How about ignorant or just misinformed? That’s what she seems to think when the Times Union quoted her saying “We have a lot of great things that are happening in Duval County Public Schools,” Burney said. “We take a beating because the public doesn’t understand and tends to think that we are a [district] filled with young people who are fighting all day long and not accomplishing things. We need to get the word out.”
So what do Burney and the district want to do to flip the script, change the narrative? They want to hire not one but three public relations people at a cost of up to 300 thousand dollars, or what four art teachers and their supplies would cost.
The thing is I believe people understand better than she thinks. They talk to teachers who know the system hasn’t changed for the better. They know kids that have been or are being pushed through. They have met former graduates and haven’t been impressed and they have read articles about grade recovery and the inflated graduation rates and school grades and think to themselves that just doesn’t sound right. Mrs. Burney I believe the word is already out and people do not like what they are hearing.
Mrs. Burney is right when she says there are a lot of great things going on in the district, teachers making a difference and kids learning but many of these things happen in despite of downtown not because of downtown. I am continuously amazed at well our schools do considering the obstacles put in their way and that’s the message should get.
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