Charter schools, like war what are they good for?

The perks of winter break

Testing right before vacation, the DCPS way.

I get it we are in the age of testing and the district wanting to end the first semester before winter break is an idea even I can get behind, though why do all the other local districts already out for vacation seem to be playing chess while we are playing checkers?

All that being said, isn't testing the last few days before a long break a recipe for disaster? A lot of kids are going to miss and even more have checked out thinking of a fat man in a red suit bring merriment and joy.

I ask because of the following note I received. I edited it to take out all possible identifiers. the teacher in question did not want to get a lump of coal from the district.

   Holiday cheer comes in all shapes and sizes!  I teach XXX grade XXX.  Was told, earlier this month, I was not doing mid year PMAs.  TODAY, at 3:10 I was told the District IS REQUIRING xxx grade to do this assessment and the window is only open through Dec. 22.  Tomorrow, Dec. 21 is our school wide Holiday Celebration Day...hmmm...should we cancel that for xxx grade?  Or maybe, let's test kids on Dec 22 the last day before our break...those are sure to be accurate results. Well, maybe we can just wait to test on Jan. 5th or 6th our make-up hurricane dates.  Those dates will be MUCH BETTER because all of our students will be back and "ready to roll."   SURE!

I AM CRAZED by the lack of concern for classroom functions and the impact these kinds of decisions have on kids.  Really, I am living in a state of disbelief, daily.  Since December 1st our xxx graders have already had 320 minutes of testing.  Well, that isn't that much you might say.  The problem is, when kids are absent or testing schedules are "jostled" all over the day to accommodate IEPs...320 minutes means kids are effected for 2 weeks...that is not an exaggeration.  NOW...you are going to add another 80 minutes on the two days before break.  SPEECHLESS does not begin to describe how I feel. 

I have not taught ALL of my students at their scheduled class time for ALL of December.  I HAVE BEEN MANAGING rather than teaching.  It has been RIDICULOUS!  

Ridiculous is right, sometimes don't you feel like we are being set up to fail?

You know libraries, those things that most DCPS high schools no longer have or use

Iranetta Wright becomes the number 2 in DCPS

I have to say, I have heard nothing good about her and her incredible rise. I imagine she has fans and supporters and at least one person, the super must be impressed (insert where she must know where the bodies are buried or have pictures joke here) and I guess in this day and age that is all that counts.

I still occasionally hear stories about her brow beating and ridiculing staff but hey we wouldn't be Duval County if that didn't happen from time to time.

In honor of her promotion I will republish some of the stories that have appeared on Education Matters over the years.

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/06/public-reacts-poorly-to-district.html

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2012/08/does-jackson-principal-iranetta-wright_26.html

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2015/07/is-iranetta-wright-heartless-or-does.html

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/06/why-do-some-principals-get-promoted-in.html

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/06/superintendent-vitti-hires-bully-to-be.html

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/12/jackson-drops-to-c-in-iranettas-last.html

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/06/mother-of-murdered-daughter-speaks-out.html

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2014/01/vittis-mid-year-principal-movers.html

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/06/duval-county-public-schools-red-wedding.html

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/06/education-matters-turns-3-years-old.html

Like with most things in DCPS I will just have to hope the damage is minimal.

Being a teacher is easy

What frustrates teachers in Duval

There was an article the other day about a curriculum audit.

The article is kind of non-descript. The only thing I found really interesting was that Education Directions has scored yet another contract from the district (where are the bodies buried education directions?). A few years back they were contracted to turn some of our high schools around and all they really did was make teachers miserable and tell them what they already knew while collecting a hefty pay check.

A few hours later though I received a note from another teacher and they told me that the curriculum review wasn't anything that the district couldn't have done itself and for a lot cheaper than hiring these education mercenaries.

From the Times Union:

 The audit explored only the English Language Arts for elementary schools in Duval County, and is being completed in a three-phase process.

The first phase examined instructional materials, datasets, curriculum guides and products used within Duval County, while the second phase will see how those items are implemented throughout the district.

http://jacksonville.com/news/2016-12-13/school-board-considers-preliminary-findings-curriculum-audit

Call me silly but don't we already have people, and a lot of them that are already supposed to be doing that?

Look I get it, we want to do right by our kids, but shouldn't we know if we are doing that before we start doing what we are doing? What would have happened if they came back and said, geeze Louise Duval the curriculum is a disaster? I mean it is December and the year is half over.

And see that's the thing, it is a disaster, and the district just refuses to ask the right questions. Does it align with the standards, yeah I bet it does, but it is a good curriculum for a district with a reading problem, teaching with a bunch of copied hand outs?

The vast majority of teachers I have spoken with say no and even hate EngageNY, they think it is inappropriate for our kids and doesn't come close to serving their needs, but the admin can now go, hey, it aligns with the standards wink, wink, it must be good.

We're spending thousands and thousands of dollars on lip service and that's dreadful.

My teacher friend also pointed out that they "...have to pay for the copies because my school can no longer afford to do so, there is no ELA high school curriculum and we're basically required to work hours and hours of unpaid overtime  but hey lets spend money on something we should already know to get the answer the administration wants. What a waste."

Welcome to Duval County.

Vitti refuses to name names

So in the paper the other day the super said, I'm not gonna name names or anything but a while back a whole bunch of teachers didn't think poor and mostly minority children could make it. So we transferred them to richer mostly white schools, you know the ones without poor kids. 

