How Gulliver Prep Stays Top-Tier in a Changing Miami | Simon Hess

All right. Uh we continue our educational series

is it?

But with the top dogs of education. So we had Janet Nunes.

Yes.

We had Miami Day College

president,

right? We had Columbus.

Yes.

And go ahead.

Now we have probably my favorite and there I would say the best private school

in South Florida.

Okay.

President Simon Hes from Guliver.

Thank you. All right.

Welcome Simon. Welcome.

Great to be here. I would say I've never went to Guliver. My kids went, but we before we started recording with Simon right now, we just started talking about off the camera how it was in my consideration list with

and that's very high regard. We appreciate that. and and and and the thing is is that you know Guliver is very been and listen I have we have lots of friends and we're not going to go through names but a lot of very um uh prosperous and and and figures mayors and stuff like that that went to

Guliver. I did not know that Vince Lago went to Guliver.

Yeah. Yeah.

I thought I didn't know.

Well, welcome President. It's great to be here.

Thank you for those people who don't know you if you can explain a little bit about yourself and what you do.

Yeah, absolutely. So, uh Simon Hess, president of Guliver. Um, this is my third school year, but it's really only my 18th month here in Miami. Um, so I came uh from

came from Boston um in in uh in January of 2024, which was a great time to leave Boston, right? You know, out of the gray and the snow and came down here to the land of uh technicolor.

It's what they all say.

Yeah. Yeah. And I spent uh I spent most of 30 years in uh urban um large urban public districts. So Boston and Chicago, mostly on ed reform, ed innovation. Um, so this was my first time ever working in an independent school. Um, and we've just absolutely love Miami. I I joke with people like this is the greatest midlife crisis of all time. So fabulous say that right now because when we were the president of of of the umate of the Miami date of the Kendall campus, he's from Texas.

Okay. All right.

And everybody, you know, you come down, they go,

I don't know what happened. I go, come on. and it's because you got a job offer. He goes, "No, listen, I didn't have to." You know what I'm saying? Came for the interview, but as soon as I came for the interview, remember he told you I fell in love with the place. And I laughed because, you know, we have so many people always talk about, "Oh, the airport of Miami is like this. The airport of Miami." He kept on saying, "I love the airport of Miami. It was a great time." And that's where he got his call. And then now you say the same thing. They hear your midlife crisis in Miami.

I have a lot of good friends. I'm from Boston. They they've b they've bought homes over here in Florida now. um for that same reason because of the weather. But what what you know what is the what was the the main thing that you said okay

I'm I'm gonna pull the trigger on this you know besides

Yeah. How did they do the process? Was it a pool of people or how' they go?

Yeah. So it was a um you know there's a a search firm process and I got a call out of the blue and honestly like the last thing that I ever expected was a to go work in an independent school and b to move to Florida. You know like just the last thing on my mind. Um, and I was actually quite deep in the process with a school in Southern California. I have a daughter that's out there. So, we were we were headed in that direction and they said, "Just take the Guliver call." Um, and so I took the call and I was really impressed with the people I spoke to and they invited me to come down. And I called the head hunter and I said, "I you know, like I don't want to waste everybody's time. Like we're not moving to Miami. Like, you know, it's just that just feels like a bridge too far." And he said, "Just get down there and, you know, check it out." And so, like never been had never set foot in Miami. And so long story short, by the end of the weekend, I looked at my wife and I said, "We're moving to Miami. This is this is unbelievable."

That was like a realization for you guys. Boom.

You know, we made it like take me into that thought process,

you know. I think so more than anything else, right? So 30 years um large districts, um you know, big challenges dealing with uh elected school boards, um high stakes testing, uh teachers unions, just things that are really intractable, difficult to work with, right? and to come to a place like Guliver um that just has extraordinary resources um an amazing reputation, but I think most importantly a desire to really become a premier school not in Miami but but nationally and to to really become a school that's recognized in any city that you go to and people say, "Oh, you have a Guliver education. That's amazing." And so I think this uh this improvement orientation um this spirit of innovation that still despite its size really keeps kids at the center. And that's probably the most important thing to me as a parent and as an educator. It's like I I care an awful lot about what kids achieve academically. I care much more about the young people that they become. And so Guliver felt like a place that was really centered around those values. And so I just I was excited and I was I was inspired by what I saw happening there and and by the folks that that were doing the work.

That's incredible. Um I have the ability my daughter went to Guliver I was telling you earlier

and I have the you know pros and cons or the contrast of I went to public school right so Oh yeah I went to public school same.

So then I'm like when my daughter gets to go over and I see it the way they treat her. Um, and I would to to your point, I think the most important thing that they've done for her was guide her into the university selection process. Yeah. You know, uh, I saw that heavy there. Um, I also like the fact that whenever she didn't do something the right way, I would get like an email or a text message or something. You know,

if I was skipping school, if I did showed up late when I was public school, it was my parents never found out. My parents, they didn't know what the difference between an A and a Z was, a B, a C, whatever it was. Well, but I also think there was the times, you know, listen different times because I I we can't, you know, public school systems are a good school system. I I I'm a I'm a person from I would say I was a Gore again. I'm older. I know everything. I'm very young. But at the end of the day, I was, you know, I'm a public school person. I graduated in 1987,

but and I loved public school and I had the opportunity to go to private school, but I never wanted to because I like the whole situation of public school. But to your point, I think that things have evolved.

They have all a lot.

