Florida state board of education prepares to stick a knife in the teaching profession.

There is a teaching shortage in Floirda, brought upon by a combination of low pay, accountability on steroids, and disrespect. Rather than address those issues the state board of education prepares to double down, by letting anybody with a pulse be a teacher.

From Florida Trends,

 State Board prepares to adopt rule for full-time adjunct teachers 
]
With concerns over a teacher applicant shortage still strong in Florida, the state is preparing to offer school districts another path to fill its classrooms — the full-time adjunct instructor. Districts long have had the ability to employ part-time adjuncts, who need not meet the same credentialing as contracted employees and do not fall under the same pay and benefit structure as if they were represented in collective bargaining.

https://www.floridatrend.com/article/28229/federal-judge-backs-best-and-brightest-settlement

So they don't have to have the same credentials, hmmm, and they are exempt from collective bargaining. You know why didn't they just get rid of the profession all together, you have to know by now that is their ultimate goal.

Private schools finance by public money can already hire teachers without certificates or even degrees for that matter, how long until its that way in public schools?

Just a reminder that when the State Board requested their budget, when you factor in inflation it is smaller than last years.

Florida wants to destroy public ed and the teaching profession and people better wake up while there is still something worth fighting for.

What is it going to be friends, what is it going to be?

Hey Times Union, Rory Diamond does not deserve your praise

I think we can all agree that helping our Veterans, like Rory Diamond's K9's for veterans does is a good and worthy thing, but if the Times Union is going to lavish praise on Diamond they should give us a complete picture of the man.

Diamond was one of the fiercest opponents of the school districts efforts to get a sales tax referendum passed to help fix its aging and crumbling schools. While doing so he accused the school board chair of being less than honest, and said only students at charter schools have a chance, which is laughable and uninformed. He did this after taking a million dollars from public school foe and charter school proponent Gary Chartrand,something Diamond didn't bother to disclose. One could make the argument he fought against the city's schools and children, along with jobs and a stimulus, after being paid to do so. 

Then speaking of being paid, Diamond is well rewarded for his efforts, after Chartrand's million dollar gift his compensation went up 40k to a quarter million dollars, pretty good right and I guess more proof that true altruism doesn't exist.

Diamond, may love helping veterans but he sure doesn't love helping children, and his moral ambiguity is troubling to say the least.

Gary Chartrand's company going bankrupt raises some troubling questions

From the Jax Daily Record 

Jacksonville-based Acosta Inc. announced Friday it will file a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan, with a majority of creditors in agreement. 

The sales and marketing company said the plan will be filed “in the coming weeks.” The plan provides for vendors to be paid in full during the Chapter 11 process and for all employees to receive their usual compensation. 

Pickett, a 28-year veteran of the company, was promoted to chief executive officer in July.“This process will enable us to continue to operate our business without disruption to clients, customers, employees, and business partners,” CEO Darian Pickett said in a news release. 

The plan will eliminate $3 billion in debt by converting it into equity, and investors have committed $250 million in new equity capital.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/jacksonville-based-acosta-to-file-prepackaged-chapter-11-bankruptcy-reorganization-plan?

Here are some facts, the KIPP school owes Chartrand three million dollars and they recently changed their structure so they can use capital funds to pay lease payments. Chartrand led the fight against the tax referendum, so charters could get millions more in capital funds. Chartrand's company is filing for bankruptcy.   

I am not saying Chartrand looted the company to pay for his far right anti-public education agenda, but wouldn't you like to see the books?

Some people like Chartrand, they say he gives to a lot of good causes but you will forgive me if I think him over charging customers, under paying employees and running his company into the ground makes for a poor resume, let alone him using all that money to push policies that hurt children, teachers and schools.

He is the villain of the story. 

School choice breeds discrimination and segregation

Imagine somebody came to you and said you could have your weight in ice cream. At first you might think this was a great idea, I mean who doesn’t love ice cream. However shortly after you had between 100 pounds to 300 pounds delivered I imagine you would start to see problems and ones beyond the diabetes you just gave yourself. That is school choice in a nutshell, sure it might sound good but when you get into the details and the reality of it, it kind of becomes a disaster.

School choice in reality is nothing more than an excuse for discrimination and segregation and that’s a problem.

First a woman in Florida was fired from the private school she worked out that was funded by public money.

From Newsweek.com

After an anonymous call to school officials, teacher Monica Toro Lisciandro was fired from her position teaching musical theater at Covenant Christian School in Palm Beach, Florida for being gay, according to LGBTQ Nation.

Administrators told Lisciandro that someone had informed them that she was in a relationship with a woman. She was also accused of attending a Pride festival and hosting an LGBTQ group in her own acting studio.