From the I can't make this up file and the Times Union:

“Principals are owning what is happening with instruction,” he said. “They’re retaining high-performing teachers, and they’re having the difficult conversations with those who don’t meet expectations. They’re problem-solving with teachers.”

For instance, Vitti said without naming names, some teachers who held low expectations for their students from poor families were transferred from the schools, all six of which are high-poverty schools.

The faculty in the schools now are aware and make adjustments for students who need them to be more explicit or to “break down” lessons, Vitti said.

“They get out of that tradition that says, ‘I’ve taught it, now I’m moving on,’” he said. “Now they might have to reteach it.”

http://jacksonville.com/news/2016-12-04/how-schools-jumped-f-c-six-duval-schools-jump-lowest-middle-rung

Deep breaths, deep breaths, now I don't want to be that guy who hates puppies because the super likes them, you know who is just anti-whatever the super says and does, just today in the paper he talked about the need for additional mental health resources something I have been writing about for nearly a decade because so often why a kid acts up or does poorly in school has nothing to do with school, so if the super recognizes that and can marshal more resources to dealing with the problem, then kudos to him and we will be better as a district for it, but that being said there is a lot to unpack in that Times Union passage.

First principals are just as often retaining new teachers who don't know they can say no and can be brow beaten into working eighty hours a week, while running off veterans. Good luck keeping them around for long.   

Then the super refuses to name names. Um does he have a list of teachers that think poor and mostly minority teachers can't make it? Was there a survey I missed and that was a question? At a meting did Mister and Miss so and so go you know what Superintendent Vitti, I'm not giving my all because have you noticed that my students are poor? Where is this list of names coming from? 

But say he has this list, he is at the same time saying, I'm gonna just shift them to more affluent schools because they will make more of an effort there. It is just the poor kids that they go through the motions with. does that sound rational to anyone? Maybe to a super who approved a charter school in an affluent area of town that he said he wouldn't let near poor kids, but I think to most of us that sounds pretty ridiculous. Also I have found that a lot of veteran teachers at our poorer schools think of it like a badge of honor, they aren't just collecting a check with their feet up on the table.   

Thank God we got rid of those crappy teachers right? 

UGH!!!! Are you kidding me? 

Why did those schools improve? Maybe it's city year, that is making a difference, or the QEA which pays veteran teachers a kings ransom to go to our neediest schools, and yes I am a critic of the QEA, but not of having veteran teachers work with our neediest students just the system we are using to do it. Maybe it's just one year and we got lucky, or maybe its the new test which the super has railed against which led to the gains at the schools that had all those crappy teachers who didn't believe in poor kids.

I have no doubt that there are great things going on at those schools just like there are at all our schools and for the most part I believe it is happening in spite of not because of the district and I believe I can use the last part of the TU passage as proof of that.

The super says, “They get out of that tradition that says, ‘I’ve taught it, now I’m moving on,’” he said. “Now they might have to reteach it.”

Um, what tradition is that? That's not a tradition I have ever heard of and I have been in the classroom for sixteen years, as for teachers reteaching, most I know lament that they can't because the pacing guide is to be so strictly enforced that any deviation is met with frowns and veiled threats. Is he talking about another district there or is he making up things out of whole cloth like he did with he won't name names thing?

Some of you might be thinking I am being to critical and that the schools and to some degree Superintendent Vitti deserve a victory lap and I agree on the lap. I just wish our super wold say something like, there is a lot of hard work going on at those schools and it paid off. That after all is really what happened.

Superintendent Vitti receives a communication award, um what?!?

This is the same man when talking about recess and the pacing guide has publicly bemoaned that what he tells his top aides does not get to the the district's staff. Many people, including the school board and myself believe communication or lack of it has been one of the district's biggest problems.

After I cleaned up the milk I spit out of my mouth upon reading he won a communication award I did some research.

From the district's press release: 

Dr. Vitti was recognized yesterday at an awards luncheon during the 2016 Annual Joint Conference for school boards and superintendents held in Tampa. Dr. Vitti’s communication outreach included hosting community based “Chat with the Supe” meetings, launching “The Parent Academy” to increase engagement, expanding the use of digital platforms and broadcast programming, and collaborating with schools to develop internal marketing plans to strengthen brand equity. The award recognizes the superintendent’s vision to use traditional forms of engagement, such as frequent town hall meetings and focus groups, but also nontraditional mediums, such as social media and podcasts.

http://www.duvalschools.org/site/default.aspx?D=1

I attended most of the chats with the supe and if he would have actually listened to people I probably wouldn't be writing this blog right now or many blogs for that matter and I think his parent academy is a great idea though to be honest I do wonder how effective it has been. He has also had schools sell their brand, ugh, writing that made me a bit ill, but the reason they have had to sell their brands is because of the proliferation of charter schools under his watch and seemingly one scandal after another since hes been here, his wife following a school board member, baker acting instead of arresting children, the ESE investigation, the department of justice investigation, etc.

As for the other points, are they talking about our dog mascot? What's his name  Mr. Dumbestideaever?

I then looked into the organization which gave him the award. The Sunshine State School Public Relations Association.

It didn't start well as the first thing I saw was a McAfee security warning, suggesting I not go to the site.  Not a good start.

It turns out the organization is 40 years old which is about 39 years older than I thought it would be but at the same time it is sponsored by for profit companies looking to make inroads into our schools. Furthermore I couldn't find out who their members are because you had to be a member to go to the section.

Let's just say I have my doubts about the veracity of both the award and the organization. I will leave it to you to be the judge.

