Did you know that May 8 is National Teacher Day? Board Chair Ms. Perla Tabares Hantman introduced a resolution to honor Miami-Dade County Public Schools teachers on May 8, presenting a proclamation to 2012 Teacher of the Year Alexandre Lopes, who spoke a few kind words acknowledging the cultural diversity of our district and how it is appreciated and promoted in M-DCPS.
UTD Secretary/Treasurer Fedrick Ingram then took the microphone to ask teachers to seize the opportunity to recommit themselves to their work: "When teachers are recognized on May 8, we would like all our educators to reaffirm themselves to three tenets of the profession: One, be the best teacher that you can possibly be. Our moral authority is still the most powerful force we possess. We do more with the least of any profession. It is still our job to fall in love with other people's children. We must continue to be highly qualified, attain National Board Certifications and Masters and PhDs, and seek professional development to become the best educators that we can possibly be.
"Two, become politically active, politically aware, and politically astute. Teachers, members, can no longer just teach. There's a risk/reward factor at stake. The risk of doing nothing is far greater than the risk of doing something. Unfortunately, others have politicized our profession by creating bad laws like 736 and merit pay grant schemes, instead of focusing on base pay and real evaluation tools that make a difference to teachers and students.
"Number three: Become or remain a member at United Teachers of Dade. When you are not a part of this union, you are a lone voice of indifference. To make real changes in our profession, we must speak with one voice, and United Teachers of Dade gives us that platform. Each and every one of our teachers, as we all recognize, is on the front line, because we educate the most vulnerable among us. We are on the firing lines of generational poverty, single parent or no parent homes, double digit unemployment in some areas, and through it all, it is our responsibility to deliver a quality education for all students. Educators always rise to the top. We out-teach our cynics, we overachieve those who doubt us, and we outperform our pessimists."
H-9: Request to Approval of Resolution Recognizing May 2012 as Haitian Heritage Month
Dr. Tee Holloway introduced the resolution. "May reminds Haitians of the historic pact signed by the black and mulatto officers at the May 1803 Congress as a result, those officers created the official blue and red Haitian flag on that day of Congress, May 18, 1803, and under that flag, they fought and expelled the French army, so Haiti became the first black independent country in the world, January 1, 1804."
UTD President Karen Aronowitz spoke on this item: "I want to extend my congratulations on Haitian Awareness Month, and I also want to salute everyone in our Haitian community, especially Marlene Bastian, because she has been with United Teachers of Dade and our community in working to ensure that our public schools remain public schools and open to all. So we acknowledge the great contributions that our Haitian-American community has made to our public schools and continues to make to our public schools. Our Haitian parents were very responsible for making sure that the parent trigger bill did not get voted on in the legislature. Our Haitian-American parents came out to make sure that Edison Senior High School remained a public school and open to all students, and we salute our Haitian community and all who are working so hard on behalf of their children, our children, and our public schools."
H-13: Commemoration of the 110th Anniversary of the Independence of Cuba--May 20, 2012
Board chair Ms. Perla Tabares Hantman introduced this item. "May 20, 2012 marks the 110th anniversary of the independence of Cuba from Spain, a very, very important day for Cubans and for all those around the world who value freedom. This is an agenda item that I am proud to present before the board every year. We also take this opportunity to celebrate Cuban culture and the strong historical ties between Cuba and the United States. The struggle for Cuban independence ended on May 20, 1902, when Cuba became a free nation after a long battle against Spain. Cuban patriots dedicated to the cause of freedom fought very hard for their country's independence from Spain's colonial rule. M-DCPS is also committed to the promotion of freedom, equality, and the rule of representative democracy."
President Aronowitz addressed this item as well: "Unfortunately we know the suffering of the Cuban people under the heel of a despot for this many years. As we talked about so many issues today that involve our complete community, we are talking about freedom for all people, and dignity for all people, and what needs to happen for all people. Each individual tragedy has a lesson for all of us. We must also recognize that what happens to one is an indictment of everyone. And for Cuban-Americans in our community, such a vital part, certainly they know the lessons of freedom, and I will be celebrating with everyone when Cuba is again free."
