On May 27th the Duval County School Board directed John Fox the county’s athletic director to seek fund raising form private sources. I wish him luck but why didn’t they direct him on April 27th or March 27th or even earlier?
These budget cuts didn’t just miraculously appear, the school board has known about them for months and should have had an idea this was a possibility as soon as Rick Scott was elected. John Fox is optimistic many of our sports will be saved after meeting with community leaders, well maybe if he would have started months ago he would be sure our sports would be saved.
Also why is the Superintendent so against pay for play? I know he says our poorer students won’t be able to afford it, but just imagine what they could achieve if they started now or would have started months ago. Furthermore it doesn’t have to be an exorbitant amount, say twenty dollars or so.
If the superintendent had initiated a twenty-dollar pay for play fee when he became superintendent three plus years ago, we would have almost a million dollars in a trust fund now waiting for a rainy day (15,000 students at 20 bucks a pop for three years). And friends the school board reports it’s not just raining but it is pouring.
Where is the leadership, where is the foresight and why did the willingness to save these sports only come after months of hemming and hawing? This is just another sad example that those at 1700 Prudential Drive don’t seem to know what they are doing.
Finally you know what would have been nice? If John Fox would have let us the public know how we can help. I might not be a community leader but I have a twenty I am willing to chip in.
Chris Guerrieri
School Teacher
Chris,
ReplyDeleteBeing a twenty-two year veteran teacher in this county, I share your frustration. I can't tell you all of the ill-conceived, short-sighted decisions I have seen hatched from the river-side setting. I get especially angry when we teachers are never even consulted for ideas that affect our daily experiences in our classrooms.
A dear colleague of mine told me when I first started in this county that people who take home way more money that I would make my job very difficult to do. So, he told me to be a guerilla teacher (He was a Vietnam-era vet). He said to lay low in the weeds: don't get on the bad side of administration. Do just enough for the pencil pushers to think that I was following procedure. Then, inside the closed doors of my classroom teach as well as I know how to teach and I'll find a measure of satisfaction in the midst of the madness. I've followed his advice and I've managed to survive in a system that tries to grind me down every year.
I read your blog and your regular contributions to the TU site. It's good to know that there are some of us in this system who still care deeply for our profession.
jaxnerf