http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=302

Thoughts on the Recent NOISE Regarding My Questions About the UTD/MDCPS Healthcare “Compromise”: IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO SAY “NO,” YOU MUST VOTE MONDAY, Feb 13

“Alternate Title: Isn’t there money for what MDCPS wants (WIFI, TESTS, ADMIN)?”

1) First, UTD is finally acknowledging that a “YES” vote = LOSS OF STEPs/RAISEs

2) Second, UTD is calling me a “Union-Buster.” “Busting” UTD is not “busting” a labor union…it is revealing UTD as they are: complicit with management to provide the budgeting stability management wants. It is not a labor union…it is labor control. See my detailed and referenced defense and evidence of complicity here: http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=297 – including the history of UTD supporting charter schools.

3) Many of you have not received your access code. Let me know if you cannot vote or do not receive the code.

4) It is not enough to feel bad or disappointed – YOU MUST VOTE! The last 2 evotes that surrendered your 2010-2011 raise and implemented excessive IPEGS changes involved less than 20% of our unit members! YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE, whether you belong to UTD or not.

5) Our contract expires June 30, 2012. Tell UTD to continue fighting for your 2 OVERDUE raises NOW. Don’t be fooled. A NO vote will send UTD and MDCPS back to bargaining. They have not even declared IMPASSE yet. One former UTD staffer tells me if we vote NO, we will be held at current “Status Quo.”

6)   5 Board members are up for re-election this Fall. Tell UTD to pressure them to take care of instructional staff and support staff. If they treated ANY other vendor the way they treat our bargaining unit, MDCPS would be without electricity, computers, buses, etc. We are abused because we allow it.

ISN’T THERE MONEY FOR PRIORITY ISSUES (like raises instead of WIFI or TESTS)?:

7) MDCPS is budgeted to receive $108 MILLION more this upcoming year than last year…at a time when the rest of the State is being reduced in Funding: see Florida’s school budget (the FEFP) for 2011 (page 10 http://www.fldoe.org/fefp/pdf/11-12-third-part1.pdf ) and for next year (2012, page 9 http://www.fldoe.org/fefp/pdf/12-13-LBR-part1.pdf ). Look at the table entitled “funding summary” and the column at the far right “Total…Funding” – MDCPS increase for 2012 is $108 MILLION over 2011.

“8″ ) Do you know the difference between a budget cut and a funding cut? If you have a child who gets an allowance of $5/week and she asks for $10/week and you say “NO, how about $7/week?” Your child can claim a $3/week “budget cut” when in reality he/she is gaining a $2/week funding INCREASE. Watch the language MDCPS and UTD use. MDCPS is scheduled for a funding INCREASE, but claims a budget CUT.

9) Don’t forget that your 3% Pension payment is a relief to MDCPS too – that’s 3% less they must pay. This equals about $65 MILLION saved by MDCPS (see page 6 here: http://financialaffairs.dadeschools.net/pdfs/Budget_WS_040511.pdf )

10) Doesn’t MDCPS 2010-2011 budget suggest that there is money in reserve for “rainy days”?:

“Ending Balance/Reserves (MILLIONS OF $)

General Fund $ 131.9

Special Revenue Funds 6.0

Debt Service Fund 97.3

Capital Projects Fund 12.0

Total Ending Balance/Reserves $ 247.2 ”

- http://drs.dadeschools.net/StatisticalHighlights/SH10-11.pdf page 9

- http://financialaffairs.dadeschools.net/pdfs/Budget_WS_040511.pdf page 12

This suggests to me that there was $131.9 MILLION in Reserve coming into 2011-2012 when our raises were FROZEN again.

Folks, IT IS RAINING on employees. It’s time to budget some of that rainy day reserves to the employees who make the school system run successfully – teachers and support staff at the local schools.

11) Yesterday (Feb 7, 2012), 2 MDCPS labor management administrators were allowed to sit through a UTD unit meeting at John A Ferguson Sr. High, apparently to monitor myself and other activists. This violation of labor law further corroborates my contention that UTD and MDCPS are working together to “Manage” you.

I hope you will consider my earlier analyses of this Healthcare Ratification before you vote:

http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=292 and here: http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=283

Regards,

Shawn Beightol

When a Charter School Movement Supporting “Union” Calls a Labor Movement Activitst “Right Wing”

http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=297

UTD has released a series of character attacks against me for raising questions of the Healthcare Compromise before us (see my analyses here: http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=292 and here: http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=283 )

They call me a union buster, anti-labor.

I’m neither. I simply believe UTD is no longer acting as a labor union for labor and is rather acting as an extension of MDCPS to manage we “laborers” from increasing our labor costs by demanding annual raises and historically provided benefits. I will provide my evidence below under “evidence of labor/management complicity.”

let’s set the record straight: I was a union/UTD member since around 1993. Around 1995, after noticing our health insurance costs were rising I discovered the method UTD utilized for vetting Health Insurance companies involved the companies trying to persuade the president of UTD by doing things like HIP taking the UTD president on a safari to Zimbabwe Africa…then throwing UTD’s president $900,000 for swinging the $195 million contract to nearly bankrupt HIP.

See page 168 of this book: http://goo.gl/jW9k3

I became a UTD steward.

When it came to light that UTD was supporting the Charter School movement by planning to operate 20+ charter schools instead of utilizing their resources to fight for teachers and support staff, I began writing critically of UTD: http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2000-09-22/news/0009220343_1_charter-schools-teachers-unions-edison-schools .

I can also tell you that when I and a minority of activists then wrote against this conflict of interest of the UTD, we were criticized then by the UTD insiders.

When UTD supported the proposal for teachers to work 5 days without pay, that was the last straw – I boycotted UTD on account of the perceived fraud, a move that was borne out by evidence as the FBI arrested UTD’s president for many counts of fraud. (Ibid.)

Upon his arrest, I re-entered the union and ran for president against Shirley Johnson, convinced that if we teachers could smell fraud from our classrooms, those inside the union were guilty by sins of omission – they had failed to act – and I was determined to do what I could to prevent one of them from replacing Tornillo. http://www.shawnbeightol.com/2004campaign

Upon elimination in the primary, I supported Aronowitz against Johnson.

I became critical of Aronowitz negotiating in 2006 when it came to light that Rudy Crew would get a bonus for tendering a plan that would raise beginning teachers ‘ salaries to $40,000, but Aronowitz asked for $37,000 and postponed the $40k for 3 years and made it contingent on $350 MILLION additional dollars from Tallahassee…something that had never occurred before.

http://shawnbeightol.com/supestargets.doc

In the fall of 2006, I published the salaries of the administrators downtown and a mass email entitled “a hurricane of neglect” regarding anemic salaries impoverishing teachers. MDCPS took me out of the classroom. I filed grievances against MDCPS. UTD did not follow them through. http://www.shawnbeightol.com/hurricane.doc

I ran for UTD president against Aronowitz in 2007 because of her failure to win for teachers much needed raises that could have been supported by the boom years. Instead, she allowed Crew to frivolously spend the money on programs and tech toys, including hundreds of thousands of dollars spent with his son’s company.

http://www.shawnbeightol.com/2index.htm

I lost the election but was nominated a few years in a row as “Steward of the Year.”

(see my unsolicited endorsements when I ran for school board: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/beightol/signatures )

I was also elected and attended as a state and national delegate to represent constituents of UTD to the state and national conventions.

