The school board in Brevard County, Florida, voted to close three popular schools, to save money.
Parents protested, along with local elected officials, but the board spared only one school. The chair of the board acknowledged that they were compelled to close good schools.
“Tears streaming down her face, Gardendale Elementary Parent Karen Proctor said she didn’t know what to say to her 7-year-old son.
“And then her tone changed – and she promised to shift her passion from working to keep the school open to kicking out the board members who voted in favor of the closures.
“It’s disgusting,” she said. “It’s not OK.”
It’s puzzling that the richest, most powerful nation in the world can’t afford to keep its public schools open.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A part of the plan to takeover any society is to take it from fear to terror. When you do that most will fall for anything as happened in Vietnam, Iraq and Afganistan. Vietnam and Iraq were direct lies for the military industrial complex to have their fun and profits. There was no Gulf of Tonkin incident for real and there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or terrorists. Colin Powell lied his you know what off as did everyone else and now we have this mess which is worse than it was. This is just like education, make it worse and then you can do what ever you want no matter what. Simple psychological warfare that follows all the simple rules of domination.
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The county voted down a referendum to increase funding in November 2012.
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We can do EVEN WORSE than this! See Education Termination at mountainmaninsights.org It is a fable for our time. It tells how top politicians solve our public schools crisis. Teacher-free, student-less schools become the norm. Standardized test scores soar, property taxes plunge, and the politicians get reelected! Yes, it could happen here. Read how at http://www.mountainmaninsights.org Click on Education Termination. Start laughing – and crying!
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We have been lied to ….. It was not about the referendum
it is about mismanagement
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Do they have any Laws in Florida to protect the Public?
I saw in this Brevard county they also were eliminating busing and that they even limited what you could comment on at the board meeting. There are many States that you couldn’t get away with that!
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Yes, this absolutely happened. The school board would not even let our county commissioner speak at that meeting.
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One very important point to add:… approximately 6-8 weeks ago Brevard hailed the grand opening of a charter school.
In a county where they claim an abysmal economy and job loss was the chief factor for closing great public schools, they opened a large charter and celebrated it.
Parents all over Florida joined Brevard’s inspirational community in writing letters to Brevard’s school board, in testifying, appealing in op eds, keeping the story alive in the media and protesting,
Parents from Jacksonville to Miami feel this loss very deeply because we witnessed the passion with which Brevard fought. Brevard parents and teachers did an amazing job of organizing and resisting. My heart aches with them.
Brevard (and all the other counties under siege in our nation) shouldn’t give up. Those who are hijacking public education may win some battles but they won’t win the war. Parents never give up fighting for their children..
God bless Brevard parents and teachers for how valiantly they fought.
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It can afford to. It’s a matter of stated priorities vs actual priorities. If standardizing or attempting more equity of outcomes and opportunities (a truly more supportive, quality public education) were the goal, it would have happened already. The priority is to get a lock on the nations resources for the very top, most wealthy and influential decision makers, and continue to forward the agenda of getting/keeping a position of power and influence internationally (over resources, trade, political/military matters…). That requires more pro-social concerns to truthfully take a back seat to support that agenda. Sustenance for the masses, carte blanche for the wizards behind the curtain. Politicians, lobbyists & PR folks to scapegoat/divert attention/cover tracks. We have the money, we have the means, but we have cowards behind the wheel.
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From what I’ve read, the budget problems of Brevard County aren’t remotely puzzling.
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No crying about school closings! (To paraphrase Tom Hanks’ infamous “No crying in baseball!”) I honestly don’t mean to sound harsh, but LOOK TO CHICAGO and organize, don’t agonize! YES, work on changing the board before they close even MORE schools (and open even MORE charter schools).
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I find itt interesting that the one school Sea Park Elementary in Satellite Beach was left open. I feel this was due to the fact it is on the barrier island, there are several exclusive neighborhoods zoned for the school (one being gated) and the families have the financial means to actually send their children to private school. I feel the closing decisions were made along socio-economic and politiclall influence lines. A pretty drastic means to save such a small amount of money.
