“Transparency” has replaced “accountability” as the mot du jour of government. Almost every day I read a story about a city that “commits to transparency,” and then proceeds to break its own vows. The latest South Florida municipality to jump on the “transparency” bandwagon, only to worm out of its promise, is Tamarac in Broward County.
A website called Tamarac Talk, which is “not affiliated with City of Tamarac elected officials or its employees,” published an article on March 3, 2014, City Officials Want Charter High School in Tamarac. The columnist, Sharon Aron Baron, described a scenario where an item was slipped in that “wasn’t on the agenda, nor was [the agenda] ever amended to include this item.”
If you think this sounds eerily like a North Miami City Council Consent Agenda item, you’d be right. On July 9, 2013, North Miami Councilwoman Marie Steril managed to convince the City Manager to “slip in” a “resolution authorizing the City Manager to submit an application to establish the City of North Miami Charter School for grades nine through twelve.”
In a city truly committed to “transparency,” this item would never have been placed on a Consent Agenda, but listed as a separate item on the regular Agenda that would require a motion, a second, discussion and a vote. I’m not sure if North Miami has ever committed to “transparency,” but this move was not even remotely “transparent.” The ramming of this resolution down the throats of North Miami residents resulted in a battle with Miami-Dade Public Schools, which claims that such a resolution would violate an Interlocal Agreement NOT to build a Charter School. If North Miami can’t honor its commitment to comply with the terms of an Agreement, are we surprised at the lack of commitment to “transparency?” Jeez, I hope not!
But, the bigger problem than the dysfunction at City Hall is that there is no more need for a charter school in North Miami than there is for one in Tamarac. As the Tamarac Talk columnist noted, “many of our residents on the western side of Tamarac already attend JP Taravella, and the land they are proposing is only two miles from this A-rated, yet under-enrolled, school.”
By the same token, does North Miami really need a charter school? The proposed site of this school is on the west side of Claude Pepper Park, which is located at 1400 NW 135 Street. Within rock throwing distance is the Benjamin Franklin K-8 Center, which is located at 13100 NW 12 Avenue. Also nearby are the Carrie P. Meek/Westview K-8 Center, 2101 NW 127 Street, and the Nathan B. Young Elementary School, 14120 NW 24 Avenue, as well as several other elementary and K-8 public schools that serve the North Miami community, per the map provided by the Miami-Dade County Public Schools website.
There are also four middle schools serving the area:
As well as two high schools:
Even more importantly, there is the inherent problem with charter schools in general, which I discussed at length in my column, Charter Schools and the Miseducation of our Children. Charter schools are privately run but publicly funded, with little accountability to the School Board or the State of Florida. The owners of these schools are gambling with our tax dollars, and like a casino, “the house” always wins. As North Miami Beach ASFCME President Janice Coakley is fond of saying, “I have a problem with that.”
Another twist of irony in the Tamarac debacle is that in an article published February 26, 2014, Charter Schools USA Founder Won’t Put His Own Children in His Schools, Tamarac Talk reports that “Charter Schools USA Founder Jonathan Hage along with his wife Sherry, Chief Academic Officer, send all four of their children to Pine Crest Schools – a private school.”
WTF?
Apparently, Hage’s own charter schools aren’t good enough for his four children to attend, but the profit he and his wife make from them is good enough to fund their kids’ education at an exclusive private school to the tune of “over $100,000.00 a year.” Their income also affords them the luxury of being able to donate $10,000.00 to the private school’s annual fund.
In essence, public tax dollars are not only funding the privately run Charter Schools USA, but they are also helping to fund the private Pine Crest Schools.
Yeah, Janice. I have a problem with that, too!
Tamarac Talk reporter, Sharon Aron Baron, summed it up quite nicely by quoting retired Taravella teacher and former Broward County School Board Member David Thomas:
“Having a Charter High School is bad for Coral Springs and Tamarac, bad for public education, and bad for JP Taravella, to siphon off public dollars for the benefit of private corporations.”
Again, I urge the North Miami Mayor and Council to reconsider their intention to build a charter school.
I also hope the members of the North Miami Beach City Council are paying close attention.
Just saying.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
It is a waste of North Miami tax dollars to push forth on a charter school that is not only NOT needed but breaks a contract we hold with Miami Dade County Schools and utilizes land that is PARK land! As a proud parent of a student in public schools I can tell you what is needed: Community and Parent Involvement in the public schools that are in our already operating in our neighborhoods as well as funding for parks and afterschool programs vs programs that are aimed to boost our elected officials images. Want to make a difference Mayor and Council? Go out and coach a soccer team!
