The Jacksonville Public Education Funds stance that we should have choice just for choices sake is irresponsible.

Trey Csar of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) would have you believe the school choice debate should be just civil discourse between disagreeing groups and that if you really cared you would remain above the fray. That’s what he says but that’s not what he and the JPEF have done.

Last summer during the school board races they partnered with numerous non-profits to put on forums with the single stipulation being that none of the non-profits would endorse a candidate.  They did this while at the same time members of their board were not only endorsing candidates but giving them thousands and thousands of dollars too.

Csar might say something like “that’s the board and they do what they do and it has anything to do with what the JPEF does” to which I ask you who believes that for a second? Who believes Gary Chartrand the man responsible for bringing Csar and JPEF to town, as well as contributing to numerous charter schools, the Public Policy department at Jacksonville University, Channel 7 (which gave Csar and Chartrand education awards), providing the lion’s share of the Quality Education for All (QEA) funds, and who has his hands in seemingly every local pot that has to do with education would just throw up his arms and say, “ JPEF just do what you do, I and the rest of the board will stay out of it.” Heck Chartrand even wrote the school board and urged them to drop out of the voucher law suit. It is ridiculous and insulting for Csar to think we would believe that Chartrand and the board plays no role at all in what they do.

Make no mistake friends there is a battle being waged and the forces that would seek to profit off of or privatize public schools are winning. Our superintendent has lamented the loss of tens of millions of dollars due to the growth of charter schools and vouchers. There is not one true educator on the state board of education but Chartrand and his charter school and voucher interests is; legislators who have charter schools or close ties to charter schools routinely introduce and vote on legislation that would benefit them to the detriment of public schools. Rick Scott’s transition education team had more charter school owners than educators on it too. Finally the local Republican Party has even said supporting vouchers will be a litmus test and those that don’t will be opposed. Csar, shrugs his shoulders at all those things as if they don’t matter. Sit it out he says, be above the fray, there is no room for partisanship in education. 

Just so there is no mistake I am partisan, I squarely believe in the efficacy and value of public schools but at the same time what choice has the other side given me. Csar’s own report says we have no idea how schools that take vouchers are doing and that school choice through the siphoning away of resources hurts public schools. Then Csar’s own web-site says Jacksonville Charter schools which have grown by nearly 400 percent since the time the JPEF arrived do worse than thier public school counterparts.  In short the choices besides public schools as a group suck. If the JPEF truly cared about kids why would they be trying to funnel kids into those options? Isn’t there choice just for the sake of choice stance irresponsible? I believe it is and I believe it is hurting kids too.

The JPEF which is now also managing money for the district something I think we should be wary of and well informed about has done some nice things. They have hooked up donors with classrooms, they have taken over the running of the teacher of the year program and have been behind some rallies for our public schools too but at the same time their forays into policy are disasters and the reason being is despite their claims to the contrary they are partisan as you can get because they want school choice even if that is a bad choice for our children.

Like Csar does, I urge you to go to their web-site and read thier school choice report too and let their very own words speak for them.I would urge you to pick a side too.

What the Jacksonville Public Education Fund asks you to ignore.

We have no idea how vouchers are doing.

Charter Schools do worse than public schools.

School Choice hurts pubic schools

Our board is made up of and our salaries are paid by charter school operators and voucher proponents.

To question and bring attention to those things is not engaging in partisan rhetoric like Trey Csar and the JPEF imply it is what we should all be doing.

Trey Csar of the JPEF says it is okay to ignore his own findings and go with school choice.

I find it ironic that when talking about school choice in the Folio Trey Csar of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) whose salary I remind you is paid by charter school interests and voucher supporters talks about quality choice options.

http://folioweekly.com/GET-BEYOND-THE-RHETORIC-ON-SCHOOL-CHOICE,11847

Julie Delegal a Folio writer used the JPEF web-site to gather data about how local charter schools under perform when compared to public schools for an article in Context Florida. Furthermore his own report says we have no idea how private schools that take vouchers are doing because the system is set up that way. 

http://contextflorida.com/julie-delegal-charter-school-grades-alarm-every-floridian/

This isn't some public school partisan saying it, this is coming from their very own web-site and report but Csar would have you over look and ignore those facts.

