Have you ever heard the expression "caught between a rock and a hard place"? You probably have and that it means you are stuck without good options. That’s how I feel about the two candidates for School Board District 2.
To begin, I have never met either candidate. If it weren’t for their pictures in the Florida Times Union I wouldn’t be able to pick either out of a lineup. Though I have read both their resumes and suggestions and neither leaves me feeling very confident.
Neither has been a teacher. Neither has worked in schools, and as far as I can tell their experience with children is limited at best. Theresa Graham ran for the City Council in the past. Fred “Fel” Lee is the Vice Mayor of Neptune Beach. Both of these little facts scream career politician to me, or wannabees. Sadly this is not new when it comes to the School Board. The Board has long been littered with politicians or wannabees who have used the position as either a stepping stone up or an exit on the way down. The wreckage these people have left in their wake has seriously diminished education in Jacksonville as a whole.
Mrs. Graham talks about the need for early childhood literacy. This has become the siren call for the uninformed. Although early literacy programs are important, kids in those programs have been shown to lose most of the gains by the time they reach middle school. We must figure out what goes wrong in between if we want to make a meaningful impact.
On the flip side, Mr. Lee says we need to run school like a business. That slogan train left the station years ago. Running schools like a business would be dreadful. If students were employees and we expected them to act accordingly, come to school and do their work, sadly, we would fire a third of them right off the bat. Mr. Lee, I am going to need more than a tired old slogan to be convinced you have any idea you know what you are doing.
I look at these candidates and shake my head when I think of what could have been as 17-year teacher John King was once a candidate for this seat. Not only was he a dedicated teacher but also he had ideas that didn’t come off the back of matchbooks. They came from spending almost two decades in the classroom and working in a school system that many think, despite 1701 Prudential drives assertions to the contrary, is headed in the wrong direction. Perhaps best among Mr. King’s ideas was that’s everybody with a certificate teach, including, administrators, district people and academic coaches, everybody with a certificate, is in at least one classroom delivering instruction everyday. So many of our leaders including our school board members are disconnected with what’s going on in the classroom. They have no clue and sadly don’t seem very interested in getting one. A trend I fear will continue when either Mrs. Graham or Mr. Lee is elected.
I sincerely hope whoever gets elected to prove me wrong. Until then, I will continue to believe district 2 is caught between a rock and a hard place.
Chris Guerrieri
School Teacher
I love the idea of everyone with a certificate teaching...how radical! I have been told that the enrichment period that extends our day by 45 minutes IN THEORY means that everyone certificated is attached to a class...well, not admin..(duhhh) and from what I can see, some of the coaches "co-teach" which gives them license to abandon their classes when they are doing more important work than education children....I remember when Hazouri was elected to the school board...career politician, but at least his wife and son are both teachers...sorry about your 17 year veteran...he would have been an ASSET on the board as opposed to the ASSETs (minus the ET) we have now!
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