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Also along the racial lines.
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This ain’t over yet. The City of Titusville intends to vote a resolution to proceed with a dispute against the School Board. The Brevard County Commission indicated an inclination to,do,the same. Let’s see if they follow through.
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One harsh fact needs to be remembered. The total amount that “needed” to be cut from the budget was identical to the amount “needed” to build the new charter school demanded by the appointed Florida State Board of Education.
Brevard County IS the Space Coast, home of brilliant Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral engineers and large military installations and military/industrial corporations.. (I live there.) It is also overwhelmingly republican at-all-costs, and that includes Tea Party candidates. Tea Party Republican Billionaire Gov. Rick Scott was the CEO of the corporation convicted of the biggest fraud against Medicare in history. When questioned personally he replied that he repeatedly refused to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate him, yet his money paid for TV messages that got him elected. Past Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of W. and son of H.W., has organizations and investments in huge corporate education reform interests.
The school closings are a scam. “Public-private partnerships” is the euphemism meaning “public tax money for private profit.” The school closings and the charter school building (scheduled to be built blocks from where I live) are part of the financial scam of the selling of America – one school at a time.
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Why do we have charter schools? Why do we have schools of choice? What happened to making right by the existing schools? I moved here from another state. I’ve never heard of County Schools, Charter schools or Schools of Choice. My school was associated with a city and couldn’t be bullied by a County. If it had issued it cleaned them up instead of closing and starting some other school. I think it’s time to close the schools of choice and charters. Why should a tax payer have to pay for them when the real public school needs help? It’s adding a strain on the budget and i can’t even send my kids to a school of choice – it’s lottery but you can’t have an IEP and get in. You stay on the waiting list wondering why you don’t move up! This is a discrimination.
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I live in Viera and went to the open house for the new charter school. Had the ambiance and sincerity of an Amway meeting! Robert Jordan, former Chair of Brevard Public Schools led the meeting. Talked down BPS, acting like he was not part of the problem! Unfortunately, he was on the Board when decisions were made that brought us to today’s problems. Same for Amy Kneesy, who has been on the Board for 8 years and now acts surprised about budget shortfall. Dishonest or simply clueless, she should resign.
Charter schools must be approved by local districts if they meet qualifications. They take money away from local districts. The local districts do not have a choice about charter schools. See the state reps for that. They are the ones crippling local districts. Elections have consequences.
Finally, Brevard is a long and narrow county- 75 miles North to South. Unfortunately, most of the population losses came from the Titusville area. That’s why those schools are closing. The North area has too many schools for too little population. BTW, Viera still does not have a middle school- it’s a vacant lot next to Viera High.
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My perspective as a parent in the Brevard Public School System. Some background, I am a very involved parent in the school system. I am a PTO President, have been a volunteer coordinator, chair of many varied committees, yearbook chair, advisor to multiple school sponsored clubs and room parent for 6 of my 7 years in the BPS. I have been in this school system for the past 7 years. I have also been in school systems in CA, NE, MO, and TN.
I believe that our school district has been in trouble for quite awhile. It was only a matter of time before schools would be up for closure and things would be cut. The State of Florida is a main part of the problem as is our district. The State of Fl is expecting this district to be at a specific level of technology by the year 2014. Yet they are not providing the monies needed to get our district to that level. The money must come from some where but where? As an example a few years ago we had to cut Technology class from our school. I called Tallahassee and asked for help. The response I received was telling. I explained that we were losing Technology and I was told they (meaning Tallahassee) thought we should as they believed all classes should have a computer per child and that was the goal. I explained that that was impossible on many levels but children still needed to learn computers. Oh well the priority is to get 22-24 computers to a classroom. I was shocked, not only does our district not have the money for that. Our district has a contract with a specific company to buy computers from. I as a PTO president would love to push for the purchase of computers for our school but cannot as they have to be purchased from the districts vendor at an excessively high cost. Everything is ass backwards from the state level down. Do I believe our board is part of the problem? Some of them yes.
