Jeff Bergosh Blog

School Board Discussion Meeting, Thursday, February 16th 3:00PM

2012-02-09T16:02:00.000-06:00

The Escambia County School board will be meeting for our once monthly discussion meeting this coming Thursday, February 16^th at 3:00 PM in room 160 of the Hall Center.

Board Topics that will be discussed at this meeting include the following:

Middle School Pupil Progression - Jeff Bergosh (5 to 10 minutes)

Waste, Fraud, Abuse Tip Line - Jeff Bergosh (5 to 10 minutes)

Exit Interview Policy - Jeff Bergosh (5 to 10 minutes)

Employee Suspension with Pay - Patty Hightower (5 to 10 minutes)

Dual Enrollment - Patty Hightower (5 to 10 minutes)

End of Course Semester Exam Process for Geometry - Bill Slayton (5 to 10 minutes)

February and March Calendar/Events - Bill Slayton (5 to 10 minutes)

Items the Superintendent has placed on the agenda for the discussion Workshop include:

Budget Priorities - 10 to 15 minutes

Health Insurance Update - 30 to 40 minutes

As is always the case for all of our meetings-- the public is encouraged to attend and afforded the opportunity to speak to the full Board.

Escambia County School District Receives Accreditation from AdvancED

2012-02-01T17:17:00.002-06:00

Today marks the end of a long four day period in the Escambia County School District. At an exit interview held this afternoon at the Hall Center, a team of 9 Education Specialists from AdvancED, an accreditation company that serves school districts around the country and also all DoD schools worldwide, informed the district that we are to be accredited for a five year period.

Behind the scenes and prior to today, this team from AdvancED had conducted interviews with the following district personnel:

5 Board Members

104 Administrative Employees

117 teachers

19 Support Employees

117 Parents and community stakeholders.

Additionally, this team toured ten district schools and visited 67 classrooms. The AdvancED team conducted an intensive review of the districts policies and procedures, then conducted random tests to determine if the district was doing what it says it is doing.

Following a brief overview PowerPoint, the assembled members of the district leadership team were given the news that the Escambia County Schools would be recommended for accreditation. Along with this news, we were commended for four distinct areas:

1. dramatic rise in school level grades over the last ten-year period
2. multiple high quality program offerings
3. highly effective superintendent
4. effective, systematic and systemic strategic planning process

One required area of additional oncentration and focus was given:

1 Identify, adopt, and implement alternative, innovative, non-traditional and where possible, research validated methods to increase participation of parents of under represented community groups in the school system.

Is This Due Process----or a Fleecing of the Taxpayer?

2012-01-29T07:27:00.002-06:00

Recently, school board members received a list of 9 employees who have been "placed on suspension with pay pending an investigation into allegations of misconduct".

This memo was labeled "for informational purposes only", and on the bottom of the memo was listed an appropriate district HR person to contact if Board Members wanted additional information. So I called and received a brief synopsis of each of the allegations leveled against each of these employees.

I think the district moves cautiously, which is in most cases very wise to do---but my issue here is that we are moving so cautiously that we are costing taxpayers large sums of money unnecessarily.

The offenses of these nine employees, while all are significant, run the gamut from bad to really bad to

dangerously bad.

In real life, in a real company, the lion's share of these nine employees would have been terminated immediately for committing the offenses for which they stand accused.

If suspension was the course to take, then for most of these employees I strongly feel a suspension without pay should have been the vehicle to use during an investigation--and here is why.

If we put an employee on a suspension with pay for a period of almost two months over an infraction that might ultimately result in a one day, three day, or five day suspension without pay----then we have actually rewarded that employee with an up to 8 week taxpayer paid vacation!! Madness!

If we put an employee on suspension with pay for an infraction which will eventually lead to a termination (which I believe to be the case with at least two of the nine employees referenced above)--Then when the "district investigation" finally concludes, we will have given the terminated emplyoyee money (taxpayer money) to which they were not entitled!! This payout could total thousands of dollars for the period between when the infraction occurred and when discipline was finally administered! This is insanity, especially when the infraction is defined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement as an offense that leads to termination!