C30: Request for Authorization to Approve the Application of 1 Charter School (the SEED School of Miami)
Tia Diaz-Balart (hmmm...does that name sound familiar?), the South Florida Director of the SEED Foundation, introduced Cheye Calvo, chief expansion officer of the SEED Foundation, who explained: "The SEED Foundation was founded in 1998 in Washington, D.C., as the nation's first public college preparatory boarding school for urban students. We have established a model that's received a lot of attention nationally; it's proven very effective for taking students from underserved backgrounds and giving them a pathway not just for high school graduation but for college success. Over our now 15 year history, we've seen 94% of our graduates from our Washington, D.C., school go on to college, and seen remarkable success, seen students graduate from some of the top institutions in the country, from Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Wesleyan, many of the top schools. We first replicated our program in Baltimore, the SEED School of Maryland, in 2008; that school is now in its fourth year. We'll ultimately grow to serve students in sixth through twelfth grade. We're very excited to serve students from Miami-Dade County. Last year the state legislature passed legislation creating a framework for this statewide program, and we had the opportunity to apply at the state level to the Florida Department of Education and received notice to get an award, which if granted a charter in Miami-Dade County, we would like to bring this national model to your county."
Diaz de la Portilla gushed, "Sounds great! The gentleman and Tia have been here since 11:30 AM this morning, I saw him sitting there, and I'm glad I signed up for this item to give him the opportunity to speak about the charter schools. Thank you, great presentation, great concept. Really. We're looking forward to working with you."
At which point, Ms. Tabares Hantman acknowledged that "Tia" was the wife of Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (once again, the political connections to charter schools abound...).
Board member Dr. Marta Perez asked about the location; Mrs. Diaz-Balart responded that they are hoping to be in Cutler Bay.
Board member Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall asked if she had heard correctly something about the school being in "urban settings," to which Mrs. Diaz-Balart answered, "Our school in Miami will serve all of Miami-Dade County; while we will hopefully physically be in Cutler Bay, we will bring in children from all over the county and it's wonderful, because we have a unique profile of who we're going to be serving, which is set forth by the legislation." Dr. Bendross-Mindingall inquired as to what that "profile" was; Mrs. Diaz-Balart continued, "Our school was established to be a support system and a network for children who really need it most, who, might, although the school they might be attending for the moment might be a wonderful school and fantastic, once they leave that school setting, their personal environment might be a little too challenging for them to succeed in most circumstances. This is how the idea of the boarding component came in: that we would create a safe, protected 24-hour environment, to not only take advantage of their academic day but also take advantage of being able to give them more services once the academic day is finished. Life skills programs, ways to help them be able to learn how to get along with each other, public speaking, how to have some of the most important skills you all embrace and know are important--tenacity, grit, perseverance, how to succeed in the real world.
"For those children, the legislation states a couple of different parameters. First, it states our children cannot be in a household where the poverty level exceeds 200%, so they must be below that 200% level. Also, they must have one in four criteria: first is that they might be a foster child, and we expect we will have between 25-30% foster children; another is that they might have an incarcerated parent, and also they might have a family member or might be living in a household where their immediate family members are not there. So we really are supporting children who need that external--those extra services to really get them not only to graduate from high school but get them to graduate from college. In many instances it's the first time somebody in their family has gone to or graduated from college."
She also mentioned visits from President Obama, Prince Charles, and grants from the Bill Gates Foundation. She did not mention that the school was featured in the charter-school-as-silver-bullet movie Waiting for Superman.
Dr. Bendross-Mindingall then inquired as to the funding of the school: "Is this the same kind of funding as other charter schools get from the state?"
Mr. Calvo responded: "This is a state-local-private partnership, in the sense that the SEED Foundation is working with local philanthropists to bring significant private resources to this project, and where the charter mechanism provides the day school funding, the state will be providing additional funding to supplement the hours in the boarding setting, so it's a partnership between Miami-Dade County, it's a charter, the State Department provides services in addition to the academic school day, supplemented by private money."