Early in 2007, United Healthcare tells MDCPS that healthcare costs are increasing by 14%, then in september of 2007, United revises this down to 13%. Over the winter of 2007 and into the spring of 2008, UTD publishes figures ranging anywhere from 25%-256% increases and announces they have negotiated this down to 13% – exactly what United had offered in Sept 2007. I, along with many educational activists in and out of the union led a grassroots campaign to have this “compromise” voted down and pushed the school board to NOT increase healthcare costs.

http://shawnbeightol.com/dec032007UTDscareletterhealthcare.pdf

http://pdfs.dadeschools.net/Bdarch/2007/Bd121907/agenda/E66rev.PDF pages 1 & 2

Several of the members of the grassroots movement were targeted for being critical of what UTD’s leadership was doing to UTD and teachers. Our criticism of the apparent complicity of UTD’s leadership with MDCPS was cast as “anti-unionism”

http://shawnbeightol.com/NewTimesMDCPSsubsidyUTD.pdf

Eventually, UTD exiled me and 1 other, allowing another back in and NEVER even charging a prominent steward whose name was on the website our group used to communicate.

All of our work was for the good of the employees in our bargaining unit that we attempted to serve as stewards in UTD.

I am pro-labor.

This group running UTD, going back to Tornillo’s allies and facilitators and now including the current officers, have continually betrayed and sold out the labor whose dues pay their salaries.

Evidence of Complicity (from my letter to the American Federation of Teachers October 16, 2011 asking for their assistance in returning TRUE LABOR to Miami):

From the recent past when Tornillo’s fraudulent activities were uncovered and newspapers reported on his illicit connection to the school-board through the lobbyists (Rick Sisser comes to memory) around land deals, radio towers, and insurance scams – see Miami Sunpost, January 6, 2006: “”Thus, the district’s patronage system, which was already well established, ran completely and outrageously amok. Jobs and contracts were doled out to the connected, regardless of whether the beneficiaries could perform. Shady land and construction deals went through without a hitch. High-profile sexual harassers cost the district millions and still kept their jobs. The teacher’s union, which should have been trying to protect its members from the fallout, was instead in on the game. Then United Teachers of Dade head Pat Tornillo cut deals designed to consolidate his own political and financial power. ”) – the impression is to the observer with an analytical mind and good memory, that UTD and MDCPS established an “accidental” collaboration that has been refined and formalized under our last superintendent, Rudy Crew, and has been perpetuated by our current District Administration.

If you care, I can sit down with someone and provide details on the following collaborative efforts that “sold out” the UTD bargaining unit membership to management:

1)   a contract that was negotiated and maintained – even after alerting the union to its violation of law by myself in 2006 – that illegally discriminated against non-union members by favoring union members in disciplinary meetings with the obvious benefit to the UTD membership-wise. The question is, what did the district get in return for taking such an illegal risk? See http://www.3dca.flcourts.org/opinions/3D11-0163.pdf, p.2 where the courts uphold my allegation that the contract was complicitly negotiated to provide both parties with illegal benefits. The answer to my question raised above (“what did the district get in return for such complicit cooperation?”) is obvious over the next few examples.

2)   the 2006 contract that was hurriedly published to circumvent what would have been a huge demonstration during the November Miami Book Fair (100000+ observers) following the October 2006 grass-roots demonstration at the school board sending 7000 teachers to the streets DURING the school day (protesting anemic negotiations by UTD). The contract announced the exact terms needed to guarantee Rudy Crew got his $43,000 performance bonus…but was predicated on the impossible contingency that the state of Florida would increase district funding by $350 MILLION over 2 years…an amount NEVER before (or after) experienced ($125 Million per year increase was greatest ever), even further made questionable by the realization that the housing bubble was bursting – threatening the state and local revenue stream for educational funding. The “fine print” of the contract delivered to Rudy Crew the $43000 bonus, Aronowitz got positive press for negotiation skills, and members got stiffed 2 years in a row for raises that were precluded by the “fine print” allowing suspension of raises if the $350 MILLION didn’t appear (it didn’t, it couldn’t, it never had, it never would have). The contract was a complicit fraud.

3)  The 2007 revelation that MDCPS was subsidizing Aronowitz’ staff and officers to the tune of $1.2 million (at that time, unreimbursed, a violation of Florida Statute 447.501 Unfair labor practices.— (1) Public employers…are prohibited from:(e)…contributing financial support to such an organization. see http://web.archive.org/web/20080725013903/http://www.miamisunpost.com/050808newsmdschoolpayouts.htm – if that doesn’t copy for you, try this http://goo.gl/e72P9 ). See also http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2008-06-05/news/shack-attack/

4)  The 2008 healthcare increase – published by United Healthcare via memo to MDCPS in February of 2007 as 14.3% and revised down to 13.1% by Sept. 2007. Aronowitz portrayed this increase through various communications to members as being anywhere from 50% – 254% increases. A dramatic back and forth series of “negotiations” is published and suddenly UTD announces they have negotiated a 13.1% increase. Again, grass-roots demonstrations and political activism overturned this compromised and complicit sell-out between MDCPS administration and UTD. The audacity of such a fraudulent claim of negotiations is hard to overstate. See http://pdfs.dadeschools.net/Bdarch/2007/Bd121907/agenda/E66rev.PDF vs. http://web.archive.org/web/20071121063510/http://utofd.com/UTD_News/Property_Tax/healthcare_increase_unacceptable.htm

5)  The 2010 Healthcare increase that MDCPS and UTD utilized to allow the contractual step increase to be nullified with no clear information provided to the membership. Aronowitz’ information to the bargaining unit was that they were negotiating no increase in healthcare and no reduction in force (no lay-offs), but she did not tell membership that they were surrendering their step/raise. See http://www.utd.org/news/impasse-agreement-protects-jobs-and-insurance-ratification-vote-june-3-7-2011 This follows months of dramatic alleged negotiations and legal fights between UTD and MDCPS (see http://www.utd.org/news/letter-to-superintendent) yet a) when MDCPS committed an unfair labor practice by emailing members directly (bypassing the bargaining team which is the legal route of communication) UTD did NOT respond legally or file a complaint (see http://shawnbeightol.com/UTDReWeismanStatements.pdf and http://shawnbeightol.com/Enids1726_001.pdf ) and b) after the special magistrate appointed by the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission recommended a 1% one time bonus to UTD bargaining unit members, UTD did NOT pursue this. Rather, UTD filed an objection to this along with MDCPS, effectively terminating the process until someone requests the MDCPS school board resolve this. Why hasn’t this been done? Instead, UTD quietly pushes on behalf of MDCPS the suspension of the automatic step increase without raising alarm among members. Who does this represent? Management or membership? The fact that UTD violated state law in under-noticing this ratification vote, not announcing it via required channels, not announcing to the unit effectively that ALL unit members are permitted to vote, and not holding a public vote counting meeting resulted in the LOWEST ratification participation (14.79% conservatively) in UTD’s history (though Aronowitz reported this as 92% approved) and the filing of an Unfair Labor Practic complaint (CB11076, PERC see http://shawnbeightol.com/UTDexecbd5-31-2011call5.pdf ). Her implementation of Evote has effectively hidden the process of ratification from all but those she wishes to participate and the few “rebel” unionist who make it our business to try to balance what is effectively a double-teaming of management and union against union members (classic “good-cop/bad-cop” routine). Consider her words in the May 31^st Executive Board meeting minutes (1^st full sentence, page 2): http://shawnbeightol.com/UTDexecbd5-31-2011call5.pdf where she directs board members to go home and call 5 other members about the importance of voting “yes.”

