DCPS teachers, the Times Union is looking to talk to you about libraries..

DCPS teachers please share with other DCPS teachers, the Times Union is looking for teachers to talk about their classroom libraries. I got this note from their education reporter today. Please reach out and let her know.

Hey, Chris. Do you think any teachers would be willing to talk with me about the state of their school library and classroom libraries? Of course, I would protect identities. I’m just trying to accurately describe what they look like now.

Denise Smith Amos

Education Reporter

The Florida Times-Union

904-359-4083

Denise.amos@jacksonville.com

Is Teach for America's time in Jacksonville coming to an end?

From the Times Union

There also was resistance among board members to continue paying Teach for America, a national group which recruits and trains non-education majors to teach in urban, low-income schools. Vitti proposed that this year, the district pay Teach for America about $400,000 to provide 50 new teachers, not counting those teachers’ salaries.

But several board members balked, noting that many Teach for America teachers in Duval don’t stay in district classrooms. Most either leave the district, or they take administrative positions in district or charter schools.

Wright said she would prefer the district spends that money on marketing efforts for Duval to attract and retain its own pool of new teachers.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/education/2017-05-02/school-board-tells-superintendent-vitti-keep-reading-teachers

Let us hope so. 

Charters in Florida have been dreadful

From Fund Education Now

For-profit Charter Chains not interested in struggling students:

• Florida charters have demonstrated a chronic disinterest in this population.
• Legislators are consumed with labeling children and schools with D or F, but unwilling to walk through the doors to see the remarkable work being done despite chronic under funding
• Charter Chains and legislators disregard the fact that struggling D or F schools face the deep effects of generational poverty that requires greater investment and support not “failure” labels and ridicule.
• Charter chains know that struggling students cost more and are “not attractive” to a ‘for-profit” model

 Florida Charter Schools have not lived up to their promises

• State has spent$760 million on the building and operation of charter schools since 2000.
• Majority of state funding for the construction and renovation of schools goes to charter schools.
• Florida Department of Education found no evidence to support the claims that charter schools ‘save children from “failing schools.”
• Research shows that restarting a former public school as a charter school had no significant impact on math or reading test scores, high graduation or college enrollment
• In 2016, Florida charter schools closures were the highest in the nation

http://fundeducationnow.org/will-schools-of-hope-secret-deal-include-the-thoughtful-language-found-in-sb-1552/

Our leaders opened the barn door and now they are complaining the horses got out.

Paula Wright, Becki Couch and Superintendent Vitti are speaking out tonight against the Schools of Hope Bill, a truly awful piece of legislation that sets aside hundreds of millions of dollars for charter schools and mandates the closing of public schools in our poorer neighborhoods if they don't meet whatever the current arbitrary standard for success is.

They should be lauded for trying to get the people's attention. It's just to bad they helped opened the door for charter schools in the first place.

Duval has been very friendly to charters over the last few years allowing many to open and even more to expand.

They have also partnered with the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, created and financed by Charter School proponent Gary Chartrand, who was also a big supporter of Superintendent Vitti and has financially backed just about every member of the board.

His KIPP charter schools stand to benefit greatly from the Schools of Hope legislation as it is one of the "high performing charter networks" the legislation is designed to attract. This despite the fact the KIPP schools have struggled since they came to town. the middle school was a C this past year up from a D which it has been most of its tenure in Jax while the elementary school received a D grade.

What would have happened if instead of the district giving Chartrand, who is not an educator, just rich, everything he wanted over the last few years, if the district would have said no thanks to his money which came with strings attached. If the district would have pushed back against KIPP expansion until is demonstrated sustained success?

What would have happened had the super and most of the board members said, no thank you to his support, both financially and otherwise?

What would have happened had the board refused to partner with the Jacksonville Public Education Fund which is little more than a shill for privatization? It's run by Trey Csar who worked for KIPP before coming to town.

Would we be where we are right now? With the state about to give away public schools to charters that have no history of success in Florida?

My bet is not.

Vitti and the board opened the door and now they are complaining the horses got out.

Where I appreciate them speaking out, I fear it may be too little too late.

A look at Teach for America Jax's finances (rough draft)

You may have picked up that I am frustrated by the QEA giving the local Teach for America office 6.25 million dollars. Especially since DCPS already picks up the salaries, benefits and training of the local teachers and has kicked in an extra 600,000 dollars beyond that. Currently according to the TFA Jax web-site there are 125 corp members a tiny sliver of the 8,000 teachers in the district.

That 6.25 million dollars isn't the only money they have brought in from locals.

It's kind of hard to tell because they give a range of donations and not the specific amount but they seem to have raked in millions more.

https://jacksonville.teachforamerica.org/supporters

Now I bet 17 salaries, and an office, plus printer paper, I bet they have plenty of printer paper adds up but as schools are being squeezed tighter and tighter, is this really the best way the educational philanthropist community could be using their money?

I don't believe so.

These people/organizations want so desperately to be involved in education but at the same time they don't want to be seen helping public schools as they are somehow beneath them.

I can imagine how their thought process went. Cue Scooby Doo flashback music.