Dr. Bendross-Mindingall asked as to how the students would be chosen. Mr. Calvo explained that applicants would have to meet the specified criteria and that beyond that, they would be chosen by random selection. "For the students who are in foster care, there might be a different process, so they're not subject to random selection, which can be somewhat traumatic, but that has to be worked out by the Department of Children and Families as they submit their plans at the state level."
Board member Carlos Curbelo spoke to, in his words, echo Mr. Diaz de la Portilla's comments. "One of the most often heard criticisms of charter schools is that they select the best students and take them away from the public schools and then that creates a level of disparity. In this case, I think, with this model, what we're seeing is the exact opposite. This program seeks to identify the children that face the most challenges at home, that have the odds stacked against them, and it chooses those children and enthusiastically wants to serve those children. When it comes to charter schools, this is the kind of charter school I would hope we could all agree with and unite behind because they are looking for the most difficult children to serve, because of the unique challenges these children face, whether they're Hispanic or African-American, or just children that come from low-income or difficult situations at home."
Indeed, the SEED School, like the South Florida Autism Charter School approved subsequently, distinguish themselves from the bulk of charter schools in Florida in that they specifically target and serve segments of the student population that are the most challenging for teachers. If charter schools still followed the ideas of Albert Shanker, and served as intimate environments to experiment with methods to reach the most difficult-to-educate students, we would not be facing many, or even most, of the political battles we face in public education today.
Dr. Bendross-Mindingall and Dr. Holloway both voted nay on C-30; the other board members all voted in favor of the item.
Another C item regarding charter schools was not discussed--it passed on consent agenda--which terminated the contract of Balere, Inc. Language Academy, the infamous charter school doubling as a nightclub afterhours and on weekends...about time!
F-3: Authorization for the Superintendent to Finalize Negotiations and Execute a Lease Agreement with South Florida Autism Charter Schools., Inc, for the Operation of a Charter School at 13835 NW 97 Avenue, Hialeah.
Glenn Pierce stood to speak to the item: "I'm here on behalf of the South Florida Autism Charter Schools; I have a son in third grade who has been enrolled in one of our schools for three years.We currently have 98 students in K-8. These students are at the more severe end of the autism spectrum. We have run the school very professionally because we have a very good board with a lot of school management experience on our team, and as a result we come to this discussion not in a position of weakness but as a thriving school with annual surpluses and very good cash balances. We have 98 children today; we have 9 kids per class, with 3 adults in each classroom, a 3:1 ratio. We think, having seen other charter schools serving at-risk kids, particularly in the autism spectrum, in places like Orlando, Tampa, New York City and California, I would argue that our charter school is the highest-performing charter school in this space and is a model that we want to replicate and grow. That's the reason we're here today. We have a very successful school, and yet the future of our school is to work more closely with this reform-minded district. Our goal is to continue to approve and refine our model such that these services can be provided for more than 98 kids, for other kids in this district and throughout the state of Florida. We look to the district to provide best practices in terms of back office services for our school at efficient pricing. This will allow us to move forward and serve more kids. We thank you for your support throughout our school. Our school, interestingly, we think is revenue-positive for our district as many of our students come from a home school environment, private schools or even Broward County. We think this will be the way to create the best model of teaching for kids on the autism spectrum."
UTD President Karen Aronowitz spoke on this item. "Of course, the kind of school that the South Florida Autism Charter School is, is the kind we want for all children in our Miami-Dade public schools as well. And we are very pleased with this charter application, and United Teachers of Dade is excited to say that we will be organizing our first charter school at the South Florida Autism Charter School, and we invite all teachers, therapists, paraprofessionals, clerical and security monitors to become charter members of United Teachers of Dade. We look forward to our work with them and having our teachers and therapists and everyone who is working at the school become members of United Teachers of Dade."
