Inspector General for Miami-Dade Schools finds serious flaws in after-school programs
A 977-page report issued by the Inspector General for Miami-Dade County Public Schools found that after-school programs run by a Jewish center were misrepresented to gain access to free use of public school facilities, weren’t licensed for a time and could not verify if employees had the required background checks. It also found that a School Board member’s aide pressured administrators to approve the program’s contracts.
Chabad Chayil near Aventura operated after-school programs at two public schools in northeast Miami-Dade, one since 2008. Chabad Chayil has rejected the report’s conclusions and blamed the school district for not providing correct paperwork or intervening if there were concerns. School Board member Martin Karp has questioned the integrity of the report.
An anonymous complaint submitted to the inspector general more than two years ago claimed Karp and his chief of staff, Jerold Blumstein, were “friendly” with Chabad Chayil. For years, the complaint alleged, they helped the Jewish center use school facilities for free by filing paperwork incorrectly stating that no fees were charged for the program.
The inspector general did not refer the case to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office for an official review for potential criminal charges. Operating an unlicensed daycare facility in Florida is a first-degree misdemeanor.
Among the report’s findings:
▪ The required Level 2 background checks weren’t documented for dozens of employees of the after-school programs, and employees did not have required ID badges issued by the school system.
▪ Chabad Chayil didn’t pay for use of public school facilities but did advertise that registration and other fees were charged. If the going rate had been paid for use of the space in two schools, it could have amounted to $1.3 million.
▪ A temporary application to operate the programs was filed year after year when it should have been a different contract, either short term or long term.
▪ There was inappropriate involvement by Karp’s office and a lack of oversight on the part of the principals at the two schools.
The report found “no evidence” that Karp directly coerced Luis Bello and Scott Saperstein, the principals of Aventura Waterways K-8 and Virginia A. Boone Highland Oaks Elementary, respectively, or administrative staff processing the paperwork. It did conclude that Karp’s chief of staff, Blumstein, “aggressively worked” to make sure the temporary use agreements were approved and fees waived every year.
Blumstein described the report as inconsistent and flawed in an email he wrote to the school district’s audit and budget advisory committee, which will meet in December to discuss the report.
“It fails to cite or consider the exculpatory testimony of the numerous administrators interviewed by the IG who verified that my behavior and actions were at all times entirely proper,” Blumstein wrote. “... [The] Report relies on internally inconsistent and self-interested testimony by two administrators who were responsible for reviewing the use of facilities for after-school programs, approved those uses and now want to blame me and Dr. Karp for what the IG says were wrong decisions by those administrators.”
Karp told the Miami Herald that he introduced Bello to Rabbi Morris Moishe Kievman around the opening of Aventura Waterways in 2008. Bello said in an interview with investigators that although Karp did not openly “twist his arm” to accept Chabad Chayil’s program on campus, Bello felt he was expected to make it happen. Karp disputed that he pressured anyone.
“Maybe Bello and I talked about it twice in 10 years,” Karp said. Bello, now an administrative director in the district’s north region office, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Karp said he never belonged to Chabad Chayil, however its website posted a birth announcement for his son and lists him on an advisory board, which Karp said he wasn’t aware of. He said he stops by occasionally during the week for certain prayers. Karp’s son attended the after-school program at Highland Oaks Elementary.
Karp announced in July that he would end his reelection campaign for a fifth term on the School Board at the advice of a spiritual adviser. He said the investigation did not play a role in that decision.
As Karp’s chief of staff, Blumstein said his role included fielding requests for using school facilities. Blumstein would drop off paperwork on Chabad Chayil’s behalf as he does for other organizations in the community, according to the report. Blumstein said he is not a member of the congregation, according to the report.
Operating temporarily since 2008
Since 2008, Chabad Chayil used a temporary use agreement application form to operate a program called Community Hebrew Afterschool Care Program (CHAP). That form is for temporary facility use; short-term or long-term use would require a contract. The fee for the temporary use agreement is waived only if the meeting or program is open to the public and free of charge.
Records included in the report show that Kievman repeatedly marked on the agreement that CHAP is free of charge and open to the public and that no admission or collection was taken.
Keisha Johnson Cabrera, the district’s director of budget and facility rentals, was made aware by her staff of an advertised fee for the after-school program in Kievman’s email signature, according to the report. When she called Kievman to ask him to explain the fee structure, he became upset and told her they did not charge everyone and terminated the conversation. Kievman disputed that.
