DISCLOSURE: The author of this story is employed by the nonprofit South Florida Public Media, which operates SA国际传谋 News and is a subsidiary of Friends of SA国际传谋. The story was edited by a freelance journalist.
The nonprofit that raises money to support SA国际传谋 Public Radio and Television has filed a formal protest against the Miami-Dade School Board, after Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and a committee recommended South Florida PBS take over core management duties of its competing public media station.
In the protest filing, Friends of SA国际传谋 requests a 鈥渇ormal hearing鈥� before a Division of Administrative Hearings judge to settle the dispute between two of the region's largest public media organizations.
At stake is the future management of an expanding, award-winning local newsroom that employs reporters from Key West to West Palm Beach, and an award-winning television station.
The protest filing says the committee鈥檚 decision recommending management of SA国际传谋 be handed over to South Florida PBS 鈥� which owns and operates WPBT Channel 2 鈥� is 鈥渋rrational and otherwise unlawful.鈥�
Miami-Dade Public Schools holds the Federal Communications Commission license to operate SA国际传谋鈥檚 radio and television frequencies, and retains key aspects of management of those properties. However, the School Board has in recent years sought a different arrangement, hoping to allow a different entity to manage the station, while continuing to hold the license.
The school district and SA国际传谋鈥檚 radio news division , after one of its reporters did a series of stories critical of the district鈥檚 disciplinary policies. In the wake of those reports, the district explored taking over aspects of the station鈥檚 news division, but backed off amid a public outcry.
Currently, SA国际传谋 radio and television operations are managed by Miami-Dade County Public Schools employees. Top management positions are held by school district employees. Friends of SA国际传谋 raises money and employs the journalists. Station management and the School Board have recently been in agreement that the status quo was undesirable, and that a different management structure was needed. The new media management contract was opened for bidding in July.
Both Friends of SA国际传谋 and South Florida PBS submitted proposals to manage SA国际传谋鈥檚 radio and television stations during a recent bidding process.
The Friends of SA国际传谋 protest also alleges that South Florida PBS鈥� financial status is subpar, throwing future management of SA国际传谋 into question. South Florida PBS is 鈥渘onresponsible based on its financial condition,鈥� reads the protest. South Florida PBS disputes that claim.
Included in Friends of SA国际传谋鈥檚 protest documents were allegations that South Florida PBS violated a required 鈥淐one of Silence鈥� for the bidding process, meaning that neither party could publicly speak about the proposals. The protest cites a Dec. 2 email sent to South Florida PBS members and donors after the Miami-Dade School Board recommended that it take over SA国际传谋 management. The email blast urged recipients to contact elected School Board members to support a forthcoming vote that would cement South Florida PBS as the future management of SA国际传谋, including contact information for the officials. Several recipients did in fact contact the School Board after being prompted by the email, according to the protest.
A key School Board vote, originally scheduled for Dec. 4, was postponed. That and the final vote, originally set for Dec. 11, have now been rescheduled for January.
Asked for comment on the allegations made in the filing, South Florida PBS spokesperson Jenneisy Azcuy said the station is barred from addressing "any specific issues" on the bid "because we are still within the Cone of Silence" established by the School Board's bidding process.
But the station is "honored" to have been recommended for management of SA国际传谋, she added.
South Florida PBS previously said in its original proposal that if it ultimately receives the contract for managing SA国际传谋, it plans to continue operating the radio news department. Other aspects of how a South Florida PBS takeover could affect SA国际传谋鈥檚 television station are less clear.
The decision to recommend South Florida PBS take over SA国际传谋 management came about through a point scoring process in which South Florida PBS narrowly won. Members of the scoring committee included Miami-Dade Public School employees, along with outside parties including former Miami Herald publisher David Lawrence and Florida International University communications professor Lorna Veraldi.
In its protest, Friends of SA国际传谋 alleges it lost the bid largely due to 鈥渁t least one member鈥� of the voting committee 鈥渇ailing to consider鈥� the approach and qualifications of Friends of SA国际传谋.
Daisy Gonzalez-Diego, the chief communications officer of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, was singled out as one voting member of the committee who 鈥渃hanged the outcome of the competition.鈥� Friends of SA国际传谋 argued that Gonzalez-Diego grossly overscored South Florida PBS in two of the three criteria areas, in a degree that to which she out of step with fellow scorers.
鈥淚f her aberrant scores are eliminated, and none of the other errors are corrected, SA国际传谋 Public Media would have scored higher than South Florida PBS,鈥� reads the complaint.
Gonzalez-Diego said she was unable to comment on the filing, as the school district is operating under the "Cone of Silence" established by the bidding process.
Finally, the protest argues that the bidding process is 鈥渋rrational and unlawful because it is based on point scores alone.鈥�
The lowest point scores for Friends of SA国际传谋 related to "corporate past performance and personnel" criteria. While all five voters gave South Florida PBS the most possible points for the criteria, only two voting members 鈥� school district employee Iraida Mendez-Cartaya and FIU professor Veraldi 鈥� gave Friends of SA国际传谋 the top ranking.
Last year, an from the inspector general of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a nonprofit created and funded by the federal government, found that SA国际传谋 significantly overstated the amount of nonfederal funding it received between 2013 and 2015. The discrepancies resulted in more than $700,000 in overpayments from CPB grants, found the audit. That report followed an from 2017 that also found Friends of SA国际传谋 had long been misreporting its revenues, a revelation which previously resulted in Friends of SA国际传谋 firing its former chief financial officer. The federal nonprofit requested a return of the funds SA国际传谋 was overpaid.
SA国际传谋 general manager John Labonia, a school district employee, stated in 2018 that "significant progress" had been made towards creating more oversight for the fundraising arm's financial reporting.
It is unclear how Labonia's role in the Friends of SA国际传谋 bid might have impacted the voting committee's rankings. According to Friends of SA国际传谋's bid for managing the station, some school district employees 鈥� like Labonia and SA国际传谋 television executive producer Adrienne Kennedy 鈥� would retain their current roles. The bid did not include any information about whether those positions would remain funded through the school district, or if they would be newly funded through Friends of SA国际传谋.
Asked for comment on the protest filing, Friends of SA国际传谋 Board of Directors Chairman Dwight Hill stated: "We think the document speaks for itself."
