The Slant of the Times Union

The Times Union has long been a big part of my life. My mother worked there for nearly thirty years and I have fond memories of sitting around the table with her reading the paper. Now however I have to say I am a bit frustrated with the paper. They seem to be on the wrong side of the education debate. Even in their news pieces there seems to be a slant.

In a recent article about Micelle Rhee, controversial former D.C. schools chancellor, addressing the Florida Legislature, Brandon Larrabee sited her presence in the movie, Waiting for Superman. I say movie not documentary because many of its dramatic scenes were staged. Mr. Larrabee referred to the movie as being critically acclaimed, I say the movie was blatant propaganda made by a public school hating film maker, financed by billionaires interested in increasing their share in the education market through misinformation, teacher demonizing, charter schools and an increased reliance on standardized testing. In case you blinked, you should know that education has become a multi-billion dollar business.

You know what really gets me? It’s the fact that many of those that embraced Waiting for Superman as the gospel are the same people that will dismiss a Michael Moore movie as Hollywood crap. I share many of Michael Moore’s views but I know when I watch his films to do so with both eyes open and to take them with a grain of salt.

Even if all of what was portrayed in Waiting for Superman was true regardless of the fact much has been debunked, (sadly however that didn’t get nearly the press the film did) it would still only show a miniscule fraction of what is going on in our schools. It would be like looking at three doctors you knew were bad and then condemning the whole medical field nationwide because of their actions. Sadly however when Mr. Larrabee says critically acclaimed he gives the movie more credibility than it deserves.

You expect a slant from their columnists take Ron LittlePage for example. In Ron Littlepage’s column about the state potentially withholding funds if some of our schools don’t improve, he talks about the education commissioner losing him, well I can tell you right where he lost me. It’s when he wrote, “But we now have a strong School Board and a strong superintendent in place who are putting extra effort into improving these schools.” Mr. Littlepage exactly what school board and superintendent are you talking about?

This school board and superintendent, instead of following the law which I agree is draconian and instead of addressing the real problem, kids getting to high school unable to read and do math at grade level, without the skills they need to succeed, came up with some half baked plan to cut the schools in half creating two theme schools that would share the same campuses. And you are surprised the state said no thanks?

That proposal was not extra effort, instead it was crazy and a common definition of crazy is to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Well friends we have been waiting for over a decade for 1701 Prudential Drive to fix those schools. The superintendent by the way was there every day and several members of the school board have been there for years and not one of there quick fixes have worked. They reason is they stubbornly refuse to address the real issues those schools have and because of that nothing has changed.

Mr. Littlepage, I don’t want the schools closed or taken over, but we have real problems which need real solutions and if you, the school board and the superintendent aren’t going to part of that it’s time you got out of the way and let somebody else try. That in case you are still lost is all the state is saying.

Then there are the editorials, columns without authors. A couple of editorials ago a Times Union editorial asked, what doesn’t the School Board get. Well I am now asking the Times Union’s editorial board the same question. What don’t you get?

We have the superintendent and school board we need in place, the school board is heading in the right direction, we need to have patience. Do you know where those statements and dozens similar to them have come from? They over the last few years, that’s years, have come from editorials that have been written by the Times Union’s editorial board. How much patience can and should we have? How many ideas thrown like paint against a wall hoping something sticks are we supposed to endure from the school board and the administration at 1701 Prudential Drive?

I know editorials are little more than opinions but when put in respected forums like the Times Union they carry weight, they both influence others opinions and policy. And in this case they propagate the failed policies of our local education system and that is causing children to fall through the cracks. It is hurting kids.

Times Union if we follow your advice and be patient and this latest solution to save our ailing schools doesn’t prove to be any more effective than the last few are you going to take responsibility for all the children doomed to a menial existence or who have had their development retarded. Are you going to apologize to their families or the victims of the children who turn to crime because quite frankly they aren’t suited for the workforce or college? Or like you did a while back are you going to call for more patience, and are you going to say, when these members of the school board leave or are superintendent retires, the next ones are competent and sincere too.

Patience is one of the problems we have and I think when children’s futures are on the line we need urgency. Though like the editors of the Times Union are entitled to theirs, that’s just my opinion.

I am not saying you have to agree with me all I am asking is to think what is best for the children. Pushing them trough without the skills they need to be successful and without discipline and a work ethic is not what’s best for children. Cramming them into a one size fits all curriculum regardless of desire and aptitude is not what’s best for children. Deamonizing teachers and endorsing propaganda is not whats best for the children. What the times union reporters and editorial staff often recommend is not what is best for children.

The Times Union has a powerful voice; I wish they would speak more for the kids and not the superintendent, school board and others.

Chris Guerrieri
School Teacher

Ron Littlepage, lost again

In Ron Littlepage’s column about the state potentially withholding funds if some of our schools don’t improve, I can tell you right where he lost me. It’s when he wrote, “But we now have a strong School Board and a strong superintendent in place who are putting extra effort into improving these schools.” Mr. Littlepage exactly what school board and superintendent are you talking about?

This school board and superintendent, instead of following the law which I agree is draconian and instead of addressing the real problem, kids getting to high school unable to read and do math at grade level, without the skills they need to succeed, came up with some half baked plan to cut the schools in half creating two theme schools that would share the same campuses. And you are surprised the state said no thanks?

That proposal was not extra effort, instead it was crazy and a common definition of crazy is to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Well friends we have been waiting for over a decade for 1701 Prudential Drive to fix those schools. The superintendent by the way was there every day and several members of the school board have been there for years and not one of there quick fixes have worked. They reason is they stubbornly refuse to address the real issues those schools have and because of that nothing has changed.

Mr. Littlepage, I don’t want the schools closed or taken over, but we have real problems which need real solutions and if you, the school board and the superintendent aren’t going to part of that it’s time you got out of the way and let somebody else try. That in case you are still lost is all the state is saying.

Chris Guerrieri
School Teacher

Duval County needs mentors

January is designated as National Mentoring Month. This month highlights mentoring and the positive impact these volunteers can have on young lives.

During this month, Duval County Public Schools' honors individuals who have chosen to become mentors to our youth and recognizes them for making the future brighter for our young people. Being a mentor is easy: You just need to be able to listen and to offer friendship, guidance and encouragement to a young person on a consistent basis.

While National Mentoring Month brings national attention to the benefit of and the need for mentors, locally, it is critical that we recruit mentors to help attain our goal of increasing academic achievement for all Duval County Public Schools' students. Our whole community - individuals, businesses, government agencies, schools, faith-based communities and nonprofits - must work together to increase the number of mentors and assure a more successful future for our young people. Our strategic goal is 20,000 mentors by 2020. Help us reach this goal for our students.

According to research, when students have mentors they have better attendance, a better chance of going on to higher education and better attitudes toward school.