Yeah. But I think, you know, so to me, a highquality public educational system is probably one of the most fundamental components of a healthy democracy, right? So, every single kid deserves the opportunity to go to a great school. I think what's gotten really complicated is that there aren't enough great schools. And so I, you know, I really feel for parents. And I I look at a city like Miami, which is this amazing place. And I think one of the greatest constraints right now, um, that's kind of slowing, you know, the arc of the city is that there aren't enough great schools here. And so people always asked me, they said, "Oh, well, you know, who are you competing against?" We're not competing against anybody here. You know, we have, you know, six or seven applicants for every seat in the school. Um, and so what that tells me is that there actually needs to be five or six more Gulvers here, you know, five or six more Columbuses, five or six more, you know, really top uh, public schools, more parochial options. And so I just think if the city is going to be as healthy as as we want it to be in 15 or 20 years, we really need to invest in the entire educational ecosystem.

Well, we were talking about that because there's a lot of people investing a little bit, you know, not naming names, but um, they're trying to break down more more schools over there. But I totally agree with you. The the the the school system situation. It's funny because I was telling you prior one of my biggest goals always I wanted to do a school

because I wanted to follow a model of a dear friend of mine that he always tell me he was he's my age too. I forgot the school he went to up in Washington. He goes, "Listen, I got my kids in the school. They get in there at 7 something in the morning. They go to school. I think it's like to 3:30 and then after that it's just you know the the homework there after you know and after school activities like you know either they play basketball whatever but at 6:30 it was done.

Yeah.

So then that time was family time. Y it wasn't the sense of you know got to get to the house now and and let's be frank a lot of our viewers everybody knows how this works. Sometimes you become your kids you know did you do the homework? What do you have to do? Bobby I don't understand this. And then sometimes you're there to 10 11 o'clock at night, you know, crazy. And I don't even know what the hell's going on there anymore. I've seen problems that my son has shown me. I go, "What is that?"

And he goes, "You don't know how to do this?" And I go, "I don't remember." I mean, where's the calculator?

Yeah. Exactly.

You know, so to your point, there's there has to be more of that. And I think there has to be more like that that type of school system. Yeah. That

because I do believe people need family time. 100%. Absolutely. You know, and I think for Guliver, the family really sits at the heart of everything that we do. And it's I've heard that. I've heard that

and it's another thing that I'm really proud of and and actually one of the the reasons that I chose the school. Um I wasn't interested in in going to a school where they just they test the kids and they take the kids in the top four or 5%. You know, I just like to me um that's un that's undervaluing kids. You know, kids are intelligent in so many different ways. And so, sure, a standardized test is one way. Um, but at Guliver, you know, we've got a, you know, a track of kids. I think we sent 27 kids to Ivy Plus schools last year. So, there's a track of kids that are going to go through and they're going to do that. We have a group of kids that are the most amazing artists, um, you know, involved in digital media production, that sort of thing. We had one kid go to Syracuse, which is like the the best program in the country for that. Another girl who's dancing at the University of Texas. Fabulous program, right? Um, we had another kid that graduated last year who told the story of how when she entered Guliver, she literally could not read. She had a learning disability that had been undiagnosed. She starting at she started at Penn in September, right? And so, if you're one of those schools that trades on its elitism or only allows kids in, you know, with a certain test level, you're not going to get those kids. And so, you're not going to get the kind of dynamic school community that I think families really desire.

I love that.

So, so that's what gets me excited about the school. has done a good job of looking for that type of like personality. Absolutely. Like my daughter is a good example of that. I don't think she she tested that well. Uh she tried to get into Westminster and that that she she couldn't go through there. When we were in the interview process, I brought out a huge painting that she did when she was like 8 years old. She had been painting since she was young.

She was a great painter.

And the teacher saw it. She goes, "She did that?" It was like that. I'm like, "Yeah." She goes,

"Can she go meet with the art teacher really quick?" In the middle of the meeting, she comes, she comes back. They said, "Hey, you guys are in."

Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, "Oh my god."

And then your daughter gets accepted to SCAD, which is again one of the best, absolutely one of the best design programs in the country. So I just think, you know, especially in this day and age, like we need a really different definition of what success looks like for kids. We're really focused on trying to understand what's every kid's potential and how do we help them to realize that potential. So that's our focus.

So on on Go ahead.

I was also going to say you mentioned earlier the situation with the schools, which I agree. I think we're all agreed like but I didn't think about it from that lens you know if we really want this city to advance what would you say are the the three things that are like inhabiting us from getting there.

So number one number one is there is a massive teacher shortage crisis across the entire country. Right. So there are few fewer people going into the profession than ever before.

We need to pay them more money.

There you go. And so well so now you're now you're singing my hymn. Uh Florida is 50th of 50 states in teacher compensation.

That's crazy to me. That's crazy. Why is that? So, well, there's a lot of reasons, but I think, you know, the, you know, one of the things that we've done at Guliver is we raised the the salaries by about 15%. You know, we took a hard look at all the benefits. Um, we now have a uh a professional development program that's in partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Education. So, we're really focused on making Gulver a destination workplace. But back to your question, like the number one piece is there are not enough teachers anywhere in the country and it's really hard to get them to come to Miami because we don't pay as well as other places in the country and it's gotten really expensive down here. Yeah. So that's number one. Uh number two is probably just because we're a young city, there aren't quite as many legacy institutions in the city, right? Right. And so you if you you come from a place like Boston, you've got a 250-y old public educational system, you've got, you know, 40 independent schools, you've got a parochial network. So it just those cities are a little bit more mature. And so Miami needs to invest now in education.

