Hernandez Demoted

Palm Beach County School Board has demoted Jeffrey Hernandez. You may remember that he has been involved in much controversy over the curriculum and testing changes. They are still going to pay his contract. Why pay someone who does not do their job? Who agreed to a contract that would force the schools to keep paying someone that does not do their job?

Hernandez will now hold an advisor position to help low performing schools. This is odd since the job he was removed from was to improve performance for all schools. Can he only improve the low schools? Low schools often show improvements by just showing some interest in the students and a small change in the curriculum or new materials. Can Hernandez not perform change at a more advance level?

Let’s ask why keep him on staff at all.



Some information obtained from: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/schools/controversial-palm-beach-county-school-district-leader-hernandez-138366.html

Obama - Banks & Credit

Obama wants banks to loosen credit. Has everyone forgotten that he used to claim the easy credit was one of the items leading to the bank troubles? Who said that allowing people not credit worthy to get over their heads was the banks’ fault? How will increased lending be different this time?


People are going to go to the bank in droves and ask for loans. They will not all be credit worthy. It looks like it will just repeat the last scenario.

Are banks really not lending? Perhaps, the loan applicants are just not qualified. We do not want to lend to people that cannot pay back. This is the mess we have now and bailed out.

Facebook - Judges and Lawyers - Crazy

I can understand a conflict of interest if judges rule in favor of their attorney friend. However, how would we ever really know if they are friends doing favors for each other? The judge is supposed to be an honest, above board individual. Nearly all judges were formally lawyers and as such probably have many lawyer friends. Even the judge’s next door neighbor might be an attorney. I would worry more about casual conversations, dinners, golfing, barbecues, etc. and less about a little online chatter in Facebook.


Isn’t this giving too much influence to Facebook’s powers?

What’s next? If a judge is married to an attorney, should we require they get an annulment to avoid a conflict of interest?



http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/fla-judges-and-lawyers-can-t-be-facebook-115485.html

FP&L Wants More Money!

More MONEY for FP&L? Are they insane? No, don’t answer that; you may be accused of slander.


I cannot believe that another rate increase would be approved. FP&L is a required item for homeowners and businesses. Yet, they keep being allowed to take advantage of the customers. It seems that no matter how much they claim they need money – they don’t. The profits are high and going higher.

I am not sure how well the Palm Beach Interview on December 5 will explain things. I know that I would like to sit down and ask some questions about this debacle.

I wonder how many regulatory board members, or their friends and families, are profiting from FP&L.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/does-fpl-need-a-1-2-billion-rate-98667.html

Church and State – Separate or Not?

I am not planning to say whether the change of a voting day to accommodate religion is right or wrong. However, what are people thinking? At least this is not a move of a regularly scheduled election. Florida Governor Charlie Crist has decided to postpone a special election by one week because the planned date interfered with a Jewish holiday, Passover.

Oddly, the election is being held to replace a US Representative Robert Wexler who happens to be a prominent Jewish participant. Wouldn’t you think Wexler’s people would have been voicing their opinion about the Passover conflicting date? They did not. It was the general public supposedly. No one is saying how many people complained. Are we moving voting dates for a few or the masses?

Will we start moving other government functions to accommodate religions? Does this set a precedent to make other changes in the name of religion?



http://www.postonpolitics.com/2009/11/crist-reskeds-special-election-due-to-passover/

Palm Beach County Schools, Florida - Up to No Good

It is great that Superintendent Art Johnson and the top curriculum person, Jeffrey Hernandez, are gathering support after backing down on their ideas. However, they are targeting the minorities. They state that minorities suffer more under the school system, more minority students drop out, etc. This is probably true. However, don’t these same students traditionally do poorly when given standardized tests? The new curriculum plans that Johnson and Hernandez are pushing have lots of testing included. How can we be sure these tests will fairly treat the minorities they are claiming to benefit? Also, many of the minority groups the pair are speaking to need translators and may not be aware of all the consequences involved when they agree to support the ideas. The minorities just want what is best for their children like everyone else. I am worried Johnson and Hernandez are putting on a show that will appeal to the minorities without delivering any real success changes. There does not seem to be any proof or research showing how the change will help minorities.


Do you think Hernandez was overpaid with plans to appeal to minorities? Hernandez came to the Palm Beach School system with a questionable track record in the Miami-Dade schools.



Some information gleaned from: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/schools/outreach-to-minority-students-plays-race-ethnic-card-63771.html as well as other Palm Beach Post stories.

Palm Beach County Schools, Florida - Missing Monies

Palm Beach County Schools are at it again. Now, they are investigating the unknown charges to school board credit cards. The credit cards were given to principals and select teachers to buy discretionary items. Now, there are missing invoices, missing receipts, hundreds of thousands of dollars not accounted for in spending, and the list goes on.


The spenders are saying they were not given adequate guidelines about how to use the credit cards.

The school board says they do not know who spent what money nor what was bought.

Not upset enough, the credit card spending limit was $1000 per purchase. This seems to be the only thing that everyone agrees upon. Yet, the investigation is beginning to show that some clever principals/teachers decided to buy more expensive items and pay for it using the credit card anyway. Here is an example how they were able to do this.: Shop for something that costs $2200. Then, pay with your school board credit card on three different charges, $800. $800, and $600 which totals the $2000. This also stays below the $1000 spending limit. Well, it sort of – kind of does. Doesn’t it?

Trained or not in using the credit cards, what school employee would think that paying for one item in small pieces is acceptable?

What person spends a county public school system’s money without keeping the receipts? Losing some receipts is expected. Losing hundreds of thousands of dollars with is a different ballgame.