos, he was involuntarily transferred to another school. Why is it ok for the NKC administrators to shout at the inmates/staff of NKC whenever they please, but not ok for the inmates/staff to raise their voices to the administrators (even once)? I guess that a contract that is not enforced is nothing more than a useless scrap of paper. Ms. Hernandez Mats, is that a fair and accurate assessment of the situation? Perhaps the National Labor Relations Board may wish to do an investigation as to why UTD is not enforcing the contract.
The serfs of NKC do not have the option of walking out when they are at the end of their rope as a result of one of Mrs. Fernandez screaming tirades. My fear is that when they reach the end of their rope, Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) may also require a trip to the hospital. Again, a staff member who screamed at an administrator even once would face severe consequences, including possible termination. The serfs of NKC are wondering why Mrs. Fernandez has been allowed to do so with virtual impunity for 7+ years. Back in the days when UTD was a REAL union, this travesty would never have been allowed to happen.
The third scenario is the scariest of all. In this scenario Dr. Roos allegedly physically assaults yet another severely mentally retarded child, or a child chokes to death on his/her food. If this happens, may the readers of this letter suffer the consequnces they will so richly deserve.
A few days ago, there was an unfortunate incident in the state of Washington. A teacher was terminated from her position for making verbal threats against students and staff. As the safety of children is of paramount importance, I feel this was a prudent and appropriate action to take. The authorities issued the following statement regarding this incident. “If a kid makes comments like this, the kid goes to jail. So obviously, making threats against the safety of students and staff is a felony crime, and taken very seriously by the Puyallup School District. Adults need to be held to a higher standard.” Secretary DeVos and Inspector General, I have a question for you. If a teacher was fired for a single incident of VERBAL threats, HOW IS IT THAT SUPERINTENDENT CARVALHO, DR. ROOS, AND MRS. FERNANDEZ HAVE MANAGED TO GET OFF SCOT FREE FOR FAR MORE SERIOUS INFRACTIONS SPANNING MANY YEARS?
The NKC stakeholders are asking for the readers of this letter to take the following actions. 1) Reinstate Dr. Alberto Fernandez as the NKC principal and Mr. Henny Cristobol as the NKC assistant principal. 2) Have an agency INDEPENDENT of MDCPS (such as the FBI) investigate MDCPS for the allegations made in this letter. If Superintendent Carvalho and the two present NKC administrators are found to be guilty of one or more infractions, a penalty commensurate with those infraction(s) needs to be imposed. 3) Allow the NKC staff to choose a curriculum to replace the Unique Learning System (ULS) if the staff feels the ULS is not an appropriate curriculum for PMH students. The new curriculum would be subject to approval by MDCPS.
In my blog, I stated that the Unique Learning System (ULS) is an ineffective curriculum for PMH students because it vastly exceeds the intellectual capacities of our students. The curriculum we previously used was called the Small Step Curriculum (SSC). The SSC emphasized the mastery of self help skills such as teaching students to independently or semi-independently eat, drink, toilet, dress, groom themselves, acquire a method of communicating their needs, acquire skills needed to secure employment in a sheltered workshop, master the social skills necessary to live and work in harmony with peers, etc. Complex tasks were broken down into a series of small steps that if performed in sequential order resulted in the completion of a complex task.
One day, at the end of the school day, I noticed that one of the PMH students was walking toward the bus with untied shoelaces. I was concerned that Grace (not her real name) would trip and fall. As I had never encountered a severely mentally retarded student capable of independently tying his/her shoelaces, I stopped Grace and bent down to tie her shoelaces for her. At that point, Grace became very agitated. She shouted “No.” and pushed me away. Then, to my utter astonishment, Grace bent down and independently tied her own shoelaces. She then stood up and flashed me a million dollar smile. In Grace’s smile I saw both the pride of the accomplishment of a very difficult goal, and the enhanced dignity of being able to independently perform a task that she no longer had to depend on others to do for her. At that moment, Grace and I exchanged places. She became the teacher and I became the student. The lesson that Grace taught me at that moment is that the need to Learn and to increase one’s potential is a universal human need. One of the inalienable rights that I believe is bestowed on every human being by the Creator is the right to Learn. That is the reason I chose Education as my profession.As an Educator, my favorite Bible story is the story of the 3 servants who were given varying amounts of coins (6, 3, and 1 coins) which were called “Talents”. The two servants who doubled their Talents greatly pleased their employer. In the case of Grace, she was probably given only one tenth of a Talent, which she nevertheless doubled. Independently tying one’s shoes may not seem like much of an accomplishment. However, a PMH student who independently performs this task is as remarkable as an honors student who “Aces” his/her calculus A.P. exam. Grace learned to tie her shoelaces via the SSC curriculum. As the ULS vastly exceeds the intellectual capacities of PMH students, there is a risk that students may sit in class at NKC for up to 19 years and learn almost nothing.
As I am a “peasant” with no wealth or political power, I feel it is ambitious for me even to ask that the children of NKC be spared from the risk of being physically abused or exposed to an artificially elevated risk of choking to death on their food because they are being used as “bait” by Dr. Roos and Mr. Carvalho to trap teachers that have incurred their wrath. Even if I am able to wrest this concession from educational bureaucrats, it still means that these students will live joyless lives, as they will have been deprived of their God-given right to maximize their potential That is why I am hoping Secretary DeVos and/or the IG will see fit to intervene and allow a meaningful curriculum to be reinstated at NKC.
Secretary DeVos, nobody remains the Sercrtary of Education forever. The day will come when you look back on your tenure in this position. Like all previous Secretaries of Education, you will have experienced both successes and failures. One of my favorite Bible verses is “To those whom much has been given, much will be expected.” Secretary DeVos, the Creator has endowed you with both great wealth and great power. On the day when you stand before the Creator and He asks you what you have done with your life, I am hoping that two of your accomplishments include improving the lives of the severely mentally retarded children of NKC, and doing your best to repair the very badly broken system in the nation’s fourth largest school district. (MDCPS). I’ll quote one more favorite Bible verse, and then I will get off my soapbox. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren, you do to Me.”
Secretary DeVos, severely mentally retarded children are the least of the least. They cannot possibly repay you, or even be aware of the actions you have taken to better their lives. Nevertheless, they are human beings, and they are important to God.
Respectfully,
Bill Detzner
Bill Detzner/7722 S.W. 99 St. Miami, Fl. 33156/billdetzner@bellsouth.net