Scammers operating on all fronts, including text messaging

Scammers operating on all fronts, including text messaging

Posted online Palm Beach Post (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/) Sat, Jan. 26, 2013, Scammers operating on all fronts, including text messaging,  By Susan Salisbury, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer.

Read up on some of the scams that every day thousands of people fall.

There are the emails claiming they’ve won a prize.

There are advertisements on Craigslist for rental apartments which don’t exist.

Bogus lotteries seeking payment upfront, that have been around for years.

With technology such as text messaging on the rise, scammers have more ways than ever to do their dirty work.

So take some time and read this article.  The elderly especially are being targeted by scammers, who are estimated to be taking around $3 billion a year from people age 65 or over.
______________________________
After reading the online article, tell me whether or not either of the e-mails I have posted below are scams:

A Charter School for Palmetto Bay? The Palmetto Bay Village Council will provide the answer on October 17

The Palmetto Bay council appears poised to approve the first charter school to be located within Palmetto Bay.  This action will occur on Monday, October 17, 2011, when the village council takes up the application brought by the Shores at Palmetto Bay, LLC, which is requesting to establish a Charter School facility for 1,400 students, specifically on a five (5) acre parcel near the corner of SW 97th Avenue and SW 180^th Street (immediately east of Village Hall).

 

The public hearing on this application will be held on Monday, October 17, 2011.  You can read the full Zoning Analysis by clicking HERE.   

CLICK HERE to review the plans filed by Shores at Palmetto Bay, LLC, with Palmetto Bay (90 page .PDF file)

A brief history of Charter Schools:

Liberty City Charter School in Miami became the state’s first charter in 1996, the same year that Florida approved Charter Schools. The number of charter schools have grown steadily since that first school, reported now to number more than 500 with over 154,000 students for last school year (2010-2011 school year).  This number approximates 10% of all students enrolled in Public K – 12 for last school year.

These facts are discussed in a recent online article of StateImpact Florida: From Minnesota to Miami: The History of Florida Charter Schools

StateImpact Florida bills itself as a collaboration of local public radio stations and NPR. Reporters John O’Connor and Sarah Gonzalez travel the state to report on how education issues affect you. Read their reports and listen to them on NPR member stations. Click on the headline above or CLICK HERE to view the recent article “From Minnesota to Miami: The History of Florida Charter Schools” posted September 28, 2011, by reporter John O’Connor.

Is the Palmetto Bay Council following a trend? 

Finally, back to the source, StateImpact Florida, an article was posted on September 27, 2011, entitled The Three Types of Florida Charter Schools.  (Click on the headline to view) All of the 500 Charter Schools within Florida gall into one of three categories, ranging from:

1. Non-profits founded by local activists, to schools set up by cities or towns; 

2. Private, for-profit companies managed charter schools; and 

3. School district managed charter schools

The legislature has granted more flexibility to charter schools than traditional school boards in operation of schools.  Charter school liberties intrigue district, posted September 26, 2011, by Palm Beach Staff Writer Allison Ross online with the Palm Beach Post presents action going on within the Palm Beach School District in regard to actual district-run charter schools.  The article details how school districts have grumbled about the flexibility charter schools have compared with traditional public schools and the recent action to incorporate district-run charter schools within their district plan to obtain some of the breaks that charter schools get.