Um and then I I think the you know probably the third piece um is really just the will to have that kind of system. Um and people need to see it as a value. Um

do you see that from our leaders, our local leaders?

I do. you know, I think that's I think people are getting, you know, are clear that um, you know, with this great migration that people aren't going to stay if there aren't great seats in great schools for their kids, right? And so, you know, that's that's what's blocking us in some way.

But don't you see also the fact, I mean, and and we've we've all seen the news and the headlines, there's a lot of people moving to Miami.

Oh, yeah. It's unbelievable. you know, and and and despite I always say, you know, we're we're a neutral place here, but despite whatever, you know, policies that everybody likes in this state or that state, a lot of people are leaving other states to come to Miami,

be it um the income tax or being better this or being that.

I feel that, you know, something has to be addressed in in in the fact of the school systems. I know that they're doing that. I know there's there's a very uh prominent gentleman that's, you know, trying to invest and bring some schools over here as well. I mean, it makes sense if you're bringing headquarters over here with three, four, 500 people in in employees. You're bringing families that are bringing down families and Apple all these other great companies.

Is there is there a possibility? I mean, I know that you guys have been in construction. Have So, take us if you can. I mean, you guys have grown from what to what?

Yeah. So, interestingly, um, we have a hard cap on the number of students that we can have at our school. Okay.

So, we are capped at 1,000 high school students and we are capped at, uh, 1,240 prek to 8.

No, it doesn't matter the space.

Doesn't matter the space. So, part of it is based on the original kind of square footage and acreage and all of that sort of thing, but that's we're one of our campuses in the village of Pinerest. That's the cap. The other school is in Coral Gables. That's the cap. And so, um, we're already the fifth largest private school in the country. So, to be honest, we're actually not really that interested in growing. Okay.

Um, we would consider it if the right opportunity came around. Um, but we've invested about $185 million in our facilities over the last five years. Um, so there's been a huge investment uh in in making sure that we have the spaces and places that kids need and then a huge investment in human capital. So that's even that's an even more significant investment in terms of compensating the teachers and ensuring that we kind of envir sports and everything

all that stuff all the programs

you know that's so that that's so important that you talk because I've always said I don't I don't understand why you know I know that out of all the professions you know everybody's talking about AI and this is coming out this but you still need those instructors or those teachers to teach all that. Yeah. So I think there has to be something that we can entice as as a state everything has to entice people to go back and trying to become teachers. Yeah. Because I remember growing up a lot of people used to be you should love to become a teacher. Oh I love to I want to be a teacher. I mean it takes a lot to be an educator but because I tell you my hat is off to every teacher.

I talk about this with my wife all the time. Remember your kids leave your house and they go to another home. Yep. That's right.

And that other home is is is ruled by these other parents. that I mean they have the life and education of your kids in your hands.

Those people if it's up to me I mean I'm not doing it to everybody. These people will be in six figures, you know, I mean making money out there. You know what I'm saying? The top numbers.

So here's here's my huge hope and I'm probably in the tiny minority on this. I actually think that AI could serve to raise the stature of teachers because I think at the end of the day, you know, you're a parent, you're a parent, right? Um do you really want to plug your kid into a screen for six or eight hours a day? Like Right. And so I think people are actually going to see the value and the humanity of teachers and what they're actually going to be willing to pay for or what they're actually seeking in a public school system is teachers that are incredible educators, incredible uh motivators, mentors, people who really know their kids. Um, and so I, you know, my hope is that, you know, they've talked about kind of the, uh, you know, the revolution that will happen in many other industries and that as maybe some opportunities close for people in other industries that they actually look to teaching and realize what an amazing profession it is and that society becomes more and more willing to actually pay the kinds of salaries that we need to pay to ensure that we're able to to develop and keep great teachers.

I mean, you just gave me like a thought process. You think there's going to be an idea just a teachers like

Oh yeah, there already are. AI teachers in classrooms, no people.

There are schools that do not hire teachers.

Wow.

They have kids in front of AI products um and they have um you know people that are adults that are in the classroom to to kind of maintain order

like monitor

like monitoring that's happening right now. It's happening in Miami. Uh so there alpha schools you know for example, right? And and actually I didn't know this.

Yeah. So Alpha's got an interesting model, right? And I actually think like um places like alpha schools are important for the rest of us that are in more mainstream education because they're actually piloting and trying some things that I think are really important. Um but at the end of the day um I still really believe that a highly trained, highly effective teacher is the thing that actually moves the needle for kids.

I would agree with you

because I think teaching you need to have a relationship.

I know. I thought there was a butt there.

No, no. You need to have a relationship with the with the with the student of course. However, how do you beat something that knows everything?

Yeah. No, and that's like right. So, if we can tap into it, I I think you want both and and in fairness, alpha, like I think they want both and also. So, to me, like the real secret sauce is like if you can really uh assess rapidly and move kids quickly through their progressions, whether it's in mathematics or learning to write or science or whatever the case may be, kids may be able to learn faster than we expect them to learn currently with the way systems are, right? And so if you're able to do that and move kids through skill development and content, it actually leaves more time for them to really explore the things that you're passionate about. So imagine if your daughter instead of spending a full year in algebra could spend, you know, five months in algebra, get everything that she needs. You know, the teacher's getting kind of the assessment data back. AI is determining what assignment she needs to use next. She's able to complete that course. Now she actually gets more time in her design classes, her art classes, you know, like that would be amazing, right? You guys doing that?

