Miami is a fast paced community with a rapid fire news cycle. Our blog keeps you current on the most important issues affecting the tax payers of Miami-Dade county. Read, share, comment, and as always let us know what topics you want us to tackle.
Sun-Sentinel: Abruzzo won't seek re-election to Florida House
Sun-Sentinel: Abruzzo won’t seek re-election to Florida House
Herald Tribune: Shooting shifts priorities as Legislature works to finalize budget
Herald Tribune: Shooting shifts priorities as Legislature works to finalize budget
Herald Tribune: Bill abolishing local vacation rental rules stalls in Legislature
Herald Tribune: Bill abolishing local vacation rental rules stalls in Legislature
Politico: Party divisions slow progress on 'toxic' gun bill
Politico: Party divisions slow progress on ‘toxic’ gun bill
NWF Daily News: Scott touts $500 million school safety plan
NWF Daily News: Scott touts $500 million school safety plan
Post: Texting and driving: House ready to pass tougher law but Senate balks
Post: Texting and driving: House ready to pass tougher law but Senate balks
Alberto Carvalho to leave Miami-Dade Schools for NYC — at the worst time
Say it ain’t so, Alberto!
Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, the charismatic populist leader of the 4th largest school district in the U.S., has been tapped to lead the largest school district in New York City, several news sources reported Wednesday afternoon.
Perhaps New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, right, who was expected to make the official announcement Thursday — it had been postponed because of the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas — isn’t used to las malas lenguas in Miami taking the wind out of his sails. Because it seems de Blasio had to make a hasty reveal Wednesday afternoon after word got out.
“Alberto Carvalho is a world-class educator with an unmatched track record of success,” de Blasio said in a statement published on Chalkbeat. “I am very confident that our extensive, national search has found New York City the best person to lead the nation’s largest school system into the future.”
Extensive? Extensive?
Carvalho had been floated as a name for the post since December, immediately after Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced she would be stepping down. He’s just the flashy type that de Blasio and NYC love: a longtime educator from a scrappy, immigrant background who rose through the ranks to become a leading voice on education at the national level. Plus he’s boss on twitter. If Ladra were a betting dog, and she is, she would wager that de Blasio wanted Carvalho all along.
Related: Alberto Carvalho drops mayoral hopes for UM dream
But weeks ago, the Sup told reporters he was committed to Miami-Dade, where he championed a $1.2 billion referendum for modernization and technology upgrades that are just getting started, which is likely one of the reasons de Blasio wants him.
“My commitment to Miami is so strong and I have demonstrated it in the face of political opportunities,” Carvalho told Chalkbeat back then, referring to encouragement he has gotten to run for posts from Miami-Dade mayor to Congress to University of Miami president. “It’s really hard for me to imagine a set of circumstances that would lead to a different decision on my part,” he added.
Oh what a difference a month or two makes? Or was it an offer he couldn’t refuse? The New York Times reported that Carvalho — who makes $352,874 a year in Miami-Dade — could take a sizable pay cut because Fariña’s salary is $234,569.
But this is Carvalho we’re talking about. The king of gab. He can convince anybody of practically anything. He convinced property owners in Miami to tax themselves additionally to soup up public schools, didn’t he?
But this is New York City we’re talking about. Is Carvalho, who rose early through the government affairs branch of administration, a parrot or an empty suit propped up by boatloads of charisma and well-crafted tweets? Or does he have the substance to make it in The Big Apple, which arguably has better public schools than we do? This could be a make or break moment. Some folks think that he has that twinkle in his eye that the city needs and that his initiatives can turn the private school drain around. Others think Carvalho’s gonna get eaten alive in New York City, where charisma only gets you so far and you can’t just tell the same story 25 times.
He certainly is going to have to lower his profile a little. De Blasio runs the show over there. He won’t be able to usurp his boss like he does here with the board. There will be fewer press conferences.
Related: Lawmakers vote to leave assault rifles on the street and arm teachers instead
And while Ladra is not the hugest fan — he is an egomaniac with a history of, er, potentially compromising extracurricular activities — Carvalho has good instincts, thinks out of the box, knows a bad idea when he sees one and is truly committed to public dollars for public schools. Many teachers love him because he is accessible and responsive and he has defended them, blasting the latest evaluation process, for example, as inadequate.
“Miami Dade County Public Schools has been fortunate to have the leadership of Superintendent Carvalho for the past decade. His dedication and passion for education, coupled with our phenomenal workforce, has made MDCPS a leader in public education nationwide,” said United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez Mats in a statement late Wednesday.
“As a colleague, he has always been responsive and respectful, even when we disagreed or I thought his actions weren’t in the best interest of our bargaining unit,” the union leader said. “I believe the Superintendent could have been even more effective for MDCPS if the Florida State Legislature was more focused on supporting our children, its education workforce, and schools, rather than its maniacal obsession with defunding our school system and decertifying the unions. Now more than ever, it is important to have a strong and vibrant voice in Miami Dade County to deflect the destructive education proposals that are being considered in Tallahassee. New York City should be pleased to have Sup. Carvalho lead their public schools and we wish him well in this new chapter of his career.”
