School Board Campaign: Members Pray To Jesus Rather Than To Talk About School Failures
BY BUDDY NEVINS
The dictionary definition of pandering is to cater basely.
What does pandering look like?
Try this:
Korn and Levinson join Osgood at her church to campaign this morning. Their time in office is up, we must send a clear message at the polls! They will just continue to let Robert Runcie destroy our school district.
We must elect @MendelsonBCPS6 & @rpetty to their seats! #FixIt pic.twitter.com/CIPpWbTwOQ
— Tim Sternberg, Ed.S. 🎓 (@TimWSternberg) July 16, 2018
That’s Broward School Board members Donna Korn and Laurie Rich Levinson campaigning at a church in the largely black section of Fort Lauderdale. They were invited by fellow School Board member Rosalind Osgood.
Korn and Levinson are about as far away from most of the church members as you can get, economically and geographically. They live comfortably in Southwest Broward.
But both are running for reelection and like most politicians, they will go to any extreme to win votes.
Pandering in politics is nothing new.
Locked in a tough race for U. S. Senate, Rick Scott and Bill Nelson have both donned yarmulkes and worshipped in synagogues.  With their eyes closed, Scott and Nelson were probably praying for more votes in the Jewish community.
Like the U. S. Senate candidates, Korn and Levinson were looking for votes. They are probably a lot more comfortable wailing about Jesus than discussing the what has happened in the school system during their tenure.
The current Broward School Board has a record of failure.
Failure to fulfill the promises made in 2014 when voters approved the sale of $800 million in bonds to rehab and improve the schools.
Failure to beef up test scores in a meaningful way.
Failure to keep our students safe in schools, despite pledges that school safety would be a priority of the bonds.
Failure to honor the pledge of transparency, allowing the public to see how money is being spent. Superintendent Robert Runcie and his crew have continued to be masters of obfuscation.
As Scott Travis wrote in the Sun-Sentinel:Â
“As the community waits, students, teachers and parents continue to complain about mold, leaky roofs, failing air conditioners. While the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High has raised alarms about schools’ safety, dozens of safety projects to install fences and gates to restrict access at schools remain stalled.”
The School Board and Runcie excuses it and claims everything is hunkydory.
Some might call such statements spin. Others might call it Fake News.
But shouldn’t we just call it lies?
Korn and Levinson are among Runcie’s biggest supporters. Â Thus, they are enablers for everything that is wrong in the schools.
Maybe its time for Korn and Levinson to stop pandering and start improving schools.
Political consultants would argue that there is nothing wrong with Korn and Levinson campaigning in a church. Consultants would say it is not pandering. They say it was simply showing respect for a group of voters.
But isn’t it really something else, vividly described by another definition of pandering: pimping?
July 17th, 2018 at 10:49 am
what’s even more disgusting is, after four years of complaining about how bad they are, BTU recently endorsed both for re election! The corrupt and incompetent Broward liberal Democratic machine continues unabated. That’s one of the reasons why Broward schools funding was next to last this year as Tallahassee has NO CONFIDENCE in Runcie and ninkompoop board. Vote them OUT!
July 17th, 2018 at 11:00 am
The Lousy Ladies of Browsed do nothing for the ppl. They do nothing to improve the broken system they are a part of. Blindly follow and do Runcie’s bidding. I can only hope the ppl of broward Will vote them out
July 17th, 2018 at 11:47 am
Being pro public schools, this is sadly a case for 100% privatization and 100% prison sentences for corrupt school board members.
July 17th, 2018 at 12:30 pm
The only School Board Member who has consistently demanded accountability from the administration is NORA RUPERT. She fights for our kids. Keep her on the board and she’ll keep Runcie’s feet to the fire. I’m telling everyone that we must re-elect NORA RUPERT.
FROM BUDDY:
Nora has been wonderful about demanding answers from Runcie and his cronies.
July 17th, 2018 at 12:45 pm
I prey for Change!
July 17th, 2018 at 1:25 pm
I find campaigning in churches disgusting, but I understand that is “expected” and the norm with certain churches/communities. What is even more disgusting, though, is a Jewish candidate (Levinson) (Korn has a Jewish last name but I think she is Catholic) who isn’t even running in the communities served by Osgood’s church, showing up as if she’s a huge supporter of that community. Hypocrite. Korn and Levinson must go. Hopefully the voters aren’t as clueless as these ladies think they are.
July 17th, 2018 at 3:40 pm
Nora Rupert is one of the most under handed people on the board. Buddy if you did your homework and were obviously not a mouth piece for Nora you would have seen she has missed the most days of anyone on the board. Instead you take her word as fact. You used to do a lot more investigation.
