Dade School Board meeting likely to be contentious

BY KATHLEEN McGRORY
Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Hundreds of parents and employees representing a cross-section of interests within the Miami-Dade School District are expected to show up at Wednesday´s board meeting to fight for their piece of the district´s budget.

Among the groups likely to make their presence felt: school psychologists, parents of magnet-school students, police officers and teachers.

The school district needs to slash $284 million from its 2008-09 budget, Superintendent Rudy Crew has said. Crew has proposed sweeping cuts that would include everything from bonus pay for administrators to hot lunches and some transportation for students. The district also is considering hundreds of layoffs.

Among the most controversial measures is a proposal to postpone the salary increases promised to teachers as part of a three-year contract.

Last month, a majority of School Board members advised Crew to move forward with the idea.

In response, the United Teachers of Dade is planning to hold nine rallies across the county, spokeswoman Maggie Cayón said Tuesday. Scores of teachers also are expected to show up at the School Board administration building for Wednesday´s meeting.

‘DEPENDING ON US’

“Our students are depending on us,” UTD President Karen Aronowitz wrote in an e-mail to The Miami Herald. “We are depending on our School Board to protect us and keep their word by honoring our contract.”

Also expected at the meeting are hundreds of Miami-Dade Schools police officers, protesting proposed cuts to the department.

The School Board has given Crew direction to eliminate 33 vacant police positions and 12 additional sworn police officers. The board is considering a proposal that would limit officers to working 10 months a year.

Members of the Dade County Schools Administrators Association, the union representing professional and technical employees, also plan to protest, union officials said. They are rallying against the layoffs proposed by the School Board.

Additionally, about 50 school psychologists are expected to attend, said Philip Lazarus, a Florida International University professor who is advocating on behalf of the psychologists.

Lazarus plans to argue that the cuts to psychologists are not proportional to other district cuts. The School Board has expressed support for reducing the number of psychologists by nearly a fifth.

“The School Board said they would not make cuts that would impact the classroom,” Lazarus said. “But school psychologists are in the classroom all the time. They work directly with needy children. We fear that so many of these youngsters will become educational casualties.”

Parents from across the district plan to attend, too.

Estrella Lozada, a Homestead resident whose daughter attends Coral Reef Senior High, is trying to get parents together to oppose cuts to transportation. If the current proposal passes, transportation for students attending magnet programs would be eliminated.

PARENTS´ NIGHTMARE

“It´s a nightmare for parents,” said Lozada, who added that she would have to pull her daughter from Coral Reef should the cuts pass. “I don´t even know how in the world they´re considering this. A lot of parents rely on this transportation.”

Some students planned to join in the protest -- albeit at their schools. At Dr. Michael S. Krop Senior High, some students were planning on wearing black Wednesday to oppose the cuts to magnet-school transportation. Students signed a petition against the cuts Tuesday. Miami Herald staff writer Malka Abramoff contributed to this report.

© 2008 Miami Herald Media Company