Victory!!!

Emerson elementary will not be repurposed! The Miami Dade County school board's proposal to repurpose and close "ten" schools (which included Emerson elementary) has been removed from discussion. As per Rudy Crew, other funds were found to balance the budget shortfall for this academic year. Congratulations to the school and the community!


http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/410122.html

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update February 6, 2008

During the ABC boundary committee meeting yesterday (February 5th), a study of "Schools Less Than 90% Utilized" (of Permanent FISH Capacity) was presented. The study suggested alternate ways of handling under enrolled schools. Here is the document in a pdf format (keep in mind, this document was created by the ABC committee and not by the school board):

http://jaguar.ir.miami.edu/~iggy/FISH%20capacity.pdf

And here is a list of schools that are less than 90% utilized:

http://jaguar.ir.miami.edu/~iggy/FISH%20data.pdfiami.edu/~iggy/FISH%20data.pdf

















We haven't studied the data, but one thing is clear as it relates to Emerson. If you glance at the second link (shown above), you will see that Emerson has a student population of 406 students, while JRE Lee Education Center has only 72 students. Consequently, the school board is considering closing Emerson due to under enrollment. Yet, in its infinite wisdom (and I use the term sarcastically) Emerson will be repurposed with a school that will have even less students. That sure does not illustrate alot of forward thinking.....

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update February 5, 2008

A small delegation of Emersonian's attended today's "School Operations/Attendance Boundary Committee" meeting. The Attendance Boundary Committee (ABC) consist of parent volunteers and school board member representatives who make recommendations to the school board and superintendent Rudy Crew. After attending this meeting we can attest to the following; there are alot of very good people who are ready and willing to give of their time and expertise for the betterment of the Miami Dade public school system. The meeting was very informative and provided great insight into the inner workings of the school board. We came away from the meeting confident that this upcoming February 13th, the repurposing of Emerson elementary or any other school will not be put to a vote. It became obvious, that if Rudy Crew were to continue down this road of repurposing (closing) schools, he will have an incredible fight on his hands from different fronts. Of course, we will find out the answer to this "hundred dollar" question during the school board workshop meeting on Thursday (February 7th).
One last observation from a personal standpoint. When our Emerson delegation entered the conference room, one could sense, the "deep admiration" from those in the room who are willing to fight the closing of any school, as well as the "nervousness" from those, that.....for whatever reason would like us to fail. It is very important that parents and neighbors attend the work shop and perhaps tilt the odds against repurposing in our favor. We cannot speak during this work shop but we can listen, and in the process make them a little bit uneasy.

Synopsis of the ABC Meeting at the School Board which took place at the School board from approximately 0930 to 1100am.

• Attending from Emerson Elementary were 8 parents. All were received with appreciation for attending and participating in these important matters.
• A study of Schools Less Than 90% utilized (of Permanent FISH Capacity) was discussed. In this study, alternate suggestions were given in handling under enrolled schools.
• The study was offered to identify alternate ways to handle under enrollment in schools. It was also clear that there was some resistance from the "Rudy Crew Alternate" on having this meeting prior to Feb.7th discussions.
• ABC replied that it may be too late to give these options after decisions have been made on going ahead with "repurposing" of schools.
• It was also clear that there is confusion as to what constitutes an under enrolled school. The formula used is not available or known to all present.
• Ana Mercedes Romero spoke marvelously on behalf of Emerson Parents. She told all present that "we will not stop, we are not just looking out for our school but we don’t want any school to be closed when there are other ways to balance a budget."

Hot of the Press: We just found out about this one, so excuse the short notice. But tomorrow morning, the school board will have a boundary meeting where Ms. Susan Marie Kairalla who has been one of our advocates, is going to propose extending the boundaries around Emerson elementary so it won't be under-enrolled. Here is the link to the meeting: http://www.dadeschools.net/meetingsnew/detailnew.asp?ID=29327&defaultx=y

This meeting IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC and they have scheduled it at 9:30 a.m. in SBAB conference room 726 (note that you may only access this room if you use the elevators located outside of the School Board Auditorium). Parking will be in the usual Lot #7 across from WLRN. If the school is not under-enrolled, they can't keep it on the repurposing list. So, its very important that some parents attend this one.

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update February 4, 2008

This upcoming Thursday on February 7th, the workshop to discuss the repurposing plan (which includes Emerson) is "OPEN" to the public. We stand corrected, this morning we called and were notified it was closed to the public. Apparently, that was a mistake (or mis-information) on the school board's part. The meeting to discuss Emerson's future, will be held in Suite 726 (not the first floor auditorium). We will not be able to speak but we may listen. Sandra's bus service will provide buses for those that need transportation.

Here is Ana Romero (who has been one Emerson's biggest defenders) explaining the February 7 workshop better then I ever could:........