Yeah. So that's the stuff that we're starting to pilot as well. Um, so again, the the teacher will always be, you know, the value proposition at Goliver as far as I'm concerned, but the technology is really allowing us to kind of extend what those teachers are able to do.

How do And how do the kids react to this? Do they enjoy it?

Yeah, because right, you know, as adults, we're we're like trying to keep up with the kids, right? You know, there's such virality to what kids are doing, right? And so that's moving so quickly. A teacher already has a full-time job, has a family, has a whole other set of responsibilities, and now they're supposed to learn a whole new technology, right?

It is. It's a whole new world out there.

Yeah. You know, we just did one in in in Miami date and and and it's amazing. And like this,

it was just a crash course, you know, like a 9-h hour course that we're a lot of our people are going now to do the continuing, you know, studies of that to get certified on it. But to your point, I mean, you still you need that human

you have to have it.

You have to have that, you know, human interaction. I mean, I just can't see my kids not being able to talk, ask questions.

And everything that you read and when you talk to people who are in the industry, like when you ask them the most important skills, they're all human skills. Can the kid create uh can is the kid creative? Um, you know, can they innovate? Uh can they think critically? Can they can they ask a great question? Right? That's prompting. Can they recognize a logical fallacy in an argument? Because they've got to be able to recognize both when the machine tells you the wrong thing, but also when humans do, right? Yeah. And so to me, like those are the skills that are going to ultimately be valued the most because AI is the great equalizer. It a kid in Pinerest has the same access to chat GPT as a kid in Mumbai. Right. Correct. Correct. And so like no longer is it about access to the technology. So what's the value proposition? It's the human skills and your ability to use AI in ways that expand those human skills. Right.

And you guys are focusing on training those human skills obviously.

Hugely. Hugely. Like we're we're tripling down on that to be honest with you. So, yep.

No. One of the other issues that I've seen come about in the community. I have friends that I I was telling you earlier. They always say, "Can you help me get my kid in Guliver?" You know,

no, I can't. You know, just you know that right now.

Listen. Listen, Simon. If you're going to learn something, I'll be in Miami. It's all about the connection, my brother. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

It's who you know.

Yeah.

Not the money, it's who you know.

With that, one of the things that came up that one of my friends, close friends, you know, he ended up getting the kids in Giver, you know, um he says, "Brother, it's like all these people are coming from out of town, all these transplants, and there's no room for the locals. Like the local kids are not able to get in these schools." And is there truth to that? Is there not? How's the percentage? Can you get some on that? So there's no question that like the the migration has really changed the dynamics of of the enrollment quotient, right? So there just there aren't enough seats for all of the folks that have come down and and um also all the folks that are already here. And so it's created a real shortage and scarcity of seats. At Guliver, we're really trying to honor who we've been. You know, this is uh we're about to celebrate our 100th anniversary. Um you know, which 100 years in Miami is something, right? Um, and so we're really focused on making sure that the siblings of families that are already a part of the school are able to gain access. Um, we have a huge alumni community and so we're really trying to ensure that if your family's been a part of Guliver for multiple generations that you have access,

right? You have priority. We also sense Yeah. And we also try to think about our teachers who are there. And so we have a significant number of our teachers kids. We also think about the other really critical folks in our community, police officers, firemen, you know, other people that really serve. We add value, you know, that add value to our community. So, yeah, we're trying to make sure that it isn't just

Manhattan.

But is there like a percentage or

So, we don't we don't have like a quota system, but we're very we pay a lot of attention to it.

So, Simon, and the fact of the people that Okay, so we have all of our viewers are our DM Miami family out there. I would love to try and send my kid to Guliver.

Are they gonna be able to afford it or is there another fair question is is is there programs? Is there something that also that

because some people say listen this is great. I love that you guys have this guy there but you know I can't afford that you know I mean is what do we want to tell those people? What do we tell those folks?

So we provide financial aid to about 15% of our families. Um we commit uh about $12 million a year um to financial aid. Um, I think the major challenge, and this is just, this is the public school guy, right? What I see in these schools is what I would call the barbell effect. So, you've got families over here that can afford to do almost anything, you know, that can send their kids without even blinking, right? Then you've got families over here who, you know, they they just are they they don't have the resources to to afford it, right? So, what ends up happening is these families actually get really significant aid, but if they're getting aid, they're getting almost full aid, right? And then what you're missing are the people in the middle that could maybe afford $25,000, right? But to ask them for another $15,000 or in the upper school another $25,000, well, they don't have that disposable income, right? So that is a challenge and one that we're really looking to address. We added an extra million dollars to financial aid last year. Um, and we're looking to continue to grow that. But like I do think we want the kind of socioeconomic diversity that that kids are going to experience in the real world, right? And so you don't want to be a school that is operating on the

I was the guy in the middle, right?

Yeah.

I was like halfway there, but phenomenal. I was a testament to that. Yeah, I'm a testament to that. You know,

but but this goes back to your question about teacher salary. So if Guliver were in Boston or New York, it would be $70,000 probably conservatively. And so that's a $20,000 gap and we're competing for the same teachers and it's just as expensive to live in Miami as it is in New York. Yeah. So the economics are they are tricky and the people getting priced out are the folks in the middle. I

say is it that's across is this like is this private school um situation turning into like we're getting for the highest bidder? Like are all these private schools like just raising prices raising prices and just obviously it's a money game at the end. You want to make money, right? or are there some schools that are being more conscious of that like what you're saying?

