Superintendent Pratt Dannals prepares us for disappointment.

He did the same earlier in the year when he had his board pick Education Directions to run our intervene schools just days before the school year was to begin. Now he is doing it as changes are being made to the FCAT

According to the Florida Times Union: The proposed achievement levels for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test would dramatically change school grades in the state, potentially tripling the number of F schools while providing a more gradual increase in difficulty as students matriculate.

The proposal would give Florida the most rigorous state exam in the country, said Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals, who participated in the vetting process for the new proposal.

“We’re going to see a number of school grades go down as a result of this, particularly at elementary and middle,” Pratt-Dannals said.

Pratt-Dannals said part of the district’s task will be to explain to the public how this year’s school grades won’t necessarily reflect actual changes in students performance.

“It will still be a tough sell,” he said.

Just because a school’s grade drops or increases this year won’t necessarily mean student performance in that school changed, it’s just that the ruler used to measure that performance has changed.

“It’s going to be a communication and marketing issue we’re starting to think about now,” Pratt-Dannals said.

Friends do you understand what he is doing? He is insulating himself from any responsibility in regard to how our schools do? If we do poorly it’s because the changes made to the FCAT. He says ignore the man behind the curtain and never mind that he said the same thing last year as the FCAT 2.0 scores came out.

This guy gives away schools, allows charter schools with bad track records to expand, rifts teachers and replaces them with people who have zero experience, treats teachers like they are replaceable cogs and with a few words has given himself cover when our FCAT scores come in.

I don’t need to be prepared for disappointment. It is here and has been for a while.