UTD Secretary/Treasurer Fedrick Ingram spoke next. "The original premise of charter schools was started by Mr. Albert Shanker, union president of the American Federation of Teachers. It started under the premise of having individualized instruction and teacher voice. Individualized instruction and teacher voice. Catered needs to a community and catered needs to students. Somehow we have gotten away from that. While I appreciate the questioning from board member Holloway, board member Perez and board member Bendross-Mindingall, and we need to ensure that we scrutinize the merits of every charter school, the merits of this charter school are very, very good and we need to make sure that we are not exporting children, but importing programs. That is what we need to do, and we need to make sure that every, every single charter school has the merit in mind that we are going to serve our community fairly, we're going to do it properly, and that everything has merit."
Dr. Perez asked if we were going to be giving the school use of McArthur North; Dr. Helen Blanch said yes, and also confirmed that M-DCPS would be the charter management company for them, though they would have their own board.
Dr. Perez asked how the UTD component was involved.
Dr. Blanch: "The UTD is not a part of this proposal before you. I believe what they have said is they're endorsing this process but they are right now--this is not part of this application. I think they were just endorsing this school and the possibility that these teachers may be part of the union."
The item passed unanimously.
A-1: Superintendent's Announcements
The Superintendent began his announcements with an update on the work toward private contributions to a federal match grant to bring wireless technology into classrooms in M-DCPS. "The reason why we decided to do this is because I truly believe that digital access is not only a moral imperative of our generation, it is a civil right of our generation. For those who are on the wrong side of the digital divide, and wrong side means unfortunately those who do not have access to digital content and do not have connectivity in their homes, or wireless connectivity even in their schools, may not have a device or platform to access it, are missing out on the opportunity that access brings to us, brings to education. That opportunity is 24/7 anytime anywhere learning. The challenge before us was that we had only about 22 schools that were under the wi-fi umbrella districtwide out of 454 schools. So our goal was a lofty one. Let's provide a guarantee that within a very short period of time, every school in Miami-Dade County, regardless of the zip code, has access to broadband wi-fi, so that the concept of 24/7 anytime anywhere learning can take place. In so doing, we would erase the digital deserts in our community. Well, we made this proposition to the community four months ago, and today through the Foundation for New Education Initiatives, a direct support organization to this board, we are here to announce that our goal to raise the sufficient funding to meet all the wiring requirements for broadband wireless access in all of our schools has been achieved. The first donor was Alonzo Mourning, with a $5000 donation. Since his first $5000 donation, over 400 individuals, corporations, philanthropic organizations, foundations, have stepped up and spoken out for our kids."
Pearson was one of the donors recognized; small wonder why they want to increase technology in our schools--the better to implement their programs and tests with! Their contribution, however large, is tiny compared with the contracts they rack up with the state of Florida for the FCAT and all the new online testing now mandated by the district and state.
While certainly every teacher would like to see better, more up-to-date technology available in their classrooms and for their students, especially those of us working in old, outdated buildings with few technological resources, there are concerns. Not least among the concerns is the move toward a grant-based funding system, where grants can be secured for every initiative, but base funding for decent salaries and benefits for employees can never be found. In order to see even modest increases in take-home pay, teachers have to subject themselves to the lottery that is Race to the Top. While in lean budget times, it is certainly not a bad thing to get grant money where one can, it is a worrisome trend that needs to be addressed. It is this grant-based system that has allowed entities like the Gates Foundation to impose their political convictions on the public commons, which has been forced to accept them out of sheer desperation. Anyone who believes this is not deliberate needs to do a bit of homework and report back tomorrow.
Next, the Superintendent reported on the changes to the accountability regulations. "We did achieve some significant wins recently, in terms of some changes to what was being proposed in terms of ESE and ELL children, but this is still going to be a high mark to be met in terms of what new requirements associated with our state's accountability system, and at no point do I wish for a single teacher to be blamed for what we expect will be some degree of regression as a result of these much higher standards, because they are teaching in excellent ways, but the standards have been increased dramatically."
