WFOR-TV (Miami, Florida)

July 3, 2009

Carvalho Meeting With Parents Over Program Closure

HOMESTEAD - Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho is now leading the charge to re-open federally-funded educational programs offered in a cluster of portable classrooms to the children of migrant farm workers in Homestead.

The program has been operating for more than 30 years.

With a large gathering of press and farm worker families surrounding him, Carvalho declared,"There are no invisible people in this community, there are no voiceless people in this community and shame on those who use power and money to silence them."

Carvalho says he demanded to be allowed into the district-owned portable classrooms and says that the Homestead Housing Authority Director Ed Carrera denied him access.

"I believe I am being illegally blocked from accessing School Board property, now I have to tell you we are going to use all the resources we have at our disposal, we have engaged the legal team to seek immediate legal action to resolve this issue," Carvalho said.

Just days after a summer school program run by Miami-Dade Schools, and funded by the federal government, was shut down, parents of children in the program met Carvalho. The program was closed and forced off the property by the Homestead Housing Authority.

Homestead Housing Authority Director Ed Carrera said he closed the program down because Miami-Dade Schools will not join a new group he created, which would put him in charge. Only the School Board can run school programs.

"(The School District) refused to work with the Housing Authority. They wanted to work independently," Carrera said.

He says any kids who rely on the Dade Schools program will be welcomed into this Housing Authority's summer school. But parents and former students worry they can't afford that new program and they're not sure it will last.

"A lot of people are gonna suffer," former student and current parent Gilbert Rosales worried.

The programs at the center serve hundreds of children whose parents can't afford daycare.

Rosales explained, "Most people here pick tomatoes, what do you get out of picking tomatoes - $50 a day? That's not enough to feed a family for a week."

Most of all, these parents don't understand why a children's program that costs the Housing Authority nothing to run has been cancelled.

Tirso Moreno of the Farm Workers Association of Florida says, "Funding is there from Dade County Schools! Why not leave it there?"

CBS4 Reporter Natalia Zea asked Carrera, "Why not give them an exception because it is indeed an extra program that you're not paying for?"

Carrera responded, "Because it's more important to have the Provider's Network, and to have this unified group of people working with the community."

The parents disagree and hope their children will be back in the classroom soon.

Both Carrera and the Miami-Dade School District are considering legal action over this issue. The District may temporarily move the program to a nearby school so the kids have somewhere to go.

This battle is just beginning. Carrera is going to meet with district leaders next week, but the School District's lawyers are already in the mix. Carvalho says if they lose every legal battle to re-open these classrooms to the kids, then he'll move the program to another location near the labor camp.