I voted for Alvin Brown and when he was elected I allowed myself to be momentarily excited and optimistic, now however as I have seen whom he picked to lead his education team that optimism has faded.
It is no secret that education in Jacksonville is in trouble. The school budget has been cut dramatically, four schools are on the verge of being taken over by the state and the districts policies see children arrive to high school without the skills they need to be successful.
So whom did the mayor elect pick to lead us of this mess? Betty Burney arguably one of the least affective school board members in recent memory and his old boss the president of Jacksonville University Kerry Romsberg.
Mrs. Burney has been on the school board for six plus years and she through her inaction is as just responsible as the superintendent is for the loss of four of our schools and the fact that many others in her district are languishing. Mrs. Romsberg is an academic who I seriously doubt has been in the halls of our schools and has any idea what the real problems are and how to fix them.
Alvin Brown should have picked a cadre of teachers who have been in the trenches and knows what works and what doesn’t. Instead he picked a pair of supporters with a suspect relationship to local education who have as far as I can tell have offered no solution.
Just like the governor did when he assembled his education team, Mr. Brown put no teachers on it.
Mr. Brown when I voted for you I expected better, please don’t let me and the cities children down.
Chris Guerrieri
School Teacher
i have talked with Betty Burney's secretary about some education issues in the past. Ms Burney NEVER returned my phone call. And to include teachers that actually KNOW what the problems are? That would ruin the game being played at our[the taxpayers, parents, and children} expense.
ReplyDeleteYou can;t spend what you don;t have.
ReplyDelete