Yeah. So, I think you know we're a nonp nonforprofit, right? So, our we're not we're not that interested in like our margins, right? But we do want to make sure that we have worldclass teachers and world-class facilities. And so, you know, to do that, there's a cost that comes with that, right? And so, um you know, we we do not allow anyone to give money before they, you know, get into the school. So, there's this idea that you can write a check and get your kid in. Absolutely not. Right. Um,

so that's a false

that's un when I first got here, um, somebody said, "Oh, it's so great that

certain gentleman that everybody knows in the city gave you guys $25 million to reserve seats for the people in his company." Like

it's just like ridiculous, right? And if you actually think about the

We call that fake news.

That is the definition of fake news, right? That is the definition of fake news. Yeah. So, but you know, as you said, when your daughter applied, it was a very different landscape than, you know, when people are applying now. So,

Yep. I mean, listen, I I uh again, I I I never went to Guliver. Um you were part of my my my thing of my kids. I've always said and and and shout out to a lot of of schools out there. My kids went to St. Thomas.

They were so fascinated there that they would have I told you, you know, kids when they love their schools, they they would prefer my kids would have always said, I wish that school went all the way to 12th grade. Yeah.

Like like Guliver. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So when you fall in love with your school, you don't want to leave there. you know it's it's that hub that bubble what right the weather but it's it's your friends and then you everybody grows together right

you know and that and that's so important but apart from everything like that I do I do recognize everyone that I've known

about Guliver and people I go Guliver tremendous really education yeah

I mean I've I've I've seen it firsthand a lot of people and and you can tell you know I mean not for anything but you can tell when you talk to different kids oh well you know you can understand their what they learn and the courses. Um, and I think it's so important. I I visited some other schools and I would see things here. I said, "Wow, that never existed when I was growing up."

And I was like, "It's crazy."

A lot of these high schools now have turned into like college campuses.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

No. So, in actually back to the design program. So, we have an amazing we have 12 signature programs that you can explore um when you're in high school and they're basically like career majors. So, you kind of you take four courses. So, business, international law, diplomacy, um engineering, architecture, and so our architecture program, um the students that go through that program, they actually design projects that we then enact on campus and like largecale projects. And so, they're currently involved in redesigning the area between the aquatic center and one of the classroom buildings. It's called the Oasis, right?

It's amazing, right? And so my wife is actually she's a Harvard trained architect and she came to see um those classes and she said this is as good as I got in graduate school at Harvard, you know. And so that's happening in 11th and 12th grade.

My daughter went to an internship in New York and she was the only one that knew how to use CAD.

Yeah.

None of the other students knew how to use CAD and they trained her in color. She was learning that in high school.

But I think the f the thing that we're really focused on is relevance, right? And so it's we want our kids to, you know, have all of the the critical academic skills, right? But you need to know like what that's leading to, right? And so that's why I love those signature programs is because it gives you a taste of, you know, what the world beyond high school and college looks like. One just quick quip, too. Um so, uh last year I had a family um that uh their three-year-old was just accepted and I I welcomed them to the school and they held up their phone.

You can start there.

You can start at three years old.

Three years old.

And they held up a phone and they said, "Um, how come we're not higher on this list?" And I said, "Well, what's the list?" and they said, "Percentage of the senior class to go to an Ivy League school." And I said, "Oh, well actually, you know, we have a really significant number of kids that go to an Ivy League school, but we have 250 seniors and our priority, you know, the the reason that Goliver exists is not actually to get your kid into an Ivy League school. It's to prepare them for whatever comes next." And I said, "With your three-year-old, my guess is that 20 to 25% of that class is not going to college in 15 years. They're going to go right to work in the design industry. They're going to go right to work for Meta. They're going to go right to work for Tesla. Right.

And so, how crazy was that?

I feel like I've been preaching. Where have you been? How crazy is that? Like 10 years ago, they would say, "Learn coding."

Yeah.

Now it's obsolete. It's obsit. Everybody's, "Oh my god, get your kids into coding coding." Now, all of a sudden, I said, "Don't even waste your time."

Chad, do that in 10 seconds. Done.

You know what I'm saying? So, you're screwed.

Well, how about this? $400,000 for four years of college. post tax. So that's like 650k. Put your 650k away. See what that looks like in 10 years.

Let me tell you where have you been. Where have you been that you pre you're preaching what I have been speaking for a while. Some of my friends already tell my wife out there. Stop saying that in front of people. People are think you're always I'm not bashing anything. I'm saying that times have changed.

You know I explained this. I'm going to give you a little anecdote right now. There's a great college that you don't know about. I'm going to tell you which one it is. Do you tell I'm going to tell you right now that I always say in my time is a different situation. I grew up, you know, my parents hard workers that didn't speak the best English in the world. My parents didn't understand, you know, they go to school. You graduated. Once I graduated, they just looked at me and you go,

"Okay, Miami date.

Yeah,

I had NO ISSUES. I LOVE MIAMI DATE.

How you doing now? You're doing great.

Please, you're over there. Miami date." I was back in my reminiscing of my years. The burers office, the pool. And then all of a sudden from there, I said to myself, I love Miami day. Miami day. What do I do now? You continue.