Communication award, wow.

Charter schools that Vitti recommended are closing over Christmas break

Did he approve them because he believed in them or did he approve them because a member of Gary Chartrand's Jacksonville Public Education Fund, Cleve Warren, was the driving force behind them? JPEF if you have been following has both pushed charter schools and partnered with the district to run the QEA funds as well as other programs. These relationships should not be discounted especially as children pay the price.

These schools also managed just Ds and Fs during their short existence will now end up leaving hundreds of families in the lurch and wasting millions of dollars.

I don't believe these are the last of Vitti's charter schools to fail either.

From the Times Union:

Combined the four Virtue and Valor schools took in $4.5 million in revenues last year, most from state and federal sources, but also including donations.

Valor opened its doors in Northwest Jacksonville in August 2014 and Virtue opened in fall 2015. Both middle schools received D’s on state report cards and the high schools received F’s.

http://jacksonville.com/news/2016-12-01/valor-and-virtue-charter-schools-close-later-month

This is just shameful and I believe should fall directly in Vitti's lap.

Duval's charter schools share two things in common, as a group they under perform and they have been allowed to thrive under his watch.

I was told by the district that Valor was recommended by the prior superintendent. Sorry for any confusion, to avoid this in the future i have asked the district which superintendents approved which charters,  

DTU asks why the district ignores teachers. (rough draft)

Now to be honest it was about the weather days but it could have been about so many other things. Take a look at the 1:42 mark.

https://duvalschools.viebit.com/#HlPEomoy8xt2

The district asked the union what they thought about calendar and the make up days, the union asked its membership and they got back to the district and what did it result in? The teachers of the district and their opinions being ignored yet again.

But this is how the district operates.

Thoughts on the curriculum? Ignored.

Discipline? Ignored.

The need for recess? Ignored.

So many other issues? Ignored

Terrie Brady asked why do we (the district) even bother to ask the employees if we are going to ignore them? This by the way does not mean the district can just give us a lot of bad choices and go, hey we asked what you thought. There needs to be real collaboration.

This is not a new phenomenon either as one of the first pieces I ever wrote was about the district changing he email addresses. Rememebr when it was dreamsbginher? Ugh. Well there was a survey, the teachers decided what they wanted and yeah, the super announced over Christmas break  he was going to ignore the results and go with something else.

Then there is the TNTP survey, the climate survey the district is pushing. I didn't fill it out again because two years ago when the staff of First Coast begged through their survey for help and said their principal was terrible, Vitti responded with saying, he was one of our bet and wasn't going anywhere despite overwhelming evidence and the aforementioned pleas for help that indicated otherwise.

From a reader: Spare me from the TNTP survey that never asks about district personnel or leadership. They are afraid, so very afraid, to add those questions to the survey. They can anticipate the answers they would get.

About the weather days, we are the only county in Northeast Florida making them up. Read that again, the only one. I think if they can get by without making them up, so could we but if we have to make them up, then lets dissolve early release days. There has been a lot of conjecture if they are valuable or not and let me tell you about two of my last three. During the last we had our thanksgiving lunch, nice but hardly essential. Then two early releases ago we had an hour presentation from an outside entity attempt to sell us legal services, um, what? yeah.

I submit for about the millionth time that as long as we continue to ignore teachers, you know the people in the classroom doing the actual work, then we as a district will never meet our potential.

Brady asked that they at least stop pretending and wasting our time. 

Our new secretary of education

Scott Shine shows some humility, Warren Jones shows his true colors

Two new members joined the school board yesterday, Lori Hershey and Warren Jones but that wasn't the only news as the board picked its new leadership team as well.

As expected and probably overdue Paula Wright ascended to the board chair position. Historical the vice chair usually fills that spot and then another board member becomes vice chair while the former chair rejoins the board just as a member. Yesterday however things took a weird turn and it all started when Scott Shine was nominated to become vice chair. Thankfully for the district he could only get three votes, his Cheryl Grymes and Warren Jones, or as they should be known as "The Gary Chartrand Coalition" of non educators.

If Connie Hall had been reelected it is highly unlikely she would have sided with Grymes and Shine, but Jones doing so gives us a clear indication of where he will likely fall in upcoming decisions about charter schools, the nearly unfettered power of the super and the continued destruction of neighborhood schools.  

In what had to be an incredibly embarrassing moment for Shine, he seemed to take it in stride.

From the Times Union:

   But the vote on vice chair reflects some persistent divisions on the board.

Shine won three votes: himself and board members Jones and Cheryl Grymes. On other matters this year, Grymes and Shine have voted with each other and in support of Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.

Smith Juarez won five votes, including herself and board members Wright, Rebecca Couch, Hershey and Jones while Grymes and Shine voted no. Wright, Smith Juarez and Couch have at times voted together and challenged Vitti on some issues.

By board rules, board members could vote more than once if the first person nominated didn’t get a majority, which is why Jones voted twice.

 Shine said Monday before the vote that he might have made some board problems worse, but he is ready now to work and speak more collaboratively.

“What’s that expression about being a lone wolf? You might get bit,” he said.

http://jacksonville.com/news/2016-11-23/duval-school-board-votes-keep-same-two-leaders-roles-reversed

I am not sure if that wolf thing is an expression but he is right he has made things worse and not just on the board but in the district as well.

He has voted for the proliferation of charter schools in sections of towns that don't need them and despite their dubious credentials.

