Councilman Randy DeFoor says the city council have been the grownups in the room. Um, lets take a look at the things they have said and done.

In the Times Union Randy DeFoor said the city council have been the grownups in the room in the ongoing dispute about the sales tax referendum. I think that's laughable and after you read about the things the city council has said and done you definitely will too.

From the Times Union,

In past public meetings of the City Council, council members have leveled criticism at the School Board while passing up chances to ask questions directly to school leaders who watched tight-lipped in the audience.

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190810/pivotal-meeting-ahead-for-school-board-and-city-council

This happened at multiple city council meetings where they don't take public comments to the end. That doesn't sound very adult does it, having lots of questions but when people are available not asking them.

Speaking of questions city council chair Scott Wilson published a Facebook screed where he complained about questions not being answered.

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2019/08/scott-wilson-just-cannot-get-enough.html

This despite the fact mos t if not all of their questions have been answered over and over again.

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190731/school-board-answers-city-councils-laundry-list-of-referendum-questions

Rory Diamond called the school board chair a liar.

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2019/08/rory-diamond-calls-school-board-chair.html

Brenda Priestly Jackson implied Jake Goldbold had age related dementia when he called out the city council for what they are doing.

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2019/07/lenny-curry-retweets-brenda-priestly.html

Lenny Curry called several respected lawyers liberals, I guess that is a bad word in his circles and said the city attorney shouldn't follow the law and not one city council person called them out.

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2019/08/lenny-currys-lawless-city-hall.html

Two of Curry's top lieutenants attempted to extort nearly a half million from the district and when called out, the council gave one of them Sam Mousa, a four year, no bod, no responsibility six figure contract.

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2019/08/did-city-hall-just-pay-off-sam-mousa.html

What part of this sounds adult to you?

They started this whole hubadoo based on a junior attorneys memorandum which ignored statutes and changed the meaning of the word shall.

This gave them enough of an opening to put a kibosh thus far on the referendum, and they used a lot of specious reasons, cost of and timing of the referendum among others as reasons to drag their feet.

This by the way is something current council members and former school board members Brenda Bully Jackson and Tommy Hazouri never would have put up with if it would have happened when they were on the school board.

They haven't asked the city attorney to recuse themselves despite blaring conflicts of interests, owing his job the Curry  who desperately wants the referendum to fail.

Then none of them have recused themselves either despite taking money from the civic council which is pulling the strings behind this entire sordid affair.

Finally more than a few council members have said we know the schools have tremendous needs and the school board is in charge of the schools, but...

Does any of that sound like how adults act? Any of it.

The city council has given the city a black eye as they attempted to bully the school board while fighting against children getting what they both need and deserves on behalf of a handful of super donors, using specious reasons and a ridiculous memo that changed the meaning of the word they, to do so, you know because that's how adults act.

Randy DeFoor is a joke, a bad joke, plain and simple.

Tommy Hazouri's usefulness is about to come to an end (draft)

Tommy Hazouri should know better? Sadly a desire to be city council president, something I can't see happening has trumped this man's decency.

He knows the schools have tremendous needs and he knows the school board does not work for the city council but to his shame he went along with city hall's attempt to takeover the city's schools. 

To make matters even worse, he is tone deaf as well.

From the Times Union,

City Council member Tommy Hazouri said that at some point the council needs to vote on the School Board’s request for a referendum.

“It looks bad for us,” Hazouri said. “It looks bad for them. It looks bad for the community. I know we want to do it right, but at what point will it be right for us? Will we ever get all the answers for all 19 council members?”

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190810/pivotal-meeting-ahead-for-school-board-and-city-council

He is absolutely right, what has happened looks really bad for the city council. Fighting against schools and children on behalf of a handful of donors was bound to do that.

What's happening however hasn't made the school board look bad. If anything it has garnered them a lot of sympathy as everyone roots for the little guy fighting city hall.

He is right again, when he says this looks bad for the community. Having a city hall fight against its own schools is probably going to leave a bad taste in the mouth of any potential businesses and people looking to relocate. This has without a doubt given the city a black eye and needlessly as well.

As for the city council members getting all their answers, that's laughable because there is only one question that this has been about, and that is who will control the school boards real estate and budget. The duly elected school board or the mayor and city council's donors. 

Tommy in Lenny Curry's world you are useful until you are not and I have a feeling your usefulness is about to come to an end.

