Student Exposed Broward County School Waste. Now He's Being Kicked Out.
Four months later, you would think we'd run out of reasons to get disgusted with Broward County (see Parkland Father Savages Broward County Schools After New Report and Video Shows Deputy Standing Outside During Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting). Yet here we are, reading about Kenneth Preston being thrown out of school. Kenneth was the student who exposed the $100,000,000 the school had been sitting on and NOT spending on school security. That was April.
In May, he was thrown out. Here's what Kenneth says happened.
Now, the same school district is kicking me out of school. On May 25th, I received a letter from the Broward School Board stating that I had been unenrolled from my home school program. The letter states I failed to respond to a notice that I was “out of compliance.” I was on track to graduate one year late, after rebounding from a crippling case of Lyme Disease that set my life back more than two years. I missed nearly two years of school and then entered a home school program as the cognitive effects of the disease began to take affect on my school work.At first, I imagined that this should take no more than a quick phone call to set straight. Unfortunately, my efforts over the course of the last month to appeal the decision have been fruitless. I called, provided the documents they requested, and filed an appeal. It was denied, citing a lack of credits and a prior termination (due to paperwork) as a reason. This is after I made them aware that any lack of credits was due to my illness and the cognitive condition that followed. As for the prior termination, having been my first full year of home school, my parents and I were unaware of procedures and paperwork that were expected. In no way did they affect my academic performance or my eligibility for disability protections.
Rules are rules. Admittedly, I'm not familiar with the intricacies of Broward County bureaucracy. If Kenneth and his parents dropped the ball, it sucks. But thems the breaks. That's the devil's advocate part where I begrudgingly give the district the benefit of the doubt.
But anyone who has had any experience with school boards knows how petty and vindictive they can be. If a student cut too many classes to protest, the district might have made an exception. All politics is local, and school districts can be the swampiest of them all.
And this isn't even a liberal vs conservative thing. It's not like Preston showed up in a MAGA hat and an "I Heart the NRA" shirt. He just wanted to know why the school district didn't spend the 100,000,000 they had for school safety... on school safety.
Something Stoneman Douglas needed more of on Valentine's Day.