The JPEF may have a role to play in local education, they have hooked up donors with teachers and drummed up interest in our schools but they should stay as far away from policy as possible because there, despite their cries that they aren't, they are as partisan as they come.

I too hope you check out their brief and their web site because this is what it says, school choice hurts pubic schools, we don't know how vouchers are doing and charters do worse, we need more school choice. That's not rhetoric that's what they say.

Why is tenure good for charter schools but not good for teachers?

In 2011 Florida stripped all new teachers of work protections that were commonly referred to as tenure. Previous to that teachers after three years of quality service could earn a professional contract which they had to renew every five years. Now regardless of performance new teachers are on one year contracts and can be let go at the end of each year for any reason or for no reason as none has to be given.

It's different for charter schools. Ones that earn high performing status can receive contracts of up to 15 years up from the usual 5, though charter school contracts especially for schools that have a history of not doing well can vary.  

The reason given for the multi-year contracts for charters is that successful schools deserve to have more stability, the ability put down roots, and form community relationships or you know the same thing that we used to let and encourage teachers to do but now they cannot.

Furthermore if teachers can only have one year contracts why would we even consider giving a charter school a three, five or fifteen year contract? The damage a failing school can do, and over 260 charter schools have failed in Florida, is exponentially worse than what a failing teacher could do.

If the Florida legislature feels it is important for charter schools to have longer contracts so they can have stability then they should pay the same courtesy to teachers, they after years of successful service deserve to have some stability too.

Duval's entire model of teaching, differentiated instruction, is a complete failure.

At least according to Ed Week anyways.

If you have taught in Duval you have had two words drilled into your head over the last few words and they are differentiated instruction. In theory it means you are supposed to meet the kid where they are and teach to their style. In reality that would be great if each class had five kids and some more reality is it has been a muddled mess.

From Ed Week: The biggest reason differentiation doesn't work, and never will, is the way students are deployed in most of our nation's classrooms. Toss together several students who struggle to learn, along with a smattering of gifted kids, while adding a few English-language learners and a bunch of academically average students and expect a single teacher to differentiate for each of them. That is a recipe for academic disaster if ever I saw one. Such an admixture of students with varying abilities in one classroom causes even the most experienced and conscientious teachers to flinch, as they know the task of reaching each child is an impossible one.

It seems to me that the only educators who assert that differentiation is doable are those who have never tried to implement it themselves: university professors, curriculum coordinators, and school principals. It's the in-the-trenches educators who know the stark reality: Differentiation is a cheap way out for school districts to pay lip service to those who demand that each child be educated to his or her fullest potential.

Do we expect an oncologist to be able to treat glaucoma? Do we expect a criminal prosecutor to be able to decipher patent law? Do we expect a concert pianist to be able to play the clarinet equally well? No, no, no. However, when the education of our nation's young people is at stake, we toss together into one classroom every possible learning strength and disability and expect a single teacher to be able to work academic miracles with every kid … as long as said teacher is willing to differentiate, of course.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/01/07/differentiation-doesnt-work.html?r=1866481168

It does sound good though doesn't it, kind of like charter schools, merit pay and vouchers, and so many of the other reforms people try to cram down our throats, the problem is none of them work very well and while we kick and flail with each new idea our children and schools pay the price.

The audacity of education reformers, teachers are invertebrates who benefit keeping children poor.

John E. Coon a law professor for the University of California is a frequent contributor in school choice circles. Usually when I see his work I roll my eyes and move on. All of these guys usually same the same thing, public schools bad, teacher unions worse, it’s all for the children. However something caught my eye with his most recent piece and that is he compares public schools in the United States to public schools in Turkey.

He writes: The media report that strong-man President Erdogan of Turkey has decided that children whose parents cannot afford private school will soon be sent to state schools, there to be educated in Erdogan’s own new ideal curriculum. They will be conscripted for his vision of what every young Turk ought to believe, including the government’s version of God and proper worship. The parents’ preference apparently will be irrelevant.