July 17th, 2018 at 3:42 pm
#1BTU is a joke but remember they hate Osgood. They will help us get her out in 2020. She is the problem. She is all over the World with this Church stuff. She is a religious fanatic that has no place in Elected office. She is now contaminating the board and school system. She thinks Runcie is some type of God sent Leader that’s why she can’t be his boss. She can’t do her job because of her religious foolishness. Let’s vote them all out except Rupert.
July 17th, 2018 at 4:20 pm
# 7 Go Buddy go.I mean you are an asset to the community.Also #6 i agree with u.Its like seeing Judy Stern receiving communion…Or in line for Confession…Great point #6..
July 17th, 2018 at 4:29 pm
What gives you the right or the ability to criticize honest public servants like Bob Runcie, Donna Korn and Laurie Rich Levinson. Are you an educator? Did you even go to public school?
FROM BUDDY:
What gives me the right to criticize? That would be the First Amendment.
Am I an educator? No, but I was years ago.
Did I go to public school? I went to both public and private school in different grades.
July 17th, 2018 at 5:00 pm
The main thing we voters must do to stop the corruption in this school system is to make sure we KEEP NORA RUPERT ON OUR SCHOOL BOARD.
She is the only one with spunk & good sense.
Hang in there, Nora, we will stand by you!
July 17th, 2018 at 6:08 pm
Meanwhile, my Volunteers and I are out talking to people, knocking on doors, and working hard to win this election on August 28th. Vote for a Richard Mendelson for Broward County School Board, District 6, on August 28th!!
Cooper City, Davie, Weston, Sunrise, Plantation
July 17th, 2018 at 11:08 pm
#7 clearly works for Broward schools, they always act surprise that someone would critique and act insulted lmao…keep shedding light on these clowns, Buddy…if the haters notice you, your doing your job right.
We need to clean house at Broward schools (minus Nora), and the county in general, commissioners, SOE, sheriff, etc. excep!
As a Democrat I’m EMBARRASSED by these unqualified goons!
July 18th, 2018 at 7:32 am
is Korn doing Sieg Heil?
July 18th, 2018 at 8:53 am
Let’s hear it is for the Broward County School Board and their chosen leader Superintendent Robert Runcie. It can’t be easy operating the 5th biggest school board bureaucracy in the country without term limits for its board especially given the challenges of expropriating the lion share of their budget from the non-homesteaded waterfront and high rises property in the east, giving them rundown unusable public schools causing 40% of school age Fort Lauderdale residents to attend expensive private schools sand then sending the tax money out west to run private like schools for the guard gated western suburbs. This school board and their chosen leader are a real disgrace, anybody living east of the turnpike not currently eating for free at a school would really be shooting themselves in the foot voting for them or their proposed property tax millage increase given that the $800 million school bond from 4 years ago hasn’t gone anywhere near the eastern schools it was supposed to replace and fix.
July 19th, 2018 at 8:17 am
One of the biggest reasons not to join BTU for some teachers is that BTU uses some dues monies to support the very people who shirk their responsibilities in running an efficient, effective school system. BTU is an affiliate of AFL-CIO which is well known for supporting incumbents who have done nothing for their constituents. Many SBBC employees belong to unions affiliated with AFL-CIO and are also used by the unions to funnel money to incompetent candidates.
Jim Silvernale is a SBBC candidate who serves as a Division President of the AFL-CIO as does Anna Fusco for the BTU. Silvernale has been in many negotiations with the school board for union members. Would he stand up for students, parents, and teachers or would he strive to curry favor with the Superintendent so union negotiations would possibly
go well?
There are several good candidates for the school board this year. Vote out incumbents and be aware of all newcomers’ backgrounds.
July 21st, 2018 at 7:53 pm
Just when you think you’ve seen it all….I call it desperation
July 24th, 2018 at 9:59 pm
#16, Your are absolutely correct! Silvernale’s background needs to be addressed. There is a serious conflict of interest here regarding his union affiliation. BCPS students, parents & teachers would not be his priority and after hearing him speak at different forums in district 1, I am convinced that he does not possess any qualities or knowledge that will help improve our schools.
Veronica Newmeyer is an excellent candidate that will put student’s needs first and owes favors to no one.
July 25th, 2018 at 7:48 am
#16 Yoo are so right! I hope the voters take the time to research the candidates before they vote. In District 1 there is only one candidate in the race that has no affiliation with any entity. No ties to union. Veronica Newmeyer, she has fought for students and teachers for over 18 years with no personal agenda or gain. If you want true change she’s the one to vote for!
July 27th, 2018 at 3:57 pm
Agreed. Unions and their incumbents cover each other’s asses. I support what unions use to stand for. Now they all about all their own self interest and what the candidates can do for them.Just because you have all the endorsements doesn’t mean your the best candidate. It means your in the pockets of the establishment. So when it comes to canidates union endorsements mean NOTHING to me.