6)  The deceptive and nearly hidden ratification vote of contract changes in the 2011-2012 contract affecting the MDCPS evaluation model IPEGS needed to bring MDCPS into compliance with their Race to the Top (RTTT) application. MDCPS tells employees the contract has been changed manditorily by Senate Bill 736 (though the changes exceed SB 736 requirements and are actually changes to make MDCPS practice compliant with RTTT application). NO ONE, MDCPS nor UTD explain that the contract changes are pending ratification. Rather, UTD tells membership that they are getting RTTT performance pay for 2010, a surprise announcement and news since NO discussion of performance and pay had been made prior to the start of, nor during, the 2010 school year. Furthermore, the performance rewarded, beside being a surprise, does not correlate to work in the classroom that would be anticipated. For example, science teachers working hard to raise science gains on the State FCAT science test were NOT rewarded or penalized for this work, but rather on the basis of mathematics gains! For Science! With no forewarning! IN NO WAY can this be construed as performance pay according to industry/business standards which popularly describe performance pay as pay rewarding accomplishment of pre-determined goals. In fact, the terms of the 2010 performance pay are announced POST-FACTO at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year and are attached disjointedly and illogically to the end of the contract language change for the 2011-2012 contract describing teacher evaluations (IPEGS). Most of the language is crossed out with no explanation of what the replacement language is. Teachers are told that voting Yes to this gets them a bonus while voting No would jeopardize the bonus. See http://www.utd.org/file_download/447/RTTT-Yes-No8-19-11.pdf . Such a disjointed, illogical application of “performance pay” for a year gone by attached to a contract change for the upcoming year can only be a reward for ratifing the contract change – a bribe. A bought vote. Again, UTD’s use of Evote again hides the ratification process from the bargaining unit, providing UTD with more control over the outcome of the vote by under-noticing, misleading information, and illegally conducting the vote and the vote count (see CB11073 http://perc.myflorida.com/download.aspx/Prefix=CB/CaseYr=11/CaseNo=073/File=CB11073-Fil3a-101211152351.pdf ).

I’m sure that the examples I provide above are just the tip of the iceberg. I am one man who has a full-time job, a family, and avocational interests outside of tracking shenanigans and malfeasance. Anyone who has a brain and courage that has dealt with her for any amount of time will tell you other stories, other incidents, where the president has misused her powers to consolidate for her future the resources and support while eradicating any opposed, damn the future of others.

I hope, if it is not too late, that AFT will consider very carefully the self-serving focus of thispresident. I hope AFT will look very carefully at the unverifiable nature of Evoting, how it can be misused by a person who is bent on preserving power and delivering vote results to order (to management).

I hope AFT would consider these instances and weaknesses of unreliable Evote:

http://thenewamerican.com/tech-mainmenu-30/computers/5006-hacked-e-voting-e-nightmare

http://www.usenix.org/event/evtwote10/tech/full_papers/Estehghari.pdf

http://www.thedaonline.com/news/judicial-board-orders-re-election-1.2161070

http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11696:e-mail-voting-a-simple-trap-for-nonprofit-boards

I hope AFT would consider that before the introduction of Evote by UTD, the average unit participation in ratification votes was around 50%. After Evote was introduced in October 2009, participation has fallen to an average of 20%. Hardly facilitating union democracy.

I hope AFT would consider this report done for the Department of Labor by the multi-university/academic NSF funded think-tank ACCURATEconcerning Evoting:

“In summary, electronic voting is an extremely difficult computer-facilitated activity to assure with confidence. ACCURATE recommends that voter-verified paper records (VVPRs) be required for voting systems involved with critical elections. Further, VVPRs are not meaningful themselves without robust audit processes that serve as a check on the voting system, ensuring that the reported election outcome is correct. We strongly urge the Department of Labor to refrain from issuing guidelines that permit internet voting, as in many respects there are no effective methods for ensuring security, integrity and reliability of such systems.” – http://accurate-voting.org/docs/comments/accurate-olms-comment-mar2011.pdf

Finally, I hope that AFT would consider all of the above pieces that separately might be explained away or rationalized, but that together paint a picture of a president of the UTD, potentially the most powerful force for shaping the conversation of educational reform in the Southeast United States, slowly weakening it and its credibility as she maneuvers to curry favor and personal gain from those who she interacts with, while destroying/removing those under her who might see a different way to do things. I hope AFT would remember that every election that Aronowitz has participated in has resulted in questions of her veracity and conduct – Shirley Johnson’s complaints about vote fraud, my own regarding the voting fraud from 2007 (that the internal functions committee “swept under the rug”), and now Geno Perez’.

Can so many people be wrong? In light of the evidence given above, I believe the answer is “NO.”

Please help us save our profession here in Miami. Please help us return the good name of unionism to Miami.

Consider this list of educational activists that have either been removed or sanctioned by UTD:

…systematically removed any dissenting voice from UTD…. has nullified and marginalized any discourse or debate from intelligent opposition. …has quashed and negated any caucus that operates outside of her approval, taking charge of the leadership (by replacing with her appointees). Some of the names of individual thinkers (not “yes men”) that the union has pushed out of UTD or UTD leadership are P. Sturrup, P. Moore, M. Ryan, J. Roque, W. Santos, M. Jordan, P. Hill, C. Smith, G. Perez, S. Beck, L. Fuller, R. Beasley, I. Paul, W. Werther, and Shawn Beightol, to name a few.

Finally, consider this letter written by another die-hard unionist critical of UTD under this leadership:

http://shawnbeightol.com/ChrisBrownlow-UTD-ford.pdf

http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=292

see also previous BLOG on this topic:  http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=283

I present these as questions so you can forward them as questions (to which we all know the answers) and thus not be accused of pushing opinion:

1)      Will someone answer this simple question:  “If we vote for this healthcare package, will we be SURRENDERING our raises all the way back to the 2010 salary schedule?”

Doesn’t UTD’s silence about my 5th question in my last email suggest they are avoiding the subject, just like it is not being discussed on their webpage or in public anywhere?    Isn’t that what page 29 D.1 of the agreement means?

Are we in fact voting to GIVE UP OUR 2 PAST DUE RAISES?  Why is this single sentence slipped into page 29 of a HEALTHCARE package:

“The 2010-2011 salary schedule will be maintained and employees will remain on their current step.”

2)      Isn’t MDCPS required to pay the $14 million RTTT funds as bonuses REGARDLESS of this healthcare vote?

Does attaching the RTTT money to the healthcare vote mean it is “bait?”  Does stating that if we vote “yes” we get it but if we vote “no” it will go to testing emphasize that it is being used as bait?

Does saying it would be used for Testing constitute FRAUD since the District application for the RTTT funds says:” 9.6 c RTTT Funds will be used to reward teachers based on evaluation results” for school years “2010-11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14″ (see http://www.fldoe.org/arra/pdf/Dade.pdf  p.79 )

Doesn’t this mean MDCPS already told Florida and Federal DOE that RTTT money would be used “to reward teachers”?  So isn’t that disingenuous to use it as bait?

3)      Doesn’t this agreement once again NEGLECT SUPPORT personnel (RTTT peanuts for teachers, NOTHING for support staff)?

4)      Regarding this Healthcare package INCREASE in premiums, UTD now claims that 85% of employees are on the Employee-Only insurance.  Does UTD mean to imply that 85% of our employees are single without children?  Or doesn’t their response actually PROVE that the Healthcare options for children, spouses, and families ARE MORE EXPENSIVE than what CIGNA or any other plan charges?

Isn’t it true that families are being FORCED to split their healthcare arrangements between the provided employee only option and PURCHASING ON THEIR OWN less expensive children, spouse, or family options OUTSIDE of MDCPS/UTD more EXPENSIVE options?

5)      Do our higher family premiums (higher than what CIGNA charges) cover other charges for other people?  Are we subsidizing the cost of healthcare for other groups by paying higher premiums?

