talking to a donkey and other scholarly pursuits in the Florida Keys and beyond
Friday, November 2nd, 2012
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I replied.
From: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Interview
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2012 10:39:46 -0400
Hi, Bill. Thanks for writing. I wrote that it looked to me that I was the only candidate who had not been interviewed on US 1 Radio. I wrote to you and Tom Tuell [Editor of The Key West Citizen] perhaps ten days ago, asking if I would be interviewed on US 1 Radio and get an announcement in The Citizen similar to what Ed Davidson had gotten that morning in The Citizen, and I heard nothing back from you or Tom. This Thursday at 8:55 a.m. is good. 872-1705 is my land line, has best reception. However, my voice still is weak, goes in and out, from throat surgery about three months ago. The interview might go better for your listeners if I’m in your studio on a mic. Sloan
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Bill replied.
From: news@us1radio.com
Subject: Re: Interview Date:
Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:20:18 -0400
We give all the candidates the option of being in the studio for the interview.
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I replied that I would get there a few minutes early.
Two days before Bill emailed me, I dreamt that he gave me a hair cut and I was dressed up in a coat and tie and there were other men in coats and ties. I figured the dream meant I would be hearing from Bill about an interview for the Dist. 3 school board race, in which I am a write-in candidate. School board meetings are the only times I see men in coats and ties.
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This was on the front page of The Key West Citizen yesterday.
Write-in candidate Sloan Bashinsky talks about his campaign for Monroe County School Board District 3. Also on today’s show: • Teresa Konrath, MHS athletics • Jimmy Weekley, city commission • Louanna Williams, Zonta 5K Run/Walk • Ron Saunders, state representative • Donie Lee, KWPD • Jim Wilson, Key West Chamber
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Ezra got me on the air at 8:57 a.m. During the preceding commercial break, he said he wanted me to talk about school issues only I was addressing. He suggested bullying. I said okay. He asked for a second issue. I said vocational ed training. He said okay.
When we went on the air, Ezra told the listening audience that I have said that I filed to run for the Dist. 3 school board seat, not so much expecting to get elected, but because I say what other canddiates do not say. Ezra said I am a write-in candidate, and there is a space on the Dist. 3 ballot to write in my name.
Ezra asked what I felt about vocational ed training in the schools? I said the school district teaches to a college prep curriculum. It tries to force all students through it, as if going to college is the Holy Grail. Vocational ed needs to be really increased. Lots of kids who go off to college flunk out the first year, or drop out before they graduate, or they graduate and cannot find work that pays the bills, and their student loans. The school district’s mission statement is to have kids college and/or career ready by graduation. Coral Shores has more vocational ed than the the other two high schools, that was Ron Martin’s school before he went on the school board. Robin-Smith Martin also thinks we need to seriousl beef up vocational training. We often hear kids are getting out of school and leaving the Keys. They need to be able to go to work when they graduate at a job they can get by on in the Keys.
Ezra asked what I felt about bullying in the schools? I said the anti-bullying, anti-hazing policy requires multiple infractions before anything is done about it. Even then, a kid can go after one kid one day, then pick on another kid another day, then pick on another kid another day, and nothing is done because it wasn’t all done to the same kid. I said a big kid stuffed a small Coral Shores High School kid in a locker and held him in there for an hour, calling attention to it, while other students hung around laughing. No teachers, no principal in sight. Later, the principal’s solution was for the two kids to shake hands. I tried to get State Attorney Dennis Ward to put the twerp in jail where he belonged, for assault and battery. Dennis said he was going to look into it, but I never heard that he did. At Key West High School, different groups of kids hazed a gay boy, and because each group only did it once, it wasn’t considered hazing under the multiple-offender policy, and all that happened was one group had to do some sensitivity training. I said the State Attorney and local law enforcement, can intervene when crimes are committed, but the school district is going to have to go along with that. I forgot to say the gay boy’s mother told me her son was showing suicide ideation because of the hazing.