He has supported the destruction of neighborhood schools, which really just kicks the can of academic woes down the road and he is often unprepared and also almost single handily destroyed decorum on the board and those aren't my words.

Also from the Times Union:

 Smith Juarez said this week she doubted whether Shine would restrain himself enough to be an effective board vice chairman.

In recent weeks, Shine has been criticized for his sometimes vitriolic written communications with Chris Guerrieri, a teacher, blogger and frequent district critic. He also was criticized by some board members for telling the news media when he suspected Smith Juarez of plotting to hold a surprise board vote to oust Vitti.

The fact Shine has acknowledged his shortcomings is encouraging but quite frankly he has a long way to go if he ever wants to be a quality school board member.

How Duval County made me hate my job this week

From a reader

I am an ESE teacher at a center school all my kids have IEPs and between 5 and 8 goals that I am supposed to work on over the course of the year. Now I am being told I must create a caseload in Desk Top and keep progress daily on each of the goals which I conservatively estimate will add about an hour’s worth of work a day.  Twenty-two children sixty-five or so goals to daily update.

I asked why we’re being made to do this and the facilitator (just a messenger for the district) said, well some people weren’t keeping data. I replied, well when one of my students makes a mistake, I explain to them what they did wrong and the expectations going forward, I don’t make the whole class do an hour’s worth of busy work from here to eternity.  I received a shrug for a response.

Next we were being given yet another lesson plan template, you know because the last few didn’t cause us to do enough busy work. I said, you know, I write lesson plans for me and was told, no I should write them so anybody who comes in could pick up with little effort what I was doing.

I thought about saying, well nobody could pick up with little effort what I was doing, because nobody knows my kids or have built relationships with them like me. But you know, teaching has become less and less about relationships and more and more about paper work admins can look at.

Remember that I earlier said I was an ESE teacher at a center school. Center schools used to be difficult to get placed into because they were a last resort. Well not anymore as I have received three new students in the last week, one after just three works at their school and the other after five days. One of the students legitimately should be put in my room, the other two not so much. They lean more towards emotionally disabled than intellectually disabled. Their problems lean more towards physical and emotional outbursts than not being able to do academics.

According to the information given they are a danger not just to me but the babies I have in my classroom who can’t defend themselves against aggressive attacks. The district is dumping kids who have no business being at my school let alone my classroom because they don’t want to do the work and put plans in place and it’s both a shame and unethical.

To give you some scale, I have a completely xxxxx child who I thought could benefit from a student focused para. I collected data for six weeks where we attempted multiple interventions and then I filled out the paperwork to get them a para.

I should have just said, they go on rampages I guess, because if a kid does that they can now be staffed out quick. I plan to write a letter to my principal and the ESE department outlining my concerns and then like every day roll up my sleeves and do the best I can despite the deck being increasingly stacked against me and my students but if they hurt one of my babies, I hope their parents sue the *&$% out of the district and they use the letter as exhibit one. It’s reckless on the part of the district and it has a good chance of getting someone hurt.

Things should be better than this in Duval County.

Note: I did some minor edits that did not affect the points made because I didn't want the district to come after the teacher, likwise I share many of their concerns. -CG

Duval, not how good districts are run

Duval has some issues and I think we would all agree on that. I believe one of the issues that stops us from addressing other issues is how we are run, below I am going to give you five examples of things that have occurred recently, and they don't happen in districts that are run correctly.

Many paras were paid two weeks early after they had already been paid. Was it a bonus many asked only to be told nope, and now you are going to have to budget better because we're going to skip your next check. Did paras get less money than they would have? No, but for many this early check isn't going to be a favor.  

The district is under investigation. Children that attended F or D schools had to be offered slots at higher performing schools. The district decided to instead change some of those schools so families could no longer send their kids to them, into magnets, or k-2 schools. Some people might remember that the day before school began, the district sent out a letter which undoubtedly was going to confuse parents, the districts response was, hey first days are always confusing.

Well now the state is investigating if we actually fulfilled our obligations or not.

http://www.news4jax.com/education/state-investigating-duval-county-students-continuing-to-attend-failing-schools

Then teachers are required to review their accountability lists, to make sure they aren't responsible for kids they never see. The union was on this quick and told its members to make sure they were reviewing their lists. A lot of the schools not so much as they didn't tell their teachers to get this done and ultimately the district had to extend the deadline.

All of above didn't really affect children but the next two did.

Late surpluses, we are well into the second nine weeks and staffs should be set, but some schools are still surplussing teachers, which causes other teachers to pick up their class loads and students to have to switch classes and not always into just a different section but sometimes into an entirely different class too.

Then there are students who are just being told they have to switch classes, we expect a level of confusion the first couple weeks but not well into the second nine weeks when schedules should be set. Maybe the district could chalk this up to individual problems at individual schools but shouldn't the district be making sure those problems aren't happening?

I am reminded of the old saying, the devil is in the details, meaning the details of a matter are its most problematic aspect. Well friends Duval certainly has problems and a big one is not taking care of the details. 

Two more Duval Charter schools on the brink of collapse

Earlier in the week Superintendent Vitti said he doesn't want charter school grades to count against the district as two more that he recommended teeter on the brink of collapse.

This isn't all on the superintendent's back though as Cleve Warren a former board member of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund is behind bringing these two charter schools to town.

http://www.valoracademyjax.org/board-of-directors/
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=545546

And Gary Chartrand also of JPEF encouraged families to put kids in these schools when he spoke at the Urban Education Symposium.