After admitting that those things were true, Lisciandro was let go from her job. Her class was readying their production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown.

https://www.newsweek.com/florida-teacher-fired-being-gay-christian-school-after-anonymous-call-administration-1466813

Private schools in Florida that take vouchers have also been criticized for excluding disabled children as well, but the truth is they can turn down any child for any reason but they aren’t the only ones as the Florida Department of Education said charters don’t have to take kids either.

In Jacksonville it was reported that an autistic boy was turned away from a charter school, because they said he wouldn’t be a good fit. You will find similar stories all across the state so where repellent it’s not that unusual, what is however is the state department of education said that was just fine.

From Action News Jax, 

It’s against the law for public schools and charter schools to turn away students because of special needs. 

However, Action News Jax learned there’s a catch. 

The Florida Department of Education said it’s not discriminatory for charters to suggest a different school that would better serve a student with disabilities.  

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/some-parents-say-some-north-east-florida-schools-are-turning-away-students-with-disabilities/1005049063

Well that’s quite the catch isn’t it. I mean what parent is going to want to send their child to a school who obviously doesn’t want them. The FLDOE has given charter schools carte blanche to turn away whatever student they don’t want. Live with your grandmother, no that doesn’t seem like it will be a good fit, family lives in poverty, well we’re going to pass on you too.

If a school can turn down a kid for not being a good fit because they have a disability, they can turn down any kid for not being a good fit for any reason and they often do.

More and more research has indicated charter schools are being used to resegregate our schools too.

From NEA Today, 

In December 2017, the Associated Press conducted an analysis of charter school enrollment nationwide and found that the schools were among the most racially segregated in the nation. 

While only 4 percent of traditional public schools have student bodies that are 99 percent minority (2014-15 school year data), 17 percent of charter schools are 99 percent minority. Furthermore, of the 6,747 charter schools in the country, more than 1,000 had minority enrollment of at least 99 percent. 

The numbers were troubling, if not particularly surprising, to anyone who recognizes that high levels of racial and economic segregation is systematically linked to wide gaps in educational opportunity and achievement.

http://neatoday.org/2018/05/04/racial-segregation-in-charter-schools/

What is truly maddening beyond the discrimination and segregation that school choice fosters it is we as tax payers are paying for it. We are investing in schools that are perverting our values and usually it’s so their owners can make a buck.

School choice might sound good to some but when you break it down, the way we do it, it’s not. It’s 2019 we should and could be doing better.

The FLDOE admits they rig the game for charters and charters are allowed to discriminate.

You know it’s funny after these revelations, I thought there would be a bigger outcry. More people would be upset and maybe Tallahassee would want to do something to make the playing ground level, but thus far they have been met with a collective shrug.

In Jacksonville it was reported that an autistic boy was turned away from a charter school, because they said he wouldn’t be a good fit. You will find similar stories all across the state so where repellent it’s not that unusual, what is however is the state department of education said that was just fine. 

From Action News Jax,

It’s against the law for public schools and charter schools to turn away students because of special needs.

However, Action News Jax learned there’s a catch. 

The Florida Department of Education said it’s not discriminatory for charters to suggest a different school that would better serve a student with disabilities.

  

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/some-parents-say-some-north-east-florida-schools-are-turning-away-students-with-disabilities/1005049063

Well that’s quite the catch isn’t it. I mean what parent is going to want to send their child to a school who obviously doesn’t want them. The FLDOE has given charter schools carte blanche to turn away whatever student they don’t want. Live with your grandmother, no that doesn’t seem like it will be a good fit, family lives in poverty, well we’re going to pass on you too. 

If a school can turn down a kid for not being a good fit because they have a disability, they can turn down any kid for not being a good fit for any reason and they often do.

Now they might not do it to the parent’s face, instead they do it through the application process, where they ask about criminal history, income, who they live with and other invasive questions that could give them insight into how they might behave or perform academically.

Furthermore schools report all the time they receive transfers from charter schools, usually after the charters receive state funding and before the students have to take their state tests, who are often behind their public school counterparts.

The FLDOE has in essence set public schools up to fail and despite that they are by and large the best option to educate students.

Charter school proponents talk all the time about choice and competition. It’s central to their argument why we should have them. The thing is how can we have true completion when the game is rigged against public schools in favor of charters?

CW Leanna Cumber spreads lies about the District

Friends I have a couple questions. How did Cumber get to the point where she can just spread lies about the district?




Hoo boy, if you look closely you can see chairman Hershey's response which points out the district's vaccination rate is 95 percent.

