Only 6.2 miles separates Jackson High School from Stanton College Prep

Stanton is considered one of the best schools in the nation; Jackson was ranked 404 out of 404 in Florida. They are roughly the same size and only 6.2 miles apart in distance but they are worlds apart in results. Here is an idea lets switch the faculties at the two schools
and that should solve the problem right?

Wrong.

The powers-that-be know it’s not our teachers or the schools but still they try and force opportunity scholarships (a kid can leave a failing school to go to a successful school), vouchers and charter schools onto the public as if they were miracle cures but they aren’t.

Ed Pratt-Dannals has said kids that leave schools on opportunity scholarships don’t do any better at their new schools, then there is KIPP the much heralded charter school which had the worse results in Northeast Florida and finally we have no idea how kids at private schools are doing because they don't have the same accountability measures that public schools do.

The real problem is poverty, which is both the number one factor for determining success in school, those that live in it don't do as well as those that don't and the number one ignored problem in education. We don’t need to ship kids around or outsource their education to corporations and private schools. Instead we need to develop solutions
that mitigate poverty and they are out there.

We need to put social workers and mental health counselors in our struggling schools because quite often why kids act up or do poorly in school has nothing to do with school.

We need to make school year around for many of our children by providing legitimate summer school opportunities and I am not talking about throwing kids in front of computers. That way kids can make up losses and have less time to lose gains.

Then we need to make school more relevant to children by offering multiple curriculums (skills, trades and arts) that play to their strengths and desires and less drudgery to them, every kid should have one elective of their choosing on their schedule.

And speaking of schedules we must adjust them to meet our students needs and abilities, right now for many of our kids, not only are they taking too many classes at a time, but they are too long and meet too infrequently.

The-powers-that-be won’t switch the staffs at the two schools because they know at the end of the day if they did, Stanton would still be considered one of the best schools in the nation and Jackson would still be one of the worse, that is unless we choose to do the things that alleviate the effects poverty.

We have a lot of great kids and teachers at Stanton, just like we do at Jackson and all our other struggling schools and like how we put the kids and teachers at Stanton in a position to be successful, we must also do the same at Jackson and all our other schools.

It is either that or we can continue to rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic as it sinks and siphon money out of our public schools sending our limited resources to private and charter schools. We can address the problem and do something about it or continue to do what doesn't work.

What is it going to be?