This Week's Stories

August 28, 08

 

Miami-Dade Schools

New Kid on the Bloc

School Board Election Upset: Could Superintendent Soon Be Fired?

By Jordan Melnick

Though Tuesday’s School Board election ousted only one incumbent, Larry Feldman’s unseating of Evelyn Greer in District 9 has broad implications, increasing the odds that teachers will get their recently postponed raises and that Superintendent Rudy Crew will get his walking papers.

A former village of Pinecrest mayor, Greer lost her School Board seat after four years, during which teachers often criticized her for firmly supporting Crew. She further angered teachers in June when she voted to postpone their raises, which were to take effect on July 1.

Feldman is the recently retired principal of Devon Aire K-8 Center who made headlines last school year by offering to stay on as school principal for a token salary of $1 a year. His campaign platform included paying the teachers their postponed raises, eradicating financial mismanagement in the district and possibly firing the superintendent.

“The first reason I’m doing this is to honor our teachers and to honor their contracts,” Feldman said while campaigning, when he received the weighty endorsement of the United Teachers of Dade. “The second is to stop the mismanagement and wasteful use of our tax dollars, and quit putting people [out] on the street.”

As for firing Crew, Feldman had said he was open to the possibility.

“Any employee of the school board is required to meet certain standards and be held accountable,” Feldman said. “The real question now is, to what degree is Dr. Crew willing to accept assistance in his budgeting process and work cohesively with the board. To what degree is he willing to accept that he is an employee of the school board. And just like any employee of the board, we'll hold him accountable. I'll hold him accountable.”

In this, Feldman represents a sharp deviation from Greer, who at an Aug. 4 meeting voted against a proposal to terminate Crew’s contract. The measure ultimately failed in a 5-4 vote.  

With Feldman now on the board, a proposal to terminate the superintendent’s contract would more likely pass by that same margin — against Crew. Greer was part of a slim 5-4 majority that favored retaining Crew and opposed giving teachers what they said are expensive raises that would necessitate huge layoffs.

Though Feldman has not explicitly stated that he wants to fire Crew, the superintendent’s contract will likely continue as a topic of debate when Feldman takes over District 9 in November.

Incumbent Advantage

Incumbents prevailed in three other races.

In District 1, former state legislator Wilbert “Tee” Holloway easily defeated challenger Erhabor Ighodaro, taking almost 72 percent of the vote. Holloway was appointed to the board by Gov. Charlie Crist in November after board member Robert Ingram died in office. Ighodaro was Ingram’s close aide.

“Our voters in my district are well educated on the issues,” Holloway said. “They considered the candidates, and they voted their conscience. They voted on experience, leadership, capability — and they voted for the strongest candidate.”

A vocal supporter of Crew, Holloway voted against firing the superintendent. He won Tuesday’s election despite voting to reopen the teachers’ contract — a move that led the UTD to endorse Ighodaro.

Holloway says he has faith in the newest board member.

“I think Mr. Feldman is a just man,” he said. “I think we’ll be able to work with him to see what is right. I think he’ll weigh and assess the capabilities of Dr. Crew and make his judgment accordingly — whatever that might be.”

In District 5, Renier Diaz de la Portilla fended off former Univision reporter Angel Zayon. In the closest race, Diaz de la Portilla won by just 5 percentage points, despite outspending his opponent by $163,000.

It was Diaz de la Portilla who sponsored the item to terminate Crew’s contract earlier this month. At the time many observers, including the superintendent himself, accused the candidate of trying to outdo Zayon, who was running on a strong anti-Crew platform in the heavily Hispanic district. Diaz de la Portilla denied the accusation.

In the biggest School Board election blowout, incumbent Martin Karp defeated challenger Shawn Beightol, a science teacher at Dr. Michael Krop Senior High, winning nearly 74 percent of District 3 votes. It was an anticlimactic end to an intriguing — and bitter — battle that included accusations of financial fraud, misuse of privilege and housing violations.

“I am grateful that it’s behind now, because there is a lot of work to do and I can move forward,” Karp said. “I’m glad that people who have seen my work over the last four years did come out to vote, and I’m going to continue to reach out.”


Beightol, one of Crew’s most vocal detractors, said early in the campaign that he hoped to be part of a “new majority on the board [that would] bring true education reform.”

It became apparent early Tuesday, however, that he would not have the chance, as he trailed Karp by a wide margin to the end.

Karp joined the board in 2004, shortly after earning Teacher of the Year honors in his district. As a member of the 5-4 majority bloc, he voted against ousting Crew and approved reopening the teachers’ contract, which resulted in postponing their raises.

A New Majority

Feldman will join the four board members who are open to firing Crew: Diaz de la Portilla, Ana Rivas Logan, Marta Perez and Vice Chair Perla Hantman, all of whom voted to terminate the superintendent’s contract.

The members, most notably Perez and Logan, have also sided lately with teachers on a number of issues, including a push to do away with their full-coverage health care and the postponing of their raises.

All signs seem to point to Feldman joining their ranks.

“Certainly the conventional wisdom is that he is supportive of a change in administration when it comes to the superintendent,” Karp said. “If that is the case, naturally it’s going to make a difference.”

Karp called Feldman’s triumph over Greer “a loss and a gain.”

The success of Feldman’s grassroots campaign rests in part on his promise to manage funds responsibly so teachers do not get slighted.

“People wanted a change based on what I told them I would do: hold people accountable and respect the teachers,” Feldman said.

He has been an educator in Miami-Dade for 35 years. Before becoming principal of Devon Aire in 2003, he spent 14 years as a region director in charge of 55 schools, and managed a $200 million budget. He entered the race as the Dollar-A-Year principal, a label he capitalized on during his campaign against Greer.

Though Feldman says his administrative experience qualifies him for the board, he will inherit very difficult circumstances. Over the last several months, the district has suffered one catastrophic budget cut after another. Postponing the teachers’ raises was a way to deal with a $284 million budget shortfall. With Florida’s economy diving steadily, boom times are not expected anytime soon.

Feldman says he’s prepared for the challenge.

“For 35 years I’ve done what I’ve told people I was going to do,” he said. “This is no different. I’m very excited, and I’m ready. ”

Karp also has a positive outlook on the future.

“Obviously the last three months have been extremely trying because of the budget,” Karp said. “But I’m just going to keep working at it and, hopefully, this too will pass.”

Feldman will not have an opportunity to vote on this year’s budget, which the board must finalize by mid-September.

Visit Jordan Melnick’s blog at TeachDade.com