So Cumber misreads an article, and instead of reaching out to the district for clarification, goes right into spreading misinformation. This is Jacksonville, this is us.

My next question is how did somebody who doesn't care about facts and is willing to spread lies get elected.

This is a sorry state of affairs. 

Another embarrassing day for Jacksonville (draft)

The Duval Delegation  voted 6-2 to advance Jason Fischer's craven J1 bill that plays politics with the future of the city's children and asks the state legislature to allow for a change in the city charter going from an appointed superintendent to an elected one. This was more than just disappointing it was embarrassing as it just shows yet once again we have elected terrible people who feel comfortable ignoring facts, evidence and the will of the people.

There is not one good reason to have an elected superintendent, not one and there are plenty of good reasons to have an appointed one, furthermore the school board, the ones the people elected to manage our schools could request a referendum without having to ask 112 politicians who don't live here to change the charter and they have adamantly refused to do so. 

Furthermore everyone knows this was a racially motivated and craven attack against superintendent Diana Greene because she wouldn't give into the mayor, city council and their donors attempt to extort hundreds of millions from the school system.

Fischer when he was on the school board didn't bring this up, he has made no move in the state legislature to change the commissioner of education from an appointed to an elected position and he even changed the J1 bill which initially wanted an appointed school board.

He said he talked to 200 people who wanted an elected super, a bold face lie on his part, but are these the same people who said they wanted an appointed school board? Like Fischer did they too flip flop on their initial position? No, he lies as easily as I breathe.

It's just not this though, look at whats happening at the JEA, the people don't want to sell it but there they are chugging along. The housing authority, micro grants from the Kids hope alliance to buy political support, the landing, the murder rate, heck we are about to privatize parking, individually they are all bad but when taken together, what the %$#& is happening to the city?

This past summer we had a mayor and city council, fight tooth and nail, and changed the meaning of the word shall to fight against the city's schools, children, a stimulus and jobs, you know the things every other city council and mayor in the world fight for.  It is embarrassing, I am embarrassed to live here.

Friends our city has been hijacked. Too many people were on snooze and auto pilot figuring we would elect decent people who would do decent things and they were terribly wrong. What is happening here with the J1 bill, the referendum, JEA etc etc etc is not just wrong, but it is embarrassing as well

To read more, click the link, https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20191101/duvalrsquos-state-legislators-will-introduce-bill-to-have-referendum-on-elected-schools-superintendent

In Florida, education is Political, and Governor DeSantis says so.

You know often when I write about education in Florida I talk about all the destructive things the republicans in Tallahassee have done towards public education and the teaching profession. I mean who else would I talk about because they have been in complete control of public education in Florida for over two decades. What is happening in Florida is not non-partisan and the governor as much as admitted that the other day.

During a press conference where he outlined his legislative policies he doubled down on his proposal to lift starting salaries for new teachers despite the fact most teachers were against a policy that does nothing for veterans, whose salaries have actually gone backwards over the last decade.

When asked about the union’s request that all teachers receive salary increases, the Governor basically said, I am a republican and they are not and I don’t care what they have to say.

““It’s just the fact of the matter. I’m a Republican. They’re not. What I’m doing is never going to be enough. My job is not to do what the union wants – it’s what I think is best for education and particularly for individual teachers,” 

Um, what individual teachers is he talking about? Is it the ones that reflexively vote against their self-interests and reflexively vote republican, there are more than I would like to admit out there. Me, you come with policies, that benefit me and my family, I don’t care what political party you represent, but the fact of it is, democrats are usually strong supporters of public ed and tea hers while republicans are not. People might want to hem and haw and complain about that, but that is just the way it is and again just look at the governor’s words.  

In a way I am glad the governor just gave a middle finger to the teacher’s unions and the teaching profession. Maybe it will wake people up that no help is coming. People have been saying wait till the next election for a decade and yet there are large majorities of republicans, partly due to gerrymandering dominating the house and senate. The last election was 50.1 to 49.1, but the house and senate are over sixty percent republicans.

So friends, there is no help coming, we can’t continue to wait. Tallahassee is unmoved by red t-shirts, bus tours, letters to the editor and decency and that’s why is we want to save public ed and the teaching profession it is up to us and that is going to mean a work stoppage of some kind.    

I think parents would support it, you see when education is alone on the ballot it always wins and poll after poll shows that people understand Tallahassee is not supporting our schools and teachers like they should. I also think school boards and supers who are put upon by Tallahassee as much as teachers are would support it.

You see teachers, school boards, supers and parents understand that education should not be political, it should be about doing the right thing. The problem we have is a political party in Tallassee the republicans aren’t interested in it.   

