What teachers heading back to work are saying.

Just a moment of levity I assure you.

The Duval County School Board as a fall back or a stepping-stone

 In Jacksonville you really have had to piss somebody off to get a primary challenger for a school board race if you are an incumbent. Historically many have run unopposed. Then for those people who are in a race quite often they are decided in primaries where very few people vote. There are three SB elections this year and two will be decided by August 26th months before the general election in November.

This stunning lack of interest gets worse because compared to other races school board races are relatively easy and cheap to win, since this is the case people often use the school board race as a fall back position or a stepping stone to something they consider greater.

Take recently departed school board member W.C. Gentry only ran for the school board after a failed senate race. Then there is Scott Shine running now but only after he did so for the city council and Jason Fischer whose first venture in politics was for a seat on the soil and water board. All three had different aspirations before they decided to run for the school board.

What’s my point here? Basically the city treats the school board like an after thought during election season but then its front page news the rest of the year. Because of this we often get school board members who in my opinion shouldn’t be there and this ineffective leadership has led to many of our problems. I don’t blame the three men mentioned above and all the others who have used the school board as a stepping-stone on the way up or the way down (Tommy Hazouri anyone). I blame the city for letting them do so and util the city takes the school board seriously, spinning our wheels rather than improving will be the order of the day.

Scott Shine blames teachers or Dear Jacksonville, it’s poverty

At the district 2 school board debate a question about bridging the achievement gap in our low performing schools came up and Scott Shine blamed the teachers for the achievement gap saying we needed to improve our teacher quality.

I let out an audible moan, which I am sure made the people around me wonder what was going on.

Now it is true many or our low performing schools are staffed with a constant revolving door of rookies and novices, something exasperated by the districts BFF Teach for America but to demean teacher quality, is both insulting and ridiculous, quite frankly its something people with limited experience in education do.

Our schools that are low performing and by low performing I mean do poorly on standardized tests are invariably in the poorer parts of town and even our best and most experienced teachers will have a hard time bridging the gap unless we put in place things to mitigate poverty. Though in Shine’s defense neither of his opponents mentioned poverty or how to overcome it either.

We overcome the achievement gap by putting our most experienced teachers in those schools, but we don't stop there because we also have to address the entire child by putting in social workers and mental health counselors because often why a kid acts up or does poorly in school has nothing to do with school. Then we make the classes smaller so students can get more individualized instruction and put in both behavioral and academic supports for students and teachers alike.

We don’t just blame the teachers and then smile. 

Friends it’s poverty, we need to address the poverty that many of these kids come from and we can do it or we can continue to ignore it and come up with other excuses that are wrong or other ideas that won’t work. Are options are success or failure and thus far we have chosen failure.

The false equivalency of taking money from unions as opposed to charter schools.

When speaking to Scott Shine about taking money from charter schools then potentially voting to benefit them, school board member Jason Fischer chimed in, what about taking money from the teacher unions and potentially voting on things that would benefit them.

I believe there is a false equivalency here.

First unions are not for profit, many charter schools are. Nobody is getting rich in the teacher unions but plenty of people are getting rich off of charter schools. Charter schools have used lots of money to craft policies that benefit them. 

Next unions are not given a fee to manage money as some non-profits are. Typically non-profits are paid 3-6% of a grants over all value to manage the money. That’s one of the reasons I am concerned about the JPEF managing the QEA grants. I believe it opens the door to them managing and taking cuts of public money

Finally often the relationship between districts and unions have become adversarial but that’s not how it is supposed to be. Boards are supposed to represent, teachers as much as they represent students because the fate of both is completely linked and I think that is often lost on them.

In short if somebody gives you money and there is the prospect of them benefiting financially down the road from a vote you may cast I think that’s wrong and to compare charters to unions is wrong too. 

Scott Shine answers question about charter school conflict of interest… eventually

At the district 2 school board debate I submitted a question that was asked about charter schools. You see Scott Shine has taken a lot of money from charter schools and their representatives.