These three men, Vitti, Warren and Chartrand have at best set back the education and future of dozens of vulnerable and mostly minority Jacksonville children.

From the Times Union:

Duval district officials are considering whether to start the process to close two single-gender charter schools in North and West Jacksonville for lack of financial documents, a move which could affect up to 350 students.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said Tuesday the district sent letters of default four times since last September to the people who run the Valor and Virtue single-gender charter schools. The letters request annual audited financial statements for the latest fiscal year.

The last default letter, dated Nov. 8, gives the schools 10 days to respond, or the district will start a 90-day process that could result in closures, Vitti said.

http://jacksonville.com/news/2016-11-08/two-single-gender-charter-schools-must-turn-over-financial-reports-or-close-duval

I want to remind you once again that Vitti recommended these two charter schools despite the fact their inevitable failure was all but assured.

Also from the Times Union:

Both middle schools received D’s and high schools received F’s in the last state report cards.

Looking to open a charter school then Jacksonville is your town.

The superintendent cannot continue to recommend charter schools and then go, who me, when they fail.

DCPS is trying to pull the wool over our eyes with accountability

Our accountability system is noting more than an intricate shell game that will eventually unravel.

How does it seem like we have success when we're at best just spinning our wheels, well lets start with creating a lot of magnet and specialty schools and approving a bunch of charters. At the K-2 schools there will be practically zero accountability, don't have to take a test how will we know how the student there are doing but now we know longer have to worry about those schools bringing the district grades down.

Turn another school into a center school for autistic children and its now become another low performing school the super can check off his list.

Then there are the new magnets which were formerly low performing schools will force half of their student bodies to different schools where if they now struggle it will be years before anything has to be done or what's a letter grade drop here and there.

Then there is his charter scheme, approve a lot of charter schools and when they ultimately struggle say, you know what the district shouldn't be responsible for their performance.

We're not fixing what ills our schools were shifting the problems around.

That's the super's one trick.

Now some of you might be thinking what a hypocrite I must be for railing against the accountability system for years and then criticizing the super's way of dealing with it.

The thing is he's not dealing with it, he's shifting problems at one school to another and I think there are plenty of ways to improve things. Smaller classes and a longer school year for some would go a long long way to fixing our educational crisis, Then block scheduling is a terrible idea that should be done away with.

The super would prefer to use smoke and mirrors and kick the can down the road. Don't be fooled by these tricks.

Welcome to Duval County.

Superintendent Vitti cannot have his cake and eat it too.

Oy vey I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

I will just get to it.

From WJCT

An early draft of the Duval School District’s platform shows board members want increased funding for technology. With the shift from paper- to computer-based assessments, the board says there’s a need for upgrades.

The district also wants charter school grades to be kept separate from traditional public schools’.

Charters use district dollars but are operated independently. Currently charter grades are included when calculating Duval’s performance.Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has argued including charters in the calculation brings the district down because many of Duval’s charters have D and F grades.

http://news.wjct.org/post/duval-schools-cites-funding-accountability-reform-important-legislative-session

This is a man who has approved new charter schools or the expansion of current ones like it and not overseeing our schools was his job. He has recommended  charter schools he said he would not let teach poor children. Under his watch the amount of charter school have increased 300 percent and now he is saying, look they as a group suck and the rest of the district shouldn't be weighed down by them. That my friends is him having his cake and eating it too.

Some of you might be saying, well the super had no choice but to approve them, to which I would respond more and more districts are making the choice to push back against charter schools, and that is a choice he could have made as well.

Barbara Toscono in the district 7 school board race takes thousands in last minute money from Charters Schools USA

I had written much about the school board race in district 7 because I thought we had two solid candidates. I am sad to say that Barbara Toscano has reported taking thousands of dollars from Charter Schools USA on her last filing.

District 7 doesn't need charters siphoning more money away from our schools there. Taking money from these mercenaries is very troubling.

6	11/2/2016	Red Apple Development 800 Corporate Dr #124 Ft. Lauderdale, Fl 33334		Business	Development	Check		$1,000.00
7	11/2/2016	Veronica Lisicki 800 Corporate Dr Ft. Lauderdale, Fl 33334		Business	EducationDevelopment	Check		$1,000.00

Cheryl Grymes can't help but insult teachers.

This on the heels of her asking another school board member if she wanted to go one on one.

At the past school board meeting when discussing academic targets, she said, "nothing prevents the targets from happening except what is happening in the classroom" 

You know if only teachers were doing a better job then we could hit those old targets. Teachers I tell you if we had better ones then those targets would be hit.

Is there any other thing she could have meant there? I will tell you what might help is if we had some supportive and prepared leadership, not board members who bounce in and out who blame teachers.

You can check it out at the 2:57 mark.

https://duvalschools.viebit.com/#HlPEomoy8xt2

Teachers deserve better than that, the city and its children do too.

For shame

Attacking me is okay, attacking teachers of disabled children at the same time is despicable.

I became the story when the Times Union printed a piece about a quickly fixed error I made on my my blog and I will talk about that sooner than later.

