When asked about changing the rules that govern high school athletics, Florida State Representative Eric Eisnagule, republican Orlando said, “I think that when I hear from a constituent when a nephew was not able to play his senior football because the private school he went to closed down, there is something wrong,”
A reasonable person might have some red flags. Why is the uncle and not the parents contacting me? Is football this man’s sole priority? How indicative is this of private schools in my district, among others things?
A reasonable person might say, well sir, I am sure if your nephew enrolls in the public high school they are zoned for and they meet the eligibility requirements then they will be able to play football.
Do you know what a reasonable person wouldn’t do? They wouldn’t gut a seventy-year-old organization the Florida High School Sports Association, that by all intents and purposes is working! Which is what he wants to do!
This bill championed by Steve Wise serves no purpose but to give private and charter schools more intrusion into the public school system. Hey parents if you want your child to be able to do all the things that public school kids can, send them to a public school, don’t call intellectually challenged politicians and complain.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Steve “why do we still have apes, if we came from them” Wise’s busy and destructive day.
Ever want to know where you should stand on education issues? Easy, be on the opposite side of whatever Steve Wise is for.
He made the news twice today for legislation he has proposed. First he wants to take 140 million from public schools and give them to charter schools for construction costs and then he wants to strip the control of high school athletics from the Florida High School Athletic association among other things the FHSAA thinks would be detrimental.
This man is a pox on public education and he offends me.
He made the news twice today for legislation he has proposed. First he wants to take 140 million from public schools and give them to charter schools for construction costs and then he wants to strip the control of high school athletics from the Florida High School Athletic association among other things the FHSAA thinks would be detrimental.
This man is a pox on public education and he offends me.
Is Pratt-Dannals a narcissist or delusional? After listening to his press conference it is hard to tell
After following his press conference on the Times Union’s live blog I have come to the conclusion it has to be one or the other.
He started talking about his accomplishments, not the districts but his, over and over again he talked about the things he did, not the things the district did under his watch. To hear him speak you would have thought the district was a one man operation.
Let’s talk about “his” accomplishments.
His high graduation requirements led to the districts gentlemen’s C policy where kids were pushed along without the skills they need. His high graduation requirements have led to seventy percent of grads having to take remedial classes. The state has a not quite as sad average of fifty-five percent.
The graduation rate has increased; it’s too bad it took gutting student accountability to achieve it. Before two years ago the grad rate bounced around between 51 and 57 percent, it wasn’t until he made grade recovery available for any student regardless of reason that the grad rate really started to rise. Kids that disrupt and make no effort should never have gotten a second bite at the apple but that is who mostly did.
He touted how he put accelerated programs into each high school. This is so disingenuous on many levels. Now Duval County puts level ones and twos into advanced placement classes routinely where just a few years ago level threes had to get permission. Having more kids in accelerated programs whether they are capable of not helps with the districts overall grade and finally why do we have Paxon and Stanton is kids can get the programs there anywhere. With a swoop of his pen he made them redundant.
He talked about Read it Forward Jax which may have been an accomplishment if he would have capped the class sizes: you see you can’t have huge classes of young and poor readers and expect to accomplish anything. What the district actually provided was expensive babysitting.
As for his expanded partnerships in the community, I consider myself in the know and I don’t know what he is talking about.
He is delusional to list these as “his” accomplishments. His legacy will be one of undisciplined hall ways, classes without rigor, low teacher morale and graduating way too many kids ill prepared for life.
The truth is Pratt-Dannals was a disaster for the district, well except for his cronies, pals and sycophants who he promoted to high paying district positions who did nearly as much damage as the super did.
He with his all is well message, did the district a real disservice. Though I guess he had continue to say so because if not more may have realized many of our problems are of his making. It will take us years to recover from the damage this narcissist has created.
He started talking about his accomplishments, not the districts but his, over and over again he talked about the things he did, not the things the district did under his watch. To hear him speak you would have thought the district was a one man operation.
Let’s talk about “his” accomplishments.
His high graduation requirements led to the districts gentlemen’s C policy where kids were pushed along without the skills they need. His high graduation requirements have led to seventy percent of grads having to take remedial classes. The state has a not quite as sad average of fifty-five percent.
The graduation rate has increased; it’s too bad it took gutting student accountability to achieve it. Before two years ago the grad rate bounced around between 51 and 57 percent, it wasn’t until he made grade recovery available for any student regardless of reason that the grad rate really started to rise. Kids that disrupt and make no effort should never have gotten a second bite at the apple but that is who mostly did.
He touted how he put accelerated programs into each high school. This is so disingenuous on many levels. Now Duval County puts level ones and twos into advanced placement classes routinely where just a few years ago level threes had to get permission. Having more kids in accelerated programs whether they are capable of not helps with the districts overall grade and finally why do we have Paxon and Stanton is kids can get the programs there anywhere. With a swoop of his pen he made them redundant.
He talked about Read it Forward Jax which may have been an accomplishment if he would have capped the class sizes: you see you can’t have huge classes of young and poor readers and expect to accomplish anything. What the district actually provided was expensive babysitting.
As for his expanded partnerships in the community, I consider myself in the know and I don’t know what he is talking about.
He is delusional to list these as “his” accomplishments. His legacy will be one of undisciplined hall ways, classes without rigor, low teacher morale and graduating way too many kids ill prepared for life.
The truth is Pratt-Dannals was a disaster for the district, well except for his cronies, pals and sycophants who he promoted to high paying district positions who did nearly as much damage as the super did.
He with his all is well message, did the district a real disservice. Though I guess he had continue to say so because if not more may have realized many of our problems are of his making. It will take us years to recover from the damage this narcissist has created.