Now all these people were like, oh, I hear these conversations between amongst friends. Everybody's saying, oh, this week we're leaving to college tour. What the college tour? What is this? Oh, everybody's going on a college tour because they want to see where they're going to go here.

I'm not bashing that. That's fabulous. That's great. But to your point, you and this is what I tell my daughter that's in this process right now.

You need to start preparing already for life.

That's right.

You know, I love the fact that everybody wants to go and do four years and I want to explore. I want to find myself. Listen, you know what you got to find? You got to start finding a job because at the end of the day, you know what I'm saying? Your four years start learning already what you do. you know, if you really want to be like this, you know, neurological brain surgeon that you can only the best school could be XYZ.

But if you're going to be in in an abyss administration on marketing, textbooks are the same in all places. So, I love the fact that

and why not get that in high school and then just start doing it when you get right out, right?

And I love the fact that you're just saying that because that's so so true and and you're like a step forward already in a couple of things. I mean that's again I I basers out there oh you know what that hey that's my just my opinion I feel that you have to get your college you have to get your degrees but we are moving so much forward

and I always say this I did all my degrees I did my I got to my bachelor's

if you ask me right now what I remember from any of those damn textbooks I cannot tell you or anything ethics I I don't know what the hell I read about this I don't know what the heck that is listen but you also got I went I That's what I'm saying. I went out and when I was in school getting my bachelors, I was already working.

Yep.

And I was doing stuff and I went to the best school which was FSU and not FSU from there.

I call it here which is Flaggler Street University. I got street smarts. I learned how to you had to wheel and deal. Yeah. And and while I was working and I'm never forget this and and my ex- boss would always tell me, "Hey, how do you know this? How do you know this?"

Because I learned it already from being, you know, here, being there. I mean, when you're just in this thing like this and I know what's going on now, you got to come back to the city or wherever you're at and now you got to start broadening the horizon.

So, you know, listen, I I think if if I could, we just say, you know, Gulliver 100%.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

We appreciate that. We appreciate that. This is a Manny rant. That was a Manny rant. There you go. Couple last questions.

Okay.

This is one that you mentioned it earlier and I'm just curious about this.

What is I've seen a lot of stuff in the news, but can you give me some insight on the teachers union, you know?

Oh, yeah.

And how much does it really affect what what type of uh courses are being taken? Cuz I would suppose that the teachers union would be used in order to supply more teachers into the community, but apparently that's not being done, you know. So, I can't speak with any authority on Miami, right? But I can tell you about Boston and Chicago. Um, and I can tell you that like the concept is a great concept, right? You know, to have a professional association like there's a bar exam that you pass and you join the ABA or the medical boards and you join the AMA, right? And I think the same kind of concept, you know, could potentially hold true for teachers unions. And the reality is like there's a lot of bad school administrators out there, right? You know, and people that haven't treated teachers fairly. So their their right to like collectively, you know, organize and bargain like I I have no problem with. My issue is that the unions became places where people who were terrible at their jobs were protected and people that should no longer be in a classroom should should really be moved along and unions in my experience made that process very very difficult. Um, so in Boston as an example, um, I was a pretty good teacher. Um, and in my first three years, every single year, I got a pink slip at the end of the year because I didn't have seniority, right? And so I lost my job. So you basically sent me the message I was working my tail off.

Well, guess what? He's going to go over now,

right? But you basically were sending me the message that somebody who I knew didn't care about kids had, you know, was out of the building every day by two o'clock to go home, like had no commitment or professional standards. You valued that person over me as a young person. Well, a lot of my friends then went off and be went to law school, went to med school, went to went into business because like you're not going to stick around for that. So, I just think, you know, with unions, I think I would rather see unions become places that uphold professional standards. And I and I think that that's the place that we've fallen down. And I think if they could kind of shift and pivot in that way,

then there's more value. There's gatekeepers, right,

Simon? That's that that has to be a whole twohour show.

Oh, that was huge. I had that because, you know, that's an iffy subject. A lot of people, some people that are pro or against. And again, there's there's truth and you said to all of them to the people that are pro, the people that are against,

but

I do I do agree with you that I think they should be also held more accountable like don't look for flaws. Go and start looking for new teachers, right? You know, come and get together, you know, make it enticing for teachers to come in and and start learning the profession again

and have it and again have there be a standard that you have to hit, right? you if you it's again to be a you know recognized by the bar or to be in the AMA like they police their own right so if you're a bad doctor you're out right you know because they don't that hurts the brand of being a doctor right and so I I just feel like we need people that are gatekeepers that recognize like it hurts the brand if you are protecting teachers that have lost interest in what they do

I'm sure it's because there's an old guard and they probably don't want to you know cut their old guard and cut these people out and then leave them in the streets

guard it's it's it's what everybody it's what we talked about with the whole thing of like you know this is what you got to do now it's the path that everybody's taking it's it's what was established and then you know a lot of people get very afraid of changes then to change and change but then we're getting forced into into change we just talked about it right now with the AI situation

and if we don't we're getting screwed

yeah no you got to move yeah if you don't think the world's changing like you already missed the

boat we got our last two

no I got another question let me tell you something I I I thought we were I was in another I was in a stressful meeting and but I came over here and this is really I love this. This is things that I love about school.

Um but tell me about how's the lunch at Guliver.

Oh, that's a that's a

I mean that I

So this is again I'm coming from the public school. It is ridiculous. Like the options that these kids have the food is unbelievable. There is like different stations and like there is like there's no s there's sushi every now. It's ridiculous. I don't know why kids. It's over the top. I will say that. And then we have these great partners. I'll give him a shout out. Um Sage an amazing amazing group of people to work with.