He then passed the floor to Ms. Gisela Feild, Associate Superintendent of : "Some of the proposals that we have approved and that we were instrumental in achieving and that will be beneficial to our schools is first, the fact that all level 3 kids will be eliminated from the lowest 25, but retained children will be included, and this will afford more points for our schools.
"The adequate progress criteria, which in the past required children to meet a certain score and if they didn't a letter grade would be dropped, has been waived for this year, but will be in place for the '12-'13 school year, with a possible new cutoff set once the FCAT scores have been received and analyzed this year by the DOE.
"The third component has to do with the inclusion of algebra in the middle schools, which had an additional 100 points being added to the scale. Because of the nature of the 100 points being distributed into participation and performance, and because of the fact that our schools were not aware what the participation requirement was going to be, we were able to have the DOE agree to the fact they would compute the school grades in two versions, with the participation and without, and award the school whichever of the two points were the highest, so that was a win for us.
"Additionally, because biology is being taken for the first time by our high school students this year and there is no FCAT science in grade 11, science will not be included in the high school grades. The science points will be redistributed across the other components.
"And the last item is what we call the F trigger, which was one of the requirements that was added, which meant that if a school did not meet a threshold of 25% of students being proficient in reading, that would automatically drop the school to a grade of F. That trigger is waived for this year, but in addition to that, we were able to influence the state board and the commissioner to change the language to simply indicate that if a school did not meet that criteria, it would drop a single letter grade, as opposed to dropping to an F. A school could still drop to an F if it is a D, but it would not cause a B to be dropped to a D or a C to an F. There are two triggers right now in the school accountability system that will drop a grade: the adequate progress or the F trigger. It has been stated by the DOE that a school cannot drop more than one grade, so if a school hits both of those triggers, it will only drop by one grade.
"So those are the proposals that have been approved by the state board. The biggest question still has to do with the inclusion of the ELL and ESE kids into the accountability model. As I indicated at our last board meeting, the issue was whether or not these kids would be included in proficiency. They've been included in the past in gains, but have never been part of the proficiency. At that point, the commissioner decided to convene a task force that would meet and come up with some recommendations. The task force met for two days; Mr. Carvalho was the head of the ELL task force, and the Superintendent of Hillsborough was the head of the ESE task force.
"There was a communication sent to Mr. Carvalho about a week ago indicating that based on the task force recommendations, there will be three ways in how we're going to approach these, but some of the ELL task force highlights are: The task force wanted to be able to use multiple outcome measures for ELL students, not simply the FCAT. They wanted to, based on our recommendations, use learning gains, as opposed to just a proficiency level, as we know, based on research, that it takes 5-7 years for an ELL student to master the language. They wanted to use what we call a weighted measure for the FCAT for five years, to give them enough time to become proficient. They also wanted to provide a school with bonus points if an ELL student actually reaches proficiency ahead of schedule, before five years in an ELL program.
"There were a number of recommendations also from the ESE task force. One of them is to add an additional weight for students in ESE who move beyond expected gain in learning gains because we know it is very difficult for our ESE students to move to proficiency level on the FCAT or the Florida Alternate Assessment. There are some technical details on how a student who is not proficient on the Florida Alternate Assessment makes learning gains; we believe the cutoff scores that have been set are not appropriate, and so the task force wants to review those cut scores and determine whether they are appropriate. They also very adamantly wanted to ensure that students who are in cluster schools or an ESE center, that if those schools are graded or receive an alternative rating, the scores of those children are not counted back into those home schools for those children.
"There are a number of recommendations that do not impact the school grade formula, for example, there were some issues regarding using an IEP and how that could be used either in school grades or to monitor ESE; there were a number of issues regarding the English language learners' entry dates into the country, because that defines whether the student is less than one year or two years. There were issues regarding the interruption of services. We know that a lot of our immigrant children come into Miami-Dade County, stay for a few months, go back to their home country, and return, yet the entry date of those students remains as of the first day that they enter. Some of those are USDOE requirements that are in place that the FDOE would have to negotiate. So these that I highlighted are not the only task force recommendations, but they are the ones that will impact the most the school grade formula.
