Gimme A Break! High School Considers Naming Field For Bob Parks
BY BUDDY NEVINS
In the midst of a tough re-election, School Board member Bob Parks could get some help from the taxpayers.
There is talk about giving Parks free name recognition by branding Coconut Creek High’s new track The Bob Parks Track.
The taxpayers coughed up around $5 million to renovate the high school’s field, stadium and concession stand. Now is is going to be emblazoned with a politicians’ name like some Third World dictatorship?
This is just one more example of why Parks needs to go after 24 years.
Why should School Board members be given special awards for doing their jobs?
Parks can take partial credit for getting money to rebuild Coconut Creek High’s athletic field, but isn’t that what he is suppose to do?
City officials in Coconut Creek, who will share the new field, believe Parks has done little for their community.
“Bob Parks has really done nothing. We never see him, said one person in city hall.
The School Board should be selling the naming rights to fields and stadiums! If it is good enough for the major leagues, it is good enough for the cash-poor school system.
I bet local businesses like all those car dealerships in Coconut Creek would line up to help out. The money could support athletic programs.
If the rights can’t be sold, name the field after a worthy student, coach or teacher. They have much more to do with what goes on in the life of children than Bob Parks.
For Parks, this would be the second field in his district named for him. In August, his name was placed on the Deerfield Beach High field.
If the Board names this second field for Parks in the middle of an election, they are using public facilities to take sides in his re-election. That’s wrong and a slap at the many parents backing his opponent Nora Rupert.
Parks apparently hasn’t a clue about who Rupert is or how good a candidate she can be.
His campaign advisor Barbara Miller was calling around for information about Rupert.
Miller is a former lobbyist. Having a one-time lobbyist, who lives in Italy and Hallandale Beach and not in Parks’ northeast Broward District, phone around for information is pathetic. It shows Parks has no real contacts in the district.
Here’s the skinny on Rupert, Barbara:
She has a reputation as a good grass roots organizer.
She has been a school activist in Coconut Creek, especially on boundary issues. Bob must have been asleep at those meetings.
She is eager to win and full of energy. She is already making inroads into Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach.
Most of all, Rupert doesn’t have the arrogance of a School Board member who has surrounded himself with lobbyists and insiders, but not parents, for the past 24 years.
I read in the Miami Herald today that the ethics committee, consisting of Jack Seiler, Bob Butterworth and W. George Allen, are about to recommend term limits for School Board members.
It is about time.
When Parks took office, the governor was Bob Graham. There have been six governors since then.
Term limits are good enough for the governor and Cabinet, the Legislature and the county commission. What makes the School Board so special?
Oh, I guess the answer is Bob Parks wants to stay. He wants to be our School Board member for Life.
xxxx
Two more reasons to dump Parks:
My previous post on how Parks is taking lobbyists and insider money is here.
Another previous post on how Parks wants to hand aging School Board attorney Ed Marko an extension of his contract is here.
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:50 am
To read that Coconut Creek High is considering this is a surprise to the parents. I think there are more deserving people. I never even heard of Parks before.
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Imagine if they had named a field after Ms. Gallagher!!!!
The School Board should do what the Postal Service does. Stamps only have pictures of those who already passed. School facilities should be named using the same rules to prevent favortism and embarrassment.
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:36 pm
They should name it Testiment to Mediocrity Field.
April 23rd, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Public buildings and streets should never be named after living people. What’s wrong with Coconut Creek High School Stadium? Parks would have refused this immediately if he had any character at all. I don’t know Rupert, but she has to be much more informed that Parks.
April 23rd, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Bob Parks does not deserve to have ANYTHING named after him much less a taxpayer funded athletic facility.
Whose idea was this anyway? They should have their head examined, seriously!
If Parks had a SHRED of integrity he’d refute that idea, but we all know what a pompous, self-serving arse he is, so that’s highly unlikely.
I hope Ms. Rupert destroys him.
Ms. Rupert has a distinct advantage here.
Barbara Miller is a dinosaur of a campaign manager. Still does things like they did pre-computer age. Sits on her fat butt in her villa in Italy and makes phone calls on her Vonage phone! What a tainted has been if there ever was one.
By the way, why does she have any interest in Bob Parks?
She’s no longer registered as a lobbyist at the SBBC. She must still have her slimy fingers in some backdoor deals otherwise, she would not bother.
Hey Barbara, YOU are about to be term limited out of political existence. Half your friends are either in jail, on their way or under FBI investigation. You and Neil are under the microscope.
Many of us hope you get indicted too.
April 23rd, 2010 at 3:04 pm
“Bob Parks has really done nothing. We never see him,†said one person in city hall.
One person in City Hall? Exactly who might that be? The janitor? The receptionist? The city manager? A city commissioner?
Perhaps a city commisssioner supporting Nora Rupert?
