Miami-Dade School Board gets extreme makeover with two hard right newbies

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Miami-Dade School Board gets extreme makeover with two hard right newbies
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The next vote on the chairmanship may hang in the balance

Two candidates hand-picked by Gov. Ron DeSantis to punish, er, challenge Miami-Dade School Board members that did not toe his line on face masks and other COVID-29 craziness won Tuesday, likely changing the dynamic on that dais and further politicizing a “non-partisan” governing body.

Expect more heated debates about books, bathrooms and pronouns.

Roberto Alonso, a real estate professional and software developer appointed to the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees by DeSantis, won in District 4 with 57% of the vote. Maribel Balbin, the former president of the League of Women Voters, got 25% and Kevin Macki Menendez, principal of a Christian school, got 19%.

Alonso raised almost $165,000, including a bunch of small bundles from the likes of Lewis Swezy and Alex Vilarello, an attorney who does business with former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina and his partners. He also has interesting maximum contributions for a first time candidate — from former State Reps. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz and Michael Bileca, county commission candidate Kevin Marino Cabrera, Hialeah Councilman Carl Zogby and lobbyists Ron Book, Felix LaSarte and Hugo Arza.

By comparison, Balbin raised $45,545.

Still, t\his race could have been forced into a runoff — where Balbin might have had a better shot because of the expected turnout — if the Miami-Dade Democrats and United Teachers of Dade had thrown their weight around a little bit more. Instead, Alonso will replace Chairwoman Perla Tabares Hantman, who retired rather than defend her seat in what would have been a nasty, ugly race, and we get a developer-friendly, charter school-loving marionette with the support of the Christian Family Coalition.

Read related: LG Jeanette Nuñez flexes, intimidates in Miami-Dade School Board race

In District 8, Monica Colucci, who has been teaching for 26 years — and served as Special Assistant to Lt. Gov. Lieutenant Jeanette Nuñez, South Florida Regional Representative, from February of 2019 to August of 2020 — won 54% of the vote to unseat Marta Perez, who has been on the school board for 24 years.

Like Alonso, Colucci raised incumbent-like money — a total of $211,617 — though most of her advertising, including multiple negative hits and cellphone videos, was paid for by Nuñez’s political action committee, Jobs and Prosperity for Florida.

Alonso sent a mail piece attacking both Balbin and Macki, saying they would raise taxes. But he, too, said he was in favor of the November referendum for teachers’ raises and safety funding. He did call Balbin a communist at early voting sites and reportedly made Macki’s mother cry. Alonso’s PAC, Better Values in Education, also got at least $50,000 from the LG’s PAC.

Tuesday’s victory, in fact, was more a win for Nu˜nez — who took a huge risk, putting her political capital behind a novice and against Perez — as it is for Colucci. Is the LG going to hold the new school member’s hand the rest of the way?

Because it could get rocky.

And, believe it or not, School Board Maria Teresa “Mari Tere” Rojas — who defended her seat with 64% of the vote against teacher Sandra Manzieri — may end up being the swing vote.

There are still five Republicans and four Democrats on the dais, same as there were before, but their views seem more extreme, more aligned with DeSantis, and while these are non-partisan seats, party values are increasingly seeping into almost every discussion. Alonso and Colucci are expected to be far more conservative than even Tabares Hantman and Perez, even though that may have sounded unlikely a few years ago. We already know that School Board Member Lubby Navarro is a full cult groupie willing to do whatever DeSantis wants and so will whoever the governor appoints to the seat that will soon be vacated by Christi Fraga, who is running for mayor in Doral. That’s four ultra right wingers.

Read related: Outsiders and GOP influence (fund) Miami-Dade School Board races

Rojas, in comparison, is moderate. Republican light. Unless her brother in law, Congressman Carlos Gimenez, applies pressure, of course.

