Flaws in after-school program ‘could have put kids at risk,’ inspector general says
For the first time since a report scrutinizing a Jewish center for its lack of payment and oversight of after-school programs came out in September, members of the Miami-Dade School Board and community leaders publicly discussed the contents of the report, published by the Inspector General for Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
The report found that after-school programs run at schools in Northeast Miami-Dade by Chabad Chayil were misrepresented to access use of public school facilities free of charge.
The report also found that the program did not verify required background checks for employees and operated without a license for a time, the Miami Herald reported last month. Additionally, a School Board member’s aide pressured school administrators to approve the program’s permits to use the space, the report concluded.
A boardroom at the school district office in downtown Miami filled with staff but also with members of the Jewish community, Bal Harbour Mayor Gabriel Groisman, state Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Miami Beach, and Chabad Chayil operators Rabbi Moishe Kievman and his wife, Devorah Layah Kievman, who both deny allegations of wrongdoing. Their lawyer was also present.
In her presentation to the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Audit and Budget Advisory Committee, Inspector General Mary Cagle acknowledged the sensitive nature of the report but stressed how important the findings are. The report stemmed from an anonymous complaint submitted to the inspector general more than two years ago.
“Chabad Chayil and school administrators violated their own rules,” Cagle said. “I hope it drives real change in the district ... potentially, this could have put kids at risk.”
Cagle gave four recommendations for administrators to follow.
First, she said the fee waiver process needs to be strengthened. Second, she recommends an overhaul of the security process to ensure that all relevant people — in this case, child care workers — are in compliance with requirements like background checks. She also said the Office of Community within the school district needs to be instrumental in approving after-school programs and take a larger role in helping after-school programs follow the correct procedures.
The school district’s chief auditor, Maria Gonzalez, noted that procedures in place for getting a temporary use agreement were not followed by the administration.
However, some sitting at the table vehemently disagreed with the report. While the meeting was solely informational, they rejected the claims and asked for the inspector general to send back a new report.
They were mostly upset with a part of the report that named School Board member Martin Karp and his chief of staff, Jerold Blumstein, who were “friendly” with Chabad Chayil. The original complaint alleged they helped the Jewish center use school facilities for free. The report found that while Karp was not directly involved, Blumstein “aggressively worked” to coerce Luis Bello and Scott Saperstein, the principals of Aventura Waterways K-8 and Virginia A. Boone Highland Oaks Elementary, and made sure the temporary use agreements were approved and fees waived every year.
Blumstein, who was not present Tuesday, told the budget committee last month that the report was inconsistent and flawed.
Karp, who only spoke briefly at the meeting, said the inspector general used one witness, relatively new administrator Keisha Johnson Cabrera, as the key witness.
Cabrera told investigators that she was asked to sign off on the temporary use agreement paperwork. After pointing out the Chabad Chayil program does charge fees for the program, Blumstein indicated “he’d go over her head if she didn’t approve this,” according to the report.
Karp argued that other witnesses with more experience were left in the footnotes of the report.
Bay Harbor Islands Councilman Isaac Salver said, among other things, that the parts of the report naming Karp and Blumstein ought to be “thrown into the garbage.”
“It pains me greatly that two people I’ve known for decades are radically affected by what the Office of the Inspector General published,” he said. “Any part of this report besmirching Dr. Karp and Jerold Blumstein ... you could take it out and rip it out and throw it in the garbage.”
The report found that 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 meant for temporary facility use. In order to operate a short-term or long-term program, the use would require a contract.
Fees for a temporary use agreement can be waived but only if the meeting or program is open to the public and free of charge. According to the report, Chabad Chayil advertised a “nominal fee” for the program, listing registration fees of $100 and weekly fees per child at $0 to $159. Screenshots from Chabad Chayil’s website showed 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. But according to records, their fees were waived through their temporary use permit.
If the going rate had been paid for use of the space in two schools, it could have amounted to $1.3 million.
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.
DCF told the Miami Herald in an email that the exemption was valid, but has not yet confirmed that fact to reporters when asked for clarification.
The report, in its current state, will be presented to the ethics advisory committee at its next meeting. School administrators are required to send back a memo to the Office of the Inspector General by Jan. 25 detailing actions that have been taken to address the reported wrongdoings.
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.
So far, there’s been no decision to recoup the lost funds from the last 10 years. Cagle said that decision would have to be made by the School Board. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho declined to speak to a reporter after the meeting adjourned.
Others who disagreed with the report said the 200 or so children who attend the program are the ones most affected during the investigation. They should be able to attend a program “that they like,” according to Groisman, Bal Harbour’s mayor.
“I don’t see any evidence of any malicious intent by the applicant or the group that was running the program,” he said. “This group Chabad Chayil should get the opportunity to start a new day, fill out a new application and follow whatever protocols there are. Otherwise, the kids lose.”
Other School Board members disagreed, and said the lack of oversight was putting children at risk, not vice versa.
“Someone’s got to be watching the watchmen,” said Christopher Norwood, vice chair of the committee.
Miami Herald staff writer Colleen Wright contributed to this report