Scott Wilson just cannot get enough questions answered. (draft)

This was something he posted on Facebook this morning.

Scott A Wilson

4 hrs · 

I can’t understand why the Florida Times Union refuses to share both sides of this story. How can anyone ask the city council to place a plan on the ballot, require we vote yes and deny us the right to ask questions? In all my years in government I have never seen anything like this.

I attended their school board meeting on July 17th and we agreed on a plan. I also attended a follow meeting in case they had additional questions for me. The plan began with council members submitting their questions in writing, followed by school board written responses. Now we have a joint meeting scheduled for Wednesday August 14, 2019. At this joint meeting we will discuss in detail the responses which were bundled together and extremely complex. My questions relate to how the schools in my district will be changed and I don’t see those answers in the document returned to me.

I have always had a great working relationship with many of the school board members, but my patience is wearing thin. Every time I open the Florida Times Union I see quotes likes “they are moving the goal posts” or “we’ve answered questions and they ask more questions”. I ask what questions have been answered with no response; if the questions were answered they should be able to easily copy and paste. I have also seen statements such as “the questions are absurd or ridiculous”. They should be easy to answer then. While the Florida Times Union complains about the number of questions why don’t they share with their readers good thoughtful questions posed by your elected city council.

The city council did not ask for this issue but I also realize our schools need additional funding for infrastructure improvements. We have plenty of other issues facing this city. I am ready to move on. If the school board wants my support then answer a few simple questions.

For those who choose to call us names or speak toward us in a negative manner god bless you!

That's a lot to take in there.

You may not have noticed it but there has been a concentrated strategy to go after the TU in recent weeks by the mayor, members of the city council and others. now I get it as a frequent critic I may be the last person who should mention this but what I have a problem with is not the news reporting well not always anyways, but with their opinion/editorial section, which if I am being honest put out a hell of an editorial on the matter Friday.

https://www.jacksonville.com/opinion/20190809/friday-editorial-we-dont-need-appointed-school-board

Then he complains that the council has been denied the right to ask questions?!? Um the school board has answered all their questions time and time again, including a massive list sent to them two weeks ago.

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190731/school-board-answers-city-councils-laundry-list-of-
referendum-questions

He then says the questions have not been answered um, what?!?

It's insulting that he would make that claim, Scott "ahh shucks" Wilson knows better but he must think enough of his constituents will just believe anything he says.

Then he says the council and board agreed upon a plan, yeah I am sure the board did but they had a metaphorical gun pointed at their head. This was also before the city learned the original memorandum was just some incompetent or corrupt junior attorneys opinion, and two of mayor Lenny Curry's top lieutenants attempt to extort nearly a half million from the school board, one of which, Sam Mousa was rewarded with a six figure no bid four year contract for doing so, was revealed.

Then he complains the matter was dropped in their lap, he doesn't mention it was done so by a patently ridiculous memorandum that didn't have the force of law, and he doesn't mention that he and the city council could have passed and just done as the law requires them to do so.

City Council president Scott Wilson made a terrible bed based on lies and greed and now he is complaining he has to lay in it. We really deserve better.

Jason Fischer doesn't care about the people of Jacksonville and I am pretty sure I can prove it. (draft)

First lets just ignore the last seven years when he first ran for soil and water before running for school board which he quit to run for the state house. Lets forget the times he was caught lying and all the legislation he has supported on behalf of his biggest donors one of whom he actually works for and just concentrate on the last week which was bad enough.

Jason Fischer introduced bill J-1 which would strip the people of Jacksonville's right to vote for their school board representative and instead allow the board to be appointed by the mayor. There hasn't been a lot of clamoring for that as the graduation rates and school performance have improved over time. In fact surprisingly enough the Florida Times Union did a piece on that which you can read below.

https://www.jacksonville.com/opinion/20190809/friday-editorial-we-dont-need-appointed-school-board

When I say there hasn't been a lot of clamoring that's not to say there hasn't been none. The civic council, both Fischer's and the mayors backers would like nothing better for the mayor to control the school system and the massive real estate and billions that come with it. So Fischer didn't propose this bill on behalf of his constituents, he proposed it on behalf of his donors and the mayor.

It gets worse though.

Fischer scheduled a meeting with his constituents from 3 to 5 on the 8th. The timing is important because it limits the amount of people who can attend just because they are working. I get it scheduling a meeting at 6 might be inconvenient for Fischer but engaging with the voters is part of the job.