We had a vote for a 1/2 cent tax increase in November. It did not pass. The reason I believe it did not pass is our School Board, our Superintendent and our Publicity Department. They did nothing to help it pass. This mistake was unforgivable in my eyes. We lost the vote by a mere 4000 (I believe). Would that tax increase of saved the schools up for closure, I am not sure it would have. I don’t believe Sea Park staying open is because of where it is located nor because of the families economic status. But the closures needed to happen to save programs, at least that is what we are being led to believe.
On busing…this is a mess. They propose to get rid of all corridor busing. For those of you not familiar with Brevard County let me tell you how our Jr High system is run. It is a choice program….meaning in my case I have a school I am zoned for (mind you it is in another city I am not zoned for the Jr High in the city where I live, nice huh? I actually get to drive by the JR high in our town to get to the other) Or I can choose to put my child’s name in a lottery to go to an excellent school in a different city, or I can choose to put my child’s name in for a spot in an high achieving program in the JR high in the town where I live. If he gets in to any of these he can choose where he wants to go. So he has applied for the two other programs, as he is a good student who knows he would like to go to a good college. Corridor busing is how he would get to school. We as parents have asked the district to let us “pay” for busing so that our children are still able to do this. I have personally been told the state of Fl is telling our district if they let us “pay” for busing they will take funding away from our district. So my child has the opportunity to go to a great school for him and get the best education for him but the district and the state are having a pissing contest? Really?? Not only is this unfair to our children….it is wrong! Those kids who don’t have parents that can drive them are going to miss out on a better education and schools like Edgewood and Westshore who are already pretty elite will become so elite! Florida worked for years to change things but we are going to move backwards now? This is still the south.
Now onto application fees. The board has voted to institute application fees. There is a company hired who will be charging $4 per application. The district has voted to charge us $30 per application. So what this means is to have my child apply for a LOTTERY not a school a lottery at a school I am going to have to pay $30. Where is the other $26 going? We are supposed to bail the district out now? Then we get to pay another $30 to the other school for a 1 in 25 chance my son might get in. Then if we get into either of these schools we have to pay another $30 every year to stay there!! It is to reapply to the same school every year. Makes sense huh?
So basically I am done venting. I just wanted you to see what I am experiencing. Yes we were not allowed to speak up at the board meeting. I don’t understand how they can do the things they do and I don’t understand why we put up with it. We are not coming together…our district is being ripped to shreds. The charter school being built…who cares really. Some parents are dying to get in and parents like myself want to stay as far away from it as possible. Do I think it will fail…not in Viera I don’t, unless there is mismanagement of funds. Which really wouldn’t surprise me anymore. I myself am dejected as are many other parents. One of our Board Members specifically said our parents “Need to be better informed about voting”. Well guess what, I know they are now. Good luck board members.
The last thing I guess I have is that it is my understanding that our district owns a lot of empty buildings and lots. Why have those not been sold??? Our districts DROP program. We could save a ton of money if that was run properly.
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I understand how you feel Susan. I keep wondering if the school district’s problem is incompetence, dishonesty or both.
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I just spent 2 hours on the phone to Tallahassee Board of Education. They have told me there is nothing I can do. They believe some of the things our district is doing are wrong but “their hands are tied” we voted them in. Really?? And it looks as if our County Commissioner is going to sue the school district about the school closures. This just gets better and better.
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It is a very sad development indeed and thank you for weighing in on this injustice. Consider how much money had been spent on capital improvements is viera during the past five years: new district admin building, new high school and now a new charter school which the board approved within days of announcing their plans to close 4 popular successful schools. Who do these people work for anyway??
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Hi, we are actually moving to Viera area from Australia (May 2014) and my son will be attending Manatee Elementary for the 6th grade. I’ve been reading about all the school problems in the area and it has got me worried about where my son will attend middle school and if it will be a safe school. I don’t understand how a Charter school can be built before a middle school in Viera. Wouldn’t a middle school accommodate more students and also parents wouldn’t have to worry about a lottery system to get into a local school? It just doesn’t make much sense to me.
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