With respect to the February 7th workshop which is in fact open to the public, remember that there will be many School Board and Miami Dade County Public School Employees scheduled to attend. The workshop begins at 9 a.m. but since the conference room may be over-crowded, they might use that as an excuse to not allow more parents and concerned parties in.It is suggested that as many parents who can car-pool do so, since the rooms may already be filled to capacity by the time the buses arive. Also, have the drivers drop everyone off at the front and then look for parking to assure that most of you get in as soon as possible. If we are not allowed inside due to there not being enough room, please come anyway. Wear your t-shirts (no signs). The more representation that the media can report, the greater impact our presence will provide.As an alternative plan, select a few individuals to represent the community. If they won't let everyone in, at least we'll be better informed by those that attend on our behalf.Those who arrive at 8:30 will have a better chance to secure a seat. But whether you arrive on time or not PLEASE BE THERE !

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update January 31, 2008

Apparently, a school board in Florida can reverse its decision if enough pressure is applied. Here is the link to a story about an "A" school in Palm Beach County called "Galaxy". During last months school board meeting, the Palm Beach school board voted to close Galaxy elementary in front of a few teary eyed parents. The reason given for the closure was declining enrollment and the need to upgrade the buidling (does not apply in our case). Well, if you read this story, the school board obviously reversed its decision "one-hundred-and-ten" percent. Great news for Galaxy elementary!!! We can only hope to achieve half of what was achieved.


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpgalaxy0131pnjan31,0,5663993.story

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update January 30, 2008

Link to news-story: http://www1.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI75182/

The same issues relating to the repurposing draft were discussed in the Ileana Ros-Lethinen meeting but it was productive. Our school board representative "Marta Perez" was also in attendance. For one thing, it put Emerson elementary in the news again, this time with a powerful voice within our ranks (Ileana-Ros). Secondly, despite the fact that the meeting was held in the middle of the day and in the middle of a work week, the turn-out was relatively good. Finally, it was a good venue for establishing some coordination and leadership within our group.

Regrettably, Marta Perez could only speculate on whether the "Emerson" closure would be an agenda item subject to a vote on February 13th. She mentioned the obvious, which was.... "on February 7th, the school board could either eliminate the Emerson closure from the proposal, or if a clear majority exist, then the board could conceivably put the Emerson closure to a vote on February 13th." From our perspective, we will have to plan for the worst case scenario and assume the voting for the closure of Emerson will be held on February 13th.

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update January 28, 2008

The budget for the Miami school board is $6 Billion dollars a year, they have approximately 364,000 students. They also have approximately 50,000 employees to teach and manage the 364,000 students. Of those 50,000 employees, less then 50% are teachers (approximately 24,000 teachers). The repurposing draft is supposed to save 2.4 million over the next four years. Using these numbers, here are some stats:

A budget that averages a staggering $16,500 per student!

One employee for every seven kids!

One teacher for every 15 kids!

2.4 million is .04% (less then "1/2" percent") of the yearly school budget! To put this in perspective, if you are making $50,000 a year and I asked you to give me .04% of your salary. You will give me $20.

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update January 25, 2008

On January 30th (next Wednesday), congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will be having a meeting to discuss the "repurposing plan" ("closing") of Emerson elementary. The meeting will be at 11:00 a.m. in the Methodist church located at Coral Way and 79th street. There will be a bus at Emerson elementary (Sandra's bus service) for those that need transportation. The bus will leave at 10:00 a.m.

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update January 24, 2008

It is always a good idea to look at the past before proceeding into the future. So let's look at the case of Edison high school. Two years ago, Edison high school was an F school for five consecutive years and embroiled in controversy. In fact, state education officials mandated drastic actions against it. In response, Rudy Crew offered a proposal to close Edison high for a year.



However, the surrounding community and some of our elected officials rose to the occasion and proceeded to make their voices heard in an effort to not close down the school. Consequently, Edison high school was not closed and to their credit scored a "D" in last years FCAT. What is interesting about this story, is a quote from Ms. Evelyn Greer in response to a school board meeting/town hall which was attended by many parents, neighbors, and alumni of Edison high school.

Her quote was: ''It certainly woke everybody up and sent the message this was a dire situation,'' said board member Evelyn Greer. ``Sometimes you have to shock the community.''

Gee, I don't remember her applauding our (Emerson's) efforts??? On the contrary, during the January 16th meeting she sounded as though the parents that were at the school board were wasting their times. It was Dr. Perez and Ms Rivas-Logan that thanked us and applauded our involvement. As if being called cynics by Dr. Rudy Crew was bad enough.

Here is the link to the old Edison story:

http://groups.msn.com/TheMyrtleBeachHomeschoolMeetupGroup/education.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=750&LastModified=4675530794749823434

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update January 23, 2008

In our message board, an alert reader gave us the link to the school board master plan document for 2008 - 2013 http://www.miamidade.gov/planzone/cdmp/July07Special/07SpecialRecAnalysisData.pdf . This document was finalized in June 2007. Apparently, the school board did have a plan to populate Emerson elementary. According to this plan, over the next few years the school board was going to move 100 children from SME (South Miami K-8 center) into Emerson (SME is currently running at ~88% capacity while Emerson is at ~67%). We do not know the pros and cons of this plan (obviously, with some expected growth and 100 more kids, by the year 2013 Emerson is at 100% capacity and suddenly overcrowded). But, at least this plan shows some semblance of vision and wisdom. So the question must be asked, what happened to this plan???

