The Politiburo of the Broward County School Board is indeed a sight to behold. These masters of ignorance and arrogance displayed no sign of caring or listening to the public, who pay their generous salaries. I observed a meeting with more than 50 disgruntled taxpayers and was appalled at the disrespect displayed to them. The Board members are paid more than $40,000 each for this very part time job, and they treated each and every speaker with disregard and perhaps even contempt.
This is a Board that a grand jury roasted in its opening statement upon its findings. “The evidence we have presented concerning the malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance of the Broward County School Board and of the senior management of the District and of the gross mismanagement and apparent ineptitude of so many individuals at so many levels is so overwhelming that we cannot imagine any level of incompetence that would explain what we have seen.” This quote is taken directly from the Grand Jury report to the Supreme Court of Florida. Although a few of the Board members are gone, the attitude is alive and well as observed that day.
Firstly, they sit above and away from the hoi-polloi like they were Venetian Doges on a dais that was designed to intimidate. The public was wanded and checked by three security guards assigned to guard the gates of this fortress of intellectual fraud and corruption. The public was kept waiting because of the Board’s own sacrosanct business that had to be hidden from the taxpayers. Once allowed in, only the people who had submitted questions or statements earlier were allowed to speak into a microphone that was halfway across the expanse of the room. One of the speakers requested that the Board meeting time be changed from 2:00 PM to a more convenient time like evenings. No response.
Most of the people there were rallying against Core Curriculum being thrust on our students. No response.
Someone not part of the group had a problem with the Transportation Dept.
He brought up the fact that an uneducated school bus driver makes about $20,000 more than a some teachers. Response? They work about 30 more days.
The following day a contingent of concerned parents and taxpayers went to the Miami Dade School Board meeting. One of the leaders was chastened by a school board member because she said Core Curriculum had not passed the Legislature. No, it seems the School Board member is the ignorant one since it was not even brought to a legislative vote in Florida.
According to the Florida constitution the Boards must be paid according to the population of their counties where they sit. It is time to take a close look at what can be done to get these know nothings and crooks out of positions of public trust.