Very, very sloppy, Buddy.
FROM BUDDY:
Not sloppy. Deliberate. I deliberately did not reveal the name of the person who talked to me. I would do the same for you, if requested.
Be assured, it was not the janitor. However, Parks needs the votes of the janitor and the receptionist, too.
April 23rd, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I don’t know Rupert, but she has to be much more informed that Parks.
She isn’t.
I do agree, however, that no public building or facility should be named for a living elected official.
FROM BUDDY: Your last paragraph indicates you agree with me!
April 23rd, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Term limits are good enough for the governor and Cabinet, the Legislature and the county commission.
Are you saying that our legislature, governor, cabinet and county commission are better today than when they didn’t have term limits?
The governor has always been term limited (and it used to be to a single term). I think you could make a good argument that in the case of the legislature, term limits have had a detrimental to good governance.
April 23rd, 2010 at 4:28 pm
In many of my past postings, I keep saying Term Limits for School Board Members and it’s about time!!! As for naming the field I think A Board Policy was written shortly after William Dandy disgraced himself. Now a building was named after a living Ham Forman, but HE PAID FOR IT!!! For the person talking about Barbara Miller’s fat butt, she has none she is skinny as a pencil. hahaha
Bob is not a harmful person but he should have gotten out while he was on the Glory Side of the job. Now he’s on the gorey side.
April 23rd, 2010 at 4:29 pm
I don’t live in the ares but I surely hope the best person for the job wins!!!
April 23rd, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Parks and the rest of the board’s unbridled spending spree on unnecessary building projects is the reason that Lindner needed an SIU bodyguard today. The very group that was being told there was no more to eat (a metaphor for jobs), were told the same because the guests of honor (contractors) had eaten everything and the host (Mike Garretson) was not around to buy more food, while the homeowners of the party house (school board) were all out of cash. I guess it is true that pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.
I think they should just call the Coconut Creek field the Bob Parks Memorial Butterfly Garden because his career is dead, as is his buddy Roy “Butterfly Garden” Rogers. There is something poetic about that. Also it works even after his demise.
April 23rd, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Again? They already named the track at Deerfield Beach HS after him! How many tracks does he need named after him?
April 23rd, 2010 at 7:33 pm
What An ABSURD Idea said:”Bob Parks does not deserve to have ANYTHING named after him much less a taxpayer funded athletic facility.”
I have to disagree with you on your thesis that nothing should be named after Parks. That is not fair to his legacy for all he has done for public education in Broward County. I propose that instead of the entire stadium being named after him, the good people of Coconut Creek find it in their hearts to name the restroom urinals and toilets in honor of Parks.
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Wonder how mcuh cash in a golf bags this cost?
April 24th, 2010 at 5:42 am
Someone should look into how much over budget the Coconut Creek High school project came in.
April 24th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
The field will not be named after Bob Parks. The Community will oppose it and we don’t need some johnny come lately like Nora Rupert to oppose it. Those of us that actually do the daily parent activism and don;t work for the School Board, have managed to try and do the right thing for parents and students for years.
As to you assertion Nora Rupert is a parents activist. I have to ask where? In South Creek? No one in North Creek has heard of her. She certainly isn’t that well know in PTA circles until she decided to run and non one in Advisory knows who this woman is. She has yet to attend a school board meeting or workshop and no one in the parents commuity thinks that a reading coach who teaches at Piper High School actually thinks she can respresent the parent community.
So, Mr. Nevins I woud suggest that you actually get to the the players on deck before yopu start talking about the “parent” community.
Seems you have no idea who are the parents activists in the District nor what the defintion is. It ain’t a School Board employee that is for sure.
Also make sure that you know who is supporting her. Certainly not enough parents in Creek.
April 24th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Buddy Your last paragraph indicates you agree with me!
I agree that a facility sould not be named after a living person, whether it is Clay Shaw, Pat Larkins or Bbo Parks.
However, I disagree with your implication that Bob Parks is behind this. Who, actually, is proposing naming the track for him?
Buddy: I deliberately did not reveal the name of the person who talked to me.
No doubt because it was Becky Tooley, who is heavily involved in Rupert’s campaign.
What kind of credibility should we assign this statement when you shield the person making it? You did not even say “a Coconut Creek commissioner” or “Coconut Creek city staff member,” which would have given us some basis for judgement.
As it is, this is nothing more than a sophomoric hatchet job.
