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Miami-Dade School Board Chooses School Names Based on Politics

Posted on: Tuesday, 4 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Matthew I. Pinzur, The Miami Herald

Apr. 4--Some of Miami's most recognizable places are the landmarks, great and humble, to the Cuban exile community that helped give the city its modern image: the majesty of the Freedom Tower, the energy of Versailles restaurant, the camaraderie of countless cafe cubano windows.

But until the Miami-Dade School Board voted this month to name a new middle school for Jorge Mas Canosa, not one name from the exile community could be found on the district's 356 schoolhouses.

In part, it is a reflection of the slow pace of school construction in recent years -- since 1998, only 13 new campuses have opened.

But when the School Board has had the chance to name schools, politics and power-brokering are often among the deciding factors, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Miami Herald.

Hardly any Hispanics of any nationality have even been nominated. Those who have, including Cuban nationalist Carlos Manuel de Cespedes and South American revolutionary hero Simon Bolivar, have been passed over for years in favor of well-connected local teachers and administrators.

Over the last 10 years, honorees include the longtime chairman of the district's audit committee, the longtime president of the district's credit union and a then-member of the School Board itself.

"To have a school named after you, you should be someone who's done something outstanding in the world or the community with education; it isn't always that way," said former board member Betsy Kaplan, who refused to allow the board to name a school for her shortly after her retirement in 2004.

In August 2000, retired social studies teacher Lamar Louise Curry was nominated by two influential former students -- then-U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and prominent South Florida attorney Robert Traurig.

When she was told the board was considering naming a middle school in her honor, she was so excited that she offered to leave it a $1 million endowment, according to numerous sources, including then-Superintendent Roger Cuevas. "She was so thrilled," Cuevas said. "There was supposed to be a donation made by her estate."

Curry, now 99, descends from one of Miami's pioneer families, which helped build Bayfront Park and set up a trust fund to maintain the landscaping around the Challenger Memorial.

She declined to comment for this story. "That's not the public's business," she said of the endowment.

Lamar Louise Curry Middle opened for the 2004-05 school year, even though de Cespedes, Bolivar and assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin have been on the list of also-rans for years.

Curry "stimulated her students to prepare themselves well," Traurig said. "She is a symbol for that kind of personality and character."

A few recent schools have been named for national or historic figures: A soon-to-open senior high in Doral is named for former President Ronald Reagan, and Graham himself has a school in Miami Lakes -- but the vast majority of new schools honor people with much lower public profiles.

Miami-Dade's naming policy allows anyone in the community to nominate a person and requires the district to hold at least one community meeting to solicit input. The final decision is made by the School Board, which normally adopts recommendations made by a small selection committee of board members, administrators and local residents.

LITTLE DISCUSSION

In most cases, however, minutes from those committees show little or no discussion of alternatives. One typical example came from the committee to name a new elementary school in Southwest Dade, where board member Ana Rivas Logan is quoted as saying: "Many wonderful names were noted . . . however, educators loved Norma Bossard."

Her motion for Bossard, who died in 1999 and taught English from Bolivia to Hong Kong before spending 15 years in the Miami-Dade system, was unanimously approved. District officials later said Coretta Scott King, the recently deceased civil-rights activist, was a finalist -- but no discussion of her name appears in the minutes.

The same questions exist about a number of schools recently renamed, including the March 2004 decision to rename West Little River Elementary as Dr. Henry W. Mack/West Little River, after the Broward resident who chaired the district's audit committee for more than 20 years.

According to board policy, schools are only renamed when "the request to do so emanates from the students, their families, the school's faculty, the community or other interest groups."

Then-principal Gigi Gilbert said she thinks the process was started at her school by board member Solomon Stinson. Parents, students and teachers were introduced to Mack at various meetings, and Gilbert said: "I don't ever remember discussing the coming about of other names."

Stinson said the request came from the community but could not recall how it began.

Mack said he was nominated by a former pastor from a nearby church but said he did not know whether the man was still at the church or, indeed, still alive. Messages left at St. Mark Missionary Baptist were not returned.

Many governments avoid naming buildings for living people, especially politicians still in office, because of the risk of future embarrassment. Years after William Dandy Middle in Fort Lauderdale was named for a beloved Broward educator, Dandy pleaded guilty to hitting a woman with his car and leaving her to die.

The Broward School Board rejected her family's request to change the school's name but in 1999 barred the practice of naming schools for living people.

HONORING THE LIVING

The practice is common in Miami-Dade, where roughly half the last 20 schools were named for still-living people.

"I've always opposed waiting until somebody dies, adamantly opposed," Stinson said. "I think one ought to smell the roses while they live if they deserve it."

In 1999, as a new school was being built on Florida International University's campus, FIU President Modesto "Mitch" Maidique was among those who wanted it named for longtime United Teachers of Dade boss Pat Tornillo.

"He has devoted his life to championing the rights and responsibilities of those working in the classroom and to improving the quality of instruction for all children," Maidique wrote to the School Board.

Almost four years after he sent that letter, the UTD's headquarters was raided by FBI agents, and Tornillo later pleaded guilty to federal mail fraud and tax evasion charges.

"Pat was someone who was very highly respected in the Miami community," Maidique said Friday. "It was sad to see him fall from grace."

Tornillo served nearly two years in prison and repaid more than $1 million in restitution, his reputation permanently charred when he was exposed for stealing from the teachers union to pay for lavish personal travel, fancy clothes and household staff.

"I was incredulous," said board member Marta Perez, long a Tornillo opponent, who helped organize a successful campaign to name the school for Carlos Finlay, the Cuban-born doctor who helped cure yellow fever in the late 19th century.

Board members have also freely named schools after themselves: Michael Krop Senior High, Holmes Braddock Senior High, William Turner Technical Arts High and Robert Renick Education Center were all named for sitting board members.

The practice has been controversial.

Krop withdrew his name under pressure in 1996, as did two other board members nominated at the same time, but Krop accepted the honor in 1998.

The debate could resurface again this summer. Veteran board member Robert Ingram has consented to have a school named for him. A new middle school is scheduled to open in Northwest Dade next year, and one of the names being considered -- suggested by a group of parents -- is Robert B. Ingram Middle School.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald

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Source: The Miami Herald

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