School Bonds: Robert Runcie’s Lead Paint Lies
BY BUDDY NEVINS
I can explain Superintendent Robert Runcie’s deceitful $800 million school bonds campaign in two words: Lead paint.
Lead paint in our schools is one of the evils Runcie pledged to eradicate if voters agree to hike their property taxes to pay for his bonds. It was emphasized after a poll found lead paint removal was the issue that most resonated with voters.
Yet in a startling one paragraph e-mail, the school system admitted it has no idea if lead paint really exists in the schools. As a response to a request for a list of schools containing lead paint, Browardbeat.com received this:
To: “browardbeat@hotmail.com” <browardbeat@hotmail.com>
Public Records Request 14/15-9197 (Status)
We do not have a list of schools with lead based paint. We can provide a list of all schools built prior to 1978 that may contain lead based paint. Testing is only required prior to renovation activities that may disturb the paint.
Requel L. Bell, Clerk Specialist B-Confidential
Public Information Office
Broward County Public Schools, Public Information Office
600 S.E. Third Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
754.321.2300
So Runcie has stoked fear in the public that their children might be exposed to a deadly toxin without one shred of proof that the problem exists.
Is there anything Runcie will not do to win this bond referendum?
Apparently not.
Runcie brought with him from Chicago everything wrong about that failed, bankrupt school system.
He has delved into the voting records of district employees that their families.
He has used public resources to sell the bonds.
He has funded the campaign with thousands of dollars from companies like Pertle Construction, Moss & Associates, Advanced Roofing and Zyscovich Architects – the very firms who will cash in with work if the bonds pass.
Now there is word circulating through the system that Runcie will be examining the vote returns next week. Those principals who did not deliver victories in the neighborhoods around their schools had better watch out!
Perhaps the biggest misrepresentation is this:
The legal documens for the bonds states that Board can “modify, substitute or replace” any of the projects promised money at anytime. All those signs stating this or that school will get X-Amount of money may not be worth the paper they are printed on!
This is especially true since Runcie has already said some schools will be closed in the future. He will announce which ones….after the bond referendum.
Make no mistake. This bond vote is a referendum on Robert Runcie.
Voters have to ask themselves: Are the schools better since Runcie arrived?
Are Runcie and his School Board lackeys trustworthy enough to spend another $800 million?
October 31st, 2014 at 8:59 am
I’m sure the broken robocalls that went to parents in NW Broward yesterday from the schools aren’t helping win many votes for the bonds.
People were complaining online about the robocall computer just calling and calling their homes for up to 2 hours straight – with the calls coming so frequently that while they were on the phone listening, call waiting clicked in with yet another robocall.
I am as pro-public school as anyone in this community. I don’t support charters as a concept. I think vouchers are intended to destroy public education. I would be the first to vote to raise my taxes significantly to assist in quality public education. I have kids in BCPS and have more that will be attending when they are of age.
But I can tell you that the two voters in our household voted NO on these scam bonds. I’ve encouraged every family member to vote NO (and they are). I know many BCPS employees that are voting NO on the bonds.
It is a referendum on the LEADERSHIP of our School District, which has failed in the past and is failing today to promote quality public education for our kids.
Come back to me asking for $2.5 billion (the amount the district says they need) when you have:
1. A quality superintendent;
2. A housecleaning of the deadwood staff that have been there and been part of the worst of the corruption and ineptitude.
3. An INDEPENDENT 5 person oversight committee that will be reviewing the funding requests and ensuring that proper bids are obtained and the money is spent wisely (not the scam 19 member panel that Runcie proposed).
4. An agreement between the District/Board and the Inspector General to have outside oversight of the District and School Board.
5. A real plan of action to address the need to close some dying schools that are half enrolled rather than propping them up, and some track record of controlling spending.
Honestly, this list shouldn’t be that hard, but I’m not holding my breath.
VOTE NO ON BONDS to show your opposition to the direction of the leadership in our school district!
October 31st, 2014 at 12:31 pm
Thank God for you, Buddy. You have only touched the surface.
Did you know that Runcie promised publicly no layoffs and regular raises for five years if the bonds were approved? He knows that construction money has nothing to do with the operating money which pays salaries. Many of the staff do not know this and will be fooled by his lies.
Runcie has replaced many qualified administrators with his unqualified Chicago friends, such as the transportation director who almost destroyed the bus pick ups.
Runcie is a major failure. I would never vote to give him more money.
October 31st, 2014 at 1:47 pm
Whether or not the bond referendum passes or fails it will be the Board who will be held responsible. If it passes and promises are not kept, Board members will take the heat and some will lose their seat. If it fails, the Board will appear weak. Either way, it is a loss for the Board. Runcie knows this just as I do. Hopefully, the Board knows this too and will hold him accountable.
