Racist Dictator (and former North Miami Senior principal) Mr. Iber to be possibly reassigned as a principal at another school … We say HELL NO!

We got this letter with an update about where Dictator Iber has been hiding and where he might go next. We gotta fight this. That crazy man has no business working at a school and he and Big Susie should be cell mates for everything they did:

On September 28, 2015 Miami Herald reporter, Christina Veiga reported that former North Miami Senior High principal Alberto Iber has received an official reprimand from Miami-Dade County Public Schools – although she never stated concretely what the reprimand entails (http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article36869190.html). Most disturbing of all was the announcement by MDCPS that Mr. Iber would soon be reassigned to another position within the District, which may include being placed as the principal of another school. We have actually received word from various reliable sources that Mr. Iber is likely to be reassigned to Hialeah Senior High School. This is completely unacceptable and the community of Hialeah, and all others in Miami-Dade, need to be concerned about the possibility of this man working with their children and leading a school again. 

Miami-Dade County schools spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez-Diego made the outrageously ignorant statement that while Iber erred in judgment, “he had been a good principal.” Let us analyze that assertion. First of all, has Ms. Gonzalez-Diego been an employee of Mr. Iber and suffered the harassment, discrimination, and retaliation that several of his teachers (and students) were forced to endure during Mr. Iber’s tenure as principal of North Miami Middle School and North Miami Senior High School? I think not. Does this District spokesperson not know about the multiple complaints and grievances that have been filed against Mr. Iber and his administration during the past years?

Let’s get the facts straight once and for all. Mr. Iber’s removal from his position as principal of NMSH has been over-simplistically attributed to his racist comments regarding the McKinney, Texas incident.  (Note: this actually was not Iber’s only racist comment regarding recent national tragedies suffered by Black victims. He actually made several disturbing racist and elitist comments, even applauding the cops who killed Eric Garner in NYC with an illegal chokehold). Moreover, Mr. Iber was also overheard by individuals publicly praising and condoning the use of aggressive and zero tolerance policies against students. 

Thus I would like to say that people are mistaken if they truly believe that Mr. Iber is a good principal and that the sole reason for his removal was for stating his opinion.  This was actually just the last straw in a long list of derelictions of duties and tragedies that occurred during this past 2014-2015 academic school year.  Making this about free speech rights, while not taking into consideration the numerous problems that affected the school under Mr. Iber’s leadership does not even begin to skim the surface of the underlying issues.

During the past school year, Mr. Iber and his administration led a deliberate campaign of harassment against faculty, staff, and students who criticized (even just minimally) the day-to-day functioning of the school and leadership of Mr. Iber.  What is most ironic and hypocritical is that Mr. Iber and his vindictive team of inept administrators violated the free speech rights of students and faculty incessantly throughout the year and have even gone to great lengths to threaten and retaliate against vocal employees (and students!) for exercising their first amendment rights. 

Additionally, the school had been dangerously filthy and unsanitary under Mr. Iber’s watch. Last year the student and faculty restrooms were filthy and lacked basic necessities like toilet paper, paper towels, and soap. The classrooms and other school facilities were dirty and cockroach and mice infested.  Even more troubling was Mr. Iber’s lack of concern for safety in the school that most likely contributed to a spike in police-involved incidents, including fights, possession of firearms, and sexual assaults (including two gang rapes last year alone!). Moreover, under Mr. Iber’s watch the school experienced several incidents of fraud on school (master schedule) and student paperwork (schedules), and even grand theft (over $100,000 went missing from the school account). The dirty laundry list goes on. 

So the lesson to learn from this case is not free speech infringement but instead harassment against employees and students, mismanagement of a school by a dictator-like principal and his administration, and dereliction of duty that caused a climate of fear and a unsafe and unsanitary learning environment. Mr. Iber and his administration should all have been removed for these countless violations and tragedies, and not simply because of Iber’s racist comments. You may ask why the District is unwilling to admit this. The simple reason: it would have to explain why it turned a blind eye to these and other serious crimes and violations that were committed by Mr. Iber and his administration, and decided to simply keep these people in their positions as leaders of this school instead of investigating the issues and firing those responsible for these offenses.

Let us unite and not allow MDCPS to place Mr. Iber as a principal at ANY school in Miami-Dade! We are watching!