June 11, 2020
Dear Elizabeth Newton,
Thank you for your email in response to my two letters 1) Addendum to the April 30 Letter and 2) Yet Another Plea to Florida and Federal Education Bureaucrats to End the Eight Year Lockdown and Punishment of NKC.) These letters can be found on my blog mdcpsallegations.com
When I saw your email response in my inbox, my thought was that just like the first response I received from the Federal Dept. of Education Inspector General, this response would be utterly and completely worthless. When I read your extremely disappointing response, my fears were realized.
I have a friend who is a retired attorney who spent 30 years as a lobbyist in the Florida State government. I lamented to him that I thought I had done an excellent job of showing the Federal Education Inspector General that “their house was on fire.” When I said this, my friend threw back his head and roared with laughter and called me a very naive man. He then said that if I had been able to provide a date and time when this “fire” was going to occur, those bureaucrats would have shown up with sharpened sticks and a big bag of marshmallows to roast over their burning house. My friend told me that many career bureaucrats do not really care whether or not the house they are supposed to be protecting burns to the ground, so long as they do not 1) Get the blame for this fire 2) Continue to get a paycheck. My friend went on to say that many bureaucrats do not care how urgent or necessary the request for help is. For many bureaucrats, the ONLY thing that will cause them to do anything more than the absolute minimum of work necessary to escape blame from the forthcoming disaster is fear of being reprimanded or terminated from their job. The term my friend used to describe this unhelpful bureaucratic behavior was “getting their ticket punched.” I also heard this term used when I was in the army. “Getting your ticket punched” does NOT mean solving the problem that has been presented to the bureaucrat. It means taking whatever action(s) are needed to avoid personal blame when disaster happens as a result of the problem not being addressed or solved. If you read the cartoon strip “Dilbert,” Wally is a master of this strategy. Ms. Newton, you and all of the other career educational bureaucrats I have encountered during my crusade to safeguard Severely Mentally Retarded (SMR) students bear an uncanny resemblance to Wally. Given the fact that SMR children are the most fragile and vulnerable children of all, this crass disregard for these children’s well being is inexcusable. Ms. Newton, when I sent you the above mentioned two letters, the NKC stakeholders were asking for your help on behalf of SMR children. Based on the pathetic and completely unhelpful response we got from you, many NKC stakeholders (myself included) have the impression that the Federal Inspector General has extended a giant middle finger to us. Therefore, we are repeating our request for help from this agency. However, this time, we are NOT asking for help on behalf of SMR children. This time, we are asking for help with the premise that if the Federal Dept. of Education Inspector General again fails to help us, we feel there is a high probability that YOU (Ms. Newton) will take the blame and possibly lose your job if you once again fail to provide redress for the egregious EIGHT YEAR COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT the students, parents, and staff of NKC have suffered due to pursuing the supposedly legally protected activity of exploring conversion from a public school to a charter school.
I am asking you to forward copies of this email to 1) Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos 2) Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) superintendent Alberto Carvalho 3) Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran 4) the Florida Department of Education Inspector General. If one or more entirely preventable deaths or acts of violence occur at NKC, I do NOT want these 4 individuals to bray that they did not know what has been happening at NKC FOR EIGHT YEARS! Secretary De Vos, I am (for the THIRD TIME) going to ask you a question: If one or more Severely Mentally Retarded children dies a horrible and easily preventable death of choking to death on their food, or one or more children at NKC again suffers an alleged physical assault by principal Dr. Tracy Roos, or one or more NKC staff members again suffers an alleged physical assault by principal Dr. Tracy Roos, or one or more African American staff again suffers an alleged prolonged screaming temper tantrum by assistant principal Mrs. Alicia Fernandez (Screamer), are you ok with that? (To give you an idea of how vicious these screaming temper tantrums by Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) are, her tirade against me (Bill Detzner) lasted for 20 minutes. Every time I attempted to interject, she screamed me down. Due to the fact that I am Caucasian, Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) screaming temper tantrum against me was not nearly as long or as vicious as those endured by African American staff, (such as Mr. Ray Morrison) have endured from Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer))
Ms. Newton, based on the “divorced from reality” reply I got from you, I have no idea what your grasp on reality is. Therefore, I am going to attempt to bring you up to speed on what is going on in the real world. On May 25, a white police officer named Derek Chauvin allegedly caused the death of an unarmed African American man named George Floyd by putting his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for several minutes. Ms. Newton, did you notice a great deal of fire, smoke, burning cars and buildings and wailing police sirens in Washington DC? If so, what occurred is called a riot. There is a well established concept called “cause and effect.” Have you heard of this concept? If not, many people suspect that there is a possibility that the violent riots in Washington DC might somehow be linked to the death of Mr. Floyd.