Ezra said time was up, he knew I could discuss two or three more issues. I said 20 or 25 more issues. Ezra did a good job in the time allowed. I’m still wondering what Bill Becker cutting my hair was about.
Another issue I had wanted to cover with Ezra is reported in The Citizen today.
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Teachers union loses final appeal
Contract still at impasse, School Board blames cuts on lack of money
BY GWEN FILOS
A Citizen Staff
The local teachers union has struck out for good in appealing the school district’s decision to freeze raises and mandate seven furlough days for the 2011-12 school year, but the union remains at impasse with management over this year’s budget cuts. Without releasing a written opinion, the Florida First District Court of Appeal on Oct. 18 rejected the United Teachers of Monroe claim that teachers and support staff were mistreated by the district’s deep budget cuts under former Superintendent Jesus Jara. Neither side publicly touted the court’s decision, one that follows the previous rulings of the state Public Employees Relations Commission that upheld Jara’s decisions to break into the teachers contract due to dire financial straits. “It’s over, we lost,” said UTM President Holly Hummell-Gorman on Thursday. “We exercised all of our rights to appeal.” But the union remains deadlocked, as its leaders in June announced they could no longer meet with the school district’s hired labor attorney, Robert Norton of Miami, because he wasn’t taking their suggestions seriously. School district officials maintain that there is no money for any of the teacher raises, performance pay or to stave off the furloughs, which alone saved the district some $1.4 million. Thursday was the deadline for Norton and the union’s attorneys to file briefs to a state arbitrator who on Sept. 6 came to Key West to hold a hearing over the impasse. Martin Soll, a law professor from Miami, heard the testimony and accepted documents as evidence while a court reporter recorded the proceeding. At issue is only the furlough days and the health insurance premiums. Employee contributions this year were increased by 9 percent and the district stopped paying any of the premium for retirees over 65. The union offered a 5 percent increase and a proposal to modify the retirees’ payment rather than cut it. The School Board wouldn’t compromise. Soll said he will issue a decision later this year, one that isn’t binding. Board members have candidly groaned over the union’s relentless appeals. “This is an exercise in futility,” said School Board Chairman John Dick, citing the fact that even a court order isn’t binding. “Everything comes back to the board and we don’t have the money. The board’s not going to change their mind. I understand them filing once. But three times drives up lawyers fees and gives them something to say, that we’re spending money on lawyers.” Norton’s fees have become a staple of the union’s criticism of the district. Leaders said they felt blindsided by Jara’s decision to hire Norton, a veteran labor attorney who has successfully represented other Florida Keys government agencies in similar legal battles. “They keep wasting taxpayers’ money on lawyers,” said Dick. “We need to defend ourselves and we should.” The Florida Education Association, a union affiliate based in Tallahassee, believed that the Monroe County cuts could have a statewide effect on other union contracts, said Hummell-Gorman. UTM’s impasse is over the 2012-13 school year’s second round of furlough days and the School Board’s decision to increase health insurance premiums by 9 percent. “They’ve taken deeper cuts than they needed to,” said Hummell-Gorman. “We offered to take five furlough days and to increase our health premiums by 5 percent, not 9.” Mark Porter, the district’s newly hired superintendent who is also an attorney, hasn’t been involved in the impasse, as he arrived Aug. 1, two months after the union said it was deadlocked. Porter, however, did spend nearly a full work day with the union leaders in August to resolve extra-pay for teachers who coach sports and run extracurricular activities. He offered a 5 percent across-the-board cut in all of the “supplemental” pay, except for those teachers who give up their planning period to teach a sixth class daily, and a reduced payment for junior varsity head coaches. Hummell-Gorman said the Porter meeting is the start of building trust with the School District. Jara cut about $13 million from the district’s budget over two years, and blamed his poor relations with the union when the board chose Porter over him in a 4-1 decision.