It's proven that the positive influence of role models can have a lasting impact. Program evaluation results show that after one year of being matched with a mentor, students:

Show a significant increase in their future orientation
Are more committed to living a drug and alcohol-free life
Show greater attachment to their family, friends and other adults
Show an increase in self-esteem
To learn how you can become a mentor, contact our Community and Family Engagement Department at 390-2960.

Ed Pratt-Dannals
Superintendent

The Times Unions love affair with the superintendent continues: part one

The Times Unions love affair with the superintendent continues. In a recent editorial they wrote: Just like a good school needs a great leader as principal, a school district should have a consistent vision and a dynamic leader to carry it out. Now, with a strategic plan in place, and meaningful evaluations of Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals, Duval has a productive relationship between board and superintendent. Let’s hope that becomes the standard for the future.

I’ll be honest I have a problem the strategic plan and it’s not just because it reduces children to numbers and data points on a graph and not because the implementation of it is done with such a narrow minded focus that there are often unintended consequences (the erosion of discipline for example) but because who it managed by. Duval counties strategic plan is the equivalent of me allowing my students to write their test and then grade it as well. There is no neutral party monitoring it to see if it is effective only people who have manifest need to see the numbers improve.

As for the principals evaluations by the school board if you are a reasonable person and read them, then you to probably have questions. Businesses report not wanting to move here because of our school system, seventy percent of our graduate have to take remedial classes once they enter college, potential employers say they can’t find good candidates from the pool of recent graduates and teacher morale is shot and despite all this the superintendent garnered near perfect evaluations from the school board. Say you do like him and think we are headed in the right direction doesn’t above deserve some kind of needs improvement mark? This is made all the more exacerbating by the fact he helped pick the numbers in the strategic plan and then was in charge of gathering the numbers.

If you think the district is headed in the right direction, you are probably a member of the school board, the superintendent and his inner circle or an editor for the Times Union; you are sadly misinformed, because we’re not.

We have serious problems and we need a superintendent who is willing to tackle them and a newspaper that is willing to report them. Until that happens the citizens of Jacksonville and it’s children are being done a huge disservice.

A Brickbat for the Folio

Up is down, black is white, dogs are playing with cats, people are jumping on the furniture and the Folio gave Duval County School Superintendant Ed Pratt-Dannals a bouquet. That’s to say things are all mixed up. The Folio bestowed the ceremonial honor to the superintendant because he turned down a raise and 20 thousand dollars in cell phone and car allowances.

If you didn’t know it the superintendants base salary is 270 thousand with his total compensation approaching 330 thousand dollars. Looking just at salary, his is almost a hundred thousand more than the mayor and he makes almost the equivalent of Clay and St. Johns counties school superintendants combined. Which begs the question why had he been getting a cell phone and car allowance anyways? You would think he could have afforded them already on his quarter million dollar plus salary.

Likewise did you know that when he went from assistant superintendant to superintendant he received an over one hundred thousand dollar or about a 67% percent raise (he was already making well over 100k) a far cry from the less than one percent raise most teachers typical receive with their step increases, a raise by the way that the superintendant sought to deny them earlier this year when he declared financial urgency.

What’s next Folio? How are you going to reward the fact he has gutted discipline, destroyed teacher morale, further eroded the teaching of the trades and arts and despite his claims otherwise made no appreciable improvement to the district, in fact many think our problems have gotten much worse, in his nearly three years of stewardship; a man of the year award perhaps or how about a parade?
Here is a Brickbat for you Folio.

A Pratt-Dannals Disservice

I’ll just jump right to it. Superintendant Ed Pratt Dannals is doing the city, its schools and its children a tremendous disservice. Now I am not talking about his leadership and the policies and procedures he has either put in place or endorsed, though many of them are at best suspect, no I am talking about something much more dangerous and that’s the misleading words he takes every opportunity to spew.

Despite almost overwhelming evidence to the controversy the superintendant is constantly saying, look at us we have a B district and we’re heading in the right direction. He celebrates a two percent increase in the drop put rate but doesn’t mention how it only came about after the state changed its formula. He says look at Stanton and Paxon but through omissions says please ignore the other 11 D or F public high schools. Have you seen our award winning magnet programs, he asks, while deflecting attention away from the fact we have four schools on the verge of being taken over by the state? I could go on and on and on. In short he takes every opportunity to paint a rosy picture, when the picture is far from rosy and this misinformation is holding both our city and its schools and children back.

The truth is we have real problems, problems it is going to take everybody rolling up their sleeves and pitching in to solve. How are Jack and Jill public supposed to know how dire the situation actually is when the superintendant with a wink, a nod and a don’t look at my pay check says, you know what, sure we can improve but things aren’t that bad.

The public might not understand that the uptick in youthful violent crime is a direct reflection on what is happening in the hallways of many of our schools, especially when the superintendant says look how suspensions are down 49%. They might not understand that the reason many employers despite the cities obvious plusses resist coming here is because of our school system. He glosses over the fact that over half our tenth graders have been passed along without the skills they need and can’t read at grade level and the facts that many of our kids graduate woefully unprepared for college (over 70% have to take remedial classes) or for the world of employment. The people of Jacksonville are being blinded by the superintendant and his proxies saying; look at us we have all these great things going on that has made us a B district. Well friends just like the C has become the new F in many of the district’s schools making it in many cases practically meaningless and/or deceptive, being a B district on the states scoring scale just isn’t that impressive.

Mr. Superintendant I implore you, no make that I beg you, please call a press conference and after you sigh and throw your hands up in the air tell the people of Jacksonville the truth, let them know how dire things really are, the serious trouble that we are really in. Tell them how our teachers are having their morale crushed and are overwhelmed with tasks that only have a peripheral relationship to teaching, tell them how policies and procedures are squeezing the joy of learning out of many of our children and putting fewer and fewer in situations where they can actually succeed. Tell them how you have cut the budget to the bone and so many needs are going unmet and the states unfunded mandates usurp the people of Jacksonville’s ability to choose their future for themselves. Tell them how it is going to take them getting off the sidelines, them volunteering, taking an interest, and demanding their representatives in government do what is right and that is the only way our city, our schools and our children are going to have a chance. Tell the people of Jacksonville, black white, rich or poor that we must put our differences aside and start working for the good of our schools and our children. Be a leader and put a true face on things, don’t just be a guy collecting a huge paycheck trying to protect his niche anymore. Sir, I know it was a long time ago when you get into education but it was probably because you wanted to make a difference. Well again sir right now your words are making a difference unfortunately they are not making a positive one.