I mention this because that same cause and effect thing might also find expression at NKC. I very, very, very strongly urge you to read the very lengthy description I gave in my blog about the INCREDIBLY high state of racial tension that exists at NKC between African American staff and African American parents of NKC students and the two NKC administrators. Ms. Newton, African American NKC staff and parents refer to NKC as a “Plantation.” Ms. Newton, do you know what the term “Plantation” means? I assure you, it is NOT a term of endearment or racial harmony. I very strongly urge you to read my entire blog. I have given example after example of how BOTH principal Dr. Tracy Roos and assistant principal Mrs. Alicia Fernandez (Screamer) give the appearance of being extremely angry and emotionally unstable individuals with very poor judgement and lack of respect for personal boundaries. Next fall, racial tensions at NKC, already dangerously high, are going to be further escalated by the brutal and senseless death of Mr. Floyd. Parents of all NKC students are going to be under ENORMOUS stress and pressure due to the economic hardships brought on by the pandemic. Dr. Roos has once again shown her extremely fragile mental health by cursing during a ZOOM taped class presentation when no students or staff were in the school building. Given the fact that Dr. Roos was not even able to keep it together in a completely empty school building, how do you suppose she will react next fall when she has to deal with very stressed out parents, who already INTENSELY dislike BOTH NKC administrators due to their blatant racist attitudes? What will happen if Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer), who could not control her lengthy screaming temper tantrums when times were good, has yet another emotional meltdown and launches into yet another screaming tirade against Mr. Morrison, or any other African American staff member next fall? Does the Federal Department of Education Inspector General really intend to allow these two administrators to resume their posts in the fall??? Are you serious? Are you serious? Are you serious?
Myself and many other NKC stakeholders believe the answer to the question of whether or not these two HORRIFIC administrators will be allowed to continue to wreak havoc on NKC next fall is an unqualified YES! Just so you know, if the Federal Department of Education Inspector General allows this travesty to occur, the chances of one or more very serious racial incidents happening at NKC in the fall is probably over 99%. Should one or more entirely preventable acts of racism and/or violence occur at NKC, I have a friend who publishes a Florida blog that reaches an audience of over a million people a month. I have published with him before. I am confident he will publish my future submissions. If a gag order is imposed on me, several other NKC stakeholders have volunteered to continue my blog.
Again, Ms. Newton, as I am uncertain as to what your grasp of reality is, how do you think the public is going to react to the story of a white principal who suffered no adverse consequences for her alleged physical abuse of a Severely Mentally Retarded African American child, or the prolonged screaming temper tantrums Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) has had against African American staff? The fact that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has been made aware of this situation ON THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS is not going to sit well with the public. How do you think Secretary DeVos is going to handle this situation? Do you think she is going to step forward to announce that the buck stops with her, and take responsibility for the situation? If you believe this, I have a bridge for sale at a very reasonable price. My guess is that Secretary DeVos will look for a scapegoat to blame this on. My guess is that when she sees the email you sent to me that I posted on my blog, and this response, which will also be posted on my blog, Secretary DeVos will point the long, bony finger at YOU and say how sorry she is that Ms. Newton failed to do her job. Ms. Newton, forty million people are currently out of work. If you lose your present cushy, well paid job, how easy do you think it is going to be for you to find another job?