School Board members might not be as sad to see him go. There have been some tensions for about a year. Carvalho doesn’t have the same love fest as before. There’s been confrontation, antagonism. One of the board members preempted one of his initiatives at a recent meeting. And they are calling for an audit of the expenditures made so far with the $1.2 billion in bond monies. Could Carvalho be making the move now to avoid any questions about that spending later?
Most recently, Carvalho’s strong stance against arming teachers in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting was a downright relief because it was taken seriously by both sides of the aisle.
What are we going to do now? This community is still reeling from the Valentine’s Day massacre of 14 students and three educators at the Broward high school. Parents and teachers and students are in Tallahassee as you read this, trying to sway legislators to amend the current school safety bills by taking out the marshal program that would arm teachers and putting in a ban on some assault rifles. Will we be vulnerable to a Republican majority School Board and a new Sup that could come specifically to advance an NRA and/or (more likely) a charter school agenda? Will there be a national search? Or does the board already have someone in mind from inside? Ladra would imagine that there are already at least 100 resumes submitted. It’s scary.
The Miami-Dade School Board has called an emergency meeting for Thursday to discuss “the stability of the executive management leadership.”
This appointment is one of the most important in our community, and it is made by a majority of the nine-member School Board. So, basically, five people could choose the next person to hold our children’s future educational experience in his or her hands.
Let’s pay close attention.
Florida State Rep. Jose Oliva must go — before he becomes House speaker
If there is one local state elected we need to replace this coming November, please let it be State Rep. Jose Oliva, the Miami Lakes Republican who sponsored the odious school “safety bill” (pffft) that doesn’t ban assault rifles but arms teachers in schools, instead.
This is the man who will direct the House agenda next year as Speaker. We can’t let that happen.
Oliva is the man who would put guns in the hands of the teachers who guide our children every day. He had already raised eyebrows with his speaker nomination, since he’s done so very little to deserve it, mostly sponsoring laws that benefit his cigar business and the industry and toeing the party line. This is the first major thing he does. This.
Related: Lawmakers vote to leave assault rifles on the street and arm teachers instead
Democcrats are actively looking for someone to run against Oliva, who should be beatable on this issue. Just let me write the robocalls.
“Our number one priority this year is to send a message to the Florida House that we will defeat your incoming speaker on this issue,” said Juan Cuba, chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.
He said the party has opened a political action committee called Defeat the NRA and will be using it to push alternatives to the gun-loving incumbents — starting with Oliva.
“We can’t let these politicians who get an A from the NRA run unopposed,” Cuba told Ladra late Tuesday after the House bill that would arm teachers but not ban assault weapons was passed. “We have to force them to explain to voters why protecting semi automatic rifles is more important than protecting our kids and loved ones.”
Ladra hopes that Cuba and the Democratic Party doesn’t pluck some Venezuelan woman who lives in Broward and was a Republican ten minutes ago to run against him. Or a lobbyist that will be easily attacked. And let’s pray they don’t just prop someone up and then abandon the campaign, like they did with the full House challenge “Fat Chance” candidates that they put up against Republican incumbents in 2014. They all lost.
Related: ‘Fat Chance’ Dems in full House challenge doing next to nada
Because this seat is definitely flippable. Last year, Carlos Puentes, Sr., a military veteran who loaned himself $2,400 for filing expenses, got 45% of the vote without a single advertisement and practically no campaign, against Oliva’s $314,320. Imgaine what a well-funded, credible and viable candidate, who can get her or his message out, can do.
Or let’s not just imagine it. Let’s make it happen. This would send a message that us voters are more important than the NRA.
Lawmakers vote to leave assault rifles on the street and arm teachers instead
Ladra is lucky that her puppy is a graduating senior. The rest of you may need to start looking into home schooling after a group of Florida legislators on Tuesday voted to arm public school teachers — calling them “marshals.”
This is what House Bill 7101, proposed urgently by State Rep. Jose Oliva in the wake of the Valentine’s Day school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, would do. Because that’s what we learned we need most from this tragedy, more guns in schools.
If passed by the full House (maybe as early as Thursday), the law would allow up to ten teachers at each public school to be armed. There are 4,200 schools in our 67 counties, according to the Florida Department of Education. That would mean up to 42,000 guns in schools across the state.
“It’s no different than at the movie theatre, where there might be 10, 20 or 50 people with concealed firearms,” State Rep. Carlos Trujillo, chairman of the appropriations committee, told Ladra hours after the vote had been taken.
While there were many concerns about arming teachers — and many questions that are still unanswered — and despite Parkland survivors opposition to the bill, it passed 23-6, with four Democrats voting in favor: They are state reps Lori Berman (Boynton Beach), David Richardson (Miami Beach), Katie Edwards-Walpole (Sunrise) and Jared Moskowitz (Coral Springs). They must have felt like they had to vote yes because of the other parts of the bill — the ban on bump stocks, raising the legal age to own a gun from 18 to 21, a three-day waiting period for all gun purchases and more power to law enforcement to confiscate firearms from anyone deemed potentially harmful. There was also the creation of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Public Safety Commission, training for school resource officers, threat assessment teams and mental health programs.