We'll give to those nice young men and women killing time before grad school. Give to that 22 year veteran Mrs. Mcgillicutty at P.S. 189 who spends her own money to buy her kids jackets and has to buy her own ink and paper, oh no,  No, no, no, no. Did you see the people at the TFA office they have little alligators on their sweaters, we will send our money there.

Ugh

Teach for America Jacksonville has 17 employees for 125 corp members (rough draft)

And who wants to bet they all make a lot more than teachers in the classroom?

It's probably not the best idea to blog after a thirsty Thursday game at the Suns, Jumbo Shrimp.

That being said I think there are some things you should know. The Jacksonville Education Fund was kind of enough to tell me how much money it had give to Teach for America Jacksonville over the last three years. It have given then 5,000,000 in Quality Education for All funds with an additional 1,250, 000 heading to them this coming June. They could not tell me what the money was used for suggesting I contact TFA Jax which I have.

A quick primer about the QEA and TFA. The QEA money comes from local philanthropists who pledged 40 million dollars over three years to help local schools.

Teach for America takes non education majors, puts them through a six week teacher book camp and then into our neediest schools where they are supposed to stay for two years.

I have many issues with TFA that I have well documented, the thing is this post is not about those issues, it's about the use of 6,250,000 QEA dollars.

Now here is the thing. The district pays for TFA salaries, benefits and training and kicked in an additional 600,000 dollars over the last three years.

yet despite that TFA needed an extra $6.250,000.

According to the TFA Jax web-site there are currently 125 corp members working in our schools. To help sever them the local TFA office has 17 staff members.

https://jacksonville.teachforamerica.org/about-us

17 Staff, that is a little over 7.3 to one ratio to help teachers who are immersed in DCPS. These teachers have their salaries paid by DCPS, they have their benefits paid by DCPS who has their training paid for by DCPS, and the same DCPS that has already paid an additional $600,000 over the last three years.

Now I am sure they would say they do lots of different things but for f%$#&s sake, are you kidding me? Is this a good investment for the QEA and our schools? Could this money have been used to hire/recruit professional teachers, people who trained to be teachers and about a million other things that would have been more helpful?

Trying to be generous I guess earnest people can disagree on the merits of TFA but can anybody really say this money was well spent?

Most high school teachers I know have 120 kids on their rosters. Other than center schools what school has a ratio of 7.3 to one staff to students?

I am nauseated and its not because of all the dollar beers I had.

Dear Parents and Teachers, you don't matter, only we do, sincerely "civic leaders"

The editorial's title is:  Guest column: School Board must be wise in selecting new superintendent

Translation, you better pick who we want you to pick. 

Today a group of "civic leaders" had an editorial published in the Times Union.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a civic leader? 

I have written more prolifically about local education than anyone in Jacksonville's history and been published hundreds of times and I am just a blogger, though SB member Scott Shine has referred to me as a parasite.

I even half jokingly asked the TU to stop referring to me as a blogger once as my friends pick on me when they hear that, and said how about education advocate instead, and they said, no we couldn't do that. 

So how do people get titles? Yeah, you are right, we all know, and that's money.

If you are rich you are a civic leader, if you are not you are a blogger unless they dislike what you say and then you are a parasite. 

Back to the editorial you can read it here:

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/columnists/2017-04-24/guest-column-school-board-must-be-wise-selecting-new-superintendent

Ugh, the last person we should be taking suggestions from is Poppy Clements and her gang of ne're do wells. I don't believe for a second that the city's teachers and students are their priority, instead controlling them is.

I believe the community is split on Vitti, sure most people, even I could point to some nice things he did, but most parents and teachers, you know those closest to what is going on are okay with him leaving, while"civic leaders" and Times Union editors, or you know those who don't have a clue to what is going on, want him to stay/lament him leaving.

Therein lies the rub. The super may still be here, and please he had to see the writing on the wall, had he tried to include parents and teachers, listened to their concerns and tried to work with them. Instead Vitti preferred hobnobbing with editors and "civic leaders".   

At the end of the day these people are not civic, and they sure as heck are not leaders.

They closed their editorial by writing, "Our organizations stand ready and willing to assist the board in any way we can..." to which I would suggest to the board run. 

Why the Times Union has no credibility, Vitti edition

Superintendent Vitti is leaving and the editorial board did a farewell piece.

From the Times Union:

…who is leaving as superintendent of the Duval County public schools, is handing off an urban school system on the way up.

In the last five years:

- Graduation rates are up by 19 percent. And this is not smoke and mirrors. This represents high school diplomas being earned with some of the most demanding requirements in the state.

- The number of African-American students who are taking rigorous college-type courses has increased by 77 percent. This is a special point of pride.

- The number of students passing tough, college-level exams like Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate increased by 64 percent. You can’t fake a passing grade on these courses.

- The proportion of students passing dual enrollment courses increased by a startling 87 percent. This is the best education deal in Jacksonville, getting credit for a college course in high school — when the courses are practically free.

- The proportion of Duval County students graduating with a college-ready curriculum has increased by 26 percent while the proportion for the state as a whole is basically flat.