It is no surprise that the organizations that back private charters are instructing their operatives to “slip in” these resolutions. The general public is starting to wake-up to the fact that a great number of these “schools” are fly-by-night operations run by scam artists with one goal in mind, making a profit off of our public education tax dollars. It’s worse in NYC and Chicago where they close “low performing” schools, pretending that it’s the teachers and the structure of the school that are the problem and not the culture of poverty, hopelessness, and victimization. After the school is shuttered, the politicians award no-bid contracts and “gift” the land and building to their “education” business partners to open up a “school”. I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist but theory, but it’s not. It’s real and it’s happening all over the country. The original culprit was ALEC- http://www.empowermagazine.com/alec-on-a-mission-to-dismantle-public-education/ but the business “opportunities” have been seized by both political parties.
Great reporting, I was at that meeting about the school. There were the usual council members questioning it and asking the right questions-I recall even Scott Galvin being concerned about who was attending North Miami schools, etc. and I think (yes I just linked to your previous article) you did excellent reporting on that… you also did an excellent job of pointing out the issue is even bigger as this school was even tied into the mess in Biscayne Landing!!! And there were also rumors flying around Steril was tied somehow to the charter school but I have not heard any facts in that.
Now, The even bigger picture is lack of OVERALL city planning, not just school planning, but… don’t get me started. It will be a travesty if that Biscayne Landing development goes in looking like the awful buildings they have already built. (But they are cheaper to build, yes?). As far as quality (schools like the above poster points out, developments, whatever) that should always be the concern. But quality is transparency’s close cousin — without transparent communication you don’t even know what you are dealing with, let alone being able to plan or evaluate quality, for one thing. Thanks for being the transparency that should be the default state in matters.
While I am not familiar with how other Charter Schools are run in other areas, if you want to see a model for how City run Charter Schools should be, look at Pembroke Pines. They saw a need to alleviate the overcrowding caused by the migration of families affected by Hurricane Andrew, and stuffed into portables at existing school facilities. The Charter Schools were formed and now include 4 elementary campuses and a high school. Serving approximately 15,000 students and following Broward County School Board guidelines. The Pines Charter program is a highly rated system and success story, and was just awarded a renewed Charter from Broward County School Board for another 15 years.
The biggest hurdle they face is that they are not getting their fair share of Tax dollars per student from the County. The School Board has not budged on this and it is a major burden to the Charter Schools. Teachers took voluntary pay cuts to help keep the school in operation last year, with no support from their own Broward Teachers Union. But it goes to show the dedication these teachers have to their students and the success of the Pines Charter Schools. 98% of the Pines Charter High graduates go on to college. That’s something to boast about.
As successful as the system is in Pines, fundraising is a major factor, as well as donations from families as well, to help keep things going, as they fight the Broward School Board Commission on equal sharing of the tax dollars. The philosophy is, that the tax dollars should follow the student. Ever look at how much money School Board Commissioners get paid? Hmmmm…..
Just my .02 cents on Charter Schools.
i can’t speak to the budget, but it seems fairly obvious charter school teachers took a pay cutrather than lose their job. You make it seem like they were doing it for the students.
Actually Sharon Aron Baron is my real name. Aron is my maiden name. Thanks for the compliment. I wrote a very interesting article comparing some interesting data showing how some charter schools are coming out smelling sweet and that’s because of the higher socio economic families that attend their schools. But in the bigger scheme, they can’t even do as good as job as regular Broward County Public Schools. Read it here: http://tamaractalk.com/public-schools-outperform-charter-schools-in-broward-county-12731
Rick,
Stay tuned on more articles about Broward Charter Schools. Especially why Pines and Coral Springs Charter Schools are successful. You’ll be surprised.
Stephanie, Thanks for sharing Tamarac’s issues on your great website. I’m glad to meet another “me” out there that looks out for the residents in her community. Please contact me anytime to collaborate at TamaracTalk@gmail.com
I won’t be surprised at all.
is Sharon Aron Baron or the coolest name i’ve heard in a while?
is Sharon Aron Baron a pseudonym or the coolest name i’ve heard in a while?
Definitely a very cool name!