Despite the time an overflow crowd all against the bill showed up, the problem however is Fischer didn't. That's right he couldn't be bothered to show up for his own meeting, instead sending a staffer who was like a deer in headlights.

Fischer doesn't care what the people of Jacksonville think or want and his actions show that over and over again. His actions more than prove it.

We will better off when he is nothing but a bad memory.

Elizabeth Anderson, takes off the kid gloves and lays some knowledge on the city.

Elizabeth Anderson, takes off the kid gloves and lays some knowledge on the city.

Mrs. Anderson has not been on the board a year yet and where often board members are tentative out of the block she has hit the ground running and has been a fierce advocate for our schools. I wish all the new members would be more like her and primarily I am looking at Charlotte Joyce who has not only voted against everything of importance I am told has often been unprepared.  

Mrs. Anderson and the board have been put in a nearly impossible situation trying to defend the tax referendum and their jobs from a mayor, city council and state legislator who are more interested in serving their donors that the city’s children and citizens.

Well friends in that pursuit, Mrs. Anderson laid some knowledge on the city today something she read in the Times Union

Wow, mic drop.

To read the Times Union editorial, click the link,

https://www.jacksonville.com/opinion/20190809/friday-editorial-we-dont-need-appointed-school-board

Shouldn’t the city council stay in their lane? Is that asking too much? I am sure their input on school matters would be listened to and respected but being a defacto super school board is not in their job description. They have other problems one of which is the murder rate which is now twenty percent higher than its previous high.

I am impressed with Mrs. Anderson, not so much with other politicians and Mrs. Joyce I am looking at you, it is past time you stepped up and started to do the job you were elected to do and if rumors are true stopped listening to your husband and his business partner, you have been disappointing but sadly you have plenty of company on the the city council.   

Hollywood called and said what was happening in Jacksonville was unbelievable (draft)

I hope people understand what has happened, a political thriller to wild for even Hollywood

If what has happened over the summer was put into a movie script people would say it was to unbelievable.  

The school board decided that inaction was no longer a strategy and began the process of documenting our district's needs and informing the public.

They had over 20 community meetings, conducted an on-line survey and developed a plan they put on their web-site.

They then decided they need a half cent sales tax to help fix the issues and passed a resolution calling for a referendum to be put on the ballot in November. I thought we should have done a millage increase because lost in this is that our staff are some of the lowest paid in the nation, but at the end of the day I acknowledged that more resources are better and the school board had the final say.

Unfortunately, the city council disagreed with the school board and most of the city who support the referendum and used a memorandum from a junior attorney in the office of general council to usurps the school boards authority where they ignored statutes and changed the meaning of the word they.

When they did so many council members would say things like, we acknowledge the money is desperately needed and the school board should control what happens in our schools, but…

Later it turned out the memorandum was just an opinion that the OGC let people believe had the force of law and when this was revealed the lead city attorney promised to come up with an official ruling at some point.  

The mayor, the city council and a group of influential donors called the civic council with close ties to charter schools then engaged in delaying tactics and specious arguments to try and derail the referendum, catching most people off guard because who wouldn’t want to improve our schools? The major sticking point was the civic council wants a proportional share of the tax revenue guaranteed to charter schools an ammount that would be in the hundreds of millions.  

While this was going on two top lieutenants of Mayor Curry arguably tried to extort nearly a half million dollars out of the school district in the guise of lobbying. They offered the school board things they did not want, the referendum moved to 202o and hundreds of millions for charters. Later Mousa after this came out, received a no bid, no outlined responsibilities six figure gig from the city.

Did I mention while all this was going on the city was engaging in several municipal projects costing millions of dollars (the sale of fire house 5, the closing and demolition of the landing and lot J) that had little public input and it would be charitable to say were light on details.

Back to the referendum. The district despite being  told by the OGC they couldn’t hire an outside attorney, in a blatant conflict of interest because OGC represents both them and the city and they have competing interests, hired three of the most respected lawyers in town who disagreed with the OGC's original memo. The mayor in response then tweeted that these liberal lawyers were trying to usurp the city, pretty ironic when you consider what has happened, and implied the city attorney who is beholden to the mayor for his job better come up with a ruling he likes.