Friends this is a battle for the future of the teaching profession, the Union may be playing chess, but the governor and the republican party are playing smash the board with a baseball bat while tell your momma so fat jokes. At some point it will be fight or die and sadly it looks like the union is picking the latter.

DeSantis doubles down on his terrible teacher pay proposal. Also tells union he doesn’t care what they think or want

I would say by and large DeSantis’s proposal to raise beginning teacher pay to 47,500 landed with a thud, but instead of listening to and working with teachers, he has doubled down.

From the Florida Phoenix,

Gov. Ron DeSantis said he hopes the 2020 legislative session, which begins in January, will open a “year of the teacher” in Florida, centered on his proposal to raise first-year teacher pay to $47,500 per year.

That would be one of the highest figures in the country for starting pay, national data show.

But DeSantis will be at odds with the Florida Education Association, which is pushing far broader pay reforms for public school teachers and staff.

The governor on Tuesday dismissed the statewide teacher union’s call for across-the-board pay raises – which would go beyond his own call for higher pay for first-year teachers – as politically motivated.

“Let’s not pretend there’s not politics involved with this,” DeSantis said when asked about the union initiative.

“It’s just the fact of the matter. I’m a Republican. They’re not. What I’m doing is never going to be enough. My job is not to do what the union wants – it’s what I think is best for education and particularly for individual teachers,” DeSantis said.

He made the remarks Tuesday during the Associated Press’s annual Legislative Planning Session. The AP invites top state leaders to address reporters about what they hope to accomplish. DeSantis was the first to speak this year, outlining an agenda that includes higher environmental spending, disaster relief, and health care initiatives.

https://www.floridaphoenix.com/2019/10/29/gov-desantis-focuses-on-boosting-starting-teacher-pay-dismisses-across-the-board-raises-as-politically-motivated/

Um, it’s not politically motivated to want all teachers including vet who have seen their salaries go backwards for the last decade, it is decency motivated something the stunt governor is obviously unfamiliar with.

Do what’s best for individual teachers? You mean accept those 75k teachers who wouldn’t see a dime.

The governor’s proposal is a bad joke that shouldn’t see the light of day.

Maybe however this will wake the union up to the fact he doesn’t care what they think or want. Not one bit and the union will now realize it's fight or die.

I will tell you this. If the union does not fight and a bill goes through giving first year teachers a big raise and vets nothing, I will give myself a raise and quit. The union better wake up.   

Who else has Gary Chartrand bought? Ju'Coby Pittman edition

Who else on the city council doesn’t owe Gary Chartrand? Ju’Coby Pittman edition.

I would like to give Mrs. Pittman some credit. I have seen the financials to the Clara White mission and unlike Rory Diamond and his charity K9 for warriors she isn’t using it as her personal ATM like he is. That being said WTF is nobody on the city council not beholden to Gary Chartrand?  

From News4jax,

 A Jacksonville couple has decided to stand up against across-the-board city budget cuts that left a local rescue mission scrambling to maintain its programs.

Gary and Nancy Chartrand are donating in a big way to the Clara White Mission, pledging $50,000 every year for the next five years.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/couple-serves-up-large-gift-to-clara-white-mission

Now you might be saying, but Chris this happened in 2014 there is no way Chartrand could have been grooming her for her role on the city council so she could oppose the referendum 5 years later, and sure I would concede that.

The thing is, have you ever wondered why Rick Scott a republican governor appointed a democrat to a city council seat when he could have appointed a republican? He has two seats to fill when the Browns were arrested but instead of appointing two republicans he didn’t and Pittman was appointed to fill one of the seats. I mean have you met Mrs. Pittman she doesn't exactly travel in Curry and Scott's circles.  

I am sure Rick Scott asked around, and I am equally sure Chartrand recommended her because you know what, like most of the board does, it would be somebody else there that owed him a favor, like say opposing the special tax referendum.

I can imagine the conversation.

Scott calls into the Family’s basement where they are drinking brown liquor, smoking cigars and cutting and eating apple slices.

Scott- You guys have a real mess over there, I am going to have to make two appointments, what two republicans do you have in mind.

Curry- I have some ideas, what about you Gary?

Chartrand- oh I have somebody perfect in mind, but they aren’t a republican.

Scott- um what?

Curry- no way.

Chartrand- here me out, I have somebody that owes me a big favor.

How else to you explain Pittman’s appointment?

Six figures, to Curry, Six figures to Fischer, a Million to Diamond, a quarter million to Pittman, thousands to a dozen others. People should know that a millionaire from Ponte Vedra is running the city and people should know what his agenda is.