A comment on the piece in the Times Union however upset me, and not because of what the writer said about me as I have definitely heard worse from better, but what they said about teachers of special needs children

From the Times Union,

Alexander Roberts

Chris is a self described troll, which means that he uses his blog to be a provocateur, not to be whistle blower or to educate. Everyone in the system knows he is a bad teacher. He transferred to an ese center not because of a love of students but to avoid accountability. Meaning, low functioning ese students do not take state assessments so students scores are not included in their evaluations. Chris is a troubled man who still has not grown up. He has been arrested over a dozen times and hides in an ese center as a wanna be journalist. At times, he has decent points and criticism but those are lost based on his arrogance, rudeness and exaggeration. Most teachers do not agree with most of his opinions. Those that do tend to also be bad teachers who should have left the classroom years ago. These are the few teachers who ruin the profession, hide behind the union, and collect paychecks. Overall, if anything, his blog demonstrates that the 1st amendment has been protected. He has beat up leaders for years with exaggeration on his blog with no consequences. When playing with fire, you will be burnt. Chris misstepped once again with his facts and got caught. Period. In ANY corporate organization this man would have been fired years ago. Despite his own declaration that he advocates for teachers and public schools he has done more to hurt both than help. Hatefulness toward leaders and systems, coupled with exaggerated and manipulated facts for the sake of sarcasm will not improve anything. Keep that work for sophisticated political cartoons. His blog demonstrates how low media has fell since the raise of the internet. 

http://jacksonville.com/news/2016-10-29/teacher-finds-himself-hot-water-over-blog-post-wonders-about-right-free-speech#gig_comment_id=3c773e8411814d59bb53013822d98b71

I found a lot wrong there but I wanted to concentrate on one part.

He transferred to an ese center not because of a love of students but to avoid accountability. Meaning, low functioning ese students do not take state assessments so students scores are not included in their evaluations.

First of all I didn't transfer to the ESE school I was surplussed from my last school and assigned there. Then students at ESE schools take what is called the alternate assessment it's a state assessment by the way and I "and the 18 other teachers "hiding there to avoid accountability" receive VAM scores based on those performances. 

We are required to teach access points, modified regular standards to children who are profoundly mentally disabled and have little chance of learning them. You can not like me, make up stuff about me, attack me, all you want, but to attack and belittle the dozens and dozens of hard working dedicated teachers who work with our most fragile and challenged children at center schools, saying they do so just so they can avoid accountability and to dismiss those children as inconsequential, that those schools are dumping grounds for reprobate teachers and not deserving of a quality teacher is despicable.

I get it, don't like me or the blog, but why belittle teachers of special needs children, why write or comment about things you know nothing about?

I imagine Alexander Roberts is the made up name of a coward but the ignorance there is real. ESE teachers are real teachers and they work incredibly hard and they deserve better to be lumped in with criticism of me. 

Chris is a self described troll, which means that he uses his blog to be a provocateur, not to be whistle blower or to educate. Everyone in the system knows he is a bad teacher. He transferred to an ese center not because of a love of students but to avoid accountability. Meaning, low functioning ese students do not take state assessments so students scores are not included in their evaluations. Chris is a troubled man who still has not grown up. He has been arrested over a dozen times and hides in an ese center as a wanna be journalist. At times, he has decent points and criticism but those are lost based on his arrogance, rudeness and exaggeration. Most teachers do not agree with most of his opinions. Those that do tend to also be bad teachers who should have left the classroom years ago. These are the few teachers who ruin the profession, hide behind the union, and collect paychecks. Overall, if anything, his blog demonstrates that the 1st amendment has been protected. He has beat up leaders for years with exaggeration on his blog with no consequences. When playing with fire, you will be burnt. Chris misstepped once again with his facts and got caught. Period. In ANY corporate organization this man would have been fired years ago. Despite his own declaration that he advocates for teachers and public schools he has done more to hurt both than help. Hatefulness toward leaders and systems, coupled with exaggerated and manipulated facts for the sake of sarcasm will not improve anything. Keep that work for sophisticated political cartoons. His blog demonstrates how low media has fell since the raise of the internet.
Chris is a self described troll, which means that he uses his blog to be a provocateur, not to be whistle blower or to educate. Everyone in the system knows he is a bad teacher. He transferred to an ese center not because of a love of students but to avoid accountability. Meaning, low functioning ese students do not take state assessments so students scores are not included in their evaluations. Chris is a troubled man who still has not grown up. He has been arrested over a dozen times and hides in an ese center as a wanna be journalist. At times, he has decent points and criticism but those are lost based on his arrogance, rudeness and exaggeration. Most teachers do not agree with most of his opinions. Those that do tend to also be bad teachers who should have left the classroom years ago. These are the few teachers who ruin the profession, hide behind the union, and collect paychecks. Overall, if anything, his blog demonstrates that the 1st amendment has been protected. He has beat up leaders for years with exaggeration on his blog with no consequences. When playing with fire, you will be burnt. Chris misstepped once again with his facts and got caught. Period. In ANY corporate organization this man would have been fired years ago. Despite his own declaration that he advocates for teachers and public schools he has done more to hurt both than help. Hatefulness toward leaders and systems, coupled with exaggerated and manipulated facts for the sake of sarcasm will not improve anything. Keep that work for sophisticated political cartoons. His blog demonstrates how low media has fell since the raise of the internet. 
Chris is a self described troll, which means that he uses his blog to be a provocateur, not to be whistle blower or to educate. Everyone in the system knows he is a bad teacher. He transferred to an ese center not because of a love of students but to avoid accountability. Meaning, low functioning ese students do not take state assessments so students scores are not included in their evaluations. Chris is a troubled man who still has not grown up. He has been arrested over a dozen times and hides in an ese center as a wanna be journalist. At times, he has decent points and criticism but those are lost based on his arrogance, rudeness and exaggeration. Most teachers do not agree with most of his opinions. Those that do tend to also be bad teachers who should have left the classroom years ago. These are the few teachers who ruin the profession, hide behind the union, and collect paychecks. Overall, if anything, his blog demonstrates that the 1st amendment has been protected. He has beat up leaders for years with exaggeration on his blog with no consequences. When playing with fire, you will be burnt. Chris misstepped once again with his facts and got caught. Period. In ANY corporate organization this man would have been fired years ago. Despite his own declaration that he advocates for teachers and public schools he has done more to hurt both than help. Hatefulness toward leaders and systems, coupled with exaggerated and manipulated facts for the sake of sarcasm will not improve anything. Keep that work for sophisticated political cartoons. His blog demonstrates how low media has fell since the raise of the internet. 
hris is a self described troll, which means that he uses his blog to be a provocateur, not to be whistle blower or to educate. Everyone in the system knows he is a bad teacher. He transferred to an ese center not because of a love of students but to avoid accountability. Meaning, low functioning ese students do not take state assessments so students scores are not included in their evaluations. Chris is a troubled man who still has not grown up. He has been arrested over a dozen times and hides in an ese center as a wanna be journalist. At times, he has decent points and criticism but those are lost based on his arrogance, rudeness and exaggeration. Most teachers do not agree with most of his opinions. Those that do tend to also be bad teachers who should have left the classroom years ago. These are the few teachers who ruin the profession, hide behind the union, and collect paychecks. Overall, if anything, his blog demonstrates that the 1st amendment has been protected. He has beat up leaders for years with exaggeration on his blog with no consequences. When playing with fire, you will be burnt. Chris misstepped once again with his facts and got caught. Period. In ANY corporate organization this man would have been fired years ago. Despite his own declaration that he advocates for teachers and public schools he has done more to hurt both than help. Hatefulness toward leaders and systems, coupled with exaggerated and manipulated facts for the sake of sarcasm will not improve anything. Keep that work for sophisticated political cartoons. His blog demonstrates how low media has fell since the raise of the internet. 

