EMERSON Elementary (Proposed Closure) News Update January 18, 2008

Dear Community,

Just to keep you abreast of the latest information to save Emerson elementary. Friday morning, the local Univision radio station (FM 98.3), devoted a part of their morning show to the closure of Emerson elementary. The station was doing a call-in show, with radio listeners expressing their opinions regarding the closing of an "A" school (Emerson). All the calls were positive, because quite frankly the closing of a good school without exhausting all available options, is almost impossible to defend. However, in the middle of the show, the station was able to contact one of the Miami dade school board public relations spokespersons.

Basically, this spokesman (Mr. Cotarelo) came on the air and stated for the record (and I'm paraphrasing); "that the closing of Emerson elementary is fiction. The Emerson closure has not been discussed, nothing has been written, and it is nothing but a rumor that was created in the streets of Miami with no legitimacy." When we heard these comments, we all reached for a fax machine to send the radio station a copy of the "internal school board re-purposing draft" that we obtained, which outlines exactly how far along they are in their planning.

Luckily, a person called the show, who is quickly becoming one of our guardian angels, school board member Ms. Ana Rivas Logan from district 7 (Westchester is district 8) (* see note below). She set the facts straight; "that although no vote has been taken, schools have been selected for closure and Emerson is on the list. Emerson's closure is scheduled to be discussed during their next workshop (February 7th), and that what the radio station ought to be doing, is figuring out who the same five board members are who vote "yes" on everything that Rudy Crew proposes."

It is becoming clear to us, that whatever Rudy Crew wants.....Rudy Crew gets. Ms. Logan coming to our defense, helps our cause, because we will need to get the voices of other districts to unite with us. We are going to have to double our efforts and try to get some better organization before the next workshop (February 7th). We must be better prepared to counter whatever arguments are made in favor of Emerson's closure.

-Parents and Friends of Emerson-


* Note: For the record, our district "8" school board member (Dr. Marta Perez) has also been our guardian angel . She has defended us at every turn and has earned our highest admiration.