Charter schools poised to upsurp local control
From the Ledger
by Zac Anderson
Charter schools would receive more construction money, greater freedom to expand and the ability to take over struggling public schools at the request of parents under two bills still in play as the legislative session winds down.
Conservative education reformers are back in the state Capitol this year with an array of proposals that would strengthen alternatives to Florida's traditional public schools, from more private school vouchers to expanded virtual education programs.
But the bills promoting charter schools are generating the most resistance from public school districts.
After years of budget cuts, many district leaders oppose the plan to share property tax collections for building and maintenance programs with charter schools. Legislation that would allow a majority of parents to shut down a traditional public school and reopen it as a charter has drawn intense debate.
Supporters of both bills say they are designed to give families more education options.
"Whether it is a traditional public school or a charter school our children deserve the absolute best from us," said Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, who is sponsoring the parent bill.
Labeled the "Parent Empowerment" act, Benacquisto's legislation is being criticized by teachers unions and district officials, who argue it could spark conflicts between parents and teachers.
In addition to allowing parent petitions for conversion to a charter school, the bill gives parents the right to immediately review a teacher's most recent performance evaluation. It also forces districts to ensure that students do not have a low-performing teacher in consecutive years.
The legislation only applies to public schools with exceptionally low student performance year after year. Federal law already permits charter school conversions, but school districts almost never pursue the option when developing improvement plans for struggling schools.
"We're just allowing parents to join the dialogue and have more say in that decision," Benacquisto said.
Florida Education Association spokesman Mark Pudlow described the bill as "the camel's nose under the tent" for charter school companies to initiate takeovers of traditional public schools.
In California, where the legislation already has been adopted, charter school operators have flooded neighborhoods with advertisements pushing school conversions, Pudlow said.
"This has nothing to do with parent involvement and everything to do with turning over schools to for profit charter school companies," he said. "It gives the charter school folks a blueprint on how they can take over public schools. It may start out with chronically failing schools but it could quickly expand to any school."
Pudlow pointed to Florida's corporate tax-credit vouchers as an education reform that rapidly expanded beyond its original goal. The amount of corporate taxes diverted statewide to private school vouchers for low-income students was capped at $50 million when the program began in 2002.
Lawmakers have repeatedly raised the cap. Benacquisto is sponsoring another $31 million increase this year, pushing the voucher program up $250 million in diverted tax revenue.
The voucher expansion will allow 6,500 students to transfer out of public schools, shrinking their budgets.
At the same time, school districts are fighting legislation forcing them to turn over local property tax collections to charter schools.
Charter schools already receive public funding on a per-student basis from the state. Last year lawmakers allocated $55 million in state funds to charter school construction without providing any construction money to traditional public schools.
But the largest pot of construction cash comes from local property taxes that districts are loath to share, especially after years of declining tax collections that put many building projects on hold.
"We have tremendous needs we've put off because of the downturn in the economy," said Joy Frank, a lobbyist for the Florida Association of District School Superintendents.
"We have maintenance and repair needs we're letting go. We really can't afford further cuts."
Charter school advocates say the issue is about fairness.
School officials staged a rally outside the Capitol last week with lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott to make a final push for the legislation.
"We have to remember the charter schools are government-funded schools; they're no different than traditional public schools in that manner," Scott said at the rally.
"We've got to make sure they're properly funded."
Sarasota County is one of only three school districts that voluntarily agreed to share property tax money with local charter schools this year, according to a Department of Education analysis.
The district turned over more than $2 million.
The other 41 counties with charter schools would lose $140 million under the proposed legislation.
That includes $3.1 million in Manatee County and $332,861 in Charlotte County.
The legislation also allows charter school operators with a strong track record to open three new schools each year without seeking school district approval.
Charter school officials often complain that school boards drag their feet on approving new applications without justification.
Taken together, Pudlow said the proposals will allow charter schools to "mushroom" across Florida with little oversight.
"Everything in the world is going to charter schools," he said.
Even some lawmakers who strongly support education reform have reservations about some of the ideas in play. Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said he is not sold on giving charter schools local property tax dollars.
The future House speaker is working "behind the scenes" to explore different funding options for charter school construction.
But Weatherford said lawmakers are mostly on the right track with the education proposals up for debate this year.
"We're just kind of continuing to go down the road of the Jeb Bush education reforms that started back in 1998," he said.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20120226/news/120229499
by Zac Anderson
Charter schools would receive more construction money, greater freedom to expand and the ability to take over struggling public schools at the request of parents under two bills still in play as the legislative session winds down.
Conservative education reformers are back in the state Capitol this year with an array of proposals that would strengthen alternatives to Florida's traditional public schools, from more private school vouchers to expanded virtual education programs.
But the bills promoting charter schools are generating the most resistance from public school districts.
After years of budget cuts, many district leaders oppose the plan to share property tax collections for building and maintenance programs with charter schools. Legislation that would allow a majority of parents to shut down a traditional public school and reopen it as a charter has drawn intense debate.
Supporters of both bills say they are designed to give families more education options.
"Whether it is a traditional public school or a charter school our children deserve the absolute best from us," said Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, who is sponsoring the parent bill.
Labeled the "Parent Empowerment" act, Benacquisto's legislation is being criticized by teachers unions and district officials, who argue it could spark conflicts between parents and teachers.
In addition to allowing parent petitions for conversion to a charter school, the bill gives parents the right to immediately review a teacher's most recent performance evaluation. It also forces districts to ensure that students do not have a low-performing teacher in consecutive years.