Ms. Newton, I read that Derek Chauvin, the cop who allegedly caused the death of Mr. Floyd, had EIGHTEEN complaints against him!!! I imagine that when people complained about Officer Chauvin, they got a very sugary, utterly worthless reply from a career bureaucrat just like yourself who assured them that as a member of the public, they have a right to be treated with dignity and respect by the police. Yep, they had those rights. However, the problem was not that they had those rights; the problem was that those rights were not respected. Ms. Newton, please go back and read the first 4-5 paragraphs of the sugary sweet response you sent me in your email. Yes, students have a right to be respected, safe, and treated with courtesy and respect by the school administrators. The problem is that those rights are NOT being observed. At NKC, the 2 administrators are allegedly subjecting students to a violent and entirely preventable death from choking on their food, staff and students are allegedly at risk for physical assault by the school principal, staff are at risk for prolonged screaming temper tantrums (20 minutes in my case) by the assistant principal, and African American staff and African American parents of NKC children are routinely discriminated against and disrespected by BOTH NKC administrators. The Inspector General of Education of BOTH Florida and the Federal government are well aware of this situation, and BOTH institutions whine that there is nothing they can do about this situation, even though MDCPS gets a great deal of its funding from both the state of Florida and the Federal government. If the two above named Inspector Generals cannot do anything about this deplorable situation, what reason do they have to exist (other than to provide very generous salaries and benefits to their employees.) If these two organizations are powerless to enforce desperately needed changes to MDCPS, shouldn’t they disband, and save the taxpayers a great deal of money? Ms. Newton, I want to make it clear that Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) are not the only two MDCPS officials I would like to have investigated and dismissed if cause is found. The other individual I would like to have investigated and dismissed (if cause is found) is MDCPS Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. I would like Mr. Carvalho to be investigated in two areas. 1) Mr. Carvalho gives the appearance of not only tolerating, but handsomely rewarding racial discrimination against African Americans. I say this because shortly after Dr. Roos allegedly threatened Ms. Green (an African American staff member) with an involuntary transfer to another school immediately after the murder of Ms. Green’s daughter, and after Dr. Roos allegedly threatened to terminate the employment of African Amertican custodian Mr. Aaron Jackson, MDCPS saw fit to nominate Dr. Roos as a candidate for the prestigious Principal of the Year Award. Although Mr. Carvalho was aware of both the allegations against Dr. Roos and her nomination for this prestigious award shortly afterwards, he declined to intervene and remove Dr. Roos as a candidate for this award. In a second incident, after Dr. Roos allegedly physically assaulted an African American SMR child, Mr. Carvalho failed to implement the MANDATORY district policy of removing Dr. Roos from the campus until an investigation was completed. Dr. Roos was NOT removed from campus, nor was an investigation of the incident conducted. In a third incident, Dr. Roos failed to allow paraprofessionals, who are almost exclusively African American and Hispanic, to participate in the MANDATORY annual staff satisfaction survey, which ALL employees are supposed to complete. In a fourth incident, Mr. Carvalho has allowed these two seemingly blatantly racist administrators to remain at their posts at NKC, year after year, despite the many incidents of what gives the appearance of being blatant racism on their part. I would like the proper authorities to do a district wide audit of MDCPS to see if racism is common throughout the district. If this is found to be the case, I ask that Mr. Carvalho be removed from his post and replaced by someone both willing and able to observe Federal statutes against racial discrimination. 2) I would like to see a district wide audit done to see if cheating on the yearly achievement test is rampant throughout MDCPS. I say this because in my blog, I describe in great deal how Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) allegedly cheated on the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA), the yearly achievement test given to SMR children.This alleged cheating was done by allegedly erasing some of the incorrect answers on the penciled in answer sheets and then penciling in the correct answers. I want to strongly emphasize that if this alleged cheating actually occurred, both administrators received financial awards for the enhanced student performance from this alleged cheating. Although I asked that an independent agency (such as the Florida Bureau of Investigation, or the Federal Bureau of Investigation) conduct this investigation, MDCPS was allowed to conduct the investigation without supervision and its findings accepted without review. I am again asking that an independent investigation be conducted, and the 6 individuals I named in my blog be interviewed about what they know about this alleged cheating. If Dr. Roos and/or Mrs. Fernandez are found to have cheated on this test, I ask that the proper penalties, which include termination of employment and loss of pension be imposed. I am also asking that an independent investigation be conducted to determine if the MDCPS officials who conducted this investigation of possible cheating falsified their report. If so, I am asking that the proper penalties be imposed on all guilty parties. I am also asking that a district wide audit be done throughout MDCPS to see if cheating on the yearly achievement test is widespread. If this is found to be the case, I am asking that Mr. Carvalho be relieved of his duties and be replaced by someone willing to conduct these tests honestly.