Superintendent Pratt-Dannals when you paint a rosy picture you have robbed the people of Jacksonville of the choice to get involved or not and this at time when we desperately need them more than ever. Why would they and why should they get involved if our top teacher says, things could be better but they really aren’t that bad after

Let down by the Teachers Union… again

Let me start by saying I am a dues paying member of the union. I believe in the union and few things frustrate me more than when people blame teachers unions for problems in education. Unions are not here to protect bad teachers, just to make sure all teachers get due process, nor are they here to stifle education reform, thinking instead we should be at least be doing the basics before we attempt extraordinary measures. So with all this being said why am I feeling so let down?

Well it started when Duval Teachers United filed a grievance against PEN (the professional educator’s network) a local thinly veiled attempt at Union Busting. Despite PEN’s protests to the contrary it is obvious to anybody who applies any level of critical thinking that their goal is to weaken the union. Where I don’t think that DTU’s grievance is unreasonable it made me wonder, is protecting themselves from excursions into their territory first and foremost on the Union’s agenda? Is that what they are concerned with while there are so many other more pressing problems?

What about the stifling policies and procedures that are literally choking the life out of local education? What about the wave of blame the teachers and shake things up administrators that the superintendant has tasked to turning struggling schools around. If teachers talked to or treated their students the same way some principals treated their staffs they would quickly be out of a job and the community would be in an uproar. What about the crushed teacher morale, what about all the kids put in no win situations, what about insisting the district take the code of conduct seriously.

Then what about the thousands of grievances against the school district, because on the mountains of paperwork, more than teachers can possibly do in a day and all the extra tasks teachers are forced to do for free at home while their children are in extended day or wait for dinner, that’s thousands of grievances they could file each and every day. We have all these serious issues and the battle the union chooses to wage is against some Podunk teacher organization that nobody would have heard of or thought twice about if the DTU would have ignored it. That’s where DTU has chosen to draw its line.

One of the biggest problems local public education has is its leaders are far more interested in protecting their niches, their little kingdoms than doing what’s right for both teachers and children. The district is crumbling around us and the superintendant paints a rosy picture at every opportunity. He has created or endorsed policies that push kids along without the skills they need to be successful and gutted discipline. He has instructed his administrators to put yokes on the backs of teachers and work them like farm animals and to get rid as many as they can. Then teachers overwhelmed, marginalized and blamed for the ills of education can’t turn to the union for help because it is far more interested in beating back a push from a little know organization than standing up to and demanding the district does what is right. These are the two entities minding the store of local public education and as things currently stand we shouldn’t be proud of either.

I believe in the Union, I am a dues paying member but I feel disheartened and let down. The district has put me and so many of my children in almost impossible no win situations or are working us until we drop, a common lament with many of the district’s teachers and the union instead of sticking up for me and so many of my teacher brothers and sister has sadly decided it has other fish to fry.

I can’t make this sh*t up

I arrived to school today and discovered my books were missing. I teach a couple ESE science classes and I have found using older editions of science books is better or my kids. I had assembled a class set of biology and general science books that I thought were pretty appropriate. They are more sergeant Friday, that’s just the facts mamn, where the new books want you to go on a yellow brick road style journey to get to the same facts. I get it though; the reason behind the fancy new way is to develop more critical thinking skills. Though at the same time if a kid can’t read or process information at a reasonable rate then nobody short of the lady who taught Helen Keller how to talk is going to be successful.

While teaching the same standards, just with tools I felt were better suited for my students, I thought I was doing what I was supposed to do and that’s differentiating my instruction and meeting the kids where they are; by the way these are things I have been told over and over to do. However it turns out that isn’t good enough; they want me to do it with the books they choose. Another decision made by people not in the classroom that affects the classroom.

Next we have this thing called RtI, (response to intervention) a program teachers are supposed to refer kids to for extra help, kids that are failing or in danger of failing. The first nine weeks being over I checked my kid’s grades and found I had several who had failed. About half failed because of attendance, the other half either a combination of attendance and lack of effort or just plain old lack of effort. These last kids I thought would be perfect candidates for RtI. But before I did so I also pulled their report cards to see how they were doing in their other classes. Maybe as great as I sometimes think I am, it’s “a me” problem as to why they are ailing. Well it turns out the kids who were failing my class because of a lack of effort were likewise failing their other classes for the same reason too (whoa, thank goodness I am as great as I thought I was).

Perfect candidates for RtI right, it seemed logical to me that kids failing all or most of their classes would be right up the RtI alley. However since the title above is, I can’t make this sh*t up and not Reasonable things that happened at school today, it wouldn’t be unreasonable if you guessed differently and if you did then award yourself a prize. That’s right friends, failing all of one’s classes isn’t enough to refer someone to RtI. I am too disheartened to print the convoluted list of teacher tasks required to do so here.

Finally the superintendent came today to talk to our staff about concerns we have. He came at 8:00 when only 1/8th of the staff had planning and was off. I know, why not come after school when the whole staff would be free to talk to him? Probably because that would make too much sense and maybe just maybe give him an accurate picture of what is going on. The sad thing is I bet on the way back to his Ivory Tower he is probably going to pat himself on the back and think; you see, I do listen to teachers. Well one of the sad things anyways.

Friends, welcome to Monday or what I like to call, I can’t make this sh*t up.

Superintendant turns down less than one percent raise, lauded as hero

With some fanfare it was announced that the superintendent would be turning down a raise. He had been allowed to take a raise comparable to the ones teachers get. You will forgive me if I refrain from giving him a humanitarian award especially since the typical teacher receives less than a one percent raise a year. This is the same raise the superintendent sought to deny teachers earlier this year when he his band of sycophants, I am sorry the school board, declared financial urgency.

Sadly this is just one more example of the Times Union, who has mentioned it in several pieces and who takes so many opportunities to paint the superintendant in a positive light that I am beginning to think he must have pictures of the editorial staff with either a live boy or a dead girl, joining forces with the superintendant as the city’s teachers and children languish and the city itself heads in the wrong direction.

Good job Times Union, what’s next a humanitarian award?

If Ron Littlepage loves the superintendant so much he should marry him

I really don’t understand why Ron Littlepage of the Times Union keeps giving Ed Pratt Dannals the school superintendent a pass. This time Littlepage celebrates him because he turned down 20k in car and cell phone allowances, something he probably could have afforded anyways with his 275k salary (total compensation 08-98, 339k according to the Action News web-site). Three years ago when he was appointed he received over a hundred thousand dollar raise from his previous salary. He probably does not need a raise as he makes almost as much as the superintendents of Clay and St. Johns County combined and a hundred thousand dollars more than the mayor.

Do you think we are getting an adequate return on our plus 300 thousand dollar a year investment? If so, is it the poor graduation rate, the high drop out rate or the fact less than half our high school kids read at grade level, or maybe it’s the lack of discipline or the poor teacher moral that you think warrants it?

What is a principal’s job?

Our Superintendant told a colleague of mine that a principal’s job is to turn a school around as quickly as possible. I couldn’t disagree more. I believe a principal’s job is to get it right even if it takes time.