And the first test may come when the school board members choose the new chairperson in the November organizational meeting. Vice chair Steve Gallon III, one of the Dems on the board, is the natural choice and heir apparent. The other Dems are likely to support him. They are Luisa Santos, Lucia Baez-Geller and Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, who won her re-election Tuesday with 75% of the vote against teacher La-Shanda West.

But Navarro has made no secret of the fact that she, too, wants to be top dog. And she also has the three votes from Alonso, Colucci and the Fraga replacement. Assuming each votes for his or herself, that ends 4-4, with Rojas as the swing vote.

Las malas lenguas say Rojas already made a deal to support Navarro in exchange for leaving her alone in this election. After all, she is the only one who didn’t get a fully-funded, DeSantis approved opponent.

Reached by phone for comment, Gallon made a long-winded and very political statement he sent me via text:

“First, I don’t concede to the notion that any one person put persons into elected office. In fact, the democratic process occurred in which people legally went to the polls or mailed in their ballots for the candidate of their choice. To accept any other suggestion would be to diminish the voice and votes of those who engaged in the process.

“I recognize that the process also allows for candidates to receive support and endorsements from various sources.

“Also, as a lifelong educator, I maintain the premise and belief that those who choose to serve, especially in education, do so on behalf and in the interest of students — it is the students’ education to which we all are beholden. I believe a focus on our students is our ‘shared’ agenda. The outcome of last night’s election has not changed my optimism and outlook in this belief.

“As for board leadership, we serve at the pleasure of the board. I’ve been honored to serve as vice-chair for the past several years at the pleasure of my colleagues and pursuant to a process driven by policy and statutory timelines, a process that occurs annually in November. I’ll continue to defer to and respect that process and remain willing and committed to collaborating with and serving at the pleasure of my colleagues on the School Board.”

Miami-Dade School Board Vice-Chair Steve Gallon III

Perez says this election could have a chilling effect for years to come.

“I think some members might think, ‘I better behave or I’ll get the same treatment.'”

  

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37 Responses to "Miami-Dade School Board gets extreme makeover with two hard right newbies"

  13. Your right it’s time for new players and cut the old including the same story from the unions that isn’t working. Your right flush and get new ideas in.

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  14. The Melting Pot, has been left on the stove , too long ? Curriculum Standards are the venue of Normaliennes , the PTA has its very useful occupations, as a watchdog and more. The school administration isn’t run from the bleachers!.

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  15. Balbin I’ll tell what the mistake your union prez friend made. She attacked both the police and fire union on the radio and other venues which was a huge mistake on her part. She attacked both unions in a nasty and unprofessional way. Now live with it.

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  16. Most of the teachers can’t stand the union leadership for UTD. I think it’s great that now she’s running with flip flapper Crist since now they have insured that Ron D wins. The school system is totally broken and most parents don’t think it’s being run right that’s why your opponent won. Yep most parents don’t see the A+ narrative your comrades are constantly saying. It’s time for a complete overhaul. You Mrs Balbin didn’t have a chance in this district with your thinking. Your a total liberal person and yes it’s a free country to think the way you do, just not in district 4. I am a parent of a public school kid that is constantly complaining on how poorly run the day to day operations are done. As for the mileage being raise for schools, I am voting no. Work with what you got.

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  17. Thank you for your great reporting, as always. Just read the comments, no doubt that the misinformation about what’s thought in our schools and how things work has been very effective. I don’t make it a habit to respond to anonymous comments, but will just say a couple of things; I entered the race knowing the odds but I believe the voters should have choices, no one should walk into a seat without a challenge. Someone said here that I should “crawl back in your hole” don’t know what that refers to since I’ve never been in a hole.
    I came to this country to be a free thinker, a responsible citizen, a lover of democracy, and not to blindly follow a leader, in running for office I exercised my believes.
    I recommend to everyone to try it.
    And one question, those that have such opposition to the teachers union, do they feel the same towards the firemen and police unions? All three professions are frontline workers. Why the different attitude?
    Maribel Balbin

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  18. DS Lamb, I agree that it is wrong for taxpayer money to fund charter schools, religious schools, or any other private enterprise.

