Many parents of Broward’s graduating seniors are paying high markups on caps and gowns from a company that has maintained a near-monopoly in the school district for four decades with the help of supportive administrators and favorable bidding practices.
If students want to take part in their graduation ceremony, they must rent their wardrobes from Herff Jones, supplied by the Davie firm Chuck Puleri & Associates, at prices that are double or triple what they can buy them for elsewhere online.
Along with the millions the company collects each year from Broward parents, Herff Jones-Broward has also received about $500,000 directly from the School Board over the past five years.
District administrators have benefited from the relationship as well, with Puleri’s company sponsoring summer conferences for administrators, a principals’ softball team and many free meals. In June, some administrators attended a party Puleri sponsored at the Funky Buddha brewery in Oakland Park while the company was waiting to find out whether it will receive an exclusive three-year contract.
Now, after the South Florida Sun Sentinel raised questions, district officials say they are reviewing the Herff Jones cap and gown contracts to see if anything was done improperly. As a result, they removed a $41,600 request for more money from the June 15 School Board meeting and now plan to discuss it at this month’s meeting.
Puleri, who has been the district’s main cap and gown vendor since the 1980s, didn’t respond to repeated attempts by phone, email and in person at his Davie store. No one from Herff Jones’ corporate office in Indianapolis responded either.
District administrators say Puleri has earned the district’s business through top-notch customer service and a strong local presence in Broward County. But parents for years have complained about the high costs of graduation regalia — on top of other senior expenses like prom, portraits and class rings.
Although Broward school district officials say they’ve taken steps to encourage competition, and Herff Jones agreed in 2019 to lower the price of its cheapest cap and gown set, the prices most parents pay have actually gone up.
School websites, social media postings and notices to parents refer them to the Herff Jones-Broward website. But the cheapest option — a $44 set where students rent the gown and buy a cap, tassel and a required school medallion — wasn’t even offered online in recent years.
To get the $44 price, students or parents had to write a check or a credit card number on a paper form and either mail it or hand-deliver it to a Herff Jones representative. Most years, these reps visit the high schools a few times, but several senior class advisers say that didn’t happen this year due to the pandemic.
Those who buy their caps and gowns online — which are most people, according to industry experts — had the option to buy higher-priced packages with extra items like keychains, plaques and T-shirts. The cheapest package online cost $69, up from $67 last year. Another package increased from $80 to $94 in the past year.
These prices were allowed to increase because Herff Jones-Broward’s contract with the district doesn’t address online pricing or the cost of bundled packages, said a statement from the office of Chief Communications Officer Kathy Koch.
Both Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties have exclusive contracts with their own local Herff Jones distributors. The minimum price for a cap and gown set in Miami-Dade is $23, almost half of what the Broward store charges, while Palm Beach County charges more at $52.
District administrators in Broward have said in recent years that they want schools to have more than one choice to ensure competitive pricing. Still, their actions have favored Herff Jones.
In 2016, the school district agreed to authorize any vendor that passed a review by a district selection committee, which considered each company’s experience, services, price and other factors. Schools could then choose any approved provider from the pool.
Herff Jones-Broward and Jostens submitted bids. Although both are long-established companies that serve thousands of schools, and Jostens offered slightly lower prices, a committee of administrators gave Jostens a disqualifying score of 40 out of 100, while Herff Jones got a 91.
Two high school principals on the committee — Michelle Kefford of Flanagan High in Pembroke Pines and Ty Thompson of Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland— gave Jostens a zero for qualifications and experience during the 2016 review, even though the company has been in business since 1898. They gave perfect scores to Herff Jones.
The two referred questions to the district’s communications office.
“To their recollection, Jostens did not have a direct representative in Broward County to work one-on-one with schools, students and families,” said a statement from Koch’s office.
At that time, Jostens was partnering with Fox-Mar Studios, a company best known as a vendor for school portraits.