Finally, if all that wasn't enough, a local state legislator proposed taking away the citizens right to vote and making so the school board appointed by the mayor. He was also a former school board member and also takes tons of money from the same donors, the civic council who support the mayor and several members of the city council.

A movie producer would look at this and say, all that’s to unbelievable even for Hollywood.

This is where we find ourselves, this is us, this is Jacksonville.

Did city hall just pay off Sam Mousa

Um how is any of this legal?

While still with city hall Sam Mousa partnered with another top Curry lieutenant Tim Baker and tried to get nearly a half million dollars out of the school district by providing services they did not want. 

Senator Audrey Gibson, school board chair Lori Hershey and former city councilman and school board vice chair Warren Jones all likened what was happening to extortion. 

Now Sam Mousa retired for a little more than a month just got a six figure consulting gig from the city.

From the Times Union,

Sam Mousa, Jacksonville City Hall’s recently retired top administrator, won a no-bid consulting contract on Thursday with Mayor Lenny Curry’s office that will pay him $120,000 a year.

Curry hired Mousa’s company, Mousa Consulting Group Inc., to provide an open-ended list of services, including developing policy, overseeing special projects and providing support to departmental directors and other employees...

...It’s unclear whether Mousa has solicited or has been hired to work for any other clients to lobby City Hall. He isn’t registered as a lobbyist with the city’s ethics office, which is required once a person has accepted payment to lobby council members on active legislation.

Mousa didn’t respond to a request for an interview.

City spokeswoman Nikki Kimbleton wouldn’t explain why the city needed Mousa’s services. Instead, she provided a written statement attributed to Hughes that said Mousa was hired according to “every legal and regulatory requirement.”

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190808/sam-mousa-gets-120000-consulting-contract-with-jacksonville-city-hall-month-into-retirement

Um the ^%$&ing city can't even explain why Mousa's services were needed?!? Just that he met the requirements and they were going to pay him six figures. I imagine the city spokesperson then took a bite of an apple and said lump it.

Friends does this smell like a payoff to you? Hey keep quiet about that one thing and I will get you back. We aren't being led, we are being ruled.

Lenny Curry's lawless city hall.

When three respected attorneys hired by Duval County Public schools to assist them with the special tax referendum disagreed with the city attorney's assertion that the city council could determine whether and when the referendum was placed on the ballot Mayor Lenny Curry sent out an inflammatory and chilling tweet.

He said, Local liberal lawyers attempting to usurp the city @Jason_R_ Gabriel Do your homework on this crew. 

Lets forget that along with all being well respected one of the lawyers W.C. Gentry is a bastion of local conservative politics who has even give Curry's election campaign thousands of dollars and focus on who he tagged in his post. Jason Gabriel, this is the city's attorney who is supposedly working on his final opinion on whether the school board is subservient to the city council or not, talk about being usurped.

Curry is telling the city attorney not only to investigate, do his homework on people he considers opponents, but he is also telling the attorney he better not come to the same conclusion they did. He isn't letting the law take Gabriel to his conclusion, he is telling Gabriel who is beholden to Curry for his job, what his conclusion better be.

Throw in two of the mayors top lieutenants Sam Mousa, while still a city employee and Tim Baker's attempt to arguably extort the school board out of nearly a half million dollars and it looks more and more like we have an administration that not only thinks it is above the law but can dictate what the law is.

The city attorney should immediately recuse himself from any further decisions about the referendum. After this curry text his impartiality cannot be trusted. Then the city again not the city attorney should investigate what Curry knew and when about Baker and Mousa's scheme.

We deserve a city government we can trust and right now we don't have one.  

Jason Fischer is right about one thing, the worthlessness of the Florida Constitution. (draft)

Jason Fischer says a special carve out in the state constitution, the result of Jacksonville's consolidation, gives him the ability to propose legislation that strips Jacksonville voters of their right to vote for their school board members. Most people outside of Jason Gabriel's OGC office (the ones that wrote Fischer's J-1 bill) in city hall think that is a laughable argument. Here is the thing Fischer must think the state constitution is a joke to even propose the bill and on that he is correct.