6)      Doesn’t UTD’s “Rumor Control” comment “some co-pays are increasing” agree with my earlier analysis that our costs are going up but services are decreasing.  Isn’t UTD’s ” Strategic plan design changes” a euphemism for cutting services?

7)      If “The District and UTD are well aware that increased healthcare costs more adversely affect lower-paid individuals” and the proposed healthcare package costs the lowest paid unit members 16% of their salary versus 10% of their salary, doesn’t this PROVE that the salary bands as proposed are INEFFECTIVE?

8)      Is it unethical or backboneless (or both) for UTD to say “the terms of Race to the Top are demeaning, divisive, and degrading to teachers and that what should be a positive work environment has been altered for the worse” – and yet “[we] want the $14 million dollars to be distributed [but] will be making calls to the White House this week to convey .distress over the terms of Race to the Top as educational policy.”   Isn’t that kind of like telling someone who is offering you stolen money “that’s wrong but I need money, so let me have some” and then calling the police?  Doesn’t that make UTD complicit and not against the wrong?

9)      Wasn’t UTD vocally against RTTT until the “anti-union” bills (SB830, HB1023, & SB172) went to committee at the same time the other education related bills were being passed? Didn’t the anti-union bills die around the same time that UTD began promoting RTTT performance pay?  Is there a connection?    Haven’t RTTT funds been linked to diversionary legislative strategies in several Florida investigative reports? http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/content/florida-reformers-use-decoys-spread-unions-thin-shield-their-virtual-schooling-efforts-new-r

10)  Won’t a “NO” vote result in maintaining the same (LESS EXPENSIVE) healthcare terms and services that are currently in place according to Florida’s Impasse legislation which requires “Status Quo” until an Employee agreeable solution is obtained (including past due RAISES)?  If this can’t be accomplished with MDCPS bargaining team, won’t this go to impasse and then require the School Board to publicly decide on our healthcare and PAST DUE raises?

Aren’t 5 School Board Members up for Re-election this August?  Aren’t Larry Feldman, Carlos Curbelo, Rene Diaz de la Portilla, Wilbert Holloway, and Martin Karp all up for re-election?

Shouldn’t the prospect of a UNION broadcasting/publicizing the national awards and prestige of Miami Teachers and Support staff in light of 3 years of SURRENDERED RAISES, increased COST OF LIVING, increased pension payments, increased healthcare premiums and asking these 5 (MAJORITY) vulnerable board members to simply TAKE CARE OF THEIR EMPLOYEES as well as they have taken care of their software and hardware?

Isn’t this the PERFECT political STORM in which a REAL UNION could leverage not something new…simply what has already been bargained for (2 raises and the continued healthcare of the employees and their families)?

These are just a few questions that come to my mind when I read the Healthcare “compromise.”

Regards,

Shawn Beightol

Shortlink: http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=283

Colleagues:

Pass this message on to your colleagues!

UTD just released their “compromise” with the School District
(see http://www.utd.org/file_download/651/TentativeAgreement-January27-2012.pdf ).

A couple observations:
1) Your Healthcare costs are going up – don’t forget the premium on the schedule is for 12 months.  To calculate your monthly premium, multiply the schedule number by 12 months and divide by 10 months that we work.  Mine is going up $396 per year.  The average, population unweighted, increase is about $450 per employee, although this could be as high as $1272 for family coverage (employee, spouse, and children).



2) Medical coverage is decreasing – our co-pays go up.  Our services are limited. See page 8 of the above document (tentative agreement).  Note that some of the increases are listed as total cost, some are listed just as the increase.  Read carefully.

3) MDCPS and UTD plan to begin collecting YOUR PERSONAL health condition data (see #3, page 5).  I cannot imagine WHY unless some kind of discriminatory billing is coming down the road.  So much for the UNION – dividing us up by performance pay in RTTT and now via intruding into our personal data to store our health data!

4) UTD and MDCPS offer a variety of premiums based on your income “band.”  The idea at the surface is that the lower paid employees should be given a break.  However, if you analyze the premiums paid as a percentage of the income, once again, the wealthiest are given the best deals: Whereas our security guards and clerical (many of whom fall in the $25k band) have to pay 16% of their annual income for the same family healthcare as the highest earners (>$85k), these top earners in the bargaining unit only pay 10% of their income.  Without going into a big philosophical discussion here about equity, I simply challenge the point of dividing premiums up by salary band if equity is not accomplished.  What is accomplished, along with annually changing the format of the presentation of the material and refusing to print it in searchable pdfs is the obfuscation or confusing of the masses.  UTD seems to be deliberately complicating the information to avoid over-analysis by you and I.

5) UTD once again wants you to surrender your raise that you should have gotten in the Fall of 2010 and again in Fall 2011 (surrendered by UTD’s May 2011 E-vote on 2011 Healthcare June 2011, overturned by Beightol’s challenge of E-vote at PERC).  See D.1, p.29:   “The 2010-2011 salary schedule will be maintained and employees will remain on their current step.” – This surrenders your right to a raise based on your growing, annual experience.  It surrenders your raise for 2010-2011 (which UTD tried to do in June 2011, but my court challenge overturned UTD’s trick) and it surrenders your 2011-2012 raise – 2 YEARS’ RAISES, gone without a conversation, without UTD even pointing this sacrifice out to you.

6) Finally, I went to the CIGNA site (http://www.cigna.com/individualsandfamilies/health-insurance-plans-florida <-go to “get a quote”) and I checked out the following:  I selected OAP/1000/80 (which is closest to the plan I have OAP20 as described by UTD/MDCPS).  I obtained quotes for myself (46 years old, non-smoker) as an individual, married, with (2)  children and with family (same options in our proposal).  Here’s the comparison between the total cost CIGNA offers me and the total cost that UTD/MDCPS tell you they must pay:

Status/Plan	CIGNA’s quote	UTD/MDCPS quote	Over-charge?
Employee	365	541	176
Emp & Spouse	735	1307	572
Emp & child(ren)	666	1080	414
Family	1036	2073	1037

The question I have for UTD and MDCPS, who gets the over-charged money?

Are we being overbilled by CIGNA?  Are UTD and MDCPS padding the numbers to pay the premiums of other employees?

If this is simply because it recognizes that educational employees are more expensive to insure healthwise, shouldn’t this be factored into our pay scale?  Shouldn’t this rate us for hazardous pay from the state?

If MDCPS is really paying $1000 per employee (rough average) toward our premiums and if we can find our own insurance cheaper, for whatever reason, why hasn’t UTD bargained harder to increase the “opt-out” amount (currently $100!!! WTF!!!), they could easily raise that to $800 per employee, save themselves $200 per employee (give that back as a raise!), and employees would have paid health insurance!

Lastly, I’d like to update you on my challenge that UTD violated your and my rights as bargaining unit members by inadequately noticing the ratification and using an illegal method to hold the ratification vote:

First, PERC upheld the charge that both the June 2011 healthcare  vote that surrendered your raise AND the August 2011 IPEGS vote that judges your teaching based on school average reading grades were in violation of the law.

