Application pulled but hopes for a charter school still alive

Published in The Islander News October 23, 2008
kjosephsen@islanderews.com

Key Biscayne's application to open a municipal charter high school on the island may be on hold, but there is still plenty of discussion on the initiative.

Public workshops start next week, and the school was the subject of three separate agenda items at the Tuesday, October 14, Village Council meeting. Vice Mayor Jorge Mendia sought to make sure school consult­ant Fielding Nair International completes its original scope of services, Village Attorney Steve Helfman asked for input on an ordi­nance that will create a citizen-based Charter School Advisory Board and Council mem­ber Pat Weinman called for a discussion of the upcoming workshops.

Scope of services

Based on a motion from Mendia, the Council sought to make sure FNI completes all the services in its original contract, which was approved this May.
"Over the last few months, the scope of work seems to be changing, and not in the direction we as a Village, or this Council, needs," Mendia said. "He's been hired to do a job. We need to hold him to it."
Helfman will meet with Prakash Nair from FN I and come back to the Council with an addendum to the original contract. He added he will insist the consultant adheres to the original deal, except in any instances where the terms are no longer relevant.
Helfman said he's glad Mendia put the item on the agenda. "I am concerned about what our contractual relationship is with him now," he said. "I do believe there is a need to modify our contract with him."

Hellman explained the original process changed this June when local leaders agreed to have Nair work with a group of volun­teers to file an application with the Miami-Dade County School District to open a Charter School in 2009-2010.

That application, which the Council voted last month to put on hold, dominated the consultant's work, meaning that "things did not go forward as planned," Helfman said.

However, the Attorney noted, the infor­mation Nair gained during the application process is still useful - it will be helpful in creating a feasibility study, one of the main goals of FNI's original contract.

Helfman said an e-mail he received from Nair suggests the consultant is close to being able to finish the study: "Based on the exten­sive work that was put in, he has much of, if not all of the information that he needs to complete that feasibility study," he said.

Mendia said he wants to make sure part of that is the detailed facilities plan listed as a key requirement in the Village's Request For Proposals.

He noted the last time Nair addressed the Council, it sounded like the facilities report would not be part of his final product. Mendia also said he recently spoke with Nair and was told FNI would have to move parts of its task to a "phase two" because it spent too much money on the application process.

However, "This is why they were hired," Mendia said, pointing to the RFP's call for a curriculum and facilities report. "This is why we agreed to pay them a significant amount of money."

Mendia added the school process can't move forward without information on cur­riculum and facilities, so it is essential that FN1 complete that part of the work.

Council members agreed, though Weinman said she doesn't think the Village and the consultant are that far apart. Weinman said the Village needs "absolutely everything" listed in the original contract, but must acknowledge that the process went in a different direction than was indicated in the RFP.

She noted Nair had to focus more on visioning than the nuts-and-bolts issues when it became clear the community wasn't ready to immediately create a school.

Mendia, however, said the consultant should he doing both visioning and nuts­ and-bolts analysis.

Council member Michael Davey, mean­while, said he understands there may need to be a second phase to FNI's project. However, he agreed it's vital to review the current contract.

Meanwhile, school supporters who worked closely with Nair defended the consultant.

Angel Martin said the Council already redefined Nair's contract during the September meeting at which it voted to delay the application. At that meeting, he said, the Council approved a specific schedule for public workshops, in essence redoing FNI's contract: "I don't know what (Mendia's) item is for, except to bring more chaos to this, which is totally unnecessary," he said.

Kathy King added school supporters believed Village Attorneys were going to revise Nair's contract based on the Council's September action, and wondered why that hasn't happened: "Why are we going back to discuss the new scope? Why don't they have a new contract as promised?" she asked.

Mayor Robert Vernon, however, said FNI's original contract was never formally modified, and that is what Helfman will bring to the Council in the weeks ahead.

Incoming Council member Dr. Michael Kelly said that is necessary for the process to stay on track.

Kelly, who takes office next month, described the situation as a "game of telephone" where the facts change as the mes­sage passes from one person to the next. "It needs to be made clear, otherwise there are going to be disappointments, because we're not going to get to where we all want to go," he said.

"We need the Village Attorney to get everything in black-and-white."

Advisory Board

Helfman promised to do so, and also asked for Council direction on an ordinance to create a Charter School Advisory Board, a citizen group that will help with the public input process.

Nair provided Helfman with a long list of the qualifications he is seeking in board members: people with expertise in technology, special education and child psychology; a representative from the "parent community;" someone who has demonstrated community leadership; etc.

Helfman said he wants to know what type of people the Council wants on the committee, as ultimately they are the ones forming the Advisory Board. Therefore, "I didn't feel I was in the position to draft something that was ready for the first reading of an ordinance tonight."

Helfman also indicated Nair may not nec­essarily need a committee at this point.

Nair told Helfman he got a lot of community input during the application process, and likely has enough data to do his feasibility study. Therefore, Helfman said, Nair indicated the committee might be more useful in a second phase of the school study.

The Attorney added he's confident the committee will eventually be called upon.

"I suspect (Nair) is going to find it feasible. It would be a big surprise to me if he came back and said a charter school on Key Biscayne isn't feasible, because it would basically stop at that point. If he wants to continue to work in Key Biscayne, he'll find it feasible."

Workshops

Meanwhile, Weinman asked the Council to consider ways to get the entire community involved in next week's workshops. The workshops start Wednesday, October 29, with a Visioning session from 8:30-11 a.m. and an Educational Models workshop from 7-9:30 p.m. On Thursday, October 30, the Educational Models discussion is from 8:30 -11 a.m. and the Visioning event is from 7­9:30 p.m. A Wednesday, November 19, "Charter High School" meeting will be held from 8:30-11 a.m. and 7-9:30 p.m. All sessions will be on the second floor of the Community Center.

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