School board member Scott Shine called me a parasite. I wonder how he really feels?

From the Times Union

Board member Shine said Guerrieri shouldn’t be a teacher, saying he has a long record of “maladaptive behavior.”

“He has a history of reporting false information; he’s done that with me,” Shine said. “He’s not a hero; he’s a parasite on this district.”

http://jacksonville.com/news/2016-10-29/teacher-finds-himself-hot-water-over-blog-post-wonders-about-right-free-speech

If the board sets the bar for behavior than I can't imagine anything I have written reaching the  low bar that Shine has set.

He is often unprepared, something other board members have pointed out and he has no respect for board policies, something other board members have also mentioned.

Then he has no respect for his constituents, having voted for charter schools the superintendent said he would not let open in less affluent parts of town.

Scott Shine should have never been on the board in the first place as he is woefully unqualified.

Then lets talk about his temperament, he is an elected official who leaves nasty comments on the blog rather than engaging in discourse, and he calls me names in the press. I have criticized him for sure, but I have never approached anything like calling him a liar or a parasite and if I were to complain you can bet he would hide behind the first amendment and I know because he has already done it once when Ashley Smith Juarez asked him to refrain from criticizing fellow board members in the press.

Shine only ran for the board after two attempts to run for city council failed. helping kids by being on the board is not a calling for him, being elected is a line on his bucket list.

Shine is entitled to his opinion but so are the people of Jacksonville and more and more of them are coming to the conclusion he is in over his head, unprepared and not knowledgeable, does not have the temperament for public service and we will be better off when he is gone.

I will say this too, it's my opinion that Shine nothing more than a bully, when I comment, whether you agree with me or not it has now become apparent I am putting my livelihood on the line, when he comments which he only does in the form of name calling he doesn't have any fear of retribution, sure i can write about his terrible performance on the blog, and point out how bad he is as a school board member, but at the end of the day school board salary is chump change to him and he can go hang ten. 

He was right though when he said I am no hero, i am not, I am just a guy who is fed up with how things are run, somebody who doesn't like bullies, a sentiment many people share with me.

Veteran teacher looking for other options

From a teacher and reader

I am looking at other options outside Duval after nine years of working as a teacher. Every bit of the curriculum in ELA is "canned" and although I like the curriculum and find it useful. It lacks depth and does not teach all CORE, which I READY is supposed to do.

 Even centers are micro managed (something we were told we could save our "creativity for" , last year. 

Duval Math works, it works well, but has holes , where again, I am supposed to have small group , use a canned program. 

There is no time for Science, Writing and to read LITERATURE. 

I have the opportunity to teach elsewhere where my growth scores are appreciated, time is given for teachers to "plan" , not just attend an extended meeting on Early Dismissal Days. 

No longer will I work under a District which has determined that my planning days should be spent either tearing out homework pages from a Duval Program book or sorting papers. 

I went for a week three weeks in a row with 45 mins of planning FOR THE WEEK due to poor scheduling. With only 90 mins allowed to plan and refine . 

A 100% canned program only requires a warm body that can read and has arms, perhaps walk children to the bathroom. Intelligent teachers who love literature, the excitement of the discoveries of math and are critical thinkers do not mix with 100% scripted and directed curriculum . 

It is not the spirit of Core Curriculum, or NEA . Every child is being left behind in Duval and the assumption is clear that the kids are not being respected or taught as individuals as it is a one size fits all curriculum. 

