The DCSB becomes unhinged

I found it ironic that I was reading; Members of the Duval County School Board expressed growing frustration Thursday with the state's laws and the education commissioner, with some questioning his trustworthiness. Especially since much of the city is also incredibly frustrated with the school board and we not only question their trustworthiness but their competence too.

They were talking about the prospect of the state both closing four of our schools and the fact the commissioner wasn’t willing to just accept the latest half baked plan the school board came up with to fix them, which in case you missed it is to turn them into two theme schools that shared the same campus.

I neither think they should nor want the state to force those schools to close or be taken over but if you are rational I think you can probably see their point. This date of no return wasn’t issued a week ago, on the contrary it has been on the books for years. Furthermore the solution the school board is proposing, is both not one of the options given but worse than that is the fact it is no real solution at all. How do we expect the kids to do well at two theme schools when they aren’t doing well or well enough in the states eyes at the schools as they are now? The school board is not addressing the problem which is how do kids get to high school without the ability to read or do math at an appropriate level and without the skills they need to be successful, instead they are just trying to buy time until their shipment of magic dust arrives. That also might be the number one reason the state closes the schools, the school board is not rationale. A reasonable person after reading the quotes by them in the paper might think a few of them have become unhinged.

Gentry said. “..the law regarding struggling schools was designed to kill neighborhood schools by putting them on a "death spiral" of options that ends in their closure.” Well sir what do you call the fact that only about ten percent of the sophomores at the three high schools can read at grade level, is that the equivalent of a head ache or a sprain to you? And when you wrote about bussing, well sir, that quite frankly was way over the top."We will again be busing predominately black kids out of their neighborhoods and spreading them all through the school system." Well in case you missed it Mr. Gentry over three thousand kids that could already be attending those schools have chosen to go elsewhere. They in effect are already bussing themselves out of those neighborhoods and spreading themselves all through the school system.

Then Paula Wright, who I had great hope for when elected, said "It's been terribly frustrating because you're working with a program that's researched-based and ready to work, but working against a system that is determined not to let them work." Um excuse me but your statement has more holes in it than a colander. If it is so proven to work why haven’t we done it before and no program will work if the kids don’t have the basic skills it takes to be successful. She then said she has faith in the community. I myself have hope for the community but it is hard to have faith in the community that for a decade now has allowed a massive exodus from these schools and is willing to buy whatever the school board is selling (how well has that worked for the last 30 years by the way).

Next Betty Burney said "I understand when things are political, and I think the commissioner is trying to satisfy a political front, and I'm trying to deal with things on the education front, and the two just don't mix." Whoa, an education front, she wrote, well I remind everybody she has been working on this education front for six plus years now and we currently find the school system on the abyss of losing four schools. If she were a teacher she would be on an action plan and things would not be looking good for her. As for this being about politics, I have no illusions that the state is a friend of ours but I have firsthand knowledge that the school boards solutions to the problem for all of Mrs. Burney’s term in office has been the equivalent of throwing paint against a wall and hoping some of it sticks.

Then there was Tommy Hazouri a lifelong politician who will probably run for dog catcher once he has been term limited out of the school board. He said about the commissioner, “His responses were vague, if responses at all, with no answers,” ironically that’s pretty much what we can say about the solutions that he and the board are proposing, it’s no answer.

The only one of the group that had anything of any substance to say was Becki Couch. She said, "My frustration lies more with the focus from the state level [being only on] what the law says, and that's not really what's best for kids," She was right there, the law is not what is in the best interest of children. However what is best for the kids can't be found in the school boards, two school solution. The kids need structure, they need discipline, they need additional legitimate opportunities to learn the material and they don’t need to be pushed along without the basic skills they need. Mrs. Couch also said”… the state is not connected to reality.” She is right again but unfortunately, as I hope I have pointed out above, the state isn’t the only one who has come unhinged.

Friends we have real problems and we need real solutions. If the school board is not going to be part of this process they should get out of the way. Our city and its children can’t take much more.

The Times Union, doesn't get it

The Times Union just doesn’t get it. One of the biggest problems we have here in Jacksonville is that our school system is run by politicians on their way up or way down and casual observers filled with hubris who have at best a tenuous relationship to education. I am not saying they are of bad character or lack compassion and passion. I am saying they are out of their depth and the school system, our children and the entire city suffers for it.

So what does the Times Union do? It endorses a politician on his way down, Eric Smith and a politician on his way up, Fred “Fel” Lee. Admittedly, they do so while giving a nod to two teachers who have been in the classrooms and roaming the halls of schools in the county for a combined 29 years, Becki Couch and John King, saying they wouldn’t be bad choices. However a nod is not good enough.

Just like I wouldn’t turn to a Lawyer to take care of my health needs or a plumber to fly me across country no matter how good they were at their respective jobs, I don’t think Jacksonville should rely on professional politicians to run our schools. Judge for yourself the track record they have had.

Our children can no longer afford for “school board member” to be a line on a resume. Instead we need people who have been passionate about and dedicated to education. People who have been with our children and who have worked side by side with the cities teachers in the cities schools. They, not casual observers will have the best ideas of what works or what doesn’t. They, better than career politicians, will have a better idea of what the district needs to be successful. There is not one current board member who has been in a classroom in over a decade. The board is made up of lawyers, life long politicians and consultants and has been for quite some time. We don’t just need some teachers on the board; we desperately need some teachers on the board.

When the Times Union endorses politicians over teachers to run our schools it says to its readers, things are fine and things aren’t fine. It says to the people of Jacksonville lets continue to do business as usual, when the city can no longer afford to do it that way and it says, we just don’t get it.

Chris Guerrieri
School Teacher