A principal could easily cajole his staff into enduring toxic working conditions and at the same time insist they give their students high grades and friends if you think that is implausible think again as it’s happening all over the county now. With a wink and a nod teachers are being told if you write to many referrals you must have poor classroom management and aren’t a good teacher and if you give to many Ds and Fs, the problem is with you and you must not be a good teacher either. If you fail kids or write referrals these things will affect your evaluations and could determine if you are eligible for performance pay or if you keep your job or not. Then even if a teacher wanted to fail a kid because they warranted it, it has become nearly impossible to do. As a result kids are pushed along till they get to high school and then sadly there is nowhere else to push them to. Well since it only takes 5 credits to pass ninth grade we can push them along a little farther but then a wall is hit.

To turn things around quickly principals can also schedule more kids in advanced placement classes or specialized programs as those affect schools grades as well. Strangely it doesn’t matter if a kid finishes the program or passes the test or not. Then there is drop outs, kids teachers have never seen stay on rolls for nine week after nine weeks now days, it used to be after ten days a teacher could have them withdrawn. Now the process involves levels of entities and takes months.

Friends, education should be about learning and it should be rigorous and meaningful. After all learning you have to work hard and learning you can’t do whatever you want are two of the most important lessons any kid can learn, lessons we aren’t teaching any more, lessons we are getting wrong.

It’s time we slowed down and got things right and that not cajoling teachers and massaging numbers should be a principal’s number one job.

Waiting for Pratt-Dannals

I haven’t seen the new documentary about education, Waiting for Superman, but I hear it is very one sided in its anti-public school, ant-union presentation. I plan to see it and be the judge for myself though I plan to take the same skepticism I do when I go see a Michael Moore movie with me.

It’s also the same skepticism I use whenever Superintendant Pratt-Dannals says anything. He paints such rosy pictures that if you just listened to him you might things were going very well in the school district. The thing is I work in a “turn-around” high school in Jacksonville’s Westside and I have many teacher friends n various schools throughout the district and I know for a fact things are far from rosy. In the teachers lounge today a colleague commented when Ed PD’s editorial was mentioned, that from his ivory tower up in the clouds, the ants on the ground might actually look like they are doing well. In case you are wondering, teachers and students are the ants.

I admit I am a critic with how things are done in the counties public schools. I think we need to put children in positions they can succeed in, I think we need to stop blaming teachers for the failed academic policies that have led us to where we are now and finally I think we need to bring discipline back to the classroom, so you might want to take what I write with a grain of salt as well and that is fair enough but at the same time please don’t just buy what the superintendant says hook line and sinker either.

He mentions how the graduation rate went up 3.2 percent, to 64.5 percent in 2009; last year’s figures are strangely not available. However before the formula was changed, in 2005 our graduation rate was over 65%. Could this be an example of the-powers-that be changing the formula to appear to be doing better?

He mentions that how more kids have access to accelerated programs which begs the question, why do we have specialized academic magnet schools if the programs are available everywhere?

He mentions the career academies but he doesn’t mention how the enrollment in many is dwindling. He says suspensions are down by 49 percent but he doesn’t mention how being assigned to suspension center doesn’t count as a suspension and that ignoring discipline is not a viable solution that many teachers support.

He mentions the Fordham institutes study saying we are the fifth best district in the nation when it comes to reforms. He doesn’t mention that many of the things attributed to Jacksonville are actually state policies and that some don’t find that the study has much validity.

It’s also true when he mentions that the district has supported the highest graduation requirements in the state; he however doesn’t mention how that has hurt rigor, kids don’t get to high school without being able to read or write or to college and have to take remedial classes for no reason. Everything he mentions can be rebuffed. Everything he mentions with a little critical thinking can be challenged.

Then there is what he doesn’t mention. He doesn’t mention how our dropout rate went up 45%, he doesn’t mention how teacher morale has been destroyed over the last few years, he doesn’t mention how the district is contracting, he doesn’t mention how home school and private school enrollment is down everywhere in the state but in Jacksonville and he doesn’t mention how we are in real trouble as a school district and it’s going to take the citizens of Jacksonville to stop sitting on the sidelines to improve things. He doesn’t mention that only if we all come together and make the commitment to make things better do we have a chance. I am a critic so maybe you should take what I say with a grain of salt and this is what I have to say, I don’t believe rosy rhetoric and misleading figures aren’t going to cut it.

He ends by saying we’re just getting started. Well friends this January will be his third year as superintendant, don’t you think it’s a little late to just be getting started.

There was one part I agreed with though. I thought when the superintendant said, we already had supermen and superwomen working in our schools he was being pretty accurate. You see we have to be. It’s the only way any of us can survive.

Paying for the class size amendment is easy, as easy as everybody teaching

One of the reasons certain people claim that want to roll back the class size amendment is it is too expensive. I happen to think we should spend as much as we need to assure our children receive a great education but I get it, times are tough, we have to prioritize. Well friends with that in mind I have a solution that isn’t going to cost us any extra money and keeps the class size amendment. It’s simple folks, everybody teaches.

Only about fifty-five percent of all the school district employees are teachers. The other forty-five percent of workers makes up custodians, paras, clerks and a bloated district staff of thousands of certificated (people eligible to teach) employees. We have cadre this and district that and more support staff than you can shake a stick at. Heck at the high school I work at we have about fifteen certificated people who don’t work in the classrooms with kids.

Lets put them all in classrooms for just one period a day and then I bet the increased costs
of the class size amendment will be seriously diminished if not out and out eliminated. It could have the added benefit of eliminating other problems as well. Our superintendent might realize that ignoring discipline is a detriment when he is threatened or told where to put his lesson plans. Principals might not insist on complicated two page lesson plans and voluminous data notebooks that only have a peripheral relationship with education if they have to make them themselves.

When a principal is teaching the vice-principal takes over and so on. For the hundred and hundreds of district people on the way to the school board building or where ever all they have to do is stop at their home school and teach a class. It’s that simple. Some might ask when will they have time to do their regular jobs to which I would answer, at night and on the weekends of course, the same time the district expects teachers to do many of their jobs as well.

You want to see reform? Let a school board member walk in a teacher shoes for one period a day and then have to do everything a teacher does. Then you will see reform. Instead of voting for amendment eight, how about you vote for everybody teaching instead.

Paying for the class size amendment is easy as easy as everybody teaching.

The not so rosy picture

The editorial in the Times Union began, "Don’t look now, but Jacksonville is one of the most progressive, reform-minded cities in the nation when it comes to schools". Well, Friends, you should look - and when you do, you should also wince in pain like many of the city's students and teachers do.