Here is what it says about school boards,

Text of Section 4: School Districts; School Boards (a) Each county shall constitute a school district; provided, two or more contiguous counties, upon vote of the electors of each county pursuant to law, may be combined into one school district. In each school district there shall be a school board composed of five or more members chosen by vote of the electors in a nonpartisan election for appropriately staggered terms of four years, as provided by law. (b) The school board shall operate, control and supervise all free public schools within the school district and determine the rate of school district taxes within the limits prescribed herein. Two or more school districts may operate and finance joint educational programs.[1]

Um we still do the voting, for now anyways but the school board has nominal control over charters and zero control over voucher schools.

Then unless you have been under a rock for the last two months you know the city council has tried to strip away their ability to tax.

It gets worse because this is what the constitution says about education,

Text of Section 1: Public Education (a) The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require. To assure that children attending public schools obtain a high quality education, the legislature shall make adequate provision to ensure that, by the beginning of the 2010 school year, there are a sufficient number of classrooms so that: (1) The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for prekindergarten through grade 3 does not exceed 18 students; (2) The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for grades 4 through 8 does not exceed 22 students; and (3) The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for grades 9 through 12 does not exceed 25 students. The class size requirements of this subsection do not apply to extracurricular classes. Payment of the costs associated with reducing class size to meet these requirements is the responsibility of the state and not of local schools districts. Beginning with the 2003-2004 fiscal year, the legislature shall provide sufficient funds to reduce the average number of students in each classroom by at least two students per year until the maximum number of students per classroom does not exceed the requirements of this subsection. (b) Every four-year old child in Florida shall be provided by the State a high quality pre-kindergarten learning opportunity in the form of an early childhood development and education program which shall be voluntary, high quality, free, and delivered according to professionally accepted standards. An early childhood development and education program means an organized program designed to address and enhance each child's ability to make age appropriate progress in an appropriate range of settings in the development of language and cognitive capabilities and emotional, social, regulatory and moral capacities through education in basic skills and such other skills as the Legislature may determine to be appropriate. (c) The early childhood education and development programs provided by reason of subparagraph (b) shall be implemented no later than the beginning of the 2005 school year through funds generated in addition to those used for existing education, health, and development programs. Existing education, health, and development programs are those funded by the State as of January 1, 2002 that provided for child or adult education, health care, or development.[1]

Did you notice a few things that Florida ignores?

How about paramount duty? Nope not in Florida, here it is an after thought and a recent court ruling about funding said that was all right.

Uniform and efficient? Not with charters and voucher schools who play by different rules taking a bigger and bigger cut.

Then the class size amendment, well friends that has been spun folded and mutilated beyond all recognition.

Fischer knows the constitution is a joke and that's why he thinks he can get away with his proposal to strip the citizens of Jacksonville of the right to vote. The Florida constitution is not some hallowed document to be respected and revered, it's more like suggestions scribbled down on a cocktail napkin.

Jason Fischer attacks Matt Carlucci for wanting citizens to have the right to vote

I am just going to get right to it, from the Times Union,

“Look, the status quo isn’t working for the kids in our city,” Fischer told the Times-Union. “I’ve offered solutions and demonstrated a willingness to listen. Career politician Carlucci has spent the last three or four decades just being negative and the truth seems to be he’s more focused on grabbing headlines than helping people.”

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190808/council-member-matt-carlucci-opposes-appointed-school-board-with-resolution

Whoooaaaa

Um Jason Fischer ran for soil and water before he ran for the school board, which he quit to run for the house. Fischer desperately wants to have the career that Carlucci has had. 

Fischer calls Carlucci a career politician for the same reason Lenny Curry called W.C. Gentry a liberal. he thinks his base will salivate like Pavlov's dog and ignore that Fischer is trying to take away their right to vote.

Also if our schools are failing and I remind you the district was less than a percentage point away from being an A district, doesn't he deserve some responsibility?

While he was on the school board, again which he quit to run for the state house he was terrible but as bad as he was he has been worse while in Tallahassee, attacking public ed and teachers at every turn while giving charters and voucher schools the keys to the castle. 

Does everyone know he works for John Kirtley, the state voucher king and routinely votes for legislation that enriches him.

Do people also know he has millions inserted in the state budget annually for his mega donor Gary Chartrand's pet charter school?

Here is the thing I bet there are a lot of things I disagree with Matt Carlucci on but you can tell he is a decent guy who cares about people, Fisher on the other hand only cares about himself as he carries water for his donors. He is as bad as they come.

Shame on you Jason Fischer, shame on you and yes there were better pictures available, I just picked this one on purpose.