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My thoughts:
The teachers union, the local union reps and their lawyers know that under Florida law any school district can repudiate a collective bargaining agreement if it turns out a school district doesn’t have the funds to pay for the agreement. In this sad case, the school district’s Chief Financial Officer Michael Kinneer told the school district’s and the union’s bargaining teams the money was not there to fund the collective bargaining agreement under discussion. Michael did not attend further bargaining sessions and the union and the district agreed to the collective bargaining agreement Michael had told them the district could not afford. After the collective bargaining agreement was presented to the school board for ratification, Audit & Finance Committee member Larry Murray told the school board members, including John Dick, and Superintendent Joe Burke and his right-hand man Jesus Jara that he did not see where the money would come from to fund the collective bargaining agreement. The school board then approved the collective bargaining agreement, which the district could not afford. As far as I know, none of that ever was reported in either The Citizen or the Keynoter. I reported it at several candidate forums and in numerous posts to my websites.
I would have reported it on US 1 Radio yesterday, if I’d had 5 minutes instead of 3. With 5 minutes, I also would have taken a good swipe the child-abusive FCAT and teaching to it, instead of to the whole child.
About a week ago, 5-term Dist. 2 school board member Andy Giffiths, who voted to approve the collective bargaining agreement Larry Murray had told Andy the school district could not afford, published a letter in The Citizen laying all the blame for the above on the teachers union.
Yesterday evening, I heard a radio ad in which Andy talked about looking forward and several new things that need to be addressed, including solving the low teacher morale problem and increasing vocational education training in the schools. I wondered why Andy had done his best to make the teacher morale problem worse, and I wondered why he had not harped the past 20 years on increasing vocational ed training? I wondered why it took a write-in candidate to get Andy to harp on vocational ed training? I wondered why no other school board candidates harp on vocational ed training? And I wondered if Andy would ever admit his role in approving the collective bargaining agreement he was told the school district could not afford?
When I tried to get Andy to do something serious about the gay boy at Key West High School, who was hazed and became suicidal, Andy said he was going to look into it. Hell, you can look into it until hell freezes over, but if you don’t do something about it, what is the point in looking into it?
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On the superintendent of schools front, received these forwards the other day.
From: Lawrence Murray [mailto:citizenlarry007@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 8:59 PM
To: Mark Porter
Subject: Substitution For The Minimum Qualifications For A Position In The District
Superintendent Porter:
I have read the position descriptions for the new Directors of your leadership team. Each description includes the following statement: “A comparable amount of training, education or experience can be substituted for the minimum qualifications.” We discussed this option in an email exchange regarding the recent appointment of the Director of Instructional Technology. At that time, I asked as to whether the District had a formula, rubric, matrix or whatever in order to establish what constitutes a “comparable amount” for purposes of substitution. Your response was that the District did not have such. I then asked you if you intended to direct your Human Resources Department to create such. I never received an answer to my question. Considering that the procedure may well be applied again for the various Directors, I repeat my question: Will you direct your Human resources Department to create a formula to establish what constitutes a “comparable amount” for purposes of substitution in an employment application?
Larry Murray
Dr. Larry Murray Fiscal Watchdog and Citizen Advocate
===========================
From: Mark Porter Mark.Porter@KeysSchools.com
To: Lawrence Murray citizenlarry007@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 9:49 PM
Subject: RE: Substitution For The Minimum Qualifications For A Position In The District
Dr. Murray,
With regard to the initial effort to fill the new positions, if approved by the school board. I do not anticipate any immediate position postings so a rubric or matrix will not be immediately necessary for this purpose. With regard to a formula or rubric I have not directed the Human Resources Department to compile such an instrument at this time. While it may be worth considering the possibility, I am concerned about the possible inflexibility of such an instrument. My experience in human resources has shown me that hiring, evaluating and working with people is not always an exact science that can be summarized by a chart or formula.