Let’s examine some of our reforms:

We have created magnet schools which have divided the city's students into have and have-nots; where what school they go to determines the educational experience they receive. In our zeal to have every student go to college, regardless of aptitude or desire, we have just about reformed the teaching of trades, skills and the arts right out of the district. Then, we ratcheted up the requirements for graduation - which sounds good on paper. Unfortunately, in doing so, we have destroyed rigor in many classes, and at the same time have ill-prepared many students for college. This is evidenced by the fact that 70% of graduates have to take remedial classes once they get to Florida State College at Jacksonville. And as for the vaunted performance pay system that the district and the Florida Times-Union like to point to, it has more holes in it than a colander. The teacher who makes the most gains in his classroom may be barred from receiving any performance pay - at the whim of his principal - as a teacher's evaluations do not and have never considered their student's performance. Then the worst teacher in the school can get performance pay if they are the principal's pet as well. If only it was about student performance.

I wonder if anybody at the Florida Times-Union looked at the report issued by the Thomas Fordham Institute; the main methodology consisted of asking education leaders how they thought things were going. (And, frankly, Friends - they may have ulterior motives for painting a rosy picture). Furthermore, many of the scores attributed to Jacksonville, like state policies and the Kipp school, have very little (or nothing) to do with how the district runs its public schools. Though, in the end, while reading the report, I couldn’t help having the feeling that it had been written by a pretty smart 11th grader bluffing their way through a paper. Maybe the Florida Times-Union was so eager to give it notoriety because it wanted to refute the part which said, "The Florida Times-Union, however, is less supportive of education reform than newspapers in other cities in this analysis".

Then there is the fact that the whole premise of the report (reform) is flawed. A willingness to try different things to improve a situation is only admirable if the situation improves; reform just for the sake of reform can often have a harmful effect. If you don’t believe me, take a sampling of teachers aside and ask them if they think things are improving. Just because somebody reads a pamphlet while waiting for a flight or goes to a workshop and in between coffee breaks hears something that sounds interesting, it doesn’t mean the school district should try it. Reform at 1701 Prudential Drive is the equivalent of throwing paint against a wall and hoping some of it sticks and it does so to the detriment of not just the city’s students and teachers, but the city itself.

The article reports that Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals said in a news release, "The district continues to be open to new ideas and reform that will allow us to continue to provide a quality education to our students in preparation for a post-secondary education or the world of work." Parents and stakeholders might disagree with that statement, (as the school board seems to make up their mind and then ask for input) but let's go ahead and take the superintendent's statement of genuine. Well, Mr. Superintendent, how about these suggestions?

We bring discipline back to the city's classrooms, and give children who misbehave consequences. (A little tough love can go a long way).

We make the teaching of skills, trades and the arts as important as teaching math and science. If we want kids to succeed, they will have a better chance if we play to their strengths and desires.

We make school enjoyable by ensuring children have multiple electives. If school is drudgery to children, it’s not a leap to think they will not do very well.

We make graduation requirements reasonable. Enhancing the requirements doesn’t do any good if it destroys rigor at the same time. Let’s teach a little less but make sure that kids understand it before we move on.

Instead of having so many academic coaches, we hire more social workers and therapists. So often, when a kid acts up or doesn’t try at school, it has very little to do with school. How can we expect our most troubled students to be successful for 6 hours a day when we ignore the other 18 hours?

Instead of passing kids along with the skills they need to be successful, we make after school opportunities and summer school mandatory - and if that doesn't work, we hold them back until they can be successful.

Then most importantly, how abut instead of overwhelming teachers with superfluous task-after-task (that, at best, only has a peripheral relationship with education); instead of destroying teacher’s creativity and flexibility with learning schedules and pacing guides; instead of blaming teachers for the problems in education, (the editorial mentions "teacher quality" as if we have an epidemic of poor teachers and the report also mentions our "lack of human capital") giving them all the responsibility and none of the authority, while giving politicians, policy makers and parents a pass; instead of cajoling teachers with threats of bad evaluations or the loss of their jobs if they write too many referrals or fail too many kids; instead of doing all that to the most valuable resources the district has, how about we treat them with respect - we give them autonomy, and support and encourage creativity? Try those things, Mr. Superintendent - and stand back and watch things improve, and do so dramatically.

Are there good things going on in the district? Yes, and thousands of good things happen daily. Those good things, however, aren’t the reforms coming from the district, they are the interactions that happen between teachers and their students that often happen in spite of the district's reforms. Is the district leadership an unmitigated disaster, and do they have no policies that have proven effective? I’ll let you be the judge of that; but the Florida Times-Union, in light of our graduation and drop-out rates (some of the worst in the state) and the epidemic of youth violence, (undoubtedly exasperated by the district ignoring discipline) does the city and its children a disservice when it paints such a rosy picture. Though, by doing so, perhaps they will get a more favorable mention in next year's report.

If we want things to improve in Jacksonville, it’s going to take more than rosy articles and reforming for the sake of reform. It’s going to take more than the superintendent just saying things are fine and the Times Union shaking its head in agreement. Friends, we are in trouble, our city and its children; and it’s going to take all of us working together to get out of the hole we are in.

When Nero played his fiddle while Rome burned, no matter how good the music was, reasonable people did not shake their head in agreement. One report from a little known Ohio based school no matter how glowing it is should distract us with the help of the Times Union from the real and serious problems we have.

Liars and politicians

There is an old adage that only, liars and politicians use statistics. I’ll let you decide what the superintendent is because you should know he sure likes to use statistics. In his state of the district speech he said Jacksonville’s graduation rates increased 3.2%. As far as I can tell that’s pretty accurate, though I do find it a bit opf a coincidence that the entire state improved by 3.2% as well. In case you are wondering that leaves us 11.8% behind the state average for graduation (76.3%). Three years ago it was 10.5%.

He also talked about how more minorities are taking more advanced placement classes than ever before, though surprisingly he didn’t mention how the percentage of students passing advanced placement tests have plummeted. Then he mentioned the forty-nine percent drop in suspensions, though he didn’t mention how part of a principals evaluation is tied to suspensions and that many teachers prefer to endure toxic learning environments rather than write students up and see the only person to receive a consequence (poor evaluations) is them. Finally he mentions that we are a “B” district according to the states grading formula, which coincidently factors in suspensions and minority students taking advanced placement tests. Amazing. Right?

There is one stat he didn’t mention and that’s how our drop out rate increased by nearly forty-five percent this past year, though since it is nearly impossible to remove kids for non attendance and we don’t start compiling the rate till high school it might actually be hirer. The rate went from 3.3 percent of our students to 4.8. Though why would he mention that statistic, after all it doesn't fit in with his smoke and mirrors we’re heading in the right direction message.

We have a lot of good things going on in the district, no make that amazing. I just happen to think the vast majority are the indiviual and class interactions between teachers and students and very few are happening at 1701 prudential drive.