The legislation only applies to public schools with exceptionally low student performance year after year. Federal law already permits charter school conversions, but school districts almost never pursue the option when developing improvement plans for struggling schools.
"We're just allowing parents to join the dialogue and have more say in that decision," Benacquisto said.
Florida Education Association spokesman Mark Pudlow described the bill as "the camel's nose under the tent" for charter school companies to initiate takeovers of traditional public schools.
In California, where the legislation already has been adopted, charter school operators have flooded neighborhoods with advertisements pushing school conversions, Pudlow said.
"This has nothing to do with parent involvement and everything to do with turning over schools to for profit charter school companies," he said. "It gives the charter school folks a blueprint on how they can take over public schools. It may start out with chronically failing schools but it could quickly expand to any school."
Pudlow pointed to Florida's corporate tax-credit vouchers as an education reform that rapidly expanded beyond its original goal. The amount of corporate taxes diverted statewide to private school vouchers for low-income students was capped at $50 million when the program began in 2002.
Lawmakers have repeatedly raised the cap. Benacquisto is sponsoring another $31 million increase this year, pushing the voucher program up $250 million in diverted tax revenue.
The voucher expansion will allow 6,500 students to transfer out of public schools, shrinking their budgets.
At the same time, school districts are fighting legislation forcing them to turn over local property tax collections to charter schools.
Charter schools already receive public funding on a per-student basis from the state. Last year lawmakers allocated $55 million in state funds to charter school construction without providing any construction money to traditional public schools.
But the largest pot of construction cash comes from local property taxes that districts are loath to share, especially after years of declining tax collections that put many building projects on hold.
"We have tremendous needs we've put off because of the downturn in the economy," said Joy Frank, a lobbyist for the Florida Association of District School Superintendents.
"We have maintenance and repair needs we're letting go. We really can't afford further cuts."
Charter school advocates say the issue is about fairness.
School officials staged a rally outside the Capitol last week with lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott to make a final push for the legislation.
"We have to remember the charter schools are government-funded schools; they're no different than traditional public schools in that manner," Scott said at the rally.
"We've got to make sure they're properly funded."
Sarasota County is one of only three school districts that voluntarily agreed to share property tax money with local charter schools this year, according to a Department of Education analysis.
The district turned over more than $2 million.
The other 41 counties with charter schools would lose $140 million under the proposed legislation.
That includes $3.1 million in Manatee County and $332,861 in Charlotte County.
The legislation also allows charter school operators with a strong track record to open three new schools each year without seeking school district approval.
Charter school officials often complain that school boards drag their feet on approving new applications without justification.
Taken together, Pudlow said the proposals will allow charter schools to "mushroom" across Florida with little oversight.
"Everything in the world is going to charter schools," he said.
Even some lawmakers who strongly support education reform have reservations about some of the ideas in play. Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said he is not sold on giving charter schools local property tax dollars.
The future House speaker is working "behind the scenes" to explore different funding options for charter school construction.
But Weatherford said lawmakers are mostly on the right track with the education proposals up for debate this year.
"We're just kind of continuing to go down the road of the Jeb Bush education reforms that started back in 1998," he said.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20120226/news/120229499
Why is it so hard for the Duval County School Board to take responsibility for anything?
Nobody believes the timing of the announcement that the superintendent’s contract was not going to be renewed had nothing to do with the revelation that the district was sitting on 109 million dollars of extra cash. NOBODY! But there was the board trying to sell it. In a Times Union article, Board members said the decision not to renew Pratt-Dannals' contract was not connected to the reserve fund issue.
This recent revelation came on the heels of the Schools of the Future debacle, the revelation our graduation rates our inflated and the disastrous state ranking of our district and schools.
I am not saying they had to throw the superintendent under the bus (though in my opinion he and the school board have been driving the bus into a hole for quite some time) but they could have said in light of recent developments we’re going to go in a different direction.
The sad truth is the school board was tired of being made to look foolish by the superintendent and his administration and they decided to do something about it. What’s sadder however is if they would have been doing their jobs in the first place then we might not be in the hole that we are.
This recent revelation came on the heels of the Schools of the Future debacle, the revelation our graduation rates our inflated and the disastrous state ranking of our district and schools.
I am not saying they had to throw the superintendent under the bus (though in my opinion he and the school board have been driving the bus into a hole for quite some time) but they could have said in light of recent developments we’re going to go in a different direction.
The sad truth is the school board was tired of being made to look foolish by the superintendent and his administration and they decided to do something about it. What’s sadder however is if they would have been doing their jobs in the first place then we might not be in the hole that we are.
The Times Union disrespects teachers... again!
Jim Schoettler wrote an editorial in the Times Union about what we need in our next school superintendent. He talked to the mayor, presidents of colleges, former school board members and education advocates. Do you know who he didn’t talk to? Teachers.
What's the one field where the people that do it are not even considered worthy enough to be asked their opinion? It’s the same people last asked about education issues? Teachers.
If he would have asked me I would have said, we need a superintendent that is interested in doing the right thing even if it is the hard thing. Somebody who is committed to rigorous classes, disciplined hall ways, multiple curriculums that serve more kids needs and who realizes teachers are the districts number one resource and they must be treated with respect not like easily replaceable cogs or yoked farm animals. They need to be collaborated with not dictated too because unlike the mayor, presidents of colleges, former school board members, education advocates and newspaper reporters, they know about the issues in the classroom and have the best ideas how to fix them.
Shameful
What's the one field where the people that do it are not even considered worthy enough to be asked their opinion? It’s the same people last asked about education issues? Teachers.
