Which state is the Wild West of chartering? No accountability, anyone can get public dollars, no experience needed.
Some say Arizona. Some say Michigan. Right now, I’d say it is Florida.
After 12 elderly patients died during Hurricane Irma at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills in Hollywood last September, South Floridians were not stunned to learn that the doctor who owned the facility, Jack Michel, had a history of fraud complaints. As WPLG’s Bob Norman noted last November, nothing stopped Michel — who owns the Larkin Community Hospital network — from opening a nursing home after previously paying a $15.4 million federal fine to settle Medicare and Medicaid fraud claims in 2007. Since then, several Larkin doctors also have been criminally charged with fraud.
But since the deadly incident, which inspired new statewide regulations, sparked a criminal probe, and got the Rehabilitation Center’s license suspended, Michel hasn’t stopped pitching new business ideas. His latest move? Opening a charter school.
According to the Biscayne Times, Michel owns the historic Admiral Vee Motel building at 8000 Biscayne Blvd., a striking MiMo-style structure that film producers used as the Sun Gym in the 2013 Mark Wahlberg and the Rock movie Pain & Gain. The building has been in a state of disrepair for years, with busted windows, water damage and homeless people sleeping under the breezeways. Last March, the Biscayne Times chronicled how Michel had let the once-gleaming property decay.
But recently, someone has slapped spiffy new signs on the side of the building advertising the “Larkin School for the Health Sciences,” a charter school serving kids from grades 6 through 8. The signs say the school will open in next month.
A New Times reporter visited the facility on Wednesday, and the building is still missing windows and strewn with garbage. But the school published a press release last February asking parents to apply to send their children, and job-postings on the website Glassdoor show the school looking for a principal just 12 days ago.
This is disgusting. Betsy DeVos would approve. If parents apply to send their child, well, that’s all good.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
KARMA, the physics of LIFE, will be the undoing of these horrid people, despite what they believe or say.
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From your mouth to God’s ears.
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What is it about Florida?
Florida governor fraudster takes the cake for health care fraud:
Rick Scott oversaw one of the largest health care frauds in U.S. history, he was the CEO and had to resign/retire with his golden parachute.
The government settled a second series of similar claims with Columbia/HCA in 2002 for an additional $881 million. The total for the two fines was $1.7 billion.
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Florida has been a locus for scams, particularly regarding land and real estate development, since at least the 1920’s. It’s in the DNA of the state.
The Marx Bothers film “The Coconuts” was released in 1929, and was about the Florida land boom and bust of 1926 (a little-known precursor to the stock market crash of 1929).
At one point in the film, Groucho, always the hustler and trickster, is extolling the virtues of Florida real estate, and says, “”You can even get stucco. Boy, can you get stucco.”
As residents of the state are finding out now, as well.
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The ones who got “stucco-ed”the most are teachers and students. Florida is still a bonanza for real estate speculators and charter operators, especially when they are the same.
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Scott is running for the Senate. He is trying to oust Bill Nelson. Scott is backed by lots of corporate donors, The abundant ads by the Republicans bash Nelson for being too partisan, ineffective and too long in office. It mentions that “new blood” is needed. There is not one mention that the “new blood” is the same old blood crook that has served as governor. Scott is never mentioned in the ads. I’m not Nelson’s biggest fan, but he is far more ethical than Rick Scott.
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Rick Scott, the “fresh blood” that became a billionaire by bilking Medicare.
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Jack Michel, the owner of this so-called health care charter for grades 6-8, previously paid a $15.4 million federal fine to settle Medicare and Medicaid fraud claims in 2007. Eight elderly nursing home patients died in a Hollywood, Florida, nursing home owned by Michel during Hurricane Irma. Yet Michel is granted permission to open up a charter that will serve young people. What qualifies Michel for this new project? Absolutely nothing! It is clear that Michel is a grifter, and Florida could care less.
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Florida welcomes grifters.
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They even elected and reelected one for governor.
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They certainly are consistent. I knew a few families in my ’50’s childhood (rural upstate-NY) who packed up & disappeared overnight, on the run from shady biz dealings, bad debt etc. They always went to FL. A very tolerant place in that respect.
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This is an extension of the swamp where, as you have noted, you hire people who are knee deep in it, or let them do what every they want to make a profit.
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All I have to say about Jack Michel and Rick Scott is: Lock them up, lock them up, lock them up! Actually I have more to say about these two con artists, but it’s not appropriate for this respectful blog.
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Arizona, North Carolina, and Florida are all real-life advertisements warning what The United States will become with a Trumpian, Alt-Right Deep State in control.
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I can not wait until we/Florida ceases to provide fodder for bloggers and national columnists. (No offense Diane) We are a damn mess.
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Someone needs to stop these Charter Schools from opening and bilking the taxpayers of millions of dollars and not providing students with a high quality education.
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