April 25th, 2010 at 6:26 am
I think all things considered, immortality is being sold here. One should be very careful when considering a name for a structure of field if the person is still alive, as one never knows whether an something wrong could take place in that person’s future that would permanently taint that person’s reputation. At that point the appointment of the name would be not only embarrassing, but inappropriate. It would also show a gross lack of judgement on the panel that voted the particular name in and leave questions as to why the did it…such as, was the deal bought with huge sums of money? The last thing one would want is a building or field named for a person or company whose public profile has the opportunity to transition from famous to infamous. (You see it from time to time on professional sports arenas and stadiums. The Houston Astros, for example, play at Minute Maid Park, the baseball stadium formerly known as Enron Field. In 1999, Enron Corp. signed a 30-year, $100 million contract for the naming rights to the stadium. By 2002, Enron was bankrupt after stealing everyone’s money. Of course huge amounts of revenue had plenty to do with the naming, and I don’t know if Parks is paying for the field himself, but I highly doubt it. Tell me Enron is something to look up to!) I wouldn’t name a structure of field after a person until after his/her demise, and then, only after an extensive and extremely thorough research has been carried out on his/her life, so that he/she can be honored and immortalized deservingly. That person’s memory should be remembered highly as one of the very finest citizens who had lived or served in that community. That person’s lifestyle and deeds should act as an inspiration to present community members as well as to future generations. It should show our highest esteem, acknowledgement, and gratefulness towards that deceased member of our comunity. It should be looked at as a torch held up in the memory of an absolutely wonderful, honorable, impeccable, and #1 person who was once among us and served us well; a role model to emulate. It should be in recognition of a person who left the world a better place. It shouldn’t serve to feed the egocentric tendencies of one who is still alive, no matter how marvelous that person may have been up to now.
April 25th, 2010 at 8:36 am
I think that places should not be named after people who are still living so that means this field CAN be named after Bob Parks.
April 25th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Yep, just remember what happened with Dandy Middle School…William Dandy proves the point…only dead people are “clean enough” for buildings, fields, etc.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Ms. Jusevic doesn’t know what she is talking about. She can be nasty and threatening and that doesn’t make what she says true. The truth is that the school committee has been considering naming the track after Bob Parks and that there has been pressure on the group from “above.”
Ms. Jusevic has been around the headquarters so long she forgot what goes on in the schools.
As for her unwarranted attacks on Nora Rupert, we will see who wins this election.
April 26th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
i don’t know about Nora, but i was once at a meeting with Jeanne Jusevic and all she did was whine! I couldn’t stand it. I hear they moved her to DAC from SAC to get her out of there. And I see she is head of ‘YAC’ still. And this from a person whose website says ‘Nice always matters’ I guess someone else posted that hint on her site that she hasn’t bothered to read herself.
April 26th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
RE: Hammerhead says:
April 23rd, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Roy Rogers seems to be at another high in his ever continuing career – he is to be the top dog over state ethics if I read correctly
April 27th, 2010 at 5:10 am
I must have been at the same meeting. because I decided not to volunteer my time even though my childrens education is so important. I found Justevic an overbearing narcissist.
April 27th, 2010 at 5:13 am
Whether Coconut Creek High School makes this recommendation these I do know:
1. It isn’t going to happen.
2. Since I am school based at my son’s high school I stil know what is going on in the community.
3. If Nora Rupert is a parent leader in Creek , where has she been? It is a legilmate question.
4. Still SAC Chair at my son’s high school so get your facts straight.
5. Asking questions of a candidate isn’t whining.
6. This is what people who haven’t been engaged until they do not get what they want do. They attack rather answer the questions. So, again, answer my questions instead of attacking. I know I won’t get one answer.
April 27th, 2010 at 5:14 am
Oh one another thing. I don’t hide behind fake names.
April 27th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Plus I need to do a better job of spelling and editing. 🙂
April 28th, 2010 at 7:02 am
Re: the butterfly man (Roy Rogers)–amazing he is the head of the ethics committee yet he came to the SB last week to support Parks’ lame attempt at keeping Marko. Weren’t there posts that said half the problem at the SB is Marko? Why would Mr. Ethics want Marko to stay??? hmmmmm
April 28th, 2010 at 7:43 am
The Creek project started before the Deerfield project yet the Deerfield project finished first. The crew working at Creek was moved to Deerfield once the Deerfield project was released. Does anyone think that Bob Parks would stoop to the level of interfering with the progress of an ongoing project at Creek so that the stadium in his base community would get done first? Does anyone think it is just a coincidence that the contractor for both projects gave financial support to Bob’s campaign? Does anyone think it is just a coincidence that Bob pushed for this company to be awarded these jobs? I don’t know Nora yet, but I soon will and will be shifting my support from “Anyone but Bob” to her. I do hide behind a screen name, because I know how these bastards are. I also have a premonition about Bob’s ultimate legacy…disgraced former Board Member pleads guilty…
April 28th, 2010 at 8:28 am
Shouldn’t they name a park after Parks? Or a car park?
April 28th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Bob Parks is a donothing supporter of the status quo. He corruptly influenced the construction projects in his district. Check out of votes for a company employing his relative.
May 16th, 2010 at 9:38 am
[…] Here is my original story on the field-naming charade. […]