How could Dems vote against all these good ideas being held hostage to the longtime desire by GOP lawmakers to put guns in schools?
It’s almost like the legacy of Parkland will be armed teachers. How sad.
Democrat members of the committee tried to amend the bill. One proposed a ban on assault rifles. That was voted down along party lines. Another wanted to require some document from a medical professional stating that the applicant for a concealed firearm license is not a danger to himself or others. That didn’t pass either.
If the bill becomes law, it would require teachers who want to bring guns to class to undergo background checks and a 130-hour course. “It’s basically a police academy, an abridged version,” Trujillo said of the training. Each sheriff’s department or municipal police agencies like Miami-Dade Police are required to establish these training programs for teachers who want to opt into the “100 percent voluntary program,” where the district’s school board or superintendent has approved it. Trujillo, who has been tapped as the Ambassador to the UN by President Donald Trump, said he didn’t know that Miami-Dade School Board Superintendent Alberto Carvalho had already blasted the idea. But, while everyone at the committee meeting said that superintendents could opt out, Trujillo told Ladra after the vote that Carvalho is not the last word.
“That’s his choice, but it’s up to the school board,” he said. He knows full well that the nonpartisan group is nonetheless majority Republican, even though one of those, Board Member Lubby Navarro, already came out against arming teachers at Sunday’s school safety town hall at Miami Dade College Kendall Campus.
The law would also give those teachers who opt in a $500 one-time stipend, we assume towards the purchase of a handgun — assault rifles cannot be concealed firearms and, as such, are not allowed — and/or ammunition. Ladra can see the list of supplies parents can donate on the blackboard at next year’s open house night: Copy paper, crayons and a box of .38-caliber conical wadcutters with a beveled base. Students get extra credit for hollow points.
Isn’t it an extra insult that theese lawmakers can’t find the funding to properly stock schools with the supplies and tools teachers need to teach but we’re going to pay them to carry guns?
That’s not the only question we have.
Are teachers the only ones who can volunteer? Can staff? Can the janitor be armed? How about the lunch lady? The bus driver? That’s not clear. We know students can’t carry. Except, maybe, for the problematic ones still in high school at 21, the legal age to carry a concealed weapon. That means 18-year-old high school students must leave their AR15s and Colt 45s in their cars in the parking lot.
“Students with guns! Ha! That’s a funny one, Ladra!” Trujillo sure didn’t think so. “Democrats could have offered an amendment to make the legal age 18,” he said, and Ladra does not think he was kidding.
What if an angry or unstable student is able to take a gun from a teacher? Who is responsible for what happens next?
What if a teacher with a gun is confused for an “active shooter” and is killed by police?
What if a student is killed by “friendly fire” from the teacher’s gun?
A retired teacher and self described gun enthusiast asked the lawmakers not to take this step.
“I don’t want to think about target acquisition. I don’t want to think about field of fire in my classroom,” the woman from Escambia County said, choking up. “Do not ask teachers to choose between shepherding students to safety or confronting a gunman, drawing fire toward my students.
“Depend on us to fiercely defend our students. And fund well-prepared law enforcement professionals to do the work they are supposed to do,” she said.
The mother of Scott Biegel, the geography teacher killed at Stoneman Douglas, also begged them to reconsider. Her son became a teacher to mold young minds, not to be “a law enforcement officer,” Linda Beigel Schulman said.
Trujillo kept stressing to Ladra that gun-toting at school is voluntary, but that doesn’t make parents feel better. What kind of teacher would volunteer to carry a gun in class? Could it be the teachers that already have “personnel” issues? The ones that will be in headlines about sleeping with students or selling drugs or writing porn scripts or something? Those will be first in line to get the guns. And others might feel forced to volunteer because, well, if there are going to be 10 guns at work, they want to have one of them.
Other teachers are going to quit.
That’s okay, though, we won’t need as many. Aalot of students are going to withdraw. Watch as full time virtual school and home schooling numbers boom. Wait… oh, wait… could this be a ploy by Republican legislators to get their friends’ more charter schools?
Teachers are people, too. They have emotions. They lose their tempers. Considering that we still have that oh-so-flexible “stand your ground” law in Florida, what happens if an unruly student becomes aggressive with a teacher? We’ve seen that before. And we’ve seen teachers lose their tempers and react inappropriately by striking students. What if that teacher who feels really threatened — or is just over a particular student’s stunts — pulls a gun on a student? You know that is going to happen. You just know.
“If I take a gun to school, someone is eventually going to get shot,” one teacher told Ladra. She teaches 5th grade.
Trujillo told Ladra that this program might be better suited for rural districts where a police station or officer is typically more than 20 minutes away. And where racism and homophobia are more prevalent, too.
Is that a bonus feature — voter suppression?
This “marshal program” is a poor substitute for real gun reform and school and community safety. It does nothing to stop the next school shooting. It only guarantees that bullets will fly in more directions.
Ledger: Scott appoints Ashley Barnett to Polk State College District Board of Trustees
Ledger: Scott appoints Ashley Barnett to Polk State College District Board of Trustees