Thank you for your continued interest in the Monroe County Schools. Mark T. Porter Superintendent of Schools
Monroe County School District
241 Trumbo Road | Key West, FL 33040 |
O: (305) 293-1400 x53323 |
F: (305) 293-1408
E: Mark.Porter@KeysSchools.com
| W: www.KeysSchools.com
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From: Lawrence Murray citizenlarry007@yahoo.com
To: Mark Porter Mark.Porter@KeysSchools.com
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2012 3:52 PM
Subject: Re: Substitution For The Minimum Qualifications For A Position In The District
Superintendent Porter:
Thank you for your thoughtful response to my concerns about the absence of a formula to be applied when Human Resources is examining a candidate’s background to determine if that background is indeed comparable to the mandatory requirements for the position. Based on a reading of the position description of the new Directors it appears that “comparability” is something that is becoming standard operating procedure in the District for all positions and it must be addressed and resolved before that becomes the case. I thoroughly agree that the District does not want to create “inflexibility” with an instrument that directs the examination of an applicant’s background to determine comparability. On the other hand, and I hope that you would agree, the District does not want to err in the other extreme by following a procedure that is purely subjective. Subjectivity can readily lead to abuse. There must be someplace in the middle, guidelines for example, that takes the process from pure subjectivity to being hamstrung by inflexibility. In other words, there must be a compromise that would meet the District’s needs while alleviating the concerns that I have raised. I cannot believe that the District is unique in permitting the substitution of “training, education or experience” for the “minimum qualifications.” There must be other organizations, public and private, that have grappled with this conundrum. Is it asking too much to have the Director of Human Resources solicit a handful of entities similar to the School District to learn how they resolved the problem? I cannot imagine that such an investigation would hurt anything and the opportunity to help is significant. Please bear in mind that, as I raise issues about subjectivity in the hiring process, I am not in any way questioning your integrity. However, the Monroe County School District has an unenviable history of permitting subjective factors to enter into, if not dictate, the hiring process. The wounds of the Acevedo regime remain uncomfortably fresh, a time when proper hiring procedures were routinely abused. None of us wish to return to that, hence my concern when I see subjectivity re-enter the picture in such a large way. Read last week’s “Miami Herald” and you will learn that bypassing minimum requirements in the City of Miami hiring is a budding scandal. Some seventeen administrators have been employed who do not meet the minimum mandatory requirements. Additionally, the School District is a public agency that must, understandably, adhere to a higher standard than a private entity in hiring practices. Private organizations have far more latitude when it comes to hiring and firing. I should think that the School District would also want to be an example of transparency in the hiring process, never making a decision that cannot be explained, justified or defended. In closing, I repeat my request that you have your Human Resources Director explore how other organizations have dealt with the issue of comparability and how those lessons could prove instructive. While I believe that a formula to be followed would be ideal, I should think that the creation of some sort of guidelines would be a minimum standard. Complete subjectivity is not an option.
Larry Murray
Dr. Larry Murray
Fiscal Watchdog and Citizen Advocate
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From: Lawrence Murray citizenlarry007@yahoo.com
To: Mark Porter Mark.Porter@KeysSchools.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2012 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: Substitution For The Minimum Qualifications For A Position In The District-Reply II
Superintendent Porter:
It looks like the shoes are beginning to drop. According to today’s Miami Herald: “Miami finance director Stephen Petty, who was hired without meeting the job’s minimum requirements, resigned Tuesday….”
Larry Murray
Dr. Larry Murray
Fiscal Watchdog and Citizen Advocate
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I replied, with a copy to Mark Porter.
From: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
CC: mark.porter@keysschools.com
Subject: RE: Substitution For The Minimum Qualifications For A Position In The District-Reply II
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:53:54 -0400
Hi, Larry
I agree with Mark.
At the Key Largo Civic Center candidate forum this past Sunday, John Welsh was not there and I was given his question, which was: Did I think the school district should be run like a business, and did I think there was too much micro-managing of the school disrtict by the school board? To the first half of the question, I turned and look at Pam Martin, who was asking the questions, and said, “Is that a serious question, Pam?” I paused, then I turned back and looked at the audience and said, more or less, “Of course the school district should be run like a business. What we have now in the school district is the result of it not being run like a business. Mark Porter is a good superintendent. He got fired by his school board for standing up to them over something they were wrong about. He might get fired by our school board. Meanwhile, our school board needs to get out of Mark’s way and let him run this school district. He is a lawyer. He has dealt with a teachers union. It’s all on him. If he is Jesus, he will turn this school district around. If he is not Jesus, you will not like the result regardless of who is on the school board. The school board needs to get out of Mark’s way and let him run the district.”