This sounds familiar; henceforth, the primary difference between the public schools in Istanbul and Kansas City will be found in the ideological curriculum that gets served to the poor. In America children get drafted for a school day that is stripped of every reference to God; their Turkish counterparts — irrespective of the parents’ wishes — will have God thrust upon them.  No God versus pro-God, but in any case no choice for the poor.

http://www.redefinedonline.org/2015/01/from-istanbul-to-kansas-city-parental-school-choice-denied/

Wow, he compares our system with local boards elected by local parents, making choices, to the state system in Turkey run by a strongman president. You know it’s the same. Also why do I get the sinking feeling, if it was Coon’s God being taught in public schools he would be okay with it?

Public schools serve the greater good. They are there for everyone whether currently you have a student attending one, had one attend long ago or never had one. In short they are for all of us and when we dilute public schools by siphoning away resources especially to substandard options then it does us all a disservice.

I am not saying public schools are perfect and I am not saying there shouldn’t be more options that serve more kid’s needs, I am however saying those options should come under the auspices of the public school umbrella, our democracy, which school choice seeks to trample, demands it.

Coon has a deep contempt for public schools as many education reformers do, he makes it sound like kids are sent to brain washing gulags staffed by the dregs of society.

Furthermore our country founded by people fleeing religious persecution rightfully decided that religion would be kept out of the public sector. Vouchers most of who go to religious schools violate at the very least the spirit of the first amendment.  We should not be supplementing religious choices which vouchers do.

Later Coon writes: I wonder whether we have our own share of Erdogans, either somehow benefitting personally from the continued servility of the poor or/and confident that whatever public school is teaching is the best ideological message for our less lucky citizens who, left to their own, might not choose it.

As for direct beneficiaries there is, of course, the union, whose members do profit from the servility of the family. And among our individual teachers there are those who repose in the reality that — short of calamity — their job will be secure. They are both protected from discharge and comforted by the predictable enrollment of children whose presence also assures the union its dues. I don’t know about Turkey, but the servility of the lower-income urban family is a great comfort to the invertebrate American teacher.

And there you have it, he thinks unions, made up of teachers by the way, have some perverse incentive for keeping communities poor. Teachers who he thinks are spineless individuals, invertebrates, find great comfort in keeping people poor because it assures their jobs.

How does he explain successful public schools in affluent neighborhoods? He doesn’t, he must think they are a fluke not worthy of comment. How does he explain charters that fail, over 260 have failed in Florida over the last decade alone, he doesn’t do that either because all those teachers unlike union teachers really care about their kids. How does he explain the failure of the voucher program in Milwaukee? He doesn’t because that would interfere with his public schools are terrible, union members are terrible and choice schools and teachers are great narrative. 

Perhaps most troubling is this guy is spouting his nonsense as law professor at a prestigious public university which also escape his scrutiny. Public universities are just fine but public schools are atrocious. Why does a public university let him get away with it? I am sure there are plenty of private colleges he could go to where he could spout his hate filled rhetoric.

There are legitimate issues in public education, a lack of resources, over testing, the degradation of teachers, but teachers actively conspiring to keep children ignorant and poor is not one of them and anybody who implies so has no place in the debate.

What passes for developmentally appropriate to Kindergartners in Duval County

Some people in the district think rigor should mean harder but that's not what it should mean. Something more rigorous shouldn't be inappropriate it should be more involved and more detailed instead. Because of this mindset this year Duval County has shifted down what we were teaching one grade level, what was taught in third is now taught in second, second first and so on. More and more teachers believe this is bad for our students especially the ones that are still in the early stages of development and for the ones that start school already behind too.

Here is now what Duval considers developmentally appropriate for kindergartners.

  

  

Then think about this, above is administered on computers and the questions generally have to be read to the kids. How much time does this take and how much does this distract from the rest of the day? Also aren't we running the risk at such an early age too of making kids hate school? I mean if this is way above where they are at it has to cause frustration.

Furthermore  teachers EOY Evaluation will be based on student progress in this program which in no way assess the curriculum the students need to know in their specific grades, also doesn't it just put teachers who have pay and employment ramifications based on tests even further behind the 8 ball? .

This isn't me saying, oh no this is wrong, I am not an expert on what is appropriate or developmentally correct for kindergartners or the other formative grades. Though I do teach profoundly disabled children who we often compare to those grades and most of above is way to much for them. This is their teachers, who are the experts. People who once again are ignored by the district and told to implement their directives without question.