I know the backlog of district investigations is the driving force behind the nearly two month delay for some of these employees on suspension with pay to be processed--and I know this is frustrating for district HR employees. I get that.

And I'm told the union is behind this, as they are challenging every employee discipline, grieving every action that is grieveable, and challenging the district at every turn with respect to discipline. This is good for recruiting new union members. This, too, is a huge problem.

But the drain on employee resources to fight the union over every little thing (even verbal reprimands) is zapping precious taxpayer resources, re-directing these funds away form students and classrooms, and is getting to the point of ridiculousness. I know we have to live with the CBA, I do not agree with many provisions of our CBA, and I have famously voted against this CBA in the past--becuse I see this for what it is: This is abuse of taxpayer resources by fiat under the guise of "due process for association members"

I think it is time to really get after a better CBA that is more friendly and fair to the TAXPAYERS, and that is what I am going to do the next time this document is re-opened for negotiations and I have a crack at it! This I promise!

Escambia County Teacher of the Year Finalists Announced

2012-01-25T17:01:00.001-06:00

The 5 Teacher of the Year Finalists for Escambia have been announced, congratulations to them for this achievement!

Fran Cook--Helen Caro Elementary

Marjorie Stradley--West Florida High School

Jeffrey Pribble--Escambia High School

Terri Pernia--N.B. Cook Elementary School

Catherine Rudd--Scenic Heights Elementary

The Escambia County Teacher of the Year will be announced at the Golden Apple Awards Dinner on February 23.

FDOE School District Rankings = Flawed

2012-01-24T15:59:00.000-06:00

Data Does Not Tell the Whole Story

Recently, a succinct 1-67 ranking of all school districts in Florida was released to citizens and the press by the Florida Department of Education (FDOE). These rankings were based upon a series of calculations directly tied to the administration of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in each of Florida’s 67 Counties. Some districts, like St. Johns (south of Jacksonville) and Santa Rosa (#1 and #2 respectively) have much to be proud of, as they ranked very highly. Hats off to them for the great work they are doing.

For districts like Escambia (ranked #44), the data is much less palatable.

Are we to assume that because districts like Santa Rosa and St. Johns are ranked so high—that they are exponentially better at learning delivery than their lower ranked peers like Escambia? [CAUTION, HUMOR AHEAD] I actually think that if Escambia swapped teachers with Santa Rosa, and kept everything else equal, Santa Rosa Would be holding the #1 slot! [INSERT: RIM-SHOT] Okay, maybe that’s a bit simplistic and over the top, and was of course stated in jest, but according to the press portrayals of this FDOE data I have read—one could easily reason that the higher the district ranking the better the School District, period.

And therein lies the problem.

The release of data like this without thoughtfully conceived disclaimers, explanations, and footnotes can and does lead to incorrect and negative public perceptions. This is because data alone does not tell the whole story. And Commissioner Gerard Robinson’s 5 second blurb about poverty being a factor during his 2 minute introduction of the data does not cut-it as a disclaimer. Nobody (except me) watched that video.

Complex data should be carefully developed and the “press-release” of such data requires thoughtful deployment If accuracy is valued. Apples should be compared to Apples.

A striking yet very apt analogy is the community crime statistics released yearly by the FBI.

When statistics about murders, assaults, forcible rapes and other vicious crimes are released annually, these data are put into tables and organized by events per 100,000 citizens of a particular community. For example, (Utilizing 2010 data) the murder/non-negligent manslaughter rate in New Orleans (pop. 356,000) was roughly 50 times higher than it was in either El Paso, Texas (pop. 624,000) or Lincoln, Nebraska (pop. 260,000). Does this mean police departments in El Paso and Lincoln are way better than the Cops in New Orleans? Of course not. This is why the FBI takes great care in providing a carefully worded disclaimer on its website along with the yearly crime stats. Community issues, poverty, demographics, and a myriad of other social ills affect crime rates—and educational outcomes.