Yep, there is an old adage; only liars and politicians use statistics.

Chris Guerrieri
City Stakeholder

My lying eyes: The state of the district

Friends, I don’t know which would bother me more; whether Duval County School Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals actually believes what he wrote in his state of the county address, or that he just said it to keep his job. (One way he would mean he is crazy, the other way would mean he was disingenuous). Either way, I am reminded of the expression "am I going to believe the truth or my own lying eyes"?

You have to give the superintendent high marks in chutzpah - he doesn’t waste any time putting a positive spin on things. First, there is the "strategic plan", which is the equivalent of me having my kids make and grade their own tests. (If you noticed, Pratt-Dannels was a little light on details). He talks about gains in writing and science, the two portions of the FCAT that saw dramatic changes, which arguably made them easier. This is the same FCAT, by the way, that he criticized when he didn’t like the district's reading scores.

He then talks about the turnaround schools - you know, the schools where all the teachers work twelve-hour days during the week and take stuff home on the weekend. (You can recognize the teachers at turnaround schools by their about-to-jump-off-a-bridge look). It’s true: when you look at the turnaround schools in total, they did make gains in reading; sadly, they are marginal at best and only came because the district put yokes on teachers and worked them like rented mules. I think if we had given teachers support, autonomy and less tasks that only have a peripheral relationship to education, we would have seen substantial gains.

The superindendent's half-truths and self-serving exaggerations then came fast and furious.

Goal 2 is to increase the percentage of students graduating who will be ready for post-secondary education and work. In case you didn’t know it, 70% of our recent high school graduates who are now at Florida State College have to take remedial classes, and employers report having a hard time finding qualified applicants. Councilman Richard Clark says one of the reasons we can’t recruit businesses is our school system. (http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-06-04/story/too-many-duval-students-not-college-ready)

Duval County's graduation rate rose 3.2 percentage points, to 64.5 percent in 2009. While this is an increase, we certainly agree that more progress on the graduation and promotion rates needs to take place. By the way, in the '05-'06 school year, our graduation rate was 65.5%. Is he saying we got better after we got worse? (http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/121606/met_6848430.shtml)

His 4th goal would probably be the most laughable if it wasn’t so sad. - Goal 4 focuses on establishing schools where all individuals feel safe and are respected and valued. Our code of conduct violations, as measured by the state, decreased by 37% over the past year. Ignoring and not entering referrals does not make make one feel safe and respected, sir; it erodes discipline and leads to bigger troubles down the road. He also writes about additional staff training and awareness of disciplinary actions. The awareness part is true - in fact, it is the most accurate part of the piece. Teachers have become very aware, (painfully aware) that if they write too many referrals, their evaluations will suffer and their jobs will potentially be in jeopardy. Furthermore, the dramatic 49% decrease in suspensions couldn’t be because Principal's evaluations are tied to suspensions, could it?

Pratt-Dannals seems so proud of the fact that we are establishing advanced academic programs at all the high schools, though it begs the question: why do we have advanced academic magnet schools if they can get the same programs everywhere? Could it be that the programs at the neighborhood schools are just expensive bones he has thrown to the masses in an effort to say 'look at me, see what I have done. I am for magnet schools' ? They give kids a chance to take classes they are interested in rather than being thrown into the one-size-fits-all curriculum that the neighborhood schools have. In all honesty, however, they have different rules. Kids who don’t maintain a 2.0 GPA and have discipline problems usually don’t last very long at the magnet school, where neighborhood schools are required to educate any child who shows up, regardless of behavior, aptitude or desire.

I wasn’t surprised, but there are a few things Ed Pratt-Dannals didn’t mention that I think you should be aware of; chief among these is that our school system is contracting for the last three years. (Coincidentally, during his term in office, the school system has lost children). He also didn’t mention that every county in Florida except for Duval has seen home schooling and private school enrollment decline, either. Our graduation rates are low, teacher morale is low, our reading rates are low, in fact, and the only thing that seems to be high is our dropout rates. I ask you - does that look like a school district heading in the right direction? Are you going to believe what is in front of you, or your lying eyes?

Friends, I could go on and on as everything he wrote is easily refutable.

In the end, it will be up to you to decide if we are heading in the right direction. Do me a favor - think about it then let him and the school board know how you feel.

Chris Guerrieri
School Teacher

My First Memory of Our Superintendant: More of the Same

Winter break 2007: Returning to school refreshed, with my sleeves rolled up and ready to concentrate on the business of education, it was almost a full five minutes before I received my first disappointment of the new year. I realized that despite the fact it was a new year, and with a new superintendent, all we would be receiving would be more of the same.

Now, it wasn't little Johnny cursing me out or little Suzie refusing to do her work which got me down - as a teacher I am used to that; besides, I know it's my job and my responsibility to get them to follow directions and learn. No, what got me down came from much higher up; what got me down came from those who were supposed to be helping me out, making my job easier; what brought me down didn't come from my students, it came from my superintendent and my school board. And I was only one of many who were feeling it.

After Ed Pratt-Dannals replaced Stephen Wise at the bargain basement price of $275,000 (plus our national reputation) I am sure many people - parents, teachers and interested parties alike - thought things would be different; that the way things were done would change. No longer would the school system be led from an ivory tower where mandates were handed down and subordinates without input were expected to carry them out.

We thought we were ushering in a new era where we would all work together as a team...(that's where parents, teachers and administrators alike would come together to make our school system one in which we could all be proud). The first few days after the change, we were all filled with optimism.

And then - right off the bat - the new superintendent (seemingly in an effort to prove things were going to be different) came to us and sought the counsel of all the school board employees. He came to us and asked us to help him solve one of the most pressing problems our school system had, (wait for it - *dramatic pause* - wait for it:) What Our E-Mail Address Should Be. You see, educationcentral.org and dreamsbeginhere.org no longer represented the direction in which we wanted to head ... (*sound of balloon deflating and spinning out of control around a room*) so much for our optimism.

Our administration must have decided, 'Hey let's get that one out of the way first, and then we can come back to the issues of discipline spiraling out of control and schools that are failing. That's right - before we tackle the problems of teacher morale, violence, truancy and dropouts, let's make sure we get the e-mail address right'.

Though I find it just as likely they thought, 'Hey, for the most part, teachers have no idea how to handle failing schools, violence in the classroom or truancy, but since we want to give the appearance of us being a team, let's throw them a softball that they may be able to help with - besides, if we give them two choices, (A or B) about something nobody really cares about, how can they mess it up?'