I asked if he would recuse himself from any votes that would benefit his campaign donors. During the debate he hemmed and hawed but the basic gist was he couldn’t imagine ever being put in a place where there was a possible conflict of interest. A simple yes or no would have done.

Not satisfied with his answer, I stayed after and asked him to answer the question, pointing out he didn’t say yes or no. His answer was a little more convoluted in person but this time it boiled down to just because somebody takes money from somebody it shouldn’t preclude them from supporting them in the future but he would never do anything that would violate his ethical obligations.

First about ethics in Florida. Ethics is like the perfect key lime pie, we know it’s out there, we believe it exists but we have never had a bite. Ethics in Florida is a bunch of mumbo jumbo legalese speak that often leaves people wanting and wishing for more. In short if you aren’t caught with a dead girl or a live boy then you are good.

I wrote this about Darryl Willie a few days back who has also taken a lot of money from the same charter school people.

This is my thing, love charter schools, support charter schools, write songs about and have parades for charter schools, heck take their money too if you like but then recuse yourself from votes that would benefit them. If they are worthy then six other members can vote aye and take up your slack. If not, not only have you just been bought and paid for but you have sold out your community as well. 

But maybe since Mr. Shine feels differently than me I am not as ethical as him.

The difference between the JPEF and their board

If you have read my blog you may think I am on a one-man vendetta against the Jacksonville Public Education fund. I have been ultra critical of their bard members seemingly trying to buy influence and acting as a shadow school board.

The truth is I think they do some great things. Hooking up donors with teachers is genius, trying to get the public motivated and involved is desperately needed and they have some very nice statistical tools on the web site that are very informative too. In short they are doing some really nice things.

I spoke with their president Trey Csar last night and I have to say I find him both affable and sincere. I really think he cares about the direction of our schools and the fate of our children and it’s okay that we may have different philosophies and ides on how to improve things. We spoke last night at the district 2 forum and he asked if I thought they were fair and impartial with their questions and to be honest I thought they did a pretty good job though their was a desperate need for follow up questions and for correcting wrong answers. He also made the point that there was a line between he and his staff and the board, a line that isn’t crossed when it comes to the debates.

Here is the thing and I know you saw it coming. I don’t think the board of the JPEF are sitting around like the legion of doom plotting how to end our schools, Chartrand is not Lex Luthor. But I do see them sitting around saying if only we were in control, then things would be a lot better. The school district however is not a company they can come in and buy and take over so they have to use their money and stature to put themselves in a place to do so, like say donating to school board candidates in each race or starting the JPEF which will now be managing millions of dollars, admittedly grants, but that’s how it starts.

To think the JPEF board has no influence on what the JPEF does and that they aren’t building an education power base is ridiculous. Now you might agree with and like their agenda but at the end of the day they definitely have an agenda, one that I believe means reducing the teaching profession, privatizing our schools and replacing democracy with an oligarchy. 

Scott Shine, I didn’t need the money but I took it anyways.

That’s basically what he said when I asked him why put himself in the position where there is an appearance of impropriety by taking money from charter schools. He then pointed that he was 54 and set for life having managed several successful businesses. As he talked he reminded me more and more of W.C. Gentry another hobbyist looking for something to do than Fred “Fel” Lee, who full disclosure I thought was going to be a disaster and was actually pretty good as school board members go.

There didn’t seem to be a sense of desperation from Shine that we were heading in the wrong direction and needed to turn things around. He didn’t come off as fed up that gosh darn it we can do things better and its time we did. No it just seemed like being on the school board would be something neat, something to do as he coasted into retirement. 

I would say Shine is the favorite to win in district 2, he has lots of money and name recognition and has even had a fairly decent career in public service but don’t you want something more, Somebody with a sense of urgency, ideas, passion?

I know I do.

Florida is misusing testing!

From the Palm Beach Post, By Joanne McCall

Can we set the record straight on testing?

As a teacher and now as vice president of the Florida Education Association, it is important that we settle this matter once and for all.