UTD has tried to minimize the damaging light this sheds on their tactics, but the fact is, they have been ordered to redo BOTH votes.  UTD has challenged this ruling and was given until early December to submit their arguments as to WHY they are not in violation of the law.  UTD asked for an extension to mid-January (as I predicted they would) and it was granted.  A few days before the deadline, UTD asked for a second extension (imagine a student asking for 2 extensions on turning in homework late???).  We did not oppose, but PERC said “OK, but this is the last STRAW – no more delays!” (I paraphrase).  UTD then filed a motion to attempt to pull other unions into the argument which would have dragged this out forever (which is what they want – for you to forget they violated the law).  My lawyers successfully blocked this tactic by pointing out that the current opportunity for UTD is to show how they didn’t violate the EXISTING law (against electronic voting), NOT to argue for a change in the current law (that’s called lobbying and it is done with the legislature).  UTD has now filed and been granted ANOTHER extension to answer our arguments regarding the final order.  They have stretched this process out right up to the next vote on the new healthcare and added the elements from the challenged votes to nullify the effect of the state’s finding of their illegal actions:

UTD is trying to nullifying PERC’s order to redo the vote by slipping in the language about RTTT and surrendering your raises (see point 5 above).  If we pass this healthcare INCREASE, you will be voting to lower your services, lower your salary (higher premiums, no STEP), and allowing UTD to keep you at the 2010 salary for 2 years in a row.

Not only is UTD NOT advancing you and I, they are costing us money.

Our profession is being driven into the ground, first it was locally by MDCPS overbuilding its administration and overspending on tech toys, now they are joined by the corporately backed legislators who want to privatize (for all of their profits).

The only force big enough with sufficient communication and organizational resources is our union, which shows itself to be impotent on the district as well as the state level.

If our union doesn’t prove itself this year as a force for educators, for preserving the dignity and viability of public education, I believe we will have crossed the boundary of no return on the slippery slope we find ourselves.

Vote your conscience, but look at the details.  Spread this message to your friends and colleagues.

Regards,

Shawn Beightol
www.shawnbeightol.com
beights@yahoo.com

Why Bill Gates’ Education Reform is Off-Target – by Shawn Beightol

http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=275

Last night, ABC News aired Bill Weir’s interview with Bill Gates on Nightline. Topics ranged from the Gates’ Foundation global work on curing polio and malaria to his last conversation with Steve Jobs. The print summary of the interview concludes with Gates’ vision of education reform:

“You take at least 2 percent of the teachers, train them very well and have them do structured visitations,” he said. “And they tell the teacher, ‘OK, you were good at this, but you didn’t engage these kids very well. You didn’t create discussion here. You didn’t explain why a kid would wanna know this thing,”

In this condensed version of what Gates thinks is wrong with education and how to fix it, we see a very disturbing and increasingly popular misconception: that the public educator’s purpose, in addition to presenting and transferring knowledge and skills, is to provide the child with the etiquette and social skills needed to function in a PUBLIC setting…in an entertaining manner.

Absent from Gates’ analysis and increasingly from politicians and society as a whole is the understanding of the role and responsibility of the family to develop their children socially, emotionally, intellectually, as well as physically.

Children today can be neglected for hours and days by their parents as their parents pursue the mighty dollar or some other sense of lack in their life. Children are left to raise themselves, with pizza, soda, happy meals, frozen dinners and snacks thrown at them to fulfill the parental responsibility of physical/nutritional “care” – we see the disturbing results of this in the reports of widespread obesity.

Parent’s do the same thing with their children’s waking time: they throw toys and entertainment devices at them to occupy them so the parents can pursue whatever else is priority to them. When children are over-saturated in a culture focused on amusement, it is not surprising that they cannot function in an environment that expects them to sit, listen, read, write, and respond in a civil way. I remind my students that the etymology of the word “Amuse” is simply to “Not Think.”

As surely as the nutritional neglect and abuse has been observed increasingly among our nation’s children, so too the emotional, social and intellectual neglect is producing dysfunction in the critical development and health of our children…its just not so obviously seen…at least until the damage is long accomplished.

See here and here for a discussion on school responsibility versus parental responsibility.

But we teachers see it in hundreds of thousands of aimless and listless children who can’t sit still, can’t engage in conversation, can’t see the point of improving their mind and their skill-sets.

It is not the responsibility of public education or educators to 1) occupy/entertain a child – such a focus and expectation in a market economy would result in each classroom being staffed by Dane Cook , Daniel Tosh, and their “colleagues” (comedians) delivering superficial anecdotes rather than in depth analyses and skill transfers. 2) convince a kid of why he/she should learn something that both the federal government and the state governments have agreed are required curriculum. The assumption here is that the material being taught in the classroom is essential to producing an educated and skilled populace capable of building, maintaining their communities, their culture and their nation.

It is the parents role to send to school children who are ready to be educated.

Perhaps Bill Gates team of visiting teachers would better serve education if they were to go around visiting the children’s families.

shortlink: http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=266

I am wrapping up a beautiful winter break with my wife and her Rio family “doing Rio” – surfing, dancing, biking, etc.  However, my mornings have been filled with heavy reading and contemplation over the content of deep conversations that are carried by my  journalist father-in-law, Argemiro Ferreira, at the meal times over the history of the U.S. and Brazilian interactions during the last century.

At his recommendation, I’ve been reading a couple books about how the US manipulated the press in and out of Brazil since at least the 1930′s…utilizing such tools as Readers’ Digest and Hollywood movies (Orson Welles, Walt Disney, Carmen Miranda…) – all to develop markets for exports in a global economy affected by war in Europe and oil and minerals in South America.

The worst part (here’s where I will no doubt raise the ire of my former college-mates of Miami Christian College) – Nelson Rockefeller and the Rockefeller brothers’ far reaching business agenda in Latin America (and other developing economies) included facilitating right-wing dictatorships and funding conservative (as well as liberal) religious work in these countries under the guise of linguistics, Bible translation, and church planting/discipleship – though perhaps carried out on the ground in sincerity, from the top down these efforts were aimed at producing compliant, cooperative tribes out of indigenous peoples known previously (and rightfully) to resist the exploitation of their resources.

A heavy book by 2 American journalists (Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett) on this topic is entitled “Thy Will Be Done: the Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil” – a summary of this book can be found at http://www.whale.to/b/ruiz.html or, for my former college-mates who might prefer another perspective: http://www.seekgod.ca/wycliffe.htm ).  See http://www.amazon.com/Thy-Will-Done-Rockefeller-Evangelism/dp/0060927232/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325249788&sr=1-1

Another book with my father-in-law’s transcribed speech on the topic in honor of Dr. Heitor Martin’s work as professor emeritus at Indiana University is “Studies in Honor of Heitor Martins.” Argemiro’s speech regarding Rockefeller’s influence under the the U.S. “Good Neighbor” policy is found under the title “Fiction, Nostalgia and Reality in the Good Neighbor Policy: Notes from the Past and Ideas for the Future.”

Editor Darlene Sadlier’s final article of the Heitor Martins’ tribute book also covers Rockefeller’s efforts to manipulate South American’s perceptions of the U.S. via his involvement in the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OIAA), the RKO studios (distributing Disney’s films), and the Motion Picture Society of the Americas. It is entitled “Good Neighbor Brazil” and contains a multitude of referenced quotes and primary sources.

The conclusion of this time reading and reflecting on the topic of U.S. corporate entanglement in politics and government policy is that it is still going on. Corporate interests still drive legislation and policy, not the demos through electoral votes. The vote that drives the pen of the government, from legislator to executive to judge, is the dollar.

shortlink: http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=259

We won the lawsuit against UTD’s illegal contract changing votes in May and August that resulted in the raise (step) being suspended and the IPEGS evaluation formula being changed to include 50% reading proficiency!

The court’s decision is based on the use of Votenet Evoting as being insufficient in transparency – it fails the Florida statutes and rules for legality for union elections.  I’m disappointed that the argument regarding notification was not made strongly enough and hope it will be revisited if UTD appeals. 

Results?   They will have to redo the votes:

“CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. Both contract ratification votes were invalid.

2. Both parties are entitled to partial attorney’s fees and costs awards.

RECOMMENDATION

The remedy for an invalid contract ratification vote is a re-vote. If the contract is approved, the re-vote will relate back to the original vote. If not, the contract itself is

invalid as of the date of the original ratification.”