So I propose that the next time the FDOE wants to release rankings, perhaps they should consider utilizing the following disclaimer (taken directly from the FBI website, School District substituted for Law Enforcement, Educational Failure substituted for crime)

“Individuals using these tabulations are cautioned against drawing conclusions by making direct comparisons between cities. Comparisons lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents. Valid assessments are possible only with careful study and analysis of the range of unique conditions affecting each local School District jurisdiction. It is important to remember that Educational Failure is a social problem and, therefore, a concern of the entire community. The efforts of a School District are limited to factors within its control. The data user is, therefore, cautioned against comparing statistical data of individual agencies.”

John Maxwell Live Part 2--The Five Levels of Leadership, Chris Gardner, and the Dream Test

2012-01-23T19:10:00.000-06:00

At the 10AM-Noon Session of todays Leadership training with Dr. John Maxwell at the Pensacola Civic Center, the five levels of leadership were thoroughly covered.

Level one--Position leaders (titled) leaders are followed by people because they have to--this is a good place for leaders to start but a teriible place for leaders to stay. According to Maxwell, this level describes roughly 70% of leaders.

Level two--Permission leaders are followed because others want to follow these types of leaders. The three key qualities of Permission leaders are that these types of leaders listen, observe and serve; this level leader focuses on relationships.

Level three--Production leaders are followed because of what these leaders do for organizations. This level of Leader sets a good example, creates momentum, and attracts higher caliber people to an organization

Level four--People Development leaders attract followers because of what these leaders do for people. People developers recruit, position and equip the next generation of leaders by utilizing a five step process, they model the behavior, then they model and train, then they allow the trainee to implement the procedure while the leader is present, then level four leaders allow their mentees to go out on their own, and finally, the level four leader encourages his protege to go out and become a people developer in their own right.

Level five--Pinnacle leaders are followed because of who they are and what they accomplish.

After the noon session, lunch was served and at 1:20 Chris Gardner, the real-life inspiration for the hit Will Smith movie "The Pursuit of Happyness" gave an inspiring account of his life and the events leading up to his successful career as a stock broker.

At 3:00 PM, Dr. Maxwell did the final segment of the conference when he delivered a 10 point "dream-test" where he helped the audience to refine and define what an individual's dreams are. The ten point self assessmnent was actually a series of ten questions which, if answered truthfully, will help identify where a person's true passions lie.

During the course of the day, Dr. Maxwell strongly encouraged attendees to acquire and read his novels
"The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" "Today Counts" and "The 360 degree Leader"

Carlan Consulting, Gulf Power, Pensacola State College, and many other civic organizations and local businesses sponsored this event and were the driving force behind the huge (7,000 + attendees) turn-out.

John Maxwell Live Part 1--What is Success?

2012-01-23T15:12:00.000-06:00

Today has been an extremely enlightening day at the civic center as nationally renowned motivational speaker and author John Maxwell has provided leadership training. At the morning session from 8-10 am, after introductions and sponsor acknowledgments, Dr. Maxwell defined success as knowing one's purpose in life, growth to one's maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others. He has spent time expanding upon these points and mixing in anecdotes from his own life. In his mid-morning session Dr. Maxwell will identify and expand on the five levels of leadership.

Escambia Ranked #44 of 67 Florida Counties in Test Data

2012-01-23T09:56:00.001-06:00

In a new ranking of all sixty-seven Florida school districts released this morning, Escambia county has been ranked # 44.

This ranking is simply based upon raw test score data, not weighted for poverty or other demographic factors. So, and you read it here first, Tomorrow's PNJ headline will be about how great Santa Rosa schools (#2 in the survey) and Okaloosa schools (#6 in the survey)are doing compared to Escambia.

And of course there will be no exploration of the significant differences demographically between the districts. And this will be frustrating!

127 Bills Filed in the Florida Legislature Through 1-20-12

2012-01-22T08:06:00.000-06:00

Once weekly the Escambia County Scool District is briefed on Educational Issues being debated in the Florida legislature. After these briefs, we typically receive a synopsis of all the bills currently making their way through the process.

As of this past Friday, there were 127 K-12 Education Related Bills currently working their way through the Florida House and Senate, some of which are quite interesting. I am attaching the comlete list of these bills here for all to see.