We've worked I've worked with I mean I've been in my kids schools with with Sage. You know, it's so funny. I love to ask that because again I go back to my time.

Yeah. I used to love my cafeteria food where I used Friday stuff. My little square pizza.

You don't have to wait till Friday. Now you can have it every day.

Hey, I was one of those. The smell of cafeteria food just got me back to life. You know what I'm saying? I even had shakes in my time. I had shakes.

But kids now are foodies. Like they they really care about this, right? It's hilarious.

Before I let you one, Simon, what about the whole sense of now? You know, in my time, nobody knew about this freaking nut allergies, glutenfree, celiac. Now everything now it's like it's oh my kid celiac. Oh, nut free. You know, think about it. Even though I mean all due respect, I I get it. But I'm saying in my time rocks, right?

If you if you ate something, you broke a hive. They gave you a benadry. Keep on moving. You're good.

And now it's like what? You know, people got YOU HAVE THE EPIP.

YEAH. There's a there's a whole list of lawyers lining up to see how I answer this question. I'm not touching it. I'm not touching everybody.

It is crazy. We live in a crazy time. I'm just saying it's crazy. It's crazy. Crazy.

But listen, on a more serious note, and I know you guys prepare for this very very good, but the safety in the school.

Oh, man. Right.

I mean, if this doesn't break your heart, like, so I'm I'm your age. Exactly. And like I I actually am old enough to remember we did drills in case there was a nuclear attack, right? And so you you went to the center of the building and you know, like the idea that like that's actually kind of mindboggling, right?

It is. But I don't remember thinking that that was like an actual threat to my existence. And I I think for kids today, everything that they've seen, you know, with mass shootings and what happens in schools and that sort of thing, like

kids actually do come to school with that anxiety. So

safety is job one um at a anytime you're dealing with kids in any sort of institution. So yeah, we invest heavily. Um we have amazing partners with both Pinerest Police, Coral Gables. Um the the state troopers office is amazing. Um we have a tremendous security team. Um you know the level of like you know the the cameras and the back we background check every single car that comes onto campus. Wow. Um so like this is you know how seriously we take this and um and and then we also have a card system so that literally every door is locked. every single classroom can only be accessed by a card. So like it it kind of breaks my heart because I just I wish kids didn't have to think about that every single day. We also have a huge duty.

The world has changed. The world has changed. So yeah know about the everyone needed a key card. That's impressive.

Yeah. Everybody So every kid, you know, now has they literally wear have an ID and that's how you swipe.

Kids at both school be with their ID everywhere and you know and you identify with the fact because you have to be in uniform,

you know. But listen, it's necessary. It's It's put that little house in the front, too.

There's a construction. Yep. We have guard houses. So, um Yeah. And it's like you don't want to run a security state, you know, because it's like they're kids. Like, can you imagine? I I look back at my years in high school and boy, I'm glad that's not on video, right? You know, and so we Yeah. So, we try to be really respectful, you know, with kids and let them be kids, but

we also have it on video.

We've got it, but we also have to we have to prioritize. a hard time in school. People just walked into the school like, you know, hey, my assistant principal used to see friends of mine from other

I don't think you belong in this. Didn't you go to the other school? Oh, yeah. I just came by to say hi. Oh, okay. It was, you know, it was normal. It wasn't a big thing.

Yeah.

Is there a secret to getting into hammering that give the people and say, "Hey,

is there a luminari between this time frame?"

I can only tell you on the other end like we're really fortunate to have amazing kids and amazing families. And so like that's the criteria.

How many people do you guys get to apply usually every year?

So we so we we had about seven applicants for every open seat that we had last year.

But remember as he said earlier if if there if there's families that have two three kids,

you know what I'm saying? I mean you as a parent already said I'm good. My kids are going to go there. kids are gonna go there and they're you know for supporters you know they call legacy and all that stuff you know like listen not Goliver

every school you look into now all of them and I'm not going to mention them all of them but all of them everybody gives priority to to siblings

yeah and you should like I mean that's our thing is like the traffic is rough enough here the idea that you would have to drive your kid around this city to multiple schools

the idea have to be now with the fact of school I never thought in my wildest dreams when I had kids that at three years old, my wife was telling me, "Uh, we need to figure out the school situation." Talk about what do you mean the school situation?

And and and this is this is this is a big thing. It's it's it's a big one. It's a big one.

So, we're glad Guliver exists.

Well, thank you. And I and I really really really you know, I I I like I tell you, I could be here with these with these questions all day because for me, education and schools are important, the most important situation. And again to all those viewers, listen guys, I know Gulliver is a little, you know, pricey, but

it's worth it. They're telling you, I'll tell you it's worth it. They have they have financial aid. They have everything.

You know, if if if you could do it, you know, go go and pull the trigger and do it and and see if you can make it happen.

I appreciate that. Yeah. No.

All right. This is probably one of your hardest questions.

Oh boy. Here we go.

Ready? You're from Boston. Yeah.

Please. No. But you know what? I'm going to ask him. Go ahead. Have another question.

Pat Celtics Bruins. Yeah. You ready? Ready? No. No. We're going another way. You better be ready for this one. There's a curveball.

Oh boy.

Ready? You got to give us your top three restaurants IN MIAMI.

