MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami-Dade County School Board Member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, known for her calm, cool and collected demeanor, lashed out at one of her colleagues, Danny Espino, after unveiling he disinvited her from a public meeting when she showed up.
“I was angry,” said Bendross-Mindingall, the longtime-serving Miami-Dade School Board member who represents District 2, a historically African-American area.
“When I walked in, I was told that you were not invited…so that’s what we’re doing in 2023?” she said, referring to the two-member Tuesday meeting that, while advertised, some argue was not highly publicized.
“I’m not going to forget it,” Bendross-Mindingall continued. “I had flashbacks, I had flashbacks…I went to school in Alabama. I went to school in Alabama and I don’t have to say anything because what was legal wasn’t right.”
At @MDCPS meeting tonight, school board member @DrDBMindingall confirms what @WPLGLocal10 reported Tuesday night: fellow school board member @DannyEspinoD5 told her she could not participate in public meeting. Points out she was elected, not appointed. pic.twitter.com/ieRLGzNtuq
— Hatzel Vela (@HatzelVelaWPLG) April 20, 2023
“Silence is complicity,” said fellow School Board Member Steve Gallon as he explained why he brought up the issue as the board wrapped up their meeting Wednesday night.
Gallon added he brought up the issue after Local 10 News aired the story Tuesday evening and reported the confusion over whether a school board member could attend.
Gallon added he had been flooded with calls from concerned constituents.
“We have more that unites than divides us but this was an opening for significant division, division around issues that once that genie of racism gets out of the bottle, it’s hard to get it back in,” Gallon said.
Espino and Roberto Alonso were the only school board members listed in Tuesday’s meeting agenda, which outlined minority contracts and board meeting format as the topics of discussion.
“I was disappointed with the legal process of the meeting,” Alonso said. “I think there was a confusion as to municipal sunshine meetings where you have to list the names of each elected official that is going to be in the discussion.”
Alonso went on to say school board policy is different and allows anyone to take part.
“To the extent that there was a public meeting held, anybody can attend that public meeting,” said Luis Garcia, one of the school board attorneys, who was present at said meeting.
“Since you already had two board members that were attending as a result of the member conference, then any other board member could attend,” said Garcia, who described the incident as a misunderstanding.
“The issue was participation not attendance, but I clarified that she could also participate,” he added.
School Board Chair Mari Tere Rojas told the board Wednesday she did not know the meeting was taking place, was not asked to attend the meeting and admitted she has never been to a similar “conference session” during her tenure on the school board.
Before meeting wrapped up, @MDCPS Board Chair @MariTereMDCPS addresses incident, apologizes to @DrDBMindingall. #STORY on @WPLGLocal10: https://t.co/cOa9GxEEGB pic.twitter.com/i9fefIULF2
— Hatzel Vela (@HatzelVelaWPLG) April 20, 2023
“I am dismayed to hear how sadly my colleague feels,” Rojas said. “As the chair of the board, I do apologize to you for what you went through. It was unfortunate.”
“Please understand that was happened here should never happen again. Will I forget it? Never,” Bendross-Mindingall said.
Local 10 News reached out to Espino, hoping to get some clarification as to why he told his colleague she couldn’t participate. As of the publishing of this story, Espino had not responded.