When I was a Boy Scout, we used to play a nasty trick on other kids who had recently joined the Boy Scouts. Twice a year, all of the scout troops for many miles around would get together for a week end camping trip. The wooded campground selected for this event would stretch for a few miles. Camp fires would be built, and inevitably, the smoke from those camp fires would get into people’s eyes. At that point, a scout would shout that a “smoke bender” was needed to keep the smoke out of people’s eyes. There is no such thing as a “smoke bender,” but a brand new scout would not know that. The new scout would then be asked to go to the nearest campsite to ask to borrow their “smoke bender.” The scouts in this nearby camp site would in turn say that they just lent their “smoke bender” to someone else, and direct the new scout to go to another campsite, where the process would be repeated over and over until the new scout had visited every single scout troop. The young man was sent on a fool’s errand. Ms. Newton, I bring this up because I feel you are sending me out to find a “smoke bender.” I say this because although I am petitioning the most powerful educational agency in the US, chartered to oversee and penalize educational bodies that violate Federal educational statutes, and although MDCPS and NKC are CLEARLY in violation of more than one Federal statute, you say that somehow, you are unable to help me. You then tell me that perhaps Mr. Dwight Thomas, OSEP’s State Lead for Florida, will be able to help me. You then provided me with only a phone number to contact Mr. Thomas. I will contact Mr. Thomas, but I suspect that Mr. Thomas will also not have the “smoke bender” I need. Not to worry, though. My bet is that Mr Thomas will recommend still another educational bureaucrat who has the “smoke bender” the SMR children of NKC so desperately need.
Ms. Newton, it is time to discuss the part of your email that I and other NKC stakeholders found the most offensive. To quote from your letter: “It is our understanding that in the State of Florida, allegations of abuse, neglect, or exploitations are primarily investigated by the Department of Children and Families.(DCF). DCF operates a hotline (1-800-962-2873) for reporting such allegations.” Ms. Newton, the reason that myself and the other NKC stakeholders find this statement so offensive is that in BOTH of the letters I sent to the Federal Education IG, I clearly stated that both myself and the parent of the child Dr. Roos allegedly physically assaulted reported the incident to DCF. DCF gave me the impression that they were NOT interested in investigating Dr. Roos, but that were VERY interested in threatening to involuntarily place the SMR child into foster care if the mother persisted in her efforts to have Dr. Roos investigated. I will repeat my accusation. In Miami-Dade County Public Schools, DCF seems more interested in protecting Mr. Carvalho than they are in protecting the most fragile and vulnerable children of all, SMR children. I will again repeat my accusation that in Miami-Dade County, the DCF seems to bear an uncanny resemblance to the KKK. In the bad old days, when African American parents complained that their children were receiving an inferior education, they were cowed into submission by a burning cross on their lawn. Today, at least at NKC, an African American parent who protests that her Severely Mentally Retarded child has been allegedly physically assaulted by school principal Dr. Roos is cowed into silence with the threat of having her child involuntarily placed into a foster home.
Ms. Newton, I think it is time that you and I discussed the two thousand pound elephant in the room. Against all odds, my complaint against Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez (Screamer) for alleged cheating on the FAA met the very narrowly defined criteria for an investigation by the Florida education authorities. The Florida authorities had two choices as to how to conduct the investigation. The first choice was to allow MDCPS to independently conduct this investigation without oversight, and to accept those findings without review. Although I warned that MDCPS gives the appearance of being extremely corrupt, this was the way the sham “investigation” was conducted. What if, however, either myself or an NKC stakeholder had made a very large financial contribution to Florida governor Ron DeSantis election campaign? Do you think MDCPS would still have been allowed to conduct the investigation, or would the investigation have been conducted by an independent organization such as the Florida Bureau of Investigation? To paraphrase a popular saying: “Money talks. Everything else walks.” One need look only as far as the current Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos to see the truth of this statement. Although she has no background whatsoever in the field of education, Betsy DeVos has been placed into this Cabinet level position. Her sole qualification seems to be the fact that she has been a MASSIVE donor to the Republican Party. Earlier, I asked Secretary DeVos a question. That question was: “If a Severely Mentally Retarded child dies a horrible and entirely preventable death of choking on his/her food, are you ok with that?” I fear that for both Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Secretary of Education DeVos, the answer to that question is YES, unless a suitably large political contribution has been made.My naive assumption was that both of these above named people would have the moral decency to defend Severely Mentally Retarded children, even if the petitioner was a person such as myself who does not have the financial means to pay a substantial ransom/bribe/political contribution. While I hope I am wrong, my fear is that this letter will also fall on deaf ears, due to the inability of NKC stakeholders to raise a large sum of money for high ranking government officials.
Sincerely,
Bill Detzner
Bill Detzner/ 7722 SW 99 St./ Miami, Fl. 33156/ billdetzner@bellsouth.net