Either way, an e-mail was sent out asking us to choose between myduvalschools.org and duvalschools.info, and we were asked to vote for which one we liked better. The address that received the most votes would then become the official one. (Perhaps they also thought that a byproduct of finally getting the right e-mail address that represented us would be that our FCAT scores would go up and the dropout rates would go down - two of the many, many problems teachers were not asked to help solve).
So, teachers voted... and even though this (in the scheme of things, when compared to dwindling supplies, dropping test scores, being threatened in the halls by thugs masquerading as students and so many other things) was basically a trivial matter, many of us were happy to do so. You see, for the last few years, so many things have been (and are still being) forced onto us and we are required to implement them without giving any input; America's Choice, Access Points, and ninth graders being forced to declare a major are a few of the more glaring boondoggles that the county has declared the next great fix - only to be later discarded. Even though it was the equivalent of being asked if we wanted two or three ice cubes in our water, it was actually nice to have our opinions considered.

The votes came in and as a group, we decided on myduvalschools.org. We knew that with that burning issue out of the way, we would next be asked to help tackle the other problems facing our school system - and if you have forgotten some of them, they are: no discipline; failing schools; plummeting teacher morale; violence, truancy and dropouts. These are problems that teachers, parents and other interested parties initially thought may have been just a bit more pressing, but our opinions were not requested.

Except that wasn't what happened; instead of going with what the rank-and-file voted on (and mind you, this was after we were asked to vote, and we were told what we voted for was going to be the new address) we got a letter informing us they decided to forego our decision and head in a different direction; that the choice we made did not adequately reflect what we wanted to project; and that one of the reasons they decided to go with a different address from the one we had chosen was that it was going to be free. I guess after paying the previous superintendent's severance we couldn't afford the $9.00 the domain name we chose would have cost.
That's right - after being asked how many ice cubes we wanted, they decided to not even give us a drink. We couldn't even get that right. Read that again, parents; the school board doesn't believe the people who are entrusted to teach your children are capable of helping to pick an e-mail address.

I started to wonder why they even asked us in the first place, but it became a little too mind-numbing; and, to be honest, I didn't really care, because when compared to so many other things, what our e-mail address is doesn't really matter. However, what I do care about is the disconnect the administration has with its staff; the belief that these people (out of the classroom, in many instances for years) have - that they feel they know what's best, especially when many of us in the trenches feel like they have no idea what is going on.

I also started to wonder if they only payed 'lip service' to teachers and our opinions - or who else they might be doing it to. Maybe parents should be asking this same question.

Now, if you are wondering which one I voted for: I didn't. I was too busy getting little Johnny to take his seat and little Suzie to do her work, though I anxiously await the next time the administration has a pressing question (such as which number two pencil to use, or how many chicken nuggets should come with lunch); you know...something they might feel I am qualified to help with. Reply Forward

The Dog and Pony show: The school board visits Ribault High School

The school board paid a surprise visit to Ribault High School, accompanied by the Florida Times-Union and Action News. (I say 'surprise visit' not because Ribault didn’t know they were coming, but because many people probably weren’t aware that the school board did anything but follow lockstep behind the superintendent). There the school board met with 30 hand-picked students to discuss the issues facing Ribault High School. In case you were wondering, Dog and Pony Magazine rated this visit a five out of five.

Does the school board expect the public to think they care, because of this visit (their third visit to a school in the last ten months)? Talk about an easy schedule and part-time work... There they said they met with children who represented the student body - those from the A.P. classes, student council and ROTC classes. Ummm...I am sorry, but if they wanted to get a true representation of the student body, they should have met with children in the intensive reading and math classes, the kids with no electives on their schedules.

I hope nobody thinks I am being critical of Ribault. I have a friend who works there and she believes they are truly turning it around after years of mismanagement, and that they finally have a team that is headed in the right direction. I wish her luck. Unfortunately she, the rest of the staff, the students, and- heck- the community of Jacksonville itself will need it, as long as we allow this current school board to oversee the management of the county’s public schools.

The school board somehow got mixed up with what it is supposed to do. That’s what will happen when casual observers (filled to overflowing with hubris) want to get involved and politicians use the school board as a stepping stone. Both groups think more of the position as a line on the resume than as a sacred public trust. What they have either forgotten or don’t realize is that they don’t just represent Ed Pratt-Dannals and his high-priced team at 1701 Prudential Drive, they represent the teachers, the stakeholders and the parents of the city as well - or, they should, anyway. They can’t sit back and listen to the reports that come out of the downtown high-rise because they are all glowing reports; even the drop in the F-CAT was somebody else's fault. I'll bet Martha Barret (District 1) and Nancy Bronner asked him what score they should give him (out of 5) and he said, 'oh I don’t know; 4.7...5... something around there'.

They can’t be effective if they just hear his voice. Pratt-Dannals has 270,000 reasons (his salary) to put a positive spin on everything. Instead, they need to get out and talk to the people and three visits in ten months is unacceptable. What are we paying them for anyway? If you guessed 'to rubber stamp what Ed Pratt-Dannals wants', you are probably correct, because that’s all they have done - well, that and give him a $100,000 raise in the last three years.

Not only should the school board be willing to meet with three people standing on a street corner (if they asked), but they should also be in different schools every single day. If they were in my school, they would have found 120 kids and 6 substitute teachers in the auditorium doing nothing. If they were at another, they would have found that the teachers there were told parking on campus was a privilege. I could go on and on, because there are not just a million stories in the naked city - not in Jacksonville anyway - but because there are an equal amount on its school campuses as well. (Though, going to a school is just half the battle, because when they get there, they have to look, too).

Last year when the school board visited my school, they didn’t go anywhere near the trainable mentally handicapped classrooms where kids were packed in like sardines and where learning couldn’t occur. It’s because they didn’t want to see it. I don’t think they wanted to know, to look at the evidence - three school visits in ten months; hand-picked students and zero teacher forums.

When the school board visits schools, they can’t just meet with the hand-picked students either; as much as I think they wish it would, it doesn’t give the most accurate snapshot of what’s actually going on. Willie C. Barron, a two-sport athlete who is also enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program, was profiled in the Florida Times-Union piece; but, for some reason, I think if he was the typical student Ribault has, the school would not be experiencing many of its problems. According to the same article, W.C. Gentry wondered where the other kids were, saying, "if all the kids were like that, you have won the war". I will tell you where they are, Mr. Gentry; they are in their intensive math and reading classes having their joy of learning sucked out of them. Now, a few might be in electives, but not many, because draconian state cuts and policies have eliminated many of the electives.