I know more than a few of these potential laws have my attention. Anyone wishing to research these bills further can create a senate bill tracker account here (very informative, useful, free, and easy)

To track house bills of interest, create a tracker account here

"We Can't Get That Deep Into the Weeds"

2012-01-18T06:36:00.004-06:00

Okay, this quote needs to be put into context.....

I understand that the News Journal has limited space to expand upon ideas and quotations, and therefore I want to put the statement above into context. My conversation with the News Journal yesterday after the meeting was on a number of topics, including health care, the fund balance in our benefits account, and also the teacher who was facing termination.

With respect to that situation (employee discipline) I told the PNJ that operational issues and personnel recommendations are the purview of the Superintendent. With respect to terminating employees, we do in fact have a say in these matters, and I told the PNJ that I was briefed on multiple occasions about this particular employee and the circumstances surrounding her termination in the days prior to the meeting. I felt comfortable making the motion and also voting

for the termination based upon the facts presented to me in this case.

Now, with respect to how the schools are operated---Individual schools and the operation of these schools are the responsibility of highly trained, well paid principals and these schools operate under the framework of school board rules which we as a body (the school board) create. But in terms of us, as individual board members butting-in and telling principals at individual schools how they ought to operate—that is outside of our lanes. The principals report to a director, who in turn reports to an assistant superintendent, who in turn reports to the Superintendent. Operational issues at schools need to follow that chain of command, period.

I do not speak for my fellow board members, but I do speak for myself and I stand by my statement. If we are going to insert ourselves into the operational aspects of schools--- this is a mistake. We should not micromanage and we should not get that deep into the weeds.

Memo to City Hall....How about letting us in on Your Grand Vision for OUR PROPERTY!

2012-01-13T17:00:00.004-06:00

So at the Thursday discussion meeting of the Escambia County School Board, a frenzied last minute shuffle took place as various School District Operations Personnel left and entered the room, answered phones, then made calls, in and out of the meeting, up and down, back and forth.

Eventually, Mrs. Hightower told us all that she had received late word from an ECUA board member about a significant zoning change that was about to be discussed by the Pensacola City Council, that very night at 5PM, which would affect a large swath of downtown, the former site of the ECUA sewage plant, and also our significant property at 215 W. Garden Street.

“Were we noticed?” Was the question from the assembled staff and School Board members? The answer thus far appears to be no.

Nobody was noticed officially, unofficially, in writing, or via a courtesy call—until the night of the meeting by a third party. Wow! Really?

As a governmental entity that levies ad-valorem taxes, and also as a substantial property owner within this proposed district—The School Board and Superintendent Thomas and his staff should have been noticed about this meeting. We should be

afforded the opportunity to give input into the zoning changes of this proposed special district as any changes enacted with this overlay could potentially adversely affect the salability of our property---- and ultimately the value of our (TAXPAYERS) property.

So our attorney hurriedly left our meeting to attend the city council meeting to let them know that.. “Hey, nobody in the School District was noticed about this and some communication of this proposed change should have been given us in advance.”

Our attorney, Mrs. Waters, is looking into what the statutory legal notice requirements are for this sort of change and also what input/say we will have in what is finally approved as an overlay for this district. We’re all engaged in this now, thanks to a last minute call in to us from an ECUA board member.

Meanwhile, the lack of proper notice to us by the city was, at a minimum, off-putting and in poor form.

The “Thursday Morning Money Grab”

2012-01-13T16:49:00.003-06:00

No, it’s not a catchy and fun song like “Tuesday Night Music Club” by Sheryl Crow. And no, there was nothing warm and fuzzy about it. Nope, as it turns out it was just a Thursday morning email blast (see the email below) that sent shockwaves through schools and colleges statewide. And we found out about it today at this morning’s regular workshop of the Escambia County School Board.

As is usually the case at our meetings, several interesting topics were discussed. Today, however, this unusual and troubling bit of information about this money freeze was passed along to School Board members by Terry St Cyr, Assistant Superintendent for Finance.

Our School District, along with every other school district and college and university in the state, received this email Thursday morning, a very matter-of-fact memo---- just essentially freezing hundreds of millions of dollars statewide—that’s all. Just a hundreds of $millions.