    But what I am proposing is to eliminate the portion of taxes we pay for public education. Let the new private educational system get its own funding from the private capital market. Believe me, the state of public education is a disaster in so many ways, private entrepreneurs will quickly be motivated…

    Parents will finally be able to determine the kind of education and school institution that their children deserve, consistent with their own values. And best of all, the children will finally get an education instead of witnessing their parents argue before a bunch of bureaucrats in the school boards.

    And let one thousand flowers bloom, said an old communist in a moment of clarity.

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  19. Unbelievable!!! I’m so glad my children are already through this school system when they were still being taught critical thinking skills.
    Since the push NOW is to take 40% of my property tax dollars and give it to charter and religious schools (so, what happened to THAT separation?) and keep depleting funding for all the “leftovers” that the charters won’t take, I do not think I should be expected to pay to construct privately owned, but publicly funded buildings that will indoctrinate religious beliefs or DeSantis edicts.
    It is time that people over 65 not be taxed AT ALL for schools. We’ve already paid.

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  20. Truly stunning to see so many complaints about the “liberal” school board and “Democrats” who control it. This after the board’s very illiberal rejection of sex education books. There is nothing “liberal” about the board except that members very liberally lavish praise on each other about how great they all are at their monthly circle jerks…I’m sorry, I meant “meetings.” Marta Perez is a Republican, and a very conservative one at that. But I do appreciate that she followed the science on masks and remote learning. That probably helped keep my kids safer and healthier than if the decision had been left to the new board members.

    I want my label back, damnit! “Liberalism” is defined as “a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise.” Unless you’re a fascist or communist, how is any of that bad? Unless you oppose John Locke, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, and everyone who supported the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights” (you know, Jefferson, Madison, Washington, Adams, Revere, Henry, Monroe, Franklin…all those “liberals” who rebelled against a despotic monarchy and led us in creating this great nation). I think it is safe to say that you are not a “liberal” if you oppose to the very theoretical foundations of the United States.

    Ignorant people associate “liberalism” with “communism,” “socialism” and a lot of other “isms” they don’t like. Such people likely would not at the time have supported many of the great progressive (such a dirty word) developments in this country’s history, such as women voting, equal rights for blacks, regulation (yes…”regulation”) of food and drugs, protection of the environment, etc. I’m not that old, but I’m old enough to remember when the air and water in the past that MAGA yearns for was foul and unsafe to breathe, swim in or consume. Pittsburgh, Chicago and Houston were like China and India are today. I sure as hell don’t want to go back to that.

    People need to take a breath, recognize that we’re better off now than we were in the past, and understand that “liberal” is not a four letter word or synonym for “commie.” I wish the new board members well. I hope they work work to give kids an education, not an indoctrination. No one wants that except a despotic Big Brother and his or her lickspittles.

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  22. The truth is that you call some of the members of the board – from the far right – without calling Gallon by his delinquent name , that is the only reason why any attack on people loses credibility in you . Seriously, Gallon on the board does not represent my values ​​as a mother.
    “There is only one beautiful child in the world and every mother has it” Do you believe, from the bottom of your heart (if you have one) that mothers would want our children to be raised under the concepts that liberal members of the board want to impose. It’s a lie, mothers forgive and accept everything from our children but we are not exempt from the pain and suffering that any action of this type that is being instilled can make them suffer. I see it as very sick that education takes the path of immorality and lack of prudence; and move away from the path of decency that is not at all not respecting the freedom of a child to do what they want and I as a mother want it. The other is hypocrisy and in many cases, sadly, ignorance.

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  23. Too bad that Maribel Balbin lost the election! She would have made a great school board member. Unfortunately, with the election of Alonso and Colucci, the backward, intolerant, religious fanatic De
    Santis fringe will be way too influential.

