Last week, the Grandfathered Salary lawsuit was served upon Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Read the redacted complaint filed in federal court in Miami (redacted due to federal law per personal information of plaintiffs). In the fall of 2015, M-DCPS and the United Teachers of Dade together unlawfully changed a legislatively designated “grandfathered salary schedule.” Thus, […]
Recently, the Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Alberto Carvalho, called a related story “fake news” in response to an inquiry from Mr. Andrew Ladanowski. Anyone can say anything; it doesn’t make it so. After all, I can pin some fake antlers on Baxter the Cat and call him a 10 point buck; however, the […]
Why would 19,000 teachers sue the School Board of Miami Dade Public Schools for $60 million in lost salaries? Because a law passed by the Florida Legislature in 2011 required that as of July 1, 2014, whatever salary schedule was in place would thence forth be frozen in time, or, as the statute phrased it, […]
Count me among the less than a million voters who already cast an early ballot and among those disgusted with this election cycle. When comparing the two major candidates – that is, their records, their faults, and their failings – Donald Trump is clearly head and shoulders above Hillary Clinton. Like us all, Mr. Trump […]
How can Hillary Clinton win the White House in 2016? You will be surprised. On the first day of the extension of the 13th year of antagonism with Iran we feature the renown scholar, Dr. Andrew Bostom with his witty and acerbic insights about this geopolitical blunder. Join The United West team as they analyze […]
It is not often that I have the opportunity to write about something positive. On March 4th, however, my brother U.S. Army Major Trent Colestock was honored on the floor of the U.S. Congress by Florida Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-District 27). Click here to read the Congressional Record of the Honoring of Major Trent Colestock […]
Last month, Gov. Rick Scott accepted the resignation of Gerald Bailey, the eight year Commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, from his post. Now a month later, former Commissioner Bailey accuses Gov. Scott and his aides of political meddling and claims his resignation was forced. Given the timing, it seems less than credible […]
United Teachers of Dade: Do as We Say, Not as We Do! The picture, Fed Ingram’s “cuddle and huddle” with Enid Weisman, M-DCPS Chief Human Capital Officer and Mayor of Aventura, sums it all up as to where the loyalties of Fed Ingram and United Teachers of Dade (UTD) seem to lie: with M-DCPS, not the […]
On Wednesday, December 3, 2014, the Florida Department of Education released the 2013-14 Preliminary District Educator Evaluation Results report on its Performance Evaluation website. As explained by the FLDOE press release: “Evaluation results are assigned by districts to teachers, non-classroom personnel and school administrators, based on the district’s approved evaluation system. During the first week […]
Based on primary source documents and information from the Education Practices Commission of the State of Florida and the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, the penalty for a specific sexual harassment case seems to vary greatly with a wide range of extremes between the two states. Former Miami-Dade County Public Schools assistant principal at Miami Central […]
On Monday, September 29, 2014, Miami-Dade County Public Schools unveiled their “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign in response to four middle school students bringing loaded guns to Brownsville Middle School. Alongside their anti-bullying and “Do The Right Thing” campaigns, it smacks of hypocrisy given the retaliatory and punitive actions taken against me in […]
Borrowing from the saying of my mentor, Ira J. Paul, and as rightly inferred by T. Willard Fair in his recent op-ed in The Miami Herald, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, which prides itself in its motto of “giving our students the world” is giving our students what a reasonable person may conclude, especially in School […]
Despite Gov. Rick Scott’s executive order (Executive Order 13-276) replacing the Common Core and withdrawing Florida from PARCC, teachers are still being trained in Common Core as the Florida Standards are essentially the Common Core State Standards with another name, slight renumbering of standards, and a few additional standards. In an email sent to me […]
By the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General and the Miami-Dade Office of Inspector General’s refusal to investigate possible and suspected test cheating at Crestview Elementary School in the Miami-Dade School District, they may have given the citizens and taxpayers of Florida a glimpse into the strategy to handle the onslaught of test […]
An official complaint has been filed with the Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools regarding suspected test cheating on the FCAT Science exam at Crestview Elementary School during the 2013-2014 school year. The complaint is based upon a report from Mr. Keith Guthrie. Guthrie stated he had suspicions about test scores on the Grade 5 FCAT Science exam […]