I believe until this happens, we return to the status quo before the votes occurred (due for a raise, last year’s IPEGS scheme).

We now have the opportunity to revote on our raise.

This time, let’s make sure any increase is offered equally to our entire bargaining unit – support staff included (security, paraprofessionals, and clerical)!

We now have the opportunity to revote on the IPEGS change – do you really want to be evaluated on how students you’ve never seen read?

Of course, the result of the court will be challenged, but I think the law has shown we were right.

Here’s the decision: http://perc.myflorida.com/download.aspx/Prefix=CB/CaseYr=11/CaseNo=073/File=CB11073-Ord10-113011104700.pdf

My guess is it will be appealed.

Perhaps they will try to redo each vote separately (healthcare, raise, IPEGS, Race to the Top performance pay).

Commentary:  since May’s vote was a disguised vote to turn down our raise by promoting no healthcare increase and no RIF yet now we just received notice that they are raising our healthcare anyway, perhaps we can get UTD to enforce PERC’s May 18^th 2011 order to MDCPS to deliver our raise (see pp. 24 & 28 of http://perc.myflorida.com/download.aspx/Prefix=SM/CaseYr=10/CaseNo=100/File=SM10100-SMRD-051911080458.pdf ).

If the district can raise $70 million by pleading with the community so we can have wifi in every school, why can’t it raise $70 million (X2) for the 2 raises we have recently been refused?

Shawn

“one teacher”…but surrounded by a thousand supporting educators and support staff.

Story Idea: Major Foundation Funds Florida’s Jeb Bush Education Initiatives, then Trains Journalists to Advocate? shortlink: http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=251 Monday, October 10, 2011 5:39 PM From: “sb” <beights@yahoo.com> To: sbeightol@dadeschools.net Bcc: csegal@tampatrib.com, lpostal@tribune.com, ksanders@sptimes.com, solochek@sptimes.com, mshatzman@tribune.com, dbreitenstein@news-press.com, tengstrom@news-press.com, dillon@nytimes.com, straussv@washpost.com Dear sirs and madams: I am BCCing you (5 Florida journalists who write education pieces for the larger metro papers in Florida and the authors of the NY Times and Wash Post articles referenced) in order to hear just what you have to say. My name is Shawn Beightol.  I am a 19 year chemistry teacher in Miami and have been somewhat of an activist since encountering Pat Tornillo of the Miami teachers’ union United Teachers of Dade (UTD) in 2000.  Since then I have run for UTD president 2X (being “excommunicated” by UTD for talking to the Miami Sunpost about $1.2 million in union officer subsidies coming from the Miami School District (MDCPS) and questioning the conflict of interest that established). I currently have 2 Unfair Labor Practice complaints filed with the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) regarding union votes that 1) suspended the automatic pay step increase for UTD unit members and 2) attached a 2010 “performance pay” offer to the 2011 teacher evaluation contract changes that brought MDCPS into compliance with its Race to the Top (RTTT) application.  The charges have been found sufficient by PERC and I am being represented by a law firm that specializes nationally in labor law issues that involve union misconduct (they just accepted and will file their motion this week to represent me, so if you check you will see I am currently Pro Se status).  You can read here: www.shawnbeightol.com …just scroll back over the last 2 month’s of postings to see the evolution in reverse of what I am going to question here: The bottom line is, we “rebel” teachers in Miami (who apparently refuse to “drink the kool-aide”) have uncovered what looks like the concerted corruption of collective bargaining in Florida where the school board plays the bad cop and the puppet union plays the good cop in a horrible and large scale good cop/bad cop manipulation scheme.  From the impossible to deliver salary schedule in 2006 that got Rudy Crew his $40000 performance bonus to healthcare lies (where the union announced a threatened increase 5 times what the healthcare company’s memo actually stated, then pretended like it bargained the increase down to the actual published increase). Most recently, we have uncovered what is obviously a concerted effort to depress/suppress bargaining unit salaries…either to save money or to cull the bright and motivated leaving a hungry, desperate rank and file ready to do anything for a bone of a raise.  In June we documented what appears to be a coordinated under-advertised and misleading bargaining unit ratification to changes that denied members of their raise…but were never told that was the intent…just that the vote would avoid healthcare increases and layoffs.  Then in August, members were told that the extreme changes to teacher evaluation were due to the new Senate Bill 736 terms…when in actuality the changes were beyond 736 and were necessary to bring Miami’s contract into compliance with Race to the Top qualification terms.  Members were NOT told that they actually had a say in the changes, but were basically led to believe in a joint assault by union and school district that the changes were a “done deal” required by the new law (736).  In order to provide the appearance of legal collective bargaining compliance, the union sprung an under-advertised and misleadingly described ratification vote termed “Race to the Top Performance Pay Ratification Vote” claiming the changes would deliver bonuses for the past years work, completely nullifying and contradicting the industry concept of performance pay to be based on predetermined terms and understanding of the desired work outcomes and the promised reward.  Neither of these last two facts described what the district and union called performance pay. The reality is, they used the pay as a bribe to persuade what teachers persevered in their effort to find out about the vote and participate. The union and district bought the votes to change the contract to secure RTTT compliance and the consequent $72 million in funds. Both votes have been challenged with the Public Employees Relations Commission and the charges have been found sufficient that the union “coerced and manipulated” the vote (see my blog referenced above for links to the PERC charges and docket).  My motion to the 11th Judicial Circuit Court for injunctive relief was found sufficient and the hearing was held where I (without counsel at the time) was met by 5 of their lawyers and both institutions’ 2nd in commands.  The circuit case was dismissed on grounds of jurisdiction. I have lodged a complaint with appropriate law enforcement agencies to have the corruption of collective bargaining investigated and the fraudulent usage of RTTT funds (1st issue is state, 2nd issue is fed). The clearly documented facts should have been sufficient local news to the big local big newspaper of Miami, but after spending hours talking to the reporter and connecting her to many vocal and professional teacher/activists, she proceeded to write 3 glowing articles in a row, reducing the totality of activism, hundreds of statements and petitions, thousands of dollars raised and easily verified teacher aggravation and ire that would surely affect classroom culture and atmosphere – she reduced all of this to “a complaint” of “one teacher.” On further critical conversation with her I found out she had written the articles with support from the Hechinger Institute. On investigation, I find that the Hechinger institute participates in “studies” and series around the country (see USF’s Sherman Dorn’s documentation of their manipulation of the media here: http://shermandorn.com/wordpress/?p=2445 and http://shermandorn.com/wordpress/?p=1682)  I found that they were started up and are annually sustained by millions from the Gates foundation and the Lumina Foundation (which has donated over $350000 to the ALEC initiatives).  http://www.luminafoundation.org/newsroom/news_releases/2010-11-30.html, see also http://hechinger.tc.columbia.edu/how-we-work/our-supporters/ I found out that the Gates Foundation has donated $500000 to Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Educational Excellence, which participated in the crafting of the 2010 Senate Bill 6 vetoed by quickly extinguished Charlie Crist and Senate Bill 736.  see http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/education/22gates.html I found out that Jeb Bush is traveling around the country, exporting SB 736 type “reform” (which most professional educators refer to as “deform”): http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2011/04/jeb-bush-bill-gates-eli-broad-barack.html And I find out that the Gates Foundation is actively replicating what appears to be going on with the Hechinger Institute: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/gates-spends-millions-to-sway.html where the Post provides a copy of a Foundation business plan that states their goal is to co-opt media channels, establish strong ties to journalists (why would they want “strong ties to journalists?”). Finally, today I read about Parent Activists groups pushing “parent trigger” legislation…only to find out that they too have been bought and manipulated by the Bill Gates Foundation:  http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/10/09/general-us-parent-unions_8725489.html Folks, this isn’t the democratic, check and balance approach to finding “the truth”.  This isn’t government “of the people, for the people” this is the wealthiest people in America forming one non-profit after another through which they are funneling their money and spinning their “news,” their “truth.” History is full of examples of people in needy situations being vulnerable and impressionable to constant propagandizing…what the Gates Foundation would call “Advocacy.” But the Gates Foundation and other similar multi-billion dollar resources have a message to hypnotize the masses with and they are doing it by buying out every channel of information…controlling the message and the choices “you can have any flavor ice cream you want: vanilla or vanilla.” The approach is incredibly risky. And wrong. We know what is wrong with education: yes, unions have protected members to maintain dues revenue (including bad teachers) and have promoted issues that are more related to their economics than Johnny’s education.  But the same administrative/managerial bloat that is observed in private sector is making educational systems top heavy and reliant on data acquisition and analysis to support their burgeoning numbers. The problem is these to some extent, but it is far greater due to the changes in culture and values – the stellar rise of the importance of amusement, entertainment, and sports.  The stellar rise and increase in the availability of tech toys, virtual reality, games, and social communication channels.  The continued increase in single parent homes, the cost of living and the increasing unacceptable view of “living without” gadgets, conveniences, and perqs that drive a parent to work more, borrow more, and become financially depressed. You know poverty has been shown to be so important to the ability of a student to come to school prepared to learn.  And its not just a function of having money, but having the familial infrastructure that correlates with increased income. Please help us investigate the extent of the Gate’s Foundation and its allies’ influence and efforts to undermine the democratic approach to troubleshooting our culture and jointly, cooperatively finding the solutions. Regards, Shawn Beightol 19th year Chemistry Teacher, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Beights@yahoo.com