October 31st, 2014 at 3:23 pm
The other day, I had two calls on my answering machine in a row, from Robert Runcie personally (or a taped message, rather). He identified himself as the Superintendent of Broward schools, and invited me via telephone to a conference call about the bond issue.
My understanding is that no pubic monies are supposed to be spent promoting this bond. I don’t even think the Superintendent is supposed to be personally involved. This has gotten way too personal for him.
I hope there is a clause in his contract that he won’t get a huge buy-out when this initiative fails. The Board will need to put their big girl pants on and send him packing real soon.
October 31st, 2014 at 6:26 pm
Buddy – YOU ARE THE BEST! You are my first click when I get on my computer. I truly believe that there is not one taxpayer who would hesitate to vote in favor of this bond issue if we could only believe that our students & teachers would receive the benefits. Now as I drive past several of our schools I see huge banners tied to the fence as you enter the school grounds touting the bond request. We simply do not trust the current superintendent nor do we trust “several” of the current members of the school board. This is why, hopefully, this bond will fail.
By the way, how much did we pay for these banners?
October 31st, 2014 at 7:17 pm
“Pertle Construction, Moss & Associates, Advanced Roofing and Zyscovich Architect”
That’s the biggest reason to vote NO. Those are the same people who got us in trouble in the past.
October 31st, 2014 at 7:18 pm
I am sick of hearing from Runcie on my phone. I hang up on him and I’m hanging up on the school bond on Tuesday.
October 31st, 2014 at 7:22 pm
I am a school system employee sick of the superintendent and sick of the overkill of campaigning being shoved down our throat. I’ve gotten robocalls at my home. The Bulletin Board, hallway and fence at the school are filled with advertising for the bond. I had to sit through a meeting with the principal who in very threatening tones told us to encourage everybody we knew to vote for the bonds.
I don’t like all the coercion and neither do all my co-workers.
October 31st, 2014 at 8:57 pm
Bid 15-021R was issued earlier this year to paint three high schools with bid specifications that dealt with lead paint issues. Both Physical Plant Operations and (now retired) Purchasing staff knew about the lead paint issues. Why doesn’t the Superintendent?
October 31st, 2014 at 9:38 pm
The only people who should be worried about their jobs are rejects er I mean exports from Chicago and North Miami Beach! When the Bond goes DOA Tuesday we can start the purging. No worries about paying out their padded contracts there is Just Cause for gross mismanagement. Korn, Rupert and Brinkworth were fantastic.
October 31st, 2014 at 10:12 pm
Lead paint is usually found in schools that were painted in the early to mid fifties and before. In historic preservation schools, lead paint was common. But the remedy for lead paint is either one of two things – power blasting the lead off the walls which creates a hazardous condition by the flying debris or painting over or encapsulating the lead paint under new coats of non-lead paint. To my knowledge, there is only one historic preservation school in the Broward County School District at this time and that is Northside Elementary in the vicinity of Andrews Avenue and Sunrise Boulevard. The last time I was aware it was painted was around 2006 or 2007 and no record was on file that noted it had lead paint. In fact, I personally contacted the State of Florida Department of Preservation to obtain a color scheme from the period in which it was constructed. At one point in my career, I was assigned the historic preservation schools (around 20) in Miami Dade County and had completed a project at Coral Gables Elementary which gave me insight into lead paint and the issues of historic preservation sites. Lead paint has been identified in mainly residential buildings as a very hazardous condition on walls where children or families might come in contact with the lead because of the time spent in these buildings and the children are not being monitored closely.
October 31st, 2014 at 11:22 pm
Ms. Blackwood is correct. North Side Elementary was painted under Bid 27-163R in 2007. There were no specifications provided by Physical Plant Operations to Purchasing concerning lead abatement or encapsulation in the document.
November 1st, 2014 at 9:52 am
Dear doa please run for the board lol
November 1st, 2014 at 4:43 pm
I would rather eat my own foot than run for the SB.
November 2nd, 2014 at 6:35 pm
These Bonds are ridiculous The Broward County School Board has plenty of money But they don’t know how to manage it.they need an auditor someone who knows how to balance books
November 3rd, 2014 at 1:04 pm
AFTER E-MAILING IN RESPONSE TO THEIR FIRST E-MAIL FROM ALAN LEVY I ASKED WHO THEY WERE AND HOW THEY GOT MY E-MAIL ADDRESS AS THE ADVERTISING FIRM WHOSE LOGO THEY USED CLAIMED NOT TO BE INVOLVED IN THE SCHOOL BOARD BOND ISSUE, Guess what? THEY E-MAILED ME MORE ALAN LEVY WHOOEY!!!!!
What a bunch of sleaze bags!
FROM BUDDY:
Please forward any e-mail you have received from them to Browardbeat@hotmail.com. Thanks.