From Dr. Martin Karp, November 2005

"This month marks a year of service for me on the Miami-Dade County School

Board. I am proud to have served as a member during the past year and have been

mindful of what I could do to improve our public school system on behalf of the students, teachers, parents, administrators and community members. I recognize the importance these stakeholders bring to the district.

Keeping this in mind enabled me to craft agenda items this past year that I thought would improve lives while taking into consideration all of our stakeholders. To provide a more complete picture of my first year, a discussion of my initiatives will be introduced followed by a closer look at how development in the Brickell corridor will impact the School District and how the Board is acting proactively.

My Initiatives

The other day, someone asked me how I come up with agenda items for Board meetings. My response included a number of anecdotes. I explained that the needs of all stakeholders are considered, but there is much more than that. I consult with my wife on a number of these ideas. Her wisdom is needed! She provides me with interesting thoughts and challenges me to be creative.

I also speak to people in the community and to parents, faculty members and students when visiting schools. These conversations yield interesting nuggets of information and insight that I may otherwise have overlooked. For example, as a keynote speaker at a luncheon for the Miami-Dade Coalition for Community Education, I had the opportunity to meet with a number of community school advocates. This experience led me to introduce an item requesting approval to endorse a “Lights on After School” and “National Community Education Day” to be celebrated in all of our public schools.

The purpose of this initiative is to educate the community on the importance of quality after school programs in fostering successful students and underscore that learning is lifelong. I saw this as an opportunity to renew Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ dedication to supporting public schools as community learning centers. The needs of each community are addressed when each school dedicates its facilities to extend beyond the normal workday and to be made available on weekends and holidays. Volunteering at Kristi House and becoming familiar with the curriculum in our public schools after teaching for 14 years, I was drawn towards the issue of abuse. After reading about internet solicitation in the newspaper, I realized that this was an issue that I

was eager to address. Therefore, I introduced an item regarding the dangers of sexual solicitation and abuse of youth. Given that one in five children are solicited online and that nationwide, one of three girls and one of six boys experience some form of sexual abuse before the age 18, I drafted an item to review our sexual abuse education program and to add a component addressing Internet solicitations. The item also directs the Superintendent to create programs in The Parent Academy to educate parents who themselves were victims and to help parents on topics including how to monitor children’s online activities.

I followed up this item by introducing a resolution which would take this issue to the state level for consideration by other school districts. The adoption of the resolution by the Florida Legislature is the intended goal. Another initiative was developed after discussing the issue of foster care with Judge Cindy Lederman, and reflecting on a good friendship with someone who grew up in foster care. This summer, I introduced an item directing the Superintendent to develop a plan to make Miami-Dade County Public Schools a “Foster Care and Adoption Friendly Workplace,” and to identify a number of experienced foster parents to advise and assist the school district in developing the plan. Children who are at-risk youth are facing major life challenges which make the act of participating in the educational process sometimes insurmountable. We cannot ignore these children, and I was compelled to become more involved in this area.

During the first week of June, I had an opportunity to speak at a number of high school graduations. When shaking hands with each of the graduates and engaging them in brief conversation, a very small number of students expressed any interest in pursuing a career in education. Dismayed by this reality, I introduced an initiative to include in the Board’s 2006 legislative program the need for lottery funds to be used to provide incentives to recruit and retain young people into the teaching profession. We can build impressive structures and have the curriculum in place to challenge students, but if we don’t find ways to bring the best and brightest into teaching, we will fall short.

While there are a few other items of mine that I introduced this past year, I would like to conclude with just one more—the incorporation of study abroad programs as part of the Secondary School Reform Initiative. Bill Gates and other prominent voices in our nation have declared that our high schools are obsolete—we are doing things that were done 50 years ago and changes are in order.

I supported the Superintendent’s high school reform initiative but after visiting a High School in Israel and speaking with students who shared with me their experiences in study abroad programs, I gained a greater appreciation of their value. Recognizing that participation in study abroad programs can enable students to learn new languages, or enhance foreign language skills and thinking about Bill Gates’ words drove me to request the inclusion of study abroad programs in the Superintendent’s plan for reform.

Clearly, the sharing of ideas and reliance on many for different perspectives helped me in serving you, and I look forward to another productive year on the Board, with your help of course.

Back to BHA News, Spring 2006