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Summary Minutes:City Commission Workshop August 9,2011 City of Sunny Isles Beach,Florida <br /> is how we are going to attack it, timelines, deliverables, and whatever is within their <br /> power because the fact of the matter is that they are asking us for a huge commitment, and <br /> dealing with this overcrowding issue with the school because of the district jumpers, the <br /> amount of resources you really have to put on there to do it effectively is a drop in the bucket <br /> compared to what you are asking us to do. He feels like all we are doing is throwing more <br /> money at the problem because you all aren't doing what you are supposed to do in terms of <br /> being vigilant about this. He agrees that it is a system-wide problem,and he understands why <br /> parents do it,and it is hard to get parents that care for their kids passionately and want the best <br /> education for them. He knows the School Board is up against something that is very <br /> permutable and he respects that,but he also does not feel that that school ever had the political <br /> will to deal with this issue. He feels it started off on a wrong foot and it just escalated from <br /> there, and it aggravates him given the amount of resources that we have put into the school in <br /> the first place for our own community that we are now in this situation because of a lack of <br /> vigilance. He is pretty convinced that the numbers are a lot bigger than anybody believes it is, <br /> and it is going to be hard to prove the size of the number. <br /> Vice Mayor Thaler said that we have offered over and over again to use our computers,to use <br /> our Police force,and nothing has been done. There has been no request for anything,and this <br /> has been every single year from day one,we have gone to the Principal,we have gone through <br /> with you that we would use whatever ability we had in our computer area, and in our Police <br /> force to get them out of here. As late as today he has spoken to Dr. Weissman and she said <br /> that people are still coming in and they are bringing in paperwork showing that they are living <br /> with their Grandparents. Are they really living with their Grandparents or is it just a piece of <br /> paper. We don't see anything being done and this is why we are here for this meeting. This is <br /> the principle of the meeting, to throw good money after bad for somebody who is living in <br /> Hollywood or Hallandale Beach or somewhere else in this area, we are not willing to do it. <br /> This is Sunny Isles Beach money, this is for the people of Sunny Isles Beach and Golden <br /> Beach the way it is set up, why give the money if we are not going to see the correction. <br /> Commissioner Scholl said that you are getting very creative about your financial problems by <br /> coming to municipalities and leveraging off their bonding capacities. We are not putting the <br /> same kind of creativity into these kinds of issues and that is where he is coming from. He is <br /> saying to show us the kind of vigilance and creativity that you are coming up to deal with your <br /> backflow issues because frankly this is the root of all your problems. The schools wouldn't be <br /> so crowded if you put the same kind of vigilance and creativity into dealing with these kinds <br /> of issues as well. Now our case is a special case because obviously now you are coming to us <br /> for something and the irony of it is that he knew the day of reckoning would come eventually <br /> because as he was frustrated over the years we knew it would eventually come back around, <br /> and so unfortunately this is an issue that we are absolutely going to need deliverables on. <br /> Before he puts any of the City's resources in, he will want to see a very clear plan. <br /> Mr. Greenfeld said he doesn't think he needs to come to the defense of Dr. Weissman whose <br /> life is that much more difficult because of overcrowding, and to say she doesn't have an <br /> interest in this, and Commissioner Scholl said she is a great principal however the spirit of <br /> that school from the day it opened has not been one of vigilance dealing with district jumping, <br /> that is a personal opinion and that is the opinion shared by a lot of parents. The parents feel it <br /> is a very loose environment for getting their kid in that school, so however we want to <br /> 4 <br />