Yes, every college and school district in the state has suddenly and inexplicably had their Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) budgets frozen. What this means is essentially that any monies

allocated to any district or college that has not been officially encumbered is now frozen until further notice. If a project has not been approved (by DOE), then any money planned for such an unapproved project is frozen.

In our district, we have not received any PECO funding from the state in the last two years. Our remaining PECO funds total roughly $500K (which we utilize to fund salaries for our maintenance crews) this money, that remains from earlier FY allocations, is now officially frozen like an ice sculpture and cannot be used “until further notice”.

For Escambia County, this will amount to nothing more than an inconvenience—for some districts this will bring projects to a screeching halt and will be a tremendous setback.

All in all we are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars potentially that are now officially frozen solid, inexplicably, with very little notice, very little fanfare, and zero media coverage.

Maybe this money is being raided to fill some other educational funding shortfall? Who knows?

But hey, a little notice would have been nice so that the funds could have been allocated, but I suppose that would have defeated the purpose of this money-grab. I mean, you wouldn’t splash the water before you cast the net for fish, right?

Interesting, this money grab, but disconcerting at the same time.

A.A. Dixon--the Financial Struggles Continue...

2012-01-11T07:03:00.007-06:00

The financial woes affecting A.A. Dixon charter are not going away.

At a special meeting of the Escambia County School Board this Thursday, January 12, at 3:00 PM, the board will discuss the current state of A.A. Dixon’s finances. Board members will be presented with a PowerPoint presentation by the finance department which projects A.A. Dixon’s fund balance to be a negative (-$63,090.00) at the end of FY 2012.

This conservative projection shows a negative fund balance at the end of the FY, in comparison to the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) submitted by this charter earlier this year which projected a positive fund balance of around 5K at the end of the FY.

I never thought the CAP’s fund balance projection was realistic, and I am actually somewhat skeptical about the final number this charter’s fund balance will be when the FY ends in June of 12. I believe the final number will be worse that $63K, more like between (-$100,000.00 and -$150,000.00)

The presentation, which has already been provided to board members, also contains some line items which will create questions from me such as:

1. How do you plan to pay for the repair of the district provided buses such that your transportation projection (7800-390), which is drastically lower for the second half of FY12, will be realistic, given your current fund balance is (-$30,970.00)

2. What is the nature of the $10,000.00 expenditure in 7300-390, to whom was this expenditure made?

3. What is the nature of the $4,688.00 expenditure in 7100-315, to whom was this expenditure made? (My understanding of the CAP was that the school was no longer going to use consultants)

4. Given the fact that your checkbook is essentially in the hole about -$30K, will you continue to be able to make your payroll for the rest of this year?

5. Has your staff’s total “voluntary” pay cut been 10%, 15%, or a combination (25%?)

6. If the fund balance increases as it looks likely to at the end of the FY—will this school close voluntarily per the agreement between Dixon’s Board Chair and the Superintendent, and the amendment to the CAP?

These are some of my initial questions; there will be more as this meeting (in room 160 at the Hall center) unfolds Thursday.

5 Escambia County High Schools Earn Enough Points for an "A".......

2012-01-05T06:09:00.006-06:00

....but only one High School earned the "A". This due to a penalty assessed for the 2011 year for on time at-risk graduation. See the chart below......

..And compare the grades from last year with this chart, below....

The High Schools and all schools in our district are making signifigant forward progress. As is illustrated in the first chart, five High Schools of Seven in our district earned enough points for an "A" but 4 were penalized back to a "B" level due to a newly enacted penalty on High Schools that do not graduate at-risk students within 4 years.

This is an issue that we are working on and we will have to focus more resources on solving this problem; but that does not and should not diminish the accomplishments of the high schools in all other areas.

Congratulations are in order for the students, parents, teachers, staff and administrators that are driving these results!

Panhandle County Gets National Recognition for Cost Cutting

2012-01-03T19:03:00.000-06:00

Not Escambia. Santa Rosa is singled out in this recent article that appeared on Breitbart's Big Government site. Santa Rosa's efforts at privatizing services has saved tremendous sums of taxpayer money--and has proven to be a wise course of action.....