The report said Blumstein paid Cabrera a visit the next day and peppered her with questions. He told her he would go to her boss, Chief Financial Officer Ron Steiger.
In an interview with investigators, Steiger said Cabrera came to him several times about Blumstein’s “aggressive approach with her and her discomfort with him trying to make her do things.”
“Mr. Steiger did recall that at some point he had a conversation with Mr. Blumstein and told him not to go to Ms. Cabrera any longer on rental issues,” the report read. “Mr. Steiger also recalled telling Mr. Blumstein that he could help his constituents, but he should not be the one coming in and doing things on their behalf.”
Cabrera told investigators that Steiger must have instructed her to continue accepting the fee waiver forms on behalf of Chabad Chayil because at that point, she “would not” have done it on her own.
Karp said he just wanted to be effective and get things done for his constituents.
“Jerold goes to everyone’s boss,” Karp said. “It’s not a threat. It’s really his job.”
According to examples in the report, Chabad Chayil advertised a “nominal fee” for the program in a 2011 community news article and listed registration fees of $100 and weekly fees per child at $0 to $159 on a grant application with the Children’s Trust. Screenshots from Chabad Chayil’s website captured in the report show a registration fee of $70 and tuition of $695 for the school year, snacks and drinks included, and a 10% discount for each additional sibling.
The report noted that the monthly tuition and registration fees disappeared from the registration form on Chabad Chayil’s webpage after the investigation began.
A Florida Department of Children and Families questionnaire completed in 2014 by the rabbi’s wife, Devorah Layah Kievman, shows both “grant” and “receipt of fee or tuition” are checked off as funding options. She says she didn’t fill out the form.
Moishe Kievman said the fees were considered to be donations to the program and no child was ever turned away.
“Whatever they’ve asked of us, we’ve done,” he said. Kievman and his lawyer submitted a 30-page rebuttal to the investigation, which was included in the report.
Kievman also told investigators that The Children’s Trust, which gave grants to Chabad Chayil for its programs, required him to use the terms “fees” and “tuition.” The Contract Manager from the Children’s Trust denied that, telling investigators that those terms are not required and words are not dictated.
The school district says $1.3 million in rental fees should have been paid. That figure is based on a standard facilities use fee, district spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez-Diego wrote in an email, and would be significantly lower if a long-term agreement was drawn up.
“We make no apologies for sacrificing these revenues when there is a benefit for our students,” she wrote in an email. “The reason this rental was pulled was because the application was improperly [filed].”
Program is shut down
The school district’s termination of the after-school program has riled the Chabad Chayil community. State Senator Jason Pizzo , D-Miami, recently attended a meeting at the Jewish center and is mediating with the school district to get the program running again.
“I don’t believe the way to cure and remedy the school’s lack of oversight is to exclude the program in the future. That’s not the way to cure this,” Pizzo said. “This should be a cautionary tale on how to move forward with the program, and perhaps a review of existing programs. Put people on notice, but let’s not single this program out.”
Parents whose children attended the programs were ready to speak at a recent School Board meeting but were asked by district officials to back off.
“If anything else you can say about Orthodox Judaism, there’s lots of rules and regulations. It’s very regimented,” said Margaret Schorr, whose daughter attended and excelled in the program from about 2011 to 2015. “Any orthodox Jew should not have any trouble accepting regimentation ... That’s just the way orthodox Judaism is.”
The report also found that Chabad Chayil operated without a required license from the Florida Department of Children and Families for seven years at Aventura Waterways and two years at Highland Oaks. Chabad Chayil had a
licensing exemption from DCF, but it did not apply to programs at public schools, according to the report.
Because Chabad Chayil operated its program at public schools, the required Level 2 background screenings for staff had to be conducted through DCF. The principals of the schools never asked for a list of employees or proof of their background checks and never issued the program’s employees with M-DCPS identification badges, another requirement.
DCF said in a statement that it is reviewing the Inspector General’s report to determine if any of the allegations included are a violation of DCF licensing standards.
“If any violations are noted, DCF will take immediate action to assist the provider in corrective measures or advise the provider of their available options,” the statement read. Schorr said she never saw any safety issues while her daughter, now 17, attended the program.
