How Vitti outsourced the district to a bunch of acronyms

First there is T.F.A. short for Teach for America and you are right if you were thinking their arrival predated the super because it did. However nobody has been a fiercer defender of them than the super and just so you know they take non education majors put them through a six week boot camp and then in our most needy schools where they are supposed to serve two years though only a little over a fifth make it there. This assures an ever revolving door of novice teachers for our neediest children.

Then there is J.P.E.F. short for the Jacksonville Public Education Fund what the Times Union ridiculously refers to as an education think tank. They like the super and T.F.A. above and the K.I.P.P. school were brought to town by Gary Chartrand and have been a huge proponent of privatization while at the same time managing several of the districts functions, the annual pep rally and even our teacher of the year ceremony. They also manage the Q.E.A money.

What’s the Q.E.A.? Well that stands for Quality Education for All. It was a bunch of millionaires working behind the scenes to initiate corporate reforms like merit pay and the use of T.F.A. in our schools. I personally don’t think all their ideas were a disaster though there is no doubt the entire process circumnavigated democracy.

Next there is T.N.T.P.  That stands for the New Teacher Project whose overriding philosophy is you can fire teachers to success. Their board is made up of charter school enthusiasts and the person responsible for the Parent Trigger a mechanism that allows for the takeover of schools by charters. It failed to pass twice here in Florida. They conduct the districts surveys and I am told are in charge of more and more human resources functions.

Let’s throw in Charters like K.I.P.P and CUSA too because under Vitti the amount of charters has gone up by over 300 percent.  

I also don’t think it is a coincidence that Gary Chartrand the anti-public education state board member is involved with TFA, KIPP, JPEF and the QEA.

Superintendent Vitti has outsourced the district to corporate reformers and privatizers.