We like testing. Testing is good. Testing is essential to learning. In fact, we test students all the time. We test them in math, in English, in history, in music, in science, and even in physical education. You might say we are kind of obsessed with this thing called testing.

Why?

A properly administered test is an amazing tool as it does several important things all at once. It not only encourages preparation and focus for students, it can encourage or inspire them to work harder to learn subject material. A test will also help an instructor evaluate how well a student is progressing and will help that teacher learn the strengths and weaknesses of the student. Tests also provide valuable feedback to a teacher to understand what course material was properly conveyed or what content may need to be repeated or revised.

In short, testing is a vital and indispensable part of the teaching toolkit.

The problem is not with the tool. The problem is how policymakers are misusing that tool.

Misguided lawmakers and policymakers in the Florida governor’s office and at the Florida Department of Education have turned their obsession with standardized tests into an arms race. Instead of using these tools for their intended purpose of evaluating students, they are now being used as weapons to punish teachers and to punish schools. And what they do to our students’ morale and love for learning is awful. Political leaders and the DOE even use the results of the FCAT to evaluate teachers despite the fact that some of those teachers didn’t teach that subject matter, or worse, had not even taught the students that their evaluations were based on.

The good news is that the FCAT is gone. The bad news is that it is being replaced with yet another brand new set of tests that haven’t been field tested in Florida schools. Even a sample question posted by the state DOE had an error.

So now with the new Sunshine State Standards it will be another round of “here we go again.”

Rushed curriculum changes are being jammed through an enormous system (K-12 grades, millions of students in more than 4,000 public schools) with teachers being told to teach to different benchmarks and with a test that was pilot tested on students in Utah. That is not a typo. The tests that our students will take this year have not even been fully developed. Further, these new exams are not being field tested right here in Florida among our amazingly diverse student population; these tests are being developed with the feedback of children who are demographically very different and who reside more than 2,000 miles away.

Yes, teachers and professional educators like tests. We like accountability measures. We see them as vital tools and we use them all the time.

But we strongly oppose the misuse, overuse and misguided application of ever-changing statewide tests that become weapons used against the people they were originally designed to help.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/opinion/commentary-florida-education-officials-misusing-te/ngxQk/

The Jacksonville Public Education Fund’s subtle racism, or how they screwed over one of their own.

Samuel Hall is a legitimate school board candidate in district 2. Where not an educator in the traditional sense, like Shannon Russell, he has been involved in education and touts his history on his web site. http://www.samhallcares.com/

One of the things he talks about with some pride is being a delegate for the Jacksonville Education Fund. This guy has been involved. The JPEF however couldn’t care less as their board of directors has thrown their support and thousands of dollars behind Scott Shine, a seemingly career public servant looking for another line on his resume. If you go to his web site he is heavy on who has endorsed him but very light on education accomplishments.  http://scottshine.com/  He doesn’t mention the JPEF once.

Oh and besides Hall touting his involvement with the JPEF and Shine seemingly not even knowing who they are, Hall is black and Shine is white. It’s not like the JPEF board of directors didn’t have a choice there.

Okay you’re probably thinking but Chris the JPEF board is supporting Darryl Willie in district 4, how can there be even a hint of racism. Well they had to pick somebody to support if they wanted to have somebody from each race win and all the candidates in district 4 are African American. But rather than support the lifelong resident and incumbent, they chose the new comer not just to district 4 but also to Jacksonville itself Darryl Willie. http://www.darrylforduval.com/

Willie’s not from the neighborhood and I am told seems much more comfortable with the members of the chamber of commerce than he does with the residents in district 4. Perhaps that’s why so many of his campaign contribution have come from elsewhere.

Am I stretching here? I don’t think so but without a doubt the JPEF had a real choice in 2, the teacher Shannon Russell, who undoubtedly knows what our teachers and schools need the most.  https://www.facebook.com/ElectShannonRussell Or Hall who has worked with them in the past and who has education bon a fides or Shine and they went with Shine.

The day Democracy died in Duval County (rough draft)

I have always thought that when talking about city politics, the school board goes largely unnoticed. Which is crazy if you think about it.