After hearing complaints by Jostens that the process was unfair, the School Board agreed in 2017 to open the contract back up to additional vendors.
Jostens bid again, and this time, its score skyrocketed from 40 to 86, allowing it to become the district’s second vendor.
But it didn’t matter. No high schools chose Jostens, even though it initially offered prices that were $6 cheaper than Herff Jones’ basic graduation set. When Herff Jones renewed its contract with the district in 2019, it agreed to match Jostens’ prices, but never honored them for online orders for spring graduates.
This past school year, district staff told principals “there’s one company to choose from,” and it’s Herff Jones, said Lisa Maxwell, executive director of the Broward Principals and Assistants Association.
In the previous few years, she said, they did have a choice. “In conversations, I’ve had with principals over the years, they feel Herff Jones from a customer service perspective is head and tails above.”
Jostens has since severed ties with Fox-Mar and its products are now for sale in Broward by Rhodes Graduation Services, a South Carolina-based company. President Thomas L. Rhodes III declined to answer questions and instead issued a statement.
“We are excited to bring over 45 years of experience serving students and families to the Broward County area,” Rhodes said. “As the representative of Jostens, the largest provider of school-related affinity products, we look forward to making an impact in the area for many years to come.”
But Jostens representatives have never reached out to principals, Maxwell said, adding that she’s not aware of the company having a local office. Herff Jones representatives are at every graduation to make sure it goes smoothly and help students make any needed last-minute wardrobe changes, Maxwell said.
But there have also been complaints over the years that the relationship between the vendor and district administrators is too cozy. Chuck Puleri & Associates has donated at least $1,000 each to the campaigns of most School Board members as well as Coral Springs Commissioner Shawn Cerra, a district administrator who oversees graduations.
Puleri’s company has sponsored summer conferences for principals and assistant principals, a high school principals’ softball team and meals for administrators. In 1995, a district audit found that his company was giving free rings to the children of principals “to generate goodwill.”
On June 11, Chuck Puleri & Associates sponsored a party for district administrators inside a private room of the Funky Budhah brewery in Oakland Park. A South Florida Sun Sentinel reporter visited the bar and identified at least four high school principals and three district-level administrators, including Cerra, inside the room, which was separated by a glass wall.
The party was held as Puleri’s company tries to secure a new three-year contract with the district. A committee recommended in March giving Herff Jones the exclusive rights for graduation products, saying Jostens had scored too low. Jostens announced that it planned to protest,
School district officials declined to say whether the party violated its policy on gifts, which says, “No school district employee shall solicit or accept anything of value, including a gift, loan, money, credit, entertainment ... based upon any understanding that the vote, official action, or judgment of the school district employee would be influenced thereby.”
Maxwell said that while Puleri provided food, administrators paid for their own drinks.
“Vendors are always giving people food, like breakfasts for teacher appreciation events. It’s part of the culture,” she said. “I don’t think they’re going to be influenced by taking a chicken wing, a few sliders or pretzels.”
Still, some parents say they’re paying the price for the exclusive contract.
Max Olalde, whose twin daughters graduated last month from Western High in Davie, said he bought two identical cap and gown sets for $20 each from Amazon, but they were told they couldn’t participate unless they wore caps and gowns costing $59 each rented from Herff Jones. He paid so his daughters could participate.
“It’s shameful that the Broward County school district is in bed with Herff Jones and will not allow parents to shop for their own new cap/gown sets at less than half the price, but instead forces them to buy from only one overpriced store,” Olalde said in a letter to School Board members.
Board member Sarah Leonardi said the district needs to take a closer look at the contract.
“The questions raised by the Sun Sentinel are extremely concerning,” she said. “It is a priority for me to make sure that taxpayer dollars are stewarded in a responsible and fair way.”
Leonardi, a former high school teacher, said it’s “of utmost importance that students and their families are not being taken advantage of for participating in rites of passage such as graduation.”
