Gallagher Seeks To Lead Board
BY BUDDY NEVINS
School Board member Bev Gallagher supported construction of the most expensive and least-needed school in the county’s history.
Now she is seeking her reward:
She wants to lead the School Board, according to another Board member.
Gallagher is jockeying to be named the next vice chair of the Board. It is not really an election for vice chair, but for chair.
That’s because traditionally the vice chair serves one year and is named chair for the following year.
The vice chair is elected by the nine Board members in a vote annually in November. So all the electioneering takes place in the School Board headquarters.
Can we afford to have Gallagher chair, the most visible face for public education in Broward?
Naming Gallagher chair would be a snub to newer members Jennifer Gottlieb and Phyllis Hope, who have never served. Gallagher has been chair in the past.
Bev was never one for collegiality.
Let’s look a reason I believe Gallagher should not be named vice chair – West Broward High School.
School Board members promised for years to build a new high school near Weston to relieve overcrowding at Cypress Bay High.
Gallagher, however, also wanted a school in her district in Pembroke Pines. She lobbied that her school should come before one nearer Weston.
She got her school a $125 million first-class, boutique high school near U. S. 27 that opened this year.
At the time, Gallagher told me that the School Board could afford two high schools in Southwest Broward her new school and one closer to Weston to take the load off Cypress Bay.
The only problem is that while they were building West Broward, money and land ran out. It looks like it will be a long time before a school is built to relieve Cypress Bay, the original goal.
Gallagher amazingly just got re-elected after this fiscal fiasco. That’s what’s wrong with single member districts.
Gallagher can get a little-needed school over what is good for students in Weston because she is only elected by voters in her own district. Cypress Bay is not in her district.
The Board, which went along with her, is also to blame. They could have saved the money they spent on West Broward High and sent all the students to private school.
The new high school cost around $68,000 per student. That’s a lot of private school tuition!
The Board can never redo their mistake with West Broward High. They can reject giving a reward to the chief supporter of the school Gallagher.
Bev Gallagher should not be the next vice chair.
September 15th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Gallagher is a pathetic excuse for a public office holder. a lobbyist is her employer for her other job. she lied many years to the parents of Weston. Too bad we have to put up with her for the next 4 years.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Jennifer Gotlieb has my vote. She should be the next in line. She’s smart, and has 2 kids currently in the system.
September 16th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Build the school in Weston now!
September 17th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Henry and Ilana – get a life and leave these blogs alone. As for the next comment… you don’t get to vote on who the chair of the school board is!!
September 17th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Henry – have you picked up that dog catcher application yet?
September 17th, 2008 at 11:03 am
LOL! BUDDY NEVINS?? Who let you back into Journalism?
FROM BUDDY:
That’s the wonderful thing about the First Amendment and the Internet. Anybody can be in journalism. I had almost 40 years where I got paid every week to write. And everything I wrote had my name on it, just like BROWARDBEAT.COM. That’s more than I can say for you.
September 18th, 2008 at 11:51 am
All of you should get a life. Those kids are lucky to have a brand new school with all of the latest technology. As for another new high school, the voters of Broward county elected to pass an amendment which is what truly “dwindled†the money away. Gallagher is not responsible for that. Also, with our economic situation the enrollment has dwindled and what really needs to happen is to re-bounder the whole district instead of building a new school. Now let’s see how happy that makes all of the parents and children in Broward.
As for Chair of the Board, Gallagher has done an excellent job over her time in office. She is one of the most respected and knowledgeable on the Board.