"The commissioner has indicated in a transmittal that he sent to the Superintendent as the head of one of the task forces that all of these recommendations are basically broken into three categories. Some of them are going to require what they consider policy or rule amendment; in other words, the school grading rule. Some of them that affect the school grade, their intent is to try to make these changes and bring them forth to the main state board of education meeting. Some of these other items require USDOE approval, and our understanding from the transmittal is there has been some information already transmitted to the USDOE outlining some of these. We have not seen what that transmission has been. The third item is some of the statutory changes that definitely will not be able to be put in place for this school year, but the commissioner has indicated he would bring some of those to the 2013 legislative session. That is all we know as of right now.
"We're in the middle of FCAT as you all know, and we still do not have an accountability formula. Schools still don't know how they will be graded. They don't understand what will constitute an A and how the algebra tests which begins on April 30, geometry and biology, will be used for schools and how they'll be held accountable in terms of the grading formula. There are a lot of issues still outstanding regarding the formula, especially as concerns ESE and ELL kids, and we hope that by June we will receive some notification as to what the final formula will be, but we do anticipate that we will not have school grades until the end of July or the first week of August because of the nature of all the changes that have to occur."
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho proceeded to address another outcome of the state's proceedings. "Perhaps one thing that Gisela didn't say, as the state board of education met at Terra City High School, at that same meeting, something very important did take place. At that meeting, Miami-Dade was the very first district in the state of Florida to exit not just one, but all four of the schools that were considered Intervene. They are Intervene no more as a result of the outstanding academic achievement gains that were made in these four schools. These schools were Booker T. Washington, Edison, Central Senior, and Holmes Elementary will exit Intervene. They are no longer under the threat of shutdown or conversion into anything other than the excellent schools they've always been."
Dr. Nikolai Vitti, Director of the Education Transformation Office (ETO) elaborated: "These schools have been exited from the Intervene category. The state visited these schools about a week before the state board meeting, and by a combination of looking at the most recent school grade released and what they saw in those classrooms, they were convinced that academically the schools were moving in the right direction, but what they saw in the classroom was indicative of what they're seeing in that data over the past couple of years. At this point we have only one Intervene school, Laura C. Saunders Elementary, which needs to increase only one letter grade to exit, which would mean that for the first time Miami-Dade no longer has Intervene schools. The challenging part of this conversation is that the statute for Intervene is changing. Now a first-time F, regardless of prior year academic performance, will lead the school to become an Intervene school, and to exit the status it would have to improve its letter grade by at least one letter grade. So although it's very exciting about exiting Intervene, we know that with the new standards, the new cut scores, the new changes to the Intervene status, some of our schools will be vulnerable, but with the combination of ETO support and DA Target support for vulnerable schools, we are doing everything we can to prevent schools from falling into that trap."
As an observer, I found it interesting that as all these individuals discussed the changes to the accountability formulas and what they would mean for school grades, they never mentioned how these details, like cut scores and who counts for what, might affect teachers. Thanks to SB 736, we are now subject to evaluations based on these same scores. The changes made by the state that will impact school grades will also likely impact teacher evaluations. I would have liked to see the district take that more into consideration.
UTD President Karen Aronowitz spoke to A-1: "I would like to offer UTD's report to the Board to follow the Superintendent's. Our chair, Ms. Perla Tabares Hantman, the Superintendent, and I will be traveling to Cincinnati, Ohio, to an invitee conference booked by the U.S. Department of Education, a conference on collaborating to transform the teaching profession. We are so glad that we are traveling because it requires our union, our School Board, and our Superintendent in order to participate, and we have all come together to participate in this invited conference. It is not something that someone can walk into; they must be invited. I also want to address a very serious issue with the Board about UTD's re-ratification vote. These are issues that were previously ratified by our bargaining unit. I wish to address the Board on this because first, through the arm-wrestling of collective bargaining, we appreciate the contracts between the Miami-Dade County Public Schools and United Teachers of Dade, contracts that include our health insurance, that continues to provide employees an employer-paid option to all employees of Miami-Dade, which would disappear if our bargaining unit does not re-ratify this. Secondly, our participation in Race to the Top, if it were not to be re-ratified, the $14 million that was distributed to teachers would be mandated to be returned because we would no longer be in compliance with the Race to the Top agreement and we would no longer participate. I want everyone to recognize that this is being re-run on a technicality through the Public Employees Relations Commission, and I am optimistic that our bargaining unit will re-ratify these votes."
