Vitti did the right thing about open enrollment

People who were against this plan, and I was one of them, shouldn’t count this as a victory because Vitti’s sentiment was right, we do need to bring kids back from charter schools and private schools, its just open enrollment was the wrong idea at this time.

First I believe there are a lot of better ways to bring kids back rather than fundamentally change the system.

What about making them safer? Vitti’s measures thus far, extra security, ISSP teachers and deans have been implemented half-heartedly.

What about fighting back against standardized tests one of the reasons many parents say they send their kids to private schools. Vitti’s rabbi Gary Chartrand is the chair of the state board of education, why can’t Vitti convince him that the high stakes testing culture created in Florida schools have sucked the joy out of education for untold teachers and students alike.

What about creating more programs that kids are interested in and I am not just talking about the obsession with STEM. I bet we could have two more Douglass Anderson type schools if not more.

What about making sure each class had a professional teacher rather than a Teach for America hobbyist to teach them. His reliance on then kneecaps hundreds of classrooms throughout the district and creates an ever-revolving door of teachers that will need to be replaced.

What about making classes smaller and bringing in more social workers and counselors because often why kids act up or do poorly in school has nothing to do with school at our schools that have seen the most amount of kids go to charter schools or take vouchers.

What about just getting the facts out there. Public schools without a doubt are the best things going on. They outperform charter schools as a group and they are doing well as private schools that accept vouchers despite them being able to pick who they take and keep. Furthermore the republican legislature isn’t trying to open up public school sports, clubs and extracurricular events to private school, home school and charter school kids for no reason. 

Then how about not approving anymore Charter schools, in my mind we already have 31 we don't need, ironically enough two more are most likely going to be approved tonight.

At the end of the day this decision should be up to the people of Jacksonville and it should be made through a referendum deciding if they wanted to pay for transportation, the only way to make it fair, or not.

Until then Vitti and the board did the right thing by putting on the breaks.