Within this same document, you will find a list of schools that are either scheduled to be open or are being expanded. Here is a direct link http://www.angelfire.com/fl/igman/emerson#None . Quite an impressive list, looks like some of our construction contractors are going to be quite busy. It sure makes fiscal sense to close down some schools, while at the same time building new ones...

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update January 22, 2008

Despite the fact, that a school board draft exist in black and white (http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/3/9/9/9/7/7/webimg/99823460_o.jpg ) and the fact that on February 7th a workshop will be held to discuss the Emerson repurposing plan. Some school board members still want us to believe that nothing is happening. As per Ms. Greer from the school board, here is her response via email on the subject of Emerson:


As was explained at the Board meeting, there has been no conversation about whether to close any school and no conversation about Emerson being closed. There has never been any idea to put any other school at Emerson. You are being manipulated and scared for no reason except politics.


Evelyn Langlieb Greer
District 9
Miami-Dade County Public School Board Member

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update January 21, 2008

Apparently Miami Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez has taken a stand on the Emerson issue. Follow this link to see the letter he sent to Rudy Crew and the school board members:


http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/3/9/9/9/7/7/webimg/99815413_o.jpg

-Parents and Friends of Emerson-

Dr. Rudy Crew's Legacy

A quick google search on the name "Rudy Crew" produced 83,500 hits. The majority of the published articles that were found are not full of praise. In fact, the negative articles, far outnumbered the positive ones. Here are some links; the first two articles were published a few months ago (August 2007 & September 2007) in the Miami New Times. The third from the New York Times (January 19th, 1999) and the fourth is from the New York Post (September 1999).

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2007-08-02/news/bad-apple/full

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2007-09-20/news/rudy-crew-s-crapola/

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902E1D8163BF93AA35755C0A96F958260

http://www.interversity.org/lists/arn-l/archives/Sep1999/msg00091.html

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update January 18, 2008

Dear Community,

Just to keep you abreast of the latest information to save Emerson elementary. Friday morning, the local Univision radio station (FM 98.3), devoted a part of their morning show to the closure of Emerson elementary. The station was doing a call-in show, with radio listeners expressing their opinions regarding the closing of an "A" school (Emerson). All the calls were positive, because quite frankly the closing of a good school without exhausting all available options, is almost impossible to defend. However, in the middle of the show, the station was able to contact one of the Miami dade school board public relations spokespersons.

Basically, this spokesman (Mr. Cotarelo) came on the air and stated for the record (and I'm paraphrasing); "that the closing of Emerson elementary is fiction. The Emerson closure has not been discussed, nothing has been written, and it is nothing but a rumor that was created in the streets of Miami with no legitimacy." When we heard these comments, we all reached for a fax machine to send the radio station a copy of the "internal school board re-purposing draft" that we obtained, which outlines exactly how far along they are in their planning.

Luckily, a person called the show, who is quickly becoming one of our guardian angels, school board member Ms. Ana Rivas Logan from district 7 (Westchester is district 8) (* see note below). She set the facts straight; "that although no vote has been taken, schools have been selected for closure and Emerson is on the list. Emerson's closure is scheduled to be discussed during their next workshop (February 7th), and that what the radio station ought to be doing, is figuring out who the same five board members are who vote "yes" on everything that Rudy Crew proposes."

It is becoming clear to us, that whatever Rudy Crew wants.....Rudy Crew gets. Ms. Logan coming to our defense, helps our cause, because we will need to get the voices of other districts to unite with us. We are going to have to double our efforts and try to get some better organization before the next workshop (February 7th). We must be better prepared to counter whatever arguments are made in favor of Emerson's closure.

-Parents and Friends of Emerson-


* Note: For the record, our district "8" school board member (Dr. Marta Perez) has also been our guardian angel . She has defended us at every turn and has earned our highest admiration.

EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) NEWS January 17, 2008

Dear Community,

Last Wednesday night, the parents, the teachers, and the children of Emerson Elementary attended the monthly Miami-Dade County school board meeting. Our voices were hopefully heard, as more then 400 hundred concerned "friends of Emerson" petition the board for a chance to address our grievances (during the public hearing portion of the meeting (broadcast live on PBS)). At this point, it is hard to gauge towards which direction the nine members of the school board are leaning. Will they take Rudy Crew's re-purposing recommendation or find an alternate solution?

We will get a better idea during a February 7th workshop from 9 a.m - 12 p.m. where the Emerson topic will be further discussed. Tentatively, this meeting is scheduled at the school board building (1450 NE 2nd Avenue, auditorium). Some of the "parents of Emerson" are planning to attend. We really need to see a large turn-out; so, I implore you to try to be present. Until an alternate solution can be found to balance their budget, we plan to continue being a thorn on the side of the school board and particularly Rudy Crew.

Thank You!

Parents and Friends of Emerson...