UTD Secretary/Treasurer Fedrick Ingram then spoke: "We've talked about the collaborative effort we had moving toward the accountability system, and I think we left out one piece, and that was the community. This community showed it. It showed up in big numbers, in Tampa, in Tallahassee, at Terra. These folks from these communities, Haitian-Americans, African-Americans, Hispanics, showed up from these communities and they were a part of what happened. These people did not change these rules by themselves. Just because a lot of smart people got in a room. They changed because of pressure. They changed because of phone calls and e-mails and people showing up to these meetings, so I think we owe a debt of gratitude to our own constituents, to our own communities, to our students--our own students showed up to these state board meetings. When we went to Terra, let me tell you something--that school and those folks brought out everything that's good about public education. The community has shown that we care. We care about extracurricular things, we care about the academics at this school. That notwithstanding, we have a long way to go when we talk about school accountability, because there are many things that are wrong. One of the things we have to address, and we have not, is this accountability system has always disproportionately affected minority students, and we have got to check that, we have got to understand where we are with that, and where we're going."
Public Hearing
President Aronowitz was the first speaker at the public hearing. "The first thing I would like to do is urge everyone in our community to see the movie 'Bully.' I invite our Superintendent and all our school board members to a special screening of this important movie on April 28, sponsored by United Teachers of Dade. It will be at the AMC Sunset Theaters. Our secretary/treasurer Fedrick Ingram will be bringing you more information on this important topic. Next, I spoke earlier about our re-ratification vote. A public speaker later this evening will give inaccurate information about this critical vote, and I want everyone to get the facts from United Teachers of Dade. We will be providing our bargaining unit members with accurate information about what will happen if our bargaining unit turns down previously agreed-upon contracts, including a mandatory return of any money earned by teachers under the Race to the Top grant. Our website is utd.org. We will begin posting information on re-ratification voting next week. Once again, get the facts. Get the right information. Go to utd.org."
Secretary/Treasurer Fedrick Ingram spoke next. "As Karen mentioned, we along with the American Federation of Teachers, Congresswoman Federica Wilson's office, the Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention, will be sponsoring a showing of the film 'Bully' on April 28 at Sunset AMC Theater. The documentary, which Time magazine calls 'as vivid as any horror film,' follows five young victims of abuse by other students, including two suicides. It features students from Georgia, Iowa, Mississippi, and Oklahoma during the 2009-2010 school year, tracing their lives in real time, and in their own words--school buses to suburban streets. Confirmed panelists for after the film, state senator Oscar Braynon, state representative Dwight Bullard, M-DCPS's Susie Barrios and Chief Hurley, Trish Ramsey from the Melissa Institute, and Ruben Roberts from the University of Miami. We will be sending invitations to the School Board. 200 seats, first come first served. To RSVP e-mail dina@utd.org."
Later, at the public hearing, teacher Chris Radney addressed the SEED School issue to the board: "I basically as a teacher like the concept of the SEED School you were discussing. One of the reasons I like it is that in the 1990s, some of your teachers in alternative ed were trying to promote this idea with you. We weren't heard. You don't often listen, you don't listen enough, to your teachers, and their ideas on what will help our students. If you did, rather than having to give the farm away to a private foundation, you would be running this same center now after ten or twelve years, having helped children for ten or twelve years. I would like to see that communication improve in the future in principle...We want to know what's going to happen to our kids. You say you're going to take care of them. That's fine, but how? Where are they going to be next year? Your teachers would like to know where they are going to be next year."