If the school board is serious (something I doubt) about improving things and getting a real picture of what is going on, it also has to visit the classrooms and see what is happening there. Furthermore, they can’t give notice (months of notice) in the case for the school visits. They have to show up unannounced, and not even the principals should know. Then, they should also meet with teachers - though they will have to meet with most of them off the record and in secrecy, as many are afraid there will be repercussions if they tell about what is actually happening. I overheard a veteran teacher the other day consoling a new teacher who was at the end of her rope because of a not-so-pleasant conversation she had with an administrator. She was told that kids could not put their heads down after the umpteenth benchmark test - instead, she should have had "enrichment work" (i.e., "busywork") for them to do. Her veteran colleague told her to just keep her head down and avoid eye contact. The school board doesn’t want to know what teachers think, and I should know, because I have given them an opportunity to hear from them. I have organized a couple of teacher forums and invited W.C. Gentry and Brenda Priestly-Jackson to the next one. Sadly, they were too busy planning their one trip to a school in the last six months to respond.

Friends, we have serious problems - and we need serious people to solve them. Not people who look at the position of school board member as a line on a resume or as a stepping stone to something else. We shouldn’t look at the "Dog and Pony Show" as an example of how well the school board is doing their job. Instead, we should look at it like it is another blaring example of how they aren’t.

The Times Union's love affair

The Times Union’s editorial board’s love for Superintendent Pratt-Dannals is once again evident in the editorial, F-Cat Scores: Raising expectations. Like he did in his letter to the district on the DCSB web site, the column talks about the problem with this years f-cat and then later asks us to celebrate the successes at some schools.

Does anybody else see a problem with this? Is one part of the f-cat good, while another part is bad? If successes are set up by years of hard work as the editorial suggests, then aren’t failures set up by years of poor work as well? Which is it?

Furthermore, how can the superintendent criticize Pearson without mentioning that the county has brought them to town to do some of our statistical analysis? Which is it Times Union, should they be scrutinized or should they be used?

Continuing, it is interesting that over 500 teachers applied to work at our struggling schools but doesn’t that has more to do with the economy than them thinking the Duval County Public School system is being successful. Also many of those 500 that attended a recent job fair weren’t from out of town. The district invited everybody including locals without teaching experience to attend and then was woefully unprepared for the turn out they received. If that’s something to be celebrated, talk about turning lead into gold.

Finally, when the Times Union talks about a snap shots that represent a few years, what they are actually talking about another is tens of thousands of kids who enter a system that will ultimately curtail many of their futures and graduating tens of thousands of children many who won’t be prepared for college or the workforce. How’s that for a snap shot?

I like it when the Times Union writes about education. There are few subjects more important. I also believe there are great things happening in the county and the staffs at the schools mentioned in the article should be applauded for their hard work and dedication, just like the staffs at all schools regardless of their grades should be. I just don’t think it’s fair to the Times Union’s readers, and the children of Jacksonville, when they put such a positive spin on an over all dreary picture.

Chris Guerrieri
Stake Holder

The Devil it’s Due

It’s no secret that I am not a big fan of our school board. I think they are directly responsible for many of the problems facing the district. If you look at the make up of the school board for the most part it is made up of politicians on their way up or way down or casual observers with tenuous ties to education. When I pick a doctor, I pick someone who has been to medical school, not someone who has a cousin who is a doctor or who has watched three seasons of Grays Anatomy and thinks to themselves, hey I could do that. With that being said, it would be disingenuous of me, not to “give the devil it’s due.”

When superintendent Pratt-Dannals, at the last possible moment, asked the school board to declare financial urgency in order to breech the contract with teachers, three board members voted against it. When it passed teachers were outraged and four members of the school board were sent scrambling to justify their positions. In a way this was also a very rare occurrence, not that teachers aren’t routinely in an up roar about what the school board does and school board members aren’t often scrambling to justify their positions.

What is amazing is that three board members voted against breaking the contract with teachers. If you look back at board votes over the last few years, they usual rubber stamps whatever the superintendent wants. I can’t remember the last time any vote had so many dissenters.
According to the Times Union, board members Betty Burney, Tommy Hazouri and Brenda Priestly Jackson voted against the move because they said the district had not done enough to justify pursuing it. Hazouri said the district should first consider not filling positions or spending money on consultants before breaking the contract.
The other board memebrs despite voting on tens of millions on other projects, including hundreds of thousands of dollars on travel and consultants over the last few months respectfully disagreed. Maybe they voted for breaking the contract because they thought it was a good idea but then again maybe not.

There is a quote from the movie JFK that I like a lot. One actor asks Kevin Costner, “How do you know who your daddy is? It’s because your momma said it was so.” This is pretty relevant because in Duval County because how does the school board know it’s a good idea, because the administration says it so.

Compass Odyssey, Math Investigations, Oncource, along with various other computer programs and learning curriculums that have come and gone, the rotation of the North Side middle schools, the expansions at Ed White and Lee High schools, the creation of a new high school when numerous high schools on the west and north side stand half empty, their students using magnet schools and opportunity scholarships to leave, the pushing of more and more children to take advanced placement tests, tying principals evaluations to suspensions, the hiring of a public relations person and many, many other ideas have had their detractors. In the end however they were all good ideas or so the powers-that-be at 1701 Prudential Drive would have us believe and were ideas either that the school board rubber-stamped or allowed to happen.

For some reason the school board lost it’s way and if you want to know why go reread the first paragraph, it might help you figure it out. They forgot that they don’t just represent one building on the riverfront of the south bank of downtown. They forgot they also represent the students, parent’s, stakeholders and teachers; yes teachers of the district as well.

Some might make the mistake of lumping the teachers in with Duval County School District. On the surface that seems reasonable. Unfortunately when they took away teachers creativity and semi-autonomy, began overloading them with endless tasks, adopted policies that put both teachers and their students at a disadvantage and stopped treating teachers with respect, it forced teachers into a separate camp. So many teachers consider the District and the School Board as opponents not to be trusted. Just nod and take it so many teachers say, in a few years they will be off to do something else new. That’s what happens when people who give so much and sacrifice so much are pushed into a corner and told they are not valued.

Lets face it and be realistic as well. The raises most teachers get are pretty bad. They don’t keep up with cost of living increases and teachers earning power actually decreases for about the first ten years. When I started teaching a decade ago my contract was for 26,000 dollars and I had thousands in savings. Fast-forward 11 years and even though my salary is nearly forty, I like many teachers live paycheck to paycheck in fear of an illness, a car breaking or some other ordinary occurrence.

Furthermore, the raises don’t come anywhere near compensating teachers for all the supplies they buy for their rooms and their children and they don’t nearly cover all the untold hours of over-time that teachers put in. If anything, until you have been teaching for fifteen years or so the raises are largely symbolic, a small gesture that said teachers are noticed and appreciated. Unfortunately four members of the school board and the superintendent have seemingly disagreed about that this year.

Let me at least give the devil, make that the three members of the school board who looked at the same facts and figures as the other four members and the superintendent did and said, our teachers are worth it.

Sadly I am not optimistic about this 4-3 vote even though it seemed to show the first sign of independent thought out of the school board in quite sometime. In a few days it will probably be back to business as usual and sadly if you take teachers morale as an indicator business isn’t that good.