Sloan
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Larry replied, with a copy to Mark Porter.
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2012 08:28:54 -0700
From: citizenlarry007@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Substitution For The Minimum Qualifications For A Position In The District-Reply II
CC: mark.porter@keysschools.com
Sloan:
When it comes to hiring, I am in no way advocating micromanagement or any involvement by the School Board. What I am advocating is that the Superintendent follow good business practices, that is, evaluating candidates according to how well they meet the position descriptions drafted by the District. I do not think it is a good business practice to bypass the position description process by engaging some vacuous “experience, education or training” loophole.
Larry
Dr. Larry Murray
Fiscal Watchdog and Citizen Advocate
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I replied to Larry, copied to Mark.
From: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
CC: mark.porter@keysschools.com
Subject: RE: Substitution For The Minimum Qualifications For A Position In The District-Reply II
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:47:33 -0400
Hi again, Larry
I still agree with Mark. It’s his show. He decides how to run it. Otherwise, he should not have been hired. For sure, if I feel he screws something up, I will let him know, and probably my readers as well. So far, the only concern I have had was shortly after arriving Mark let Andy Griffiths take him around the Keys while Andy was running for reelection. Anyone who really knew Andy knew his political motive. Mark, you have to do your best to stay out of the politics. Hear and weigh what other people tell you, but navigate with your own experience, common sense, thinking and gut instincts, and whatever input you receive from Above.
Sloan
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I don’t know Mark Porter’s experience, but if I were in his shoes, each person answering to me, and each person I considered hiring, moving around or promoting, the angels would discuss those people with me in my dreams, if I were not seeing those people the way the angels saw them. Perhaps the angels will do the same for Mark Porter, thus for our school district and our community. If that happens, I would not, if I were Mark, let on about it. I cannot imagine a quicker way for him to be ridiculed and persecuted by the public and, very likely, fired by the School Board. It’s okay, however, for US Presidents to tell the public God tells them what to do, like invade Iraq.
My regular duplicate bridge partner returned to the Keys earlier this week. At the bridge club yesterday, he said Obama is the worst president America ever had. I said I didn’t like Obama, either, but Romney didn’t seem any better. My partner said anyone would be better than Obama. I said before Obama, George Bush was the worst president America ever had.
Perhaps if Romney wins, he will apply to America what he did with bankrupt companies he took over and tried to turn around. Perhaps the Republican and Democratic Parties and the Tea Party and Americans will let him do that. Perhaps there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of that happening. Perhaps it will turn out Romney was the worst president America ever had.
In The Key West Citizen today – keysnews.com- is an article about looking into doing a study to turn all of Duval Street into a pedestrian mall.
This excerpt:
Commissioner Mark Rossi, who owns the Rick’s/Durty Harry’s entertainment complex on Duval, is flat-out opposed to the idea. “It doesn’t make sense,” he said, noting its status as one of the “10 Great Streets for 2012” named by the American Planning Association’s Great Places in America program. “It’s one of the 10 best streets, are you going to change it now? Duval isn’t broke, don’t fit it!”
That would be the same City Commissioner Mark Rossi who is wild to bring super monster cruise ships into Key West, to flood Duval Street with the kind of mostly cheap tourists most people in Key West would rather not come there.
Also in The Citizen today is a letter to the editor from David Wilson, a homeless man, who says people should stop giving money to homeless people, who will spend it on booze. Give money, instead, to homeless-help outfits, particularly Florida Keys Outreach Coalition. I agree. And, it’s best for people who are not homeless to be drunk in Key West, especially on Duval Street. Especially in Commissioner Rossi’s bar and strip club.
Sloan Bashinsky
goodmorningfloridakeys.com
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