From the article:

"Some Florida schools have managed to weather the financial storm on their own by tackling runaway labor costs. The Santa Rosa district is a good example. Like most districts, it has felt the effects of decreased state aid. Santa Rosa’s current operating budget is about $15 million less than last year’s budget. But school officials did not have to hit the panic button, or demand tax increases to maintain their programs. Instead they made some “tough decisions,” including the privatization of their food, custodial and transportation programs, a gradual process that began in the 1990s. “(The tough decisions) are paying dividends because we are very solvent and we are able to navigate through the next year without too much concern,” Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick recently told NWFDailyNews.com. Jim Crane, director of purchasing and contract administration for Santa Rosa schools, helped implement the district’s privatization plan, which was among the first in the state. He’s seen the benefits of privatization first hand. “We’re saving millions per year because we contracted out, and we’re getting better service,” Crane told EAG. “It’s been a net plus for us.”
Crane notes the district’s switch to privatization was very gradual. Instead of replacing union employees with private sector counterparts immediately, Santa Rosa decided to replace employees through attrition. As they quit or retire, they’re replaced with contracted workers. Eighteen years ago, two-thirds of Santa Rosa’s custodial staff were district employees, and were paid according to contractually negotiated salary schedules. That’s down to two percent today. When salary and benefits are averaged out, a custodian employed directly by the district costs twice as much as a privately contracted custodian, Crane said. District-employed transportation employees cost one-third more than their private sector counterparts."

Read the full article here

Putting Themselves Ahead of Kids, Obstructionist Union Costs Schools $60 Million

2011-12-31T08:57:00.000-06:00

Yes, sad but true. Luckily this is not happening here but in New York--- it still aggravates me though. I hate it when adults put themselves and their needs ahead of students and it happens everyday in America, and it has to change.

From today's NY Daily News

"New Yorkers have 58 million reasons to jeer teachers union President Michael Mulgrew.
Thanks to him, 33 schools in desperate need of money to improve have just lost $58 million in funds intended to turn them around. Thanks to him, some of the worst teachers at some of the worst schools will continue to be protected at the expense of the kids in their classrooms. Thanks to him, the state may soon have to forfeit $700 million in additional federal Race to the Top money awarded based on promised reforms."

A more union sympathetic viewpoint is below, from the WNYC blog.

"The New York State Department of Education awarded the funds, called School Improvement Grants (SIG), on the condition that school districts and unions revise their collective bargaining agreements to include a new evaluation system for teachers and principals. New York City is one of 10 districts statewide to be promised the funds. "Sadly, the adults in charge of the city's schools have let the students down," said John B. King, state commissioner of education, in a written statement. "This is beyond disappointing. The city and the unions have known about this deadline for many months, but there’s no evidence of any real progress."

Read more here

Florida Loses out on RTTT Early Childhood Education Grant

2011-12-17T07:51:00.000-06:00

Thirty-five states and Puerto Rico applied for federal ECE money, but so far only 9 states have received the awards. Florida's application was rejected, in part, due to a lukewarm application package laden with conditions.

From the Orlando Sentinal

"Gov. Rick Scott, who signed the state's application, said the state would accept the money only if "no federal strings" were attached and no "new burdensome regulations" were placed on private child-care centers...Scott said Friday that sticking to those conditions cost Florida. "Unfortunately, our insistence against irresponsibly using one-time dollars for recurring government programs did not win the favor of the administration in Washington," he said in a statement. Florida will continue to push for "a world-class education system," the governor said. "We will accomplish this goal for the benefit of our current students and generations of Floridians to come without sacrificing responsible spending."

Not winning this particular award will not damage our schools in my opinion. I remain somewhat skeptical about the effectiveness and benefit (relative to the costs) of spending tremendous sums of money (Federal and or State) on ECE, given that the evidence of long-term learning gains measured after the third grade between students that received preK services compared to those who did not is very thin. Some even would assert that the government spending huge sums on preK ammounts to nothing more than an additional entitlement program, as preK and childcare should be an individual, parental responsibility. So losing this grant is not going to keep me awake at night

By contrast, however--- Florida's winning of