Former Miami-Dade School Board Member Martin Karp, who is running again (who knew?), crashed a candidate forum Wednesday that was hosted by Hayley Ross, who is running in the same district vacated by Lucia Baez-Geller, who is running for Congress, and has been campaigning since the beginning of the year.
Karp, who filed two weeks before qualifying and loaned himself $300,000, according to his campaign finance report, must have not seen the big sign in front of downtown Miami’s City Cigar Lounge that had Ross’ name and picture on it because he started handing out palm cards for his candidacy. Sorta rude.
None of the other candidates in the race — former State Rep. Joe Geller (no relation to incumbent), North Bay Village Mayor Brent Latham (who was dinged by the Florida Commission on Ethics last year for having likely violated state law barring public officials from accepting expensive freebies from people doing business with governments they represent), and special education teacher Gustavo Ortega — dared to show up. Maybe, however, that’s because they’re Democrats and this was a GOP event.
But Karp showed Ladra an EventBrite text he got inviting him to the mayoral meet and greet — which featured Miami Dade mayoral candidates Manny Cid, mayor of Miami Lakes, Shlomo Danzinger, former mayor of Surfside, and Miguel “El Skipper” Quintero, trapeze artist — without any information about Ross. The invite was from the Federated Republican Women of Miami Beach.
“I had no idea,” Karp told Political Cortadito. “I knew people there. I listened to the mayors speak. I didn’t speak. I sat quietly in the back of the room.”
Miami Beach Commissioner David Suarez and State Rep. Fabian Basabe were also there. School Board District 3 covers the county’s coastal communities from Aventura through Miami Beach to Coconut Grove (but not Key Biscayne). Basabe — who has been sued by two employees who accuse him of sexual harassment and unwanted touching — beat Hayley Ross’ partner of 43 years, Doug Ross, in the 2022 primary (Ross got 27% of the vote). But the experience is what prompted Haley Ross to run.
“He took the unknown, scary part out of this,” Ross told Ladra Thursday. “He has helped get me prepared.”
Well, maybe not entirely prepared. Because Karp took her by surprise Wednesday.
“My Cuban self was like, ‘¿Que, que?‘ But this was a public event, after all,” Ross said.
The retired second and third grade teacher said she left her job precisely because of policies that Karp had supported during his tenure on the school board, including a failure to pay teachers adequately and a concentration on testing that, Ross believes, takes away from true educational opportunities.
“I’m not opposed to testing. There has to be accountability,” Ross said. “But it just became nothing but testing.”
In her last year of teaching, Ross said she spent 18% of the school year testing her third grade students. “These are 8- and 9-year olds,” she said. “I don’t think that’s good education.”
She says that schools need to focus more on basics — reading, writing (“yes, in cursive”), math, sciences, arts and music, too. But she would also abandon special events like Hispanic Heritage Month, Drug Abuse Awareness Week and, yes, Pride Month.
“I’m not homophobic. I’m not anti-gay,” said Ross, whose oldest daughter is in a same-sex marriage. “And she has a lovely life. She’s a doctor.
“But do I want LGBTQ month? No, I do not. Just like I don’t want Hispanic Heritage Month,” Ross said. “This stuff has no business in the classroom. We’re focused so much on these little things there’s no time for real education. Now we’re supposed to teach in 10-minute intervals?”
Read related: LGBTQ History Month debate back at Miami-Dade School Board with vitriol
She used to teach for three hours solid in the mornings and said that kids are losing their stamina, focus and endurance due to the distractions in schools today.
“Our kids have to compete globally. I’m so worried. I’m worried about the kids,” said Ross, who supports banning cellphones in the classroom and said she is not going to run for any other seat after this.
“This is my passion,” she said.
Karp, dean at Miami Beach’s Talmudic College of Florida, said it was his passion, too. He served on the school board for 16 years, from 2004 to 2020 when he decided not to run for re-election after four terms. It could be because of an ethics investigation that found his then-chief of staff, Jerold Blumstein, pressured administrators to approve contracts for Chabad Chayil in North Miami Beach, which misrepresented itself to gain access to free use of public school facilities, wasn’t licensed for some time and could not verify if employees had passed required background checks.
In September of 2019, the Inspector General for Miami-Dade County Public Schools issued a 977-page report to say the organization — which was not licensed for some time and could not verify that their employees had passed background checks — misrepresented itself to gain access to free use of public school facilities. It reportedly cost the school district up to $1.3 million in lost facility rental payments.
Karp apparently testified that he didn’t know anything about the program in operation at Aventura Waterways K-8 for a decade, according to the Miami Herald article from January 2020.
“I’m not here to defend any organization,” Karp said, but apparently he did anyway, even though he pled ignorance. “My knowledge of some of what they did is limited. I really don’t pay attention to those things. “I’m sorry that it’s come to this point,” he added.
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“It certainly was never our intention to facilitate or be a part of anything that would be harmful.”
That could be, however, why Karp magically decided not to run for re-election after serving four terms.
He told Ladra on Thursday that his spiritual advisor told him not to run and that his parents were in their 90s, so he felt it was time for a break.
Karp doesn’t fall under the new eight-year term limits passed by the state in 2023 because it only applies to members elected after 2022. This was after they passed 12-year term limits the year before.
Ross says that, while he is not violating the law, Karp — who says his net worth is $9.5 million in his financial disclosure — is certainly violating the spirit or intent of the law.
Martin Karp ‘crashes’ candidate forum hosted by school board opponent added by Ladra on
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