OH MAN. I love it. I love it. 3 2 1. You know what? You know what? I have like rising with a bullet cuz I went there last night and it was unbelievable. And it's less than a mile from my house. Captain's Tavern.

Oh, okay.

Absolutely. I know. Abs.

You can never go wrong with that.

You just It just like has it like has a little bit of Boston. Like it's a little bit of that like kind of old school. It is that old school. I just I absolutely

maybe a little remodeling, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm not taking

You can never go wrong. What What' you eat?

Um I I had the uh the black uh black cod miso. It was unbelievable. It was absolutely fabulous.

I've never been there. That's by your house, right? Under the under the railroad. Or is it?

No, no, no. It's by right uh by uh US1 and uh by the day center. Yep.

Oh. So,

and it's been there for

right there. Right. You passed the the the bridge or what is it? The over

Yeah, the little overpass that's there

right there. Boom. They kept it. And they've been there for years. And they have a they have a market.

The fish market's unbelievable. So the fish market next to it.

Yeah. Yeah. So I love that. There's a place just up here. Um number two, Tinta E Cafe.

That unbelievable. That sandwich is unbelievable. All their sandwiches, their breakfast sandwiches are unbelievable. Like I I absolutely love that place. Um and I sit sit at the bar. It's it's the best. right here on Punk.

Did you try Cuban food when you first got here? Hispanic.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I I mean I absolutely love it. My wife's from Louisiana, so like it's a rice and beans culture. So, it's great. And then my favorite

There's a lot of cultures here.

Yeah. Yeah. And then my other favorite place that I just love is out on the beach, Mchulina, the Italian restaurant. Um and that's just like another It's more of like a neighborhood kind of joint. So it's whereby it's like uh it's right it's behind the Publix uh when you on uh

by Fountain Blue area. No, no. Lower like Alton. Yeah. On road. Oh, Alton Road. I know. I know. I know. So, I'm not like I'm drinking. Yeah. Everybody Everybody likes fancy fancy restaurants. I like I like places where they actually remember your name when you go in and it's a real meal and you know that kind of thing. So, here

Oh, yeah. I mean, these I mean these there's places here.

So, I have another tough question. All right. He he didn't know. I'm going to throw this off,

but

top three restaurants in Boston. Oh, now that that's a hard one.

You know, listen, you know how many people always I would go a lot. So, work-wise, I did a lot of Boston. I have a lot of people always told me, "Oh, the North End." And I loved it, but you never know what to do. It's all Italian.

North End's unbelievable. So, Neptune Oyster in the North End is

unbelievable. And it's like a local joint. Um, always a line to get in. Um, and even though it's called Neptune Oyster, it's it's still an Italian bent, so it's it's it's amazing. Um, Grill 23 Steakhouse in Back Bay is like a unbelievable place especially like uh holidays like it's just gorgeous. It's like

I recommend that one to a friend of mine to Mickey and Morning when they just went to Boston.

Yeah. Yeah. It's absolutely a good steakhouse. It's a great steakhouse. It's a great steakhouse. And then um probably my favorite is another Can you tell I love Italian food? Uh Pamies. Uh just outside of Harvard Square. Um and that's just an institution. It's right on Massav outside of

Tim. Listen to this. You Mr. Whatever.

Yep. Pamies.

Pamies. It's a It's a three course. Like they you go in, they you pick three things off the restaurant. It's one price. It's just it's unbelievable. It's some of the best.

You know, some people always I don't know if this happens to you, but you know, I'm sure a lot of people are going to go to state, you know, anywhere. Hey, what's new in Boston for Philadelphia? So, I said, listen, I love the fact that we did that with um with Dr. Stewart in in Miami Dade,

Texas.

Also, we had Jon Smith. He's he plays the NFL. He has his favorite spots for Philadelphia.

Next time we got to You got to ask your wife about Louisiana so we can put

Oh, yeah. Yeah. She'll be all over that. She'll be all over that. The old school places around. Yep.

Now, this episode, this segment right now is presented by Brandsmart. Okay. Your number one location to shop for the holidays. Okay. In South Florida,

give us three gifts that you would like for the holidays. What's on your wish list that you that you would get from Brandmart? By the way, ically be able to

remember grandmother's everything. Okay, so you need you have you have you have home, you have tell me electronics, you have on your wish list just general.

Oh man, wife, listen to this.

I know this is I know this is uh I'm in trouble here, man. I'm I'm a very lowmaintenance kind of guy. Um

you need a new

Oh boy. Yeah. No, I got everything. I mean, it's terrible to say like I'm very happy. Yeah. What would I get my kids? So, one of my kids called and said they that that her laptop was broken, so needs a new laptop, right? Laptop is great.

So, laptop's important. Um, you know, I think uh Oh, I running shoes. I'm always in the market for running shoes. So, there's another thing. Uh, probably not cuz I'm too old. Um, but you know, I like to get out there and do my age for that. Oh, it's just

But you know what? Maybe I'll have to go shopping over there cuz I have I've never been. So, you know, like Yeah. And it's still October. I'm just not ready for my Christmas list. Well, the good thing is and it's not that far from Guliver.

No, I'm going to go check it out.

Simon, what a pleasure. What a treat. I I I love this program because again, and we invite you to come back

and we can talk more.

Yeah. No, it's great system. I love people that are that want to geek out on schools. So, I mean, you know, Yeah. Thanks. Appreciate it. Thank you, brother. Yeah. Great to meet you guys. Enjoyed it.