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/editorials/2012-10-03/story/ed-pratt-dannals-led-impressive-achievements-duval-county-public

Things sound great, why would the board let him leave? Here is the thing above was from the Times Union's good bye to former superintendent Ed Pratt Dannals.  

Today they wrote a farewell editorial about Vitti which made it sound like he arrived to a district teetering on collapse and stopped just short of saying he walked on water.

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/editorials/2017-04-24/tuesday-s-editorial-vitti-leaves-duval-public-schools-upswing#

It was embarrassing but what is more so is they wrote the same thing about Pratt-Dannals his predecessor. I guess they have just one editorial and only change the names as needed.

We have issues in Jacksonville, I don't want to sugar coat it, but undoubtedly one of the biggest is a media who doesn't do it's job. 

The super did some nice things but more often than not he appeared in over his head. His communication skills with the board and the district's teachers at the end of the day was woeful and that is what he will be remembered for. This is what the Times Union's editorial board should have written.

How absurd is the Florida State Legislature? Worst and dullest

Vitti is leaving and the shame of it. (rough draft)

Many members of the business community lament his leaving, they say it is a shame. They don’t think about all the careers he ruined when he thought of teachers as little more than widgets. When I hear people like Scott Shine and John Peyton talking about him leaving will be a loss for the city, I think it’s shameful. The teachers he forced to leave, many the profession all together or who he chased into early retirement, they represent the real loss to the city.

That being said there is a fair degree of, “the shame of it all”

The first thing Vitti did when he arrived was called for a relaxation of the learning schedule and I know to lots of teachers, who now feel they can’t fall even a minute behind, that might seem crazy, but there it was in an email in his first November, administrators shouldn’t threaten or cajole teachers who deviate from the learning schedule. Talk about a complete 180 Batman.   

He also made bringing back the arts a priority, though I don’t think many of us realized how ham fisted it would be as lots of classes ballooned to untenable numbers and librarians at most schools paid the price for it.

While I am on the subject, why does this guy hate books so much? I know his dyslexia is widely documented, but did that cause him to get rid of most of our libraries and choose a bookless curriculum? I imagine books didn’t play a huge roll in his march towards education domination, but come on.    

Though that might explain a lot of his disdain for teachers. He was one for two years and then a decade later he was running one of the biggest districts in the country. Things that didn’t meet up with his personal definition of success, books, libraries, being a teacher, had little importance to him. Want more evidence, his dyslexia, now we have an entire school dedicated to kids with dyslexia. That was personal and important to him, while the other things weren’t.   

Vitti has been lauded for going on listening tours to find out what members of the community thought, though sadly what they really were, was a waste of people’s time tours, as almost from since day one he has ignored community members. It’s only those business leaders that Scott Shine referenced in a recent Times Union piece that he really listened to. Hobnobbing in board rooms was his aphrodisiac while he avoided teacher’s lounges like the plague.  

On the surface, these were great ideas and gave people hope. Hope however can be the killer of worlds as Vitti revealed his true colors.

Personal loyalty to him rather than ability determined promotions and despite the fact he barely had a cup of coffee as a teacher he came to think he was the smartest person in the room. when surrounded by them. His hubris and if you have ever been to one of his graduation ceremonies, you know exactly what I am talking about, was on display.

Then desperate to show improvement he started to throw one idea after another against the wall to see if anyone would stick and when most of his ideas proved unworkable or unpopular he started a three shell Monty game with the district, moving kids around and creating schools that were protected from the state assessments.

The cherry on top was despite his tough talk against charter schools the reality is charters in Jacksonville have never had a better friend than him.

He did have a few wins, the parent academy is a great idea, though since this administration blows everything remotely positive way out of proportion, I do wonder how effective it really is and then there is grants.

This admin could write grants like I have never seen before and grant writing, not graduation rates which are up everywhere and the fact that some people see fit to give him credit for them up here is infuriating and sickening, grant writing is his one, as far as I can tell untainted success.

You might be thinking I have been harsh, to which I will reply, talk to a teacher about what they think. Ask them if the district improved and what the super has done to make it happen. I don’t want to imply we haven’t had successes, on the contrary we have had many, 8000, teachers and six thousand support staff showing up every day in challenging conditions have made quite the difference, but the vast majority of those successes have happened in despite of the super not because of him.

Then look at the conduct of the school board. I get it everyone there has egos but would they really wash their hands of somebody who had moved the district? You might be thinking, hey, Shine, and Grymes really, really like him, to which I reply, okay but would the board members who have bothered to do their job, really let him go if they thought he was effective?

There is a shame in Vitti leaving, he is obviously a smart and capable man. Smoke and mirrors won’t get you to the super job at the 20^th largest district in the nation but somewhere along the way he started to believe the press clippings and that ultimately caused his downfall and make no mistake going to Detroit is a dramatic step back.

I wish him and Detroit luck, but if the same guy who leaves here shows up there, then they are going to need it.

If you re interested, the Times Union has a different take.

http://jacksonville.com/news/education/2017-04-22/nikolai-vitti-did-what-hired-do-make-changes-jacksonville-s-schools