If he would have asked me I would have said, we need a superintendent that is interested in doing the right thing even if it is the hard thing. Somebody who is committed to rigorous classes, disciplined hall ways, multiple curriculums that serve more kids needs and who realizes teachers are the districts number one resource and they must be treated with respect not like easily replaceable cogs or yoked farm animals. They need to be collaborated with not dictated too because unlike the mayor, presidents of colleges, former school board members, education advocates and newspaper reporters, they know about the issues in the classroom and have the best ideas how to fix them.
Shameful
Do we want Barrett, Burney, Gentry and Hazouri picking our next superintendent?
If there is any justice in the world these four will follow superintendent Pratt-Dannals out the door but in a huge twist of irony these four may also be responsible for choosing our next superintendent.
Here is a list of their accomplishments over the last year alone.
Let me start with pleading poverty while sitting on over 100 million dollars, ending programs and costing people their jobs.
This time last year we were talking about, a fifty thousand dollar speaker, a beach retreat and Duval Partners, the hand picked EMO that came and went.
Towards the end of summer, the district gave away control of four schools and two million dollars to Education Directions despite the fact they were granted an extra year to come up with solutions.
They created a summer reading program but turned it into expensive babysitting by putting to many poor readers in one class. Classes that should have had 8 kids in them ballooned to over 20.
The fall saw the school board allow the KIPP school to expand despite the fact in it’s first year it was the worse performing school in Northeast Florida, a contract with Teach for America to bring novice teachers to our inner city schools at 2,400 dollars a pop when local teachers and college of ed grads can’t find jobs and a vote to spend 300 thousand dollars on additional public relations positions.
In December we got some good news. Because of a scoring change many of our schools grades went up, unfortunately the district is now in a tizzy because a new new scoring change that will cause some of our schools grades to go down. Nobody taught the superintendent that you can’t have cake and eat it too.
In January the state ranked our district 50th out of 67 and pointed out that we have 8 of the bottom 25 high schools in the state, including number 404.
The federal government says we graduated just 63% of our students, 54% of our African American students. These numbers are undoubtedly inflated by grade recovery and the district’s Gentlemen’s C policy.
The debacle at Schools of the Future, money wasted, kids set back, equipment missing and the district with yet another “who me???” look on it’s face because of how they lost track of Schools of the Future.
I will throw in low teacher morale and a lack of discipline too.
With friends like these we don’t need enemies. Is the group that made these decisions the one we want picking our next superintendent?
Here is a list of their accomplishments over the last year alone.
Let me start with pleading poverty while sitting on over 100 million dollars, ending programs and costing people their jobs.
This time last year we were talking about, a fifty thousand dollar speaker, a beach retreat and Duval Partners, the hand picked EMO that came and went.
Towards the end of summer, the district gave away control of four schools and two million dollars to Education Directions despite the fact they were granted an extra year to come up with solutions.
They created a summer reading program but turned it into expensive babysitting by putting to many poor readers in one class. Classes that should have had 8 kids in them ballooned to over 20.
The fall saw the school board allow the KIPP school to expand despite the fact in it’s first year it was the worse performing school in Northeast Florida, a contract with Teach for America to bring novice teachers to our inner city schools at 2,400 dollars a pop when local teachers and college of ed grads can’t find jobs and a vote to spend 300 thousand dollars on additional public relations positions.
In December we got some good news. Because of a scoring change many of our schools grades went up, unfortunately the district is now in a tizzy because a new new scoring change that will cause some of our schools grades to go down. Nobody taught the superintendent that you can’t have cake and eat it too.
In January the state ranked our district 50th out of 67 and pointed out that we have 8 of the bottom 25 high schools in the state, including number 404.
The federal government says we graduated just 63% of our students, 54% of our African American students. These numbers are undoubtedly inflated by grade recovery and the district’s Gentlemen’s C policy.
The debacle at Schools of the Future, money wasted, kids set back, equipment missing and the district with yet another “who me???” look on it’s face because of how they lost track of Schools of the Future.
I will throw in low teacher morale and a lack of discipline too.
With friends like these we don’t need enemies. Is the group that made these decisions the one we want picking our next superintendent?
10 Questions for SB District 5 candidate Chris Guerrieri
1. You have long advocated for the removal of Superintendent Pratt-Dannals now that he has been let go what do you think?
I think this is a great first step for the district but it is just a first step. There are many of his sycophants and cronies in top positions either as district staff or principals and they like him are doing damage to our schools and they like the superintendent should be quickly shown the door. Merit not who you know should from this point on dictate who gets what job in Duval County. It will literally take us years to recover from what he has done.
2. Who would you like to see replace him?
I don’t have a specific who but I know what type of person I would like. We need a superintendent that is interested in doing the right thing even if it is the hard thing. Somebody who is committed to rigorous classes, disciplined hall ways, multiple curriculums that serve more kids needs and who realizes teachers are the districts number one resource and they must be treated with respect not like easily replaceable cogs or yoked farm animals. Teachers need to be collaborated with not dictated too because they know about the issues in the classroom and have the best ideas how to fix them. I also know who I don’t want to pick the next superintendent and that’s this school board.
3. You have also long been a critic of the school board, why is that?
I think traditionally the school board has been a place for politicians on their way up or way down to hang their hats and for people filled with narcissism to get their fix. You see everybody has gone to school so most everybody thinks they could be a teacher or fix the problems in education, when the opposite is the true. Also just look at the indefensible decisions the board has made over the last year alone. KIPP, TFA, Education directions, pleading poverty while sitting on over a hundred million dollars. I could go on and on. It is not just I by the way who should be their critic but every person who cares about our children.
4. Then there is the state and President Obama, who you have been critical of too. It seems like you point a lot of fingers.