19 city council members to 7 school board members.

An elected mayor compared to an appointed superintendent

A 1.1 billion dollar budget for the city and a 1.7 billion dollar budget for the school system

More money, fewer people controlling it and less people paying attention, I think the school board wins, unfortunately I think the people of Jacksonville are losing.

Recently the Duval County School board has abdicated their duly elected responsibilities and begun rubber-stamping initiatives brought forward and admittedly paid for by a cabal of wealthy donors who call themselves the QEA board. They did so at the most recent school board meeting when they agreed to take 15 million dollars for teacher bonuses. An idea that was not floated in front of the people but behind closed doors because the QEA despite creating policy is not required to have any public over site.

From WJCT: Former School Board candidate Bradford Hall suggested the QEA advisory board hold open meetings. Those meetings are currently held out of the public eye.

“I understand that there is an effort to dispel the rumors that there are no conditions attached to certain funds, but I guess…it’s better to show us than to tell us, and transparency is definitely a solution to that,” he said.

http://news.wjct.org/post/15-million-performance-incentives-grant-approved-duval-county-school-board

Yes it is certainly better to show us but it gets even worse and more complicated. The members of the QEA board are also frequent donors to school board races. Wayne Weaver, Gary Chartrand and Cindy Edelman have all picked the same person to support in each school board race and this after helping Ashley Smith Juarez get elected in 2012. They are also on the board of the Jacksonville Public Education fund, which has had closer and closer ties to the district over the last few years. The QEA board members also have close ties to the corporate reform movement, namely charter schools, which have appointed boards rather than elected ones and of which most, are for profit.

The QEA board despite the fact they are the lion’s share of donors then contracted with the Community Foundation to manage the money, they in return are giving the money to

the JPEF (no word on the cuts the two organizations are taking but 3-6% is the usual amount) and then the JPEF is giving the money to the district. Um, why all these steps? Why not just go right to the district, well friends it has to be because they want to remain some shreds of control and I believe this is all about control, who will control our schools, the public or a small group of rich people, who by the way are not educators sadly if they have their hand picked candidates elected then they will have total control.

But lets get back to the school board. They were presumably elected to craft education policy, well by approving the QEA initiatives they have abdicated that responsibility. They in effect said show us the money and then where to sign. The QEA initiatives should have been vetted in public where the public could provide input not behind closed doors where we have no idea about quid pro quos, promises or the motivation’s behind the proposals. Am I asking too much there? Isn’t that a problem we have in politics, backdoor deals that benefit a few rich people or their companies?

Okay some of you might be saying you like the ideas, that they are needed to which I reply, it shouldn’t mater if you like the ideas or not. What‘s going to happen if their next round of ideas include giving public schools to charter companies and replacing hundreds of teachers with TFA hobbyists or hiring their friends or giving expensive contracts to their companies?  They have already set the precedent that doing things behind closed doors is acceptable. There is a right way to do things and a wrong way and this is the wrong way. Furthermore we only have to go back a few years to see what gifts can do.

At the height of the recession states and districts were desperate and the Federal Government swooped in with their Race to the Top Grants and said all we had to do was trade local control to get them. As a result we now have Common Core and VAM based teacher evaluations and many states and districts have buyer’s remorse. Common Core doesn’t address poverty (neither do the QEA initiatives) our real problem and siphons millions and millions out of classrooms to pay for new materials and testing and the VAM based evaluations, blame the teacher evaluations, were doubled down by the QEA who used VAM scores to determine transfers both voluntary and involuntary, this despite the face the department of education says they are inaccurate more than a third of the time. 

Hey at the time we needed the money though right? Unfortunately the cure was worse than the disease and now that we have abdicated democracy to the QEA board what’s going to come next?

Democracy can be messy but it’s the best system going. The QEA board has dismantled it in Jacksonville. It’s most likely all they wanted would have passed if they went through the board but they decided they didn’t have to and the board took thirty pieces of silver and went along and that should concern us all.