Why are Teachers that want to take care of their families and get paid a reasonable wage bad guys?

For some reason education reformers many of whom are seeking to profit off of education feel they can criticize teachers for wanting to have a reasonable wage, decent benefits and a manageable workload. How dare they be so selfish right?

When explaining that teacher unions really aren't that powerful, because if they were then my salary would be higher and my work load would be smaller, I was instantly accused or not being in education for the children.

I guess they don't think teachers should be allowed to put food on their table or to be able to take care of their families? I get it teachers became so knowing they would never be rich but come on, aren't we allowed to have something? According to US News and World Report a little over one in six teachers hold a second job though other sources have that number as high as half.

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2014/07/23/more-than-1-in-10-american-teachers-rely-on-second-jobs

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20130320/ARTICLE/130319547

Teachers are some of the lowest paid professionals around and increasingly districts are breaking the covenant for a pension and good benefits to make up for the lack of salary that teachers in the past were willing to trade.

The powers-that-be have long banked on the selflessness of teachers. They have taken advantage of it too and it's time teachers said no more especially if we are going to be the scapegoat for all of societies problems.

In Florida nearly half of all new teachers don't last five years but instead of working to make the profession more attractive they are doubling down on blame the teacher evaluations designed to drive more and more teachers out of the profession. This is how highly they think of us.

It's time we pushed back.

Florida's school will never reach their potential as long as we marginalize, neglect and ignore teachers.

Media Matters recently did a piece outlining how when discussing education the big three cable news networks, CNN, MSNBC and Fox had on sixteen actual educators and 169 non-educators, that's roughly a ratio of ten to one against professional educators when discussing education issues. Pretty outrageous right.

Well unfortunately it just mirrors what Florida has done with the sate board of education where you won't find one true educator. There is the chair Gary Chartrand who is a grocer by trade and who has close ties to charter schools; John Padget the owner of a private equity investment firm, Ada Gonzalez, a healthcare executive, John Colon, a banker,  Andy Tuck, a citrus grower, Marva Johnson a cable TV executive and finally Rebecca Fishman Lipsey currently a social impact director (a direct quote from the FLDOE website) who is a recent transplant from New York where she taught for two years as a Teach for America Teacher. And there you have it the entire board has two years of public education teaching experience and that happened a decade ago in New York City.

Can you imagine running a police department without law enforcement personnel or a hospital without doctors, or a newspaper without editors? Well that is basically what we have done here in Florida by putting completely unqualified people for the job on the board. Now they might have great business acumen, though I am not sure what a social impact director does but shouldn't we have more professional educators than Rick Scott campaign donors on the board? The job of leading our education system should be done by professionals not by donors and friends of the governor.

Florida's schools will never reach their potential as long as we marginalize, neglect and ignore professional educators. Contrary to the governors opinion not just anybody can do the job. So next time you get down on public education or teachers you might want to start with the board of education.

Teachers not optimistic about the future of Duval County Public Schools

Here are three recent comments I have received from veteran teachers. 

It seems the only teachers who can do what they know to be best for their students are the ones who can walk away from their job at the end of the year. Otherwise, their hands are cuffed and we have to do the will of the government of Florida, and a school board that is all about the bottom line. Neither of these parties seem to care what happens to the kids as long as their personal agenda and bottom line is achieved.

They are trying to eliminate teachers with these stupid (reading) programs. They want teachers to surprivise students on the computers while they're working with a small group while another group is working on a project. Nothing gets done. Kids run their mouth the whole time while the teacher is being drawn and quartered. Group work and web based programs are great but they should only be used to supplement good old fashioned teacher led instruction. Am I the only one?

 I was on leave for part of this year, and came back to find my students' reading grades suffering because we are expecting first graders to master third grade sight words! Oh and the dropping down of curriculum was not a state thing, it's a district thing. They seem to think that increasing rigor is increasing the level and that is not the case. I received a highly effective evaluation last year, but am not trusted to know what is developmentally appropriate for my students. Duval county will have even bigger gaps than they already do if teachers only follow these ridiculous expectations.