Based on the documents provided by Chabad Chayil and corroborated by DCF’s records, none of Chabad Chayil’s 52 employees, except for the rabbi and his wife, underwent the Level 2 background screening prior to 2015, according to the report.
Kievman said his employees did have Level 2 background checks but said the paperwork was old and he could not find those records.
The report also found that Chabad Chayil sublet the premises to Neytz haChochma School, a now-defunct Jewish Orthodox school for students with special needs, in violation of the temporary use agreement.
“[Neytz’s] physical presence on M-DCPS school grounds for over a decade begs the question as to how this arrangement was allowed to fly under the radar for so many years,” the report read.
Chabad Chayil received grants ranging from around $200,000 to $300,000 from the Children’s Trust every year since 2014 for its work with students with special needs. The grants have since stopped because the program is not currently operating.
“The Children’s Trust appreciates the work done by the Inspector General’s office, and the report speaks for itself,” spokeswoman Ximena Nunez wrote in an email.
Principals played a role
The report laid a significant amount of blame on the schools’ principals, Bello and Saperstein, who received repeated reminders on protocols for hosting after-school programs. Saperstein also did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
As Karp, Blumstein and Chabad Chayil all contend that they were following what they thought was the correct way to use school facilities, the report concludes that Bello and Saperstein should have known the correct procedures and intervened. Both principals were made aware of the process for contracting out after-school programs and ignored repeated reminders of proper protocol.
“Whether this was really because each administrator blindly believed that someone else was doing the vetting or because the organization’s ties to the School Board Member’s Office meant that it was better not to ask too many questions, isn’t clear,” the report read. “What is clear is that no one held the after-school program accountable and, thus, the program was allowed to operate rent free, without M-DCPS oversight, and without the safeguards required by law to protect children.”
Saperstein, who worked under Bello as assistant principal at Aventura Waterways, told investigators he resisted allowing Chabad Chayil on Highland Oaks’ campus because of his “prior experience and frustrations.” According to the report, Saperstein told investigators that he brought up his concerns about why Chabad Chayil was not assessed facility charges.
“Mr. Saperstein stated that Mr. Bello told him that it was ‘something that was approved through the powers that be,’ ” the report read. Saperstein allowed the program on Highland Oaks’ campus in 2016 after multiple requests from parents.
Kievman said Bello threatened to withhold approval unless, “Chabad Chayil changed in a particular way, or, on occasion, paid for advertising or for staff breakfasts and T-shirts for the staff,” according to the report. Bello told investigators that he would hesitate to approve the temporary use agreements and fee waivers because Chabad Chayil staff would ignore his complaints when classrooms were left in a messy condition, including disarranging teacher’s supplies and class documents, eating in classrooms, playing with classroom computers and destroying classroom items.
Bello also said Blumstein would call him to check on the status of the approvals. “This organization has been here for a while so look at it and approve it,” Blumstein would tell Bello, according to the report.
Chabad Chayil also made payments to an Aventura Waterways custodian at Bello’s request, according to the report. The report said those payments are likely in violation of federal labor laws. A complaint against Bello was filed after the inspector general issued its draft report.
“In sum, the OIG was taken aback by the extent of misrepresentations made by Chabad Chayil throughout the years it operated at M-DCPS school facilities, and those made during this investigation, including in its response to the draft report,” the report read. A detailed and bulleted list of four examples followed.
In its response to the inspector general’s report, the district took no responsibility and instead blamed Chabad Chayil as principals “have not been privy to any of the comprehensive licensing requirements for Board approved, not-for-profit, fee-based outside agency before and after school providers.”
The inspector general reprimanded the district for passing the buck, calling its reasoning “nonsensical.”
“We believe there is some responsibility to ensure that the outside agency providers are licensed to carry out the program services that they are providing,” the report read.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he would reserve his comments on the report out of respect for Karp until the district’s audit and budget advisory committee meeting in December. Carvalho did say that he saw “concerns at all levels” and that the school district is considering disciplinary action toward employees and recouping facility costs from Chabad Chayil for the past two years.
“It seems like a wrongly planted seed grew,” he said. “The problem was never corrected.”
The inspector general has requested a status report on the district’s corrective actions by January 25, 2020.
Miami Herald staff writer David Ovalle contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 6:00 AM.