The nonprofit arm of NCS Pearson funded a trip for former Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith to attend a 10-day forum in Finland in 2009.

• A software company run by Neil Bush, a younger brother of Gov. Jeb Bush, hopes to sell a program to Florida schools that students would use to prepare for the test that is key to the governor’s education policy.

  Texas-based Ignite Inc. makes software being used in a pilot program at an Orlando-area middle school to help students prepare for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which the governor has championed as a yardstick for school performance.

  Ocoee Middle School, which has received millions of dollars in state grants to study ways of lowering costs, is using the software for free.

  But a company spokeswoman said Saturday that Ignite soon hopes to sell its early American history course to other Florida schools, at a cost of $30 a year per student.
  Ignite spokeswoman Louise Thacker denied the company had an unfair advantage because its founder and CEO, Neil Bush, is a brother of Florida’s governor.

  A spokeswoman for the state Department of Education said Friday that Ignite officials had not approached the state about its product. Mike Eason, formerly the top technology official for the department, is a member of an Ignite advisory board.

  Katie Muniz, a spokeswoman for Jeb Bush, said the governor has never talked with his brother about the business.

  Gov. Bush’s use of the FCAT complies with a law supported by another brother – President George W. Bush. The president’s “Leave No Child Behind” law forces states to use testing as a measuring stick for schools.

  Gov. Bush’s education agenda has been criticized by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill McBride, who has attacked the governor for his reliance on the FCAT to grade schools.

  Ryan Banfill, spokesman for the state Democratic Party, called Ignite’s marketing campaign in the state problematic, saying that is creates a strange appearance. “I don’t know where the money’s going to come from for this,” Banfill said. “These districts are hard pressed to pay for chalk, let alone to put money in the pocket of the Bush family.”

  Neil Bush gained notoriety as director of the Silverado Savings & Loan in Colorado, whose failure cost taxpayers $1 billion and led to a grand jury investigation during the term of his father, President George H. W. Bush. Neil Bush was never charged.

  http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PvMeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=H4UEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6778%2C4556240

  

  Sarasota Herald-Tribune – Google News Archive Search
• http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×8155764

  
  

  Jeb Bush: ‘For the record, Neil Bush is not involved in the FCAT business. Stop spreading rumors.’.

  www.democraticunderground.com

  Jeb Bush: ‘For the record, Neil Bush is not involved in the FCAT business. Stop spreading rumors.’
• http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3232164&mesg_id=3232662

  
  

  Democratic Underground – The Bush Family ‘Reading First’ Scam– George, Jeb, Neil and Ma Bush – Dem

  www.democraticunderground.com

  The Bush Family ‘Reading First’ Scam– George, Jeb, Neil and Ma Bush

shortlink: http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=228

I looked into the Deloitte SAP/ERP software contract with Miami-Dade County Public  Schools in an attempt to answer the question: “What is MDCPS doing with its money from the state for education that 66 other counties are NOT doing since EVERY OTHER county has made an attempt to comply with Florida Law and the contracts they negotiated and pay their teachers a raise for experience and cost of living increases?”

I’ll start with my correction first:

Though I was not aware of the Deloitte termination when I wrote what I wrote yesterday, I did show you from MDCPS check register that Deloitte has received $13 million AFTER their January 2009 termination, including regular payments through this year, with this year’s payments in excess of $300000 this year:

Here’s the data:

DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	07/20/11	$155,950.05
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	06/03/11	$131,392.77
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	03/28/11	$75,087.27
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	12/17/10	$115,980.12
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	06/23/10	$101,977.82
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	05/14/10	$329,413.53
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	11/20/09	$118,231.50
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	09/25/09	$423,541.86
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	09/02/09	$91,076.05
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	05/04/09	$67,642.35
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	03/13/09	$671,223.00
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	02/27/09	$1,867,500.00
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	02/13/09	$2,327,500.00
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	02/13/09	$6,247,500.00
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	02/06/09	$427,500.00
DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP	01/26/09	$71,775.96
	Total	$13,223,292.28

Perhaps someone in the district will tell you that they are simply paying for work done in the past…but the reason we “fired” them was for work they hadn’t done, for costs they had run up. Its odd that so many entities are suing to recover costs from Deloitte, but MDCPS is meekly paying during a time when they are so stretched for cash that they refuse to honor the May 18^th, 2011 recommendation to give teachers and support staff “something more than nothing” (see PERC SM-10-100).

Aside from the Deloitte questions (such as, why is MDCPS still paying them when so many others are filing to RECOVER costs)…

The question still remains: “ is this all the reason why MDCPS is in so much financial distress that it is seeking to sell its downtown lands, cannot keep its contracts with its employees, and has made a highly questionable grab for Federal Race to the Top monies in concert with the United Teachers of Dade?”

Whether SAP is handled internally or externally, it is 2 years overdue (how much$) and the question of the cost in human power must be raised (we must have hired a bevy of outsiders to get it done…even if it were remotely possible to imagine retraining our local ITS guys to think that globally and acquire that much of a new skill set – why would they be working for us if they can do SAP now? – who is doing their job while they monkey around with installing SAP and replacing Legacy?)

Please read this in connection with the earlier email I sent to MDCPS School Board member Marta Perez at the bottom:

Thanks to Jordan Melnick’s work at TeachDade (pulled from the net for some reason, still archived here: http://web.archive.org/web/20090220154325/http://teachdade.com/ ) for the following leads:

Sunday’s article in the Herald (http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/14/2454659/miami-dade-schools-headquarters.html#storylink=misearch ) “The cash-strapped Miami-Dade school district is exploring whether the bump in land prices in the Omni area could ameliorate its financial woes” in conjunction with the questionable, desperate bid for Federal Race to the Top funds (http://shawnbeightol.com/blog/?p=205 )suggest that the effects of the economic downturn on MDCPS’ rabid adherence to the sinking Deloitte SAP implementation – see http://web.archive.org/web/20081220134320/http://www.teachdade.com/MDCPS-Deloitte may have been the wrong way to go when MDCPS School Board’s Marta Perez pushed MDCPS to dump the “black hole” of Deloitte/SAP (http://web.archive.org/web/20081222225350/http://www.teachdade.com/BOSS-Workshop-Thursday ).