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  24. Hey, if the Dems didn’t want people to suddenly start paying attention to their beloved school board races, they shouldn’t have fought to keep schools closed for two years, they shouldn’t have fought to keep kids masked in school for even longer than that, they shouldn’t have insisted that there’s no difference between boys and girls and it’s perfectly okay to let boys in girls’ restrooms and vice versa, and they shouldn’t have demanded that parents stay out of their children’s education.

    As it is, Dems did do all of this, and more, so you have zero room to complain when things suddenly don’t go your way any longer. You still haven’t shown even the slightest hint of self-reflection that you did anything wrong in the last 3 years.

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  25. The Miami-Dade School Board is in great hands now that we have conservative decision-makers and extreme liberal (socialist/communist) Alberto Carvalho) is no longer the superintendent.

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  26. Democrats have been dominating the agenda for as long as we could remember . Endorsing the school board members, funding them and having the unions unethically back them . Promising change progress and a better education which is never delivered, instead we have an indoctrinated generation of entitled brats that can’t pay off their own student loans . Covid revealed allot to the parents ,students ,teachers and administrators and the people have spoken . Parents and community members are now aware of the importance of local elections and will not back down . Have yourself a cup of “cope with it” and sit down

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  27. Finally some fresher minds in the MDCS Board… You may want to say whatever you want about Governor DeSantis, but the guy knows how to stop the liberal-driven madness. This is great for the children and their parents.

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  28. The Miami-Dade County School Board receives over $6 Billion from the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County. That is a lot of money to spread around to the usual suspects. As usual, taxpayers get screwed… and children get so poorly “educated” that they eventually vote for criminals like Trump and DeSantis and Keon Hardemon and Joe Carollo… And what educated person would vote for a Alex Diaz de la Portilla?

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  29. Donna Shelley, charter schools are not the answer. As long as the government controls the funding of the schools, those schools are NOT truly free.

    Only if we have competing school institutions, the more the merrier, that offer parents a range of possibilities, not one imposed by the bureaucrats on a school board, will our children’s education be rescued.

    Dismantle the public school system; it has damaged our children’s education, it has bankrupted our budgets, and now it has divided our society beyond repair.

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  30. There were two candidates with professional educational backgrounds, but one is an in-law of a veterate Miami-Dade political Charger, and that relationship may have made changes to their basic similarities.

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  31. About time they stopped gagging our children!
    Thank God for Ron DeSantis.
    Here’s State will finally fund individual students and not systems.

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  32. Once again, Ladra is right on target with her reporting. Only change that I might make to this article is to substitute the phrase “Desantis prostate lickers” for newbies, but I guess this is a sort of family friendly blog so perhaps my verbiage is a bit beyond the pale. I can’t help but mention that with Alonso garnering 57% of the vote, Malbin 25% and Macki Menendez 19%;
    that’s only 101% of the counts voted. But as a proud product of the Miami-Dade School system, maybe I got that wrong…7+5+9, is 21, carry the two….well, however you count up the votes, my vote and my thanks go out to Ladra. Great work, especially telling us from where the money, and the influence flowed.

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  33. Republicans have made no secret of the fact that they wish to eliminate public schools and funnel all funding and efforts into charter schools. The question is why?

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  36. Children are the losers. While the adults battle from irreconcilable positions, our children’s education quality continues to deteriorate.

    This war has no winners because it’s “winners take all” and the rest are marginalized. We will never have peace, and the future looks bleak.

    The only solution to the issue of masks, banned books, paranoid teachers, etc., is completely dismantling the public school system and replacing it with a completely private education system. There should be a separation of education and government as we like to see religion separate from government.

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  37. I love these types of post where I can say I told you so that Balbin never ever had a chance to win in that district. Never would the voters in that district vote for someone that has the thinking like her. She was in endorsed by unions that all they wanted were higher taxes especially the help of the teachers union which are no longer respected by even the teachers. I hope the two winning candidates remember especially that socialist teachers union president, I wouldn’t even return her calls. As for Balbin crawl back in your hole. Oh, next time try to not use some of the characters that held your signs at the pole.

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