I believe the children of Jacksonville have many enemies. There is the president and his secretary of education who don’t understand education. They have made it into a race with winners and losers. On one hand they say they don’t want teachers to teach to the test but on the other RTTT is all about teaching to the test.
There is the Florida legislature and governor who are only interested in privatizing education and putting our kid’s futures in the hands of organizations that have zero accountability and are more interested in making a buck than what happens to our children.
There is our school board who constantly turns a blind eye to what is happening in our schools preferring willful ignorance to action. They only serve the superintendent and his administration having long ago forsaken, the cities children, teachers, parents and stakeholders.
There is our superintendent who is only concerned with appearances and has gutted rigor, discipline and teacher morale so he can say, look at us we’re a B district.
There is the local media, which has acted as a good old boy network for the superintendent protecting him at the cost of our children’s futures.
There are the parents who despite the overwhelming evidence our education system is heading in the wrong direction vote the same people into office over and over.
There are the teachers who know what the problems are but sit silently and endure hoping something will change afraid for their jobs. They have forgotten the adage that for evil to triumph good people must simply do nothing. I get it though, who goes first?
Well I will go first and if somebody does something that hurts our kids then you might say I am pointing fingers but I like to say I am letting people know.
Step one is for people to wake up and be informed, which is what I have been trying to do for years now. It is my hope that when they know what is really going on then they will want to be involved and fight for their children.
5. So what are your solutions?
The solutions to turning our schools around are within our grasp and they don’t involve reinventing the wheel, breaking the bank, demonizing our teachers or outsourcing our kids education to corporations more interested in their financial bottom lines than our children’s futures.
We need rigorous classes, disciplined hallways, multiple curriculums that serve more kids needs and desires and teacher buy in, and we could have those things day one next year. That would be a good start.
6. What is the first thing you would do on the school board?
Does it just have to be one thing?
On day one I would take five million dollars and hire a hundred more para professionals for our elementary schools. Out of all the teacher groups our elementary school teachers are really put upon the most and can use the most help. I would then take seven million dollars and hire a hundred new elective teachers, drama, music and art among others. We can’t make school such drudgery for kids and then scratch our head and wonder why so many do so poorly.
Then there is grade recovery. I would end for everyone except the kids who had documentation for legitimate absences and for the kid that came to school and tried hard but just needed a little more. Gone would be the days of any kid for any reason taking it.
The district should announce that teachers with satisfactory evaluations will not be let go and teachers that are let go will be told why. Teachers can be fired in Duval County and they aren’t required to be given a reason and last year hundreds of teachers with satisfactory evaluations who were not on success plans, meaning for the most part they had no idea they were in danger of losing their jobs were fired.
The district should create an Ombudsman position that is outside the sphere of influence of the superintendent and school board. I hear stories all the time from teachers but when I ask them to go on the record for the most part they back off. They say they are afraid for their jobs or retaliation. If they had a person they could go to anonymously, who could investigate their concerns, we could eliminate many of their concerns.
The district should work with the teachers to create a teacher bill of rights. Teachers should only be asked to give one free hour a day, not the 15-20 most teachers give a week. Teachers should not be talked to in a fashion by administrators that would get them fired if they talked to students in the same way and pass fail rates and referrals written should not be used to influence evaluations. I am not saying we should ignore those things but we should delve behind the numbers to find out the causes. If it’s the teacher, then lets help them improve and if they don’t show them the door but if it’s the kids, lets give them legitimate, rigorous opportunities to improve.
The district should start suspending repeat discipline offenders indefinitely until one of their parents comes and spends the day with them. They would be allowed to return the very next day if the parent came with them, or they could stay out for the rest of the year but now the onus is on parents being parents not on schools raising kids.
The district should rescind the contract with KIPP until the first school shows improvement, you will forgive me if their word isn’t enough and with Teach for America, we have teachers and college of ed grads here who can’t find jobs, lets give them the first crack and then if we still have a few openings we can ask TFA for assistance.
I would insist the district start the process of training all our content area teachers on CARPD a wonderful reading program that would really help our kids.
Then I would help the district find the money for legitimate summer school. So many of our kids need more time to both master material and less time between school years so they don’t lose what they learned.
I think that would be a good day one but that would just be a beginning. Day 2 would be just as busy.
7. Before you were a teacher you had a bit of a checkered past with several misdemeanor arrests and since you have been a teacher you lost your house to foreclosure. What makes you think the public should trust you to make good decisions if you were on the board?
When I was a young man, I made a lot of bad choices; it is by pure luck or the grace of God that there weren’t worse consequences for others and myself. I eventually came to the realization I was either going to be a loser or I could chose to be a citizen and the last time other than the occasional ticket I was in trouble was almost 14 years ago. I have also dedicated most of my adult life to working with disabled children and have had the courage to stand up against the inequities in the school system, so I hope those things count for something.
I can’t run from those times though and they helped shaped who I am now. It’s because of those times that I feel I am able to relate to many of our students. You see I know what it means to make mistakes and feel both hopeless and angry and if maybe one kid looks at me and says, that guy turned it around and made a life for myself then I can too, then it will all have been worth it.
As for the foreclosure, I thought I did everything right. I talked to smart people. I did the research. I put twenty-five percent down but at the end of the day it turned out I paid 140 thousand dollars for an eighty thousand dollar house. After Faye blew through town it had a lot of damage and just became too expensive. I had to walk away. When I am on the school board I plan to do things the same way, talk to the teachers and the community, do the research before I make my decisions and to put resources into projects. I just hope I have better results.