Question: did the political contributions of Deloitte’s/SAP’s lobbyists to the school board members have any bearing on the vote to go forward and thus on the situation we now find ourselves? (see contributions 4 & 5 at http://goo.gl/2a1A4 vs. http://eac.dadeschools.net/agenda/sep07/item5.pdf p.2 “Rodriguez-Pina”; contributions 13 & 14 at http://goo.gl/jxkio vs. “Rodriguez-Pina” of http://eac.dadeschools.net/agenda/sep07/item5.pdf ; and contributions 141, 142, & 144 at http://goo.gl/tAzVm vs. “Rodriguez-Pina” of http://eac.dadeschools.net/agenda/sep07/item5.pdf, see also http://www.meridianpartners.us/ ).

Perhaps the article and information below this memo might explain the rash of this and similar recent foreboding emails:

“URGENT: Important Tax Information – Payroll Check/Advice Dated November 4, 2011– Please Post!!

---

This urgent message contains very important tax information regarding the payroll check/advice dated November 4, 2011.

---

PLEASE POST!! PLEASE POST!! PLEASE POST!!

As a result of the SAP Payroll Go-Live scheduled for October 28, 2011, please note the following for the payroll check/advice dated November 4, 2011:

· The Social Security and Medicare taxes taken from this check/advice, may be higher than previous payroll payments, due to the fact that the Social Security and Medicare taxes for expenses/benefits paid by the Board will be collected from this payment. ”

Consider this from “Teach Dade” (http://web.archive.org/web/20081001235207/http://www.teachdade.com/node/110 ) “in June 2007 — the month before SAP and Deloitte got the BOSS contract — the Los Angeles Unified School District’s payroll system issued 30,000 flawed checks to employees, mostly teachers. The problem continued for months, eventually causing disgruntled teachers to boycott afterschool meetings and camp out in district headquarters.

The point? LAUSD’s payroll system was an SAP module that Deloitte had implemented as part of a larger, BOSS-like program called Business Tools for Schools, or BTS. As of October, the BTS project was expected to cost $132 million to complete — $46 million higher than anticipated. That same month, the LAUSD School Board voted to hire an outside monitor to follow the situation. Meanwhile in Dade County, the district assigned personnel to its BOSS project.

The snafu in Los Angeles was not an anomaly. From eWeek.com:

“In 1995 Irish Health Services paid Deloitte $10.7 million to install an ERP system in three years. A full decade and $180 million later the project was incomplete and finally abandoned.The City of San Antonio, L.A. Community College, and the San Bernardino and Minneapolis School districts reported similar ERP implementation nightmares in association with Deloitte.”

ERP stands for enterprise resource planning. It is the generic name for programs like BOSS and BTS.

With so many harrowing examples available, it is hard to explain MDCPS’s choice of Deloitte. In any event, it has proven to be a $50 million mistake so far — rather costly with teacher raises in limbo. Forking over another $50 million to the same company would be unconscionable, not to mention a slap in the faces of teachers still waiting for a pay bump.

Of course, conceding a $50-million mistake is hard to swallow, too. If possible, the district should put its ERP implementation on hold and commit the allocated money to paying teachers. When the budget crisis blows over, it should resume implementing BOSS, which can achieve its purpose of making the district more efficient, but with a different software integrator.

From a Los Angeles Times editorial called “Garbage in, Garbage Out,” written in February:

“The lessons of this past year are only tangentially about SAP software; it can and does work for some companies. The lasting blame for this debacle lies with Deloitte for bad programming and worse advice, but also with L.A. Unified for the series of foul-ups that followed. If our school district cannot even pay its teachers, how can we trust that it is doing right by our children?”

The same goes for MDCPS. ”

If we are still accruing costs at the rate described here (page 8 at http://mca.dadeschools.net/AuditCommittee/AC_Nov08/item3a.pdf ) and we are now 34 -36 months beyond that “friendly” audit

The question arises: with press and reports like this http://www.scmfocus.com/sapprojectmanagement/2010/02/why-deloitte-has-problems-implementing-sap/ and http://www.scmfocus.com/sapprojectmanagement/2011/03/my-education-in-corruption-by-the-major-consulting-firms/ (including Levi’s losing 98% of sales in 2008 compared to 2007 due to Deloitte SAP problems), the recent revelation that Miami-Dade County (NOT schools) is dropping Deloitte for failure to uphold their contract (http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/26/2426580/miami-dade-county-fires-deloitte.html ), how much of the over-runs were honest technical issues, how much were due to incompetence, and how much were due to Deloitte generating more work for itself (job security)?

Finally, is this all the reason why MDCPS is in so much financial distress that it is seeking to sell its downtown lands, cannot keep its contracts with its employees, and has made a highly questionable grab for Federal Race to the Top monies in concert with the United Teachers of Dade?

Should MDCPS join with the other defrauded clients/customers in suit to recover overages for products that we are apparently still waiting to see implemented, with growing apprehension?

Please read my earlier questions and comments to Dr. Marta Perez, School Board member, MDCPS.

Regards,

Shawn Beightol

---

From: sb [mailto:beights@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 6:24 AM
To: Perez, Marta R.
Subject: Deloitte & SAP overruns and starving support staff and teachers

Dr. Perez:

Back in 2008, you attempted to bring attention to the “black hole” that the Deloitte SAP “investment” had become (I believe that was Mr. De la Portilla’s name for it in the June 2008 meeting as shown on the video here: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/projectfailures/miami-dade-school-district-and-deloitte-endless-money-pit/1226 ). Mr. De la Portilla requested in July 2008 that an outside audit of MDCPS be done. In the Fall of 2008, MDCPS hired Mr. Alberto Carvalho as the new Superintendent and Mr. De la Portilla submitted a motion to quash the audit on account of Mr. Carvalho’s changes to budgeting.

Yet, in November of 2008, KMG Auditing of Deloitte’s project implementation showed an optimistic over-run on billing and implementation (a very conservative 4 weeks).

Other sources then said it would be more like 6 months (which at the then rate of $3.5 million per month invoiced (see page 8 at http://mca.dadeschools.net/AuditCommittee/AC_Nov08/item3a.pdf ).

Here we are, 3 years later and employees are receiving emails almost daily telling us not to be alarmed that when Deloitte’s SAP payroll comes online in 30 days (yes, STILL implementing…3 years later! How much per month? How much total?), our paychecks may show numbers that will shock us!

We have heard about the many disasters Deloitte/SAP has wrought around the world – from NASA to Waste Management, to Australia.

Now we see that MDCPS problems are being offered as proof in a court case of racketeering against Deloitte: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/projectfailures/marin-county-claims-racketeering-against-deloitte-and-sap-part-one/12749

That was an $11 million implementation that they bungled and is still being litigated. They were smart enough to do what you tried to do in December 2008 when you reported that the cost overruns had been greatly understated and that the recent study showed ZERO return on investment. – They pulled out and filed lawsuits against Deloitte and SAP.

My question to you and to anyone who still cares about the truth and accountability:

how much have we spent OVER the $85 million originally budgeted to date?

Is this why MDCPS teachers and support staff are the only such school district employees in Florida who haven’t had their raise now in 3 years?

Thanks as always for your compassionate and courageous oversight of our schools, employees, and the children we teach.

Shawn Beightol