The boxed up, regimented, we call going to the bathroom- directed play on the master calendar is just another sad indicator of how low Duval has stooped to insult every child and every teacher and para's intelligence. I am focusing on happier places to be. I'm hoping other teachers are too . 

It is -So very sad for the children. So many very good teachers are leaving this year from the District- it was just the straw that broke the camels back , with the new mandates that are so contrary to best practice. . It's the kids who lose the most, everywhere. I have a masters, good gains good work history and I know I can find a better job elsewhere--if I decide to stay in the teaching field. 

I do like those I work for and with in my immediate school but I shall teach and reach or I won't do it at all.

The district makes Paxon HS get rid of one of the district's last media specialists.

For a district with a reading problem we really hate libraries and librarians.

From Stone Eggs, by Greg Sampson

Another One Bites the Dust

I work at Paxon High School, a dedicated magnet school for accelerated academics. Students are in one of two programs: International Baccalaureate (IB), in which they take the prescribed curriculum and undergo IB tests in order to earn an IB diploma recognized around the world as prestigious and as an entry ticket into any college/university; AP Honors, in which students take numerous AP courses and undergo AP tests to earn college credits during their high school years.

It is a high school that routinely is ranked in the Top 25 High Schools in America.

Now for the theme of this post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz_DNrKVrQ8

We lost our Media Specialist this week. The District insisted that the position be eliminated despite the alternate suggestions put forth by the school.

Another one bites the dust.

You would think that a dedicated magnet would be allowed to devise its program in order to attract students: that is the point of a magnet school.

You would think that a dedicated magnet would be allowed discretion to make the decisions necessary to maintain its program.

You would think that a dedicated magnet such as Paxon would need an effective, operating Media Center to maintain its program.

Apparently, you would be wrong.

Another bites the dust.

And if a school like Paxon is not allowed to maintain and operate its Media Center, what hope do you have for our neighborhood schools, where the need for literacy is even greater?

Oh yeah, we have Achieve 3000 for that. No need for a library.

If you believe that, then you believe that the purpose of school is to prepare students to pass tests, specifically one test given once a year in April.

If you believe that, then you believe that children are not human beings with lives of their own, developing according to their age-driven agenda, and worthy of our best efforts. You believe they are test-taking widgets with a job to do and they had better get on with it—like the old Victorians, who believed and treated children as if they were tiny adults.

But know this: Google will never replace a media specialist.

Another one bites the dust.

If we have to have the budget people make the academic decisions, then my District needs to stop half-going about it. Our Media Centers are closed. Sell the books, remove the shelves, and what a big space you have. Large enough to move in a hundred chairs and deliver instruction like the big colleges: large lecture halls with TAs (minimum wage paraprofessionals or even better, upper classmen who don’t need to be paid but can fulfill graduation-required community service hours) to support.

You could still claim to be meeting Constitutionally-required class size requirements.

Don’t stop with Media Specialists; think of all the high-wage teachers you could dump.

Another bites the dust.

http://stoneeggs.blogspot.com/2016/10/another-one-bites-dust.html?spref=fb

Becki Couch calls out Shine and Grymes for their exscuses

I admit I was kind of tough on Mrs. Couch when she first got on the board. As an educator I expected a lot from her and it seemed to me she sat on her hands. Maybe she just had a lot of faith in a super that I believe bamboozled her and the city with promises of a quick turnaround. However something happened and she has evolved int one of the best board members we have had in recent memory, she is always prepared and passionate.

It's got to be frustrating for her to watch Grymes and Shine bop in from whatever republican party affair they are coming from and mail it in and that frustration boiled over the other day in a discussion about the poor results of our IB program.

From the Times Union

Grymes said she could tell by Couch’s face that she had a problem with their discussion, but Couch accused Grymes of attacking her and staring at her during the meeting.

“Are you in love with me? You spent your time staring at me this entire meeting,” Couch said. “Gosh. Focus on the work. Quit staring at me the whole time. I’m allowed to have facial expressions. I don’t understand what this constant attack is on me.”

Couch said she does have a problem with such a steep decline in IB participation and performance.

“It bothers me that you guys can look at numbers for IB make excuses and think that it’s acceptable,” Couch told Grymes.

http://jacksonville.com/education/2016-10-18/duval-school-board-members-quarrel-over-ib-program-testing

What were the excuses they made? Again from the Times Union.

“You can work harder and you can work smarter,” said Board member Scott Shine. “Some of that difference [in performance] is because they’re not in a dedicated magnet” like Paxon or Stanton.

Board member Cheryl Grymes said there are students whose parents want them in IB but the students don’t want to be there and do the work.

Um what?!? You can work both harder and smarter? I am not sure if that is how the saying goes. I wonder what that motivational poster looks like.

I think it is safe to say that they were both saying only kids and parents that attend dedicated magnets really care about their academics. which is crazy because for a while we were having great success at the non-dedicated magnets.

I can't speak for all the schools but at Ed White, I believe the constant turnover of principals led to a constant churn of staff. Also I know a former IB director there during the time it was having great success and they feel like they were ran off by one of the revolving door of principals a sentiment felt by numerous.veteran and proven staff members.

Did you see what happened there? Couch wanted answers and Shine and Grymes just yawned and made excuses. Work smarter and harder, what the beep? Shine how about you take your own advice?

We have issues but one of the biggest is several board members who treat their position as a ticket to social status or as a line on a resume.

Keep calling them out Becki, the people of Jax won't be snoozing much longer.