8. So what’s next?
Well I am looking to get the word about my campaign out. I will meet with anybody anywhere. If you are interested in education and care about kids lets get together and hammer some things out.
9. How can people contact you?
Through my blog Education Matters, www.jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com or through my email addresses guerrieric@duvalschools.org, guerieridistrict5@gmail.com. Get in touch with me and then lets have a conversation.
10. Is there any thing else you would like to say?
I think the superintendent really did the city a disservice with his everything is all right, we’re a B district mantra. We do have wonderful things going on at our schools, even our struggling schools but the truth is we’re in trouble and we are going to need all hands on deck to get out of it. I would like to ask the citizens of Jacksonville to join me on deck.
I think this is a great first step for the district but it is just a first step. There are many of his sycophants and cronies in top positions either as district staff or principals and they like him are doing damage to our schools and they like the superintendent should be quickly shown the door. Merit not who you know should from this point on dictate who gets what job in Duval County. It will literally take us years to recover from what he has done.
2. Who would you like to see replace him?
I don’t have a specific who but I know what type of person I would like. We need a superintendent that is interested in doing the right thing even if it is the hard thing. Somebody who is committed to rigorous classes, disciplined hall ways, multiple curriculums that serve more kids needs and who realizes teachers are the districts number one resource and they must be treated with respect not like easily replaceable cogs or yoked farm animals. Teachers need to be collaborated with not dictated too because they know about the issues in the classroom and have the best ideas how to fix them. I also know who I don’t want to pick the next superintendent and that’s this school board.
3. You have also long been a critic of the school board, why is that?
I think traditionally the school board has been a place for politicians on their way up or way down to hang their hats and for people filled with narcissism to get their fix. You see everybody has gone to school so most everybody thinks they could be a teacher or fix the problems in education, when the opposite is the true. Also just look at the indefensible decisions the board has made over the last year alone. KIPP, TFA, Education directions, pleading poverty while sitting on over a hundred million dollars. I could go on and on. It is not just I by the way who should be their critic but every person who cares about our children.
4. Then there is the state and President Obama, who you have been critical of too. It seems like you point a lot of fingers.
I believe the children of Jacksonville have many enemies. There is the president and his secretary of education who don’t understand education. They have made it into a race with winners and losers. On one hand they say they don’t want teachers to teach to the test but on the other RTTT is all about teaching to the test.
There is the Florida legislature and governor who are only interested in privatizing education and putting our kid’s futures in the hands of organizations that have zero accountability and are more interested in making a buck than what happens to our children.
There is our school board who constantly turns a blind eye to what is happening in our schools preferring willful ignorance to action. They only serve the superintendent and his administration having long ago forsaken, the cities children, teachers, parents and stakeholders.
There is our superintendent who is only concerned with appearances and has gutted rigor, discipline and teacher morale so he can say, look at us we’re a B district.
There is the local media, which has acted as a good old boy network for the superintendent protecting him at the cost of our children’s futures.
There are the parents who despite the overwhelming evidence our education system is heading in the wrong direction vote the same people into office over and over.
There are the teachers who know what the problems are but sit silently and endure hoping something will change afraid for their jobs. They have forgotten the adage that for evil to triumph good people must simply do nothing. I get it though, who goes first?
Well I will go first and if somebody does something that hurts our kids then you might say I am pointing fingers but I like to say I am letting people know.
Step one is for people to wake up and be informed, which is what I have been trying to do for years now. It is my hope that when they know what is really going on then they will want to be involved and fight for their children.
5. So what are your solutions?
The solutions to turning our schools around are within our grasp and they don’t involve reinventing the wheel, breaking the bank, demonizing our teachers or outsourcing our kids education to corporations more interested in their financial bottom lines than our children’s futures.
We need rigorous classes, disciplined hallways, multiple curriculums that serve more kids needs and desires and teacher buy in, and we could have those things day one next year. That would be a good start.
6. What is the first thing you would do on the school board?
Does it just have to be one thing?
On day one I would take five million dollars and hire a hundred more para professionals for our elementary schools. Out of all the teacher groups our elementary school teachers are really put upon the most and can use the most help. I would then take seven million dollars and hire a hundred new elective teachers, drama, music and art among others. We can’t make school such drudgery for kids and then scratch our head and wonder why so many do so poorly.
Then there is grade recovery. I would end for everyone except the kids who had documentation for legitimate absences and for the kid that came to school and tried hard but just needed a little more. Gone would be the days of any kid for any reason taking it.
The district should announce that teachers with satisfactory evaluations will not be let go and teachers that are let go will be told why. Teachers can be fired in Duval County and they aren’t required to be given a reason and last year hundreds of teachers with satisfactory evaluations who were not on success plans, meaning for the most part they had no idea they were in danger of losing their jobs were fired.
The district should create an Ombudsman position that is outside the sphere of influence of the superintendent and school board. I hear stories all the time from teachers but when I ask them to go on the record for the most part they back off. They say they are afraid for their jobs or retaliation. If they had a person they could go to anonymously, who could investigate their concerns, we could eliminate many of their concerns.
The district should work with the teachers to create a teacher bill of rights. Teachers should only be asked to give one free hour a day, not the 15-20 most teachers give a week. Teachers should not be talked to in a fashion by administrators that would get them fired if they talked to students in the same way and pass fail rates and referrals written should not be used to influence evaluations. I am not saying we should ignore those things but we should delve behind the numbers to find out the causes. If it’s the teacher, then lets help them improve and if they don’t show them the door but if it’s the kids, lets give them legitimate, rigorous opportunities to improve.
The district should start suspending repeat discipline offenders indefinitely until one of their parents comes and spends the day with them. They would be allowed to return the very next day if the parent came with them, or they could stay out for the rest of the year but now the onus is on parents being parents not on schools raising kids.
The district should rescind the contract with KIPP until the first school shows improvement, you will forgive me if their word isn’t enough and with Teach for America, we have teachers and college of ed grads here who can’t find jobs, lets give them the first crack and then if we still have a few openings we can ask TFA for assistance.
I would insist the district start the process of training all our content area teachers on CARPD a wonderful reading program that would really help our kids.
Then I would help the district find the money for legitimate summer school. So many of our kids need more time to both master material and less time between school years so they don’t lose what they learned.
I think that would be a good day one but that would just be a beginning. Day 2 would be just as busy.
7. Before you were a teacher you had a bit of a checkered past with several misdemeanor arrests and since you have been a teacher you lost your house to foreclosure. What makes you think the public should trust you to make good decisions if you were on the board?
When I was a young man, I made a lot of bad choices; it is by pure luck or the grace of God that there weren’t worse consequences for others and myself. I eventually came to the realization I was either going to be a loser or I could chose to be a citizen and the last time other than the occasional ticket I was in trouble was almost 14 years ago. I have also dedicated most of my adult life to working with disabled children and have had the courage to stand up against the inequities in the school system, so I hope those things count for something.
I can’t run from those times though and they helped shaped who I am now. It’s because of those times that I feel I am able to relate to many of our students. You see I know what it means to make mistakes and feel both hopeless and angry and if maybe one kid looks at me and says, that guy turned it around and made a life for myself then I can too, then it will all have been worth it.
As for the foreclosure, I thought I did everything right. I talked to smart people. I did the research. I put twenty-five percent down but at the end of the day it turned out I paid 140 thousand dollars for an eighty thousand dollar house. After Faye blew through town it had a lot of damage and just became too expensive. I had to walk away. When I am on the school board I plan to do things the same way, talk to the teachers and the community, do the research before I make my decisions and to put resources into projects. I just hope I have better results.
8. So what’s next?
Well I am looking to get the word about my campaign out. I will meet with anybody anywhere. If you are interested in education and care about kids lets get together and hammer some things out.
9. How can people contact you?
Through my blog Education Matters, www.jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com or through my email addresses guerrieric@duvalschools.org, guerieridistrict5@gmail.com. Get in touch with me and then lets have a conversation.
10. Is there any thing else you would like to say?
I think the superintendent really did the city a disservice with his everything is all right, we’re a B district mantra. We do have wonderful things going on at our schools, even our struggling schools but the truth is we’re in trouble and we are going to need all hands on deck to get out of it. I would like to ask the citizens of Jacksonville to join me on deck.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Carol Daniels has no comment about Paxon high school being run into the ground.
When Mrs. Daniels was promoted out of Paxon, it had a sterling reputation, a national top ten ranking and a veteran staff operating on all cylinders. Fast forward two and a half years, their FCAT scores have fallen, their national ranking has plummeted and almost half the staff has left or been forced out.
I asked her opinion on what happened to the school that she had so successfully led and she declined to comment.
You know what gets me the most? It’s not people lives being ruined, and kids not getting the education they deserve as despicable of those things are. It is when good people sit back and let it happen and for every bad thing I heard abut the current principal, I heard even more good things about Daniels but there she is sitting silently on the sidelines doing nothing. I can only presume she doesn’t care, comfy in her new district position.
Perhaps now that the superintendent is on his way out people will notice the tragedy that is unfolding at Paxon (and other schools) and something besides the promotion of his sycophants and cronies will happen.
I am reminded of an Edmund Burke quote: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
I asked her opinion on what happened to the school that she had so successfully led and she declined to comment.
You know what gets me the most? It’s not people lives being ruined, and kids not getting the education they deserve as despicable of those things are. It is when good people sit back and let it happen and for every bad thing I heard abut the current principal, I heard even more good things about Daniels but there she is sitting silently on the sidelines doing nothing. I can only presume she doesn’t care, comfy in her new district position.
Perhaps now that the superintendent is on his way out people will notice the tragedy that is unfolding at Paxon (and other schools) and something besides the promotion of his sycophants and cronies will happen.
I am reminded of an Edmund Burke quote: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Florida's new teacher evaluation formula. There is no research that really, truly shows this is proven and valid to a teacher's performance but hey lets go with it right!
From the Gainsville Sun
by Jackie Alexander
Teachers and school administrators are working under new evaluation requirements spurred by the Student Success Act passed by the Legislature last year, but one piece of the puzzle has district officials worried: the use of a “value-added” model.
It could be boom or bust, said Steven Stark, Alachua County Public Schools director of research and assessment.
“This year,” he said, “we're shooting in the dark.”
Teacher evaluations as designated by Senate Bill 736 are to contain three components, including principal observation, lesson study and a value-added score, which relies on student test data results.
Each component is worth 100 points, but weighted differently.
Principal evaluations are now graded on a five-point scale from unsatisfactory to highly effective. Principals are also required to complete two observations for beginning teachers. Those evaluations count for 40 percent of a teacher's overall evaluation.
Lesson studies require teachers to collaborate and create a lesson while one teacher in the group carries out the lesson. The group then critiques the effectiveness of the lesson, which amounts to 20 percent of the total evaluation.
It's the last component, which accounts for 40 percent of a teacher's total evaluation, that has teachers worried.
How teachers fare on their evaluations means more under Florida's Student Success Act. Two years in a row of unsatisfactory performance, and you're out. Perform well and raises ensue.
Value-added models, as explained by Stark during a School Board workshop, intend to measure if a teacher added any value or knowledge to a student throughout the course of the school year.
The value-added model score, or VAM score, is the teacher's score as well as half of the school's VAM score.
The calculation looks at where a student begins on the educational spectrum, predicts how they will perform at the end of the year and then compares the prediction to the actual test results.
The two biggest factors in determining the predicted score, Stark said, are how the student performed on the previous years' FCATs.
With the FCAT having changed over the past two years, coupled with the change in scores needed to pass the test, school administrators are skeptical.
Kanapaha Middle School Principal Jenny Wise said teachers are concerned.
“Because the FCAT changes from year to year to year, I don't think they (teachers) have a warm fuzzy about what their VAM will look like,” she said. “Everything we've done to prepare students to do well (on the FCAT) has changed now.”
Last year students took the FCAT 2.0, touted as a more difficult test requiring deeper understanding of course material as well as more questions to gauge critical thinking.
Education experts have said that the FCAT wasn't designed to assess how well teachers perform, and that the test barely is a barometer for student performance, as scores have been designed to ensure a certain number of students achieve rather than measuring what they achieve.
The model also factors in dozens of other elements, including student attendance, intervention methods and various learning disabilities.
Those variables will be calculated by American Institutes for Research, which works with the Los Angeles Unified School District and New York City schools.
Teachers won't know how they fared on the model until 2013, officials said.
Teachers who don't teach FCAT-tested subjects and grades will receive the schoolwide reading VAM score for their evaluation, Stark said.
Local teachers union President Karen McCann said education experts and researchers are still divided as to whether the value-added model indicates how well a teacher teaches.
“There is no research that really, truly shows this is proven and valid to a teacher's performance,” she said.
A recent Harvard University study argued that using VAM scores in teacher evaluations could lead to teaching to the test or cheating. According to an investigative report by the state of Georgia, it was the pressure of a data-driven environment that led to a widespread cheating scandal in the Atlanta School System.
Howard Bishop Middle School Principal Mike Gamble said he spoke with a researcher who worked on the model to gain more understanding.
“I think this is a step in the right direction, and it's an attempt to be more fair as opposed to just the growth on the FCAT,” he said. “It's far from perfect obviously.”
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120225/articles/120229643
by Jackie Alexander
Teachers and school administrators are working under new evaluation requirements spurred by the Student Success Act passed by the Legislature last year, but one piece of the puzzle has district officials worried: the use of a “value-added” model.
It could be boom or bust, said Steven Stark, Alachua County Public Schools director of research and assessment.
“This year,” he said, “we're shooting in the dark.”
Teacher evaluations as designated by Senate Bill 736 are to contain three components, including principal observation, lesson study and a value-added score, which relies on student test data results.
Each component is worth 100 points, but weighted differently.
Principal evaluations are now graded on a five-point scale from unsatisfactory to highly effective. Principals are also required to complete two observations for beginning teachers. Those evaluations count for 40 percent of a teacher's overall evaluation.
Lesson studies require teachers to collaborate and create a lesson while one teacher in the group carries out the lesson. The group then critiques the effectiveness of the lesson, which amounts to 20 percent of the total evaluation.
It's the last component, which accounts for 40 percent of a teacher's total evaluation, that has teachers worried.
How teachers fare on their evaluations means more under Florida's Student Success Act. Two years in a row of unsatisfactory performance, and you're out. Perform well and raises ensue.
Value-added models, as explained by Stark during a School Board workshop, intend to measure if a teacher added any value or knowledge to a student throughout the course of the school year.
The value-added model score, or VAM score, is the teacher's score as well as half of the school's VAM score.
The calculation looks at where a student begins on the educational spectrum, predicts how they will perform at the end of the year and then compares the prediction to the actual test results.
The two biggest factors in determining the predicted score, Stark said, are how the student performed on the previous years' FCATs.
With the FCAT having changed over the past two years, coupled with the change in scores needed to pass the test, school administrators are skeptical.
Kanapaha Middle School Principal Jenny Wise said teachers are concerned.
“Because the FCAT changes from year to year to year, I don't think they (teachers) have a warm fuzzy about what their VAM will look like,” she said. “Everything we've done to prepare students to do well (on the FCAT) has changed now.”
Last year students took the FCAT 2.0, touted as a more difficult test requiring deeper understanding of course material as well as more questions to gauge critical thinking.
Education experts have said that the FCAT wasn't designed to assess how well teachers perform, and that the test barely is a barometer for student performance, as scores have been designed to ensure a certain number of students achieve rather than measuring what they achieve.
The model also factors in dozens of other elements, including student attendance, intervention methods and various learning disabilities.
Those variables will be calculated by American Institutes for Research, which works with the Los Angeles Unified School District and New York City schools.
Teachers won't know how they fared on the model until 2013, officials said.
Teachers who don't teach FCAT-tested subjects and grades will receive the schoolwide reading VAM score for their evaluation, Stark said.
Local teachers union President Karen McCann said education experts and researchers are still divided as to whether the value-added model indicates how well a teacher teaches.
“There is no research that really, truly shows this is proven and valid to a teacher's performance,” she said.
A recent Harvard University study argued that using VAM scores in teacher evaluations could lead to teaching to the test or cheating. According to an investigative report by the state of Georgia, it was the pressure of a data-driven environment that led to a widespread cheating scandal in the Atlanta School System.
Howard Bishop Middle School Principal Mike Gamble said he spoke with a researcher who worked on the model to gain more understanding.
“I think this is a step in the right direction, and it's an attempt to be more fair as opposed to just the growth on the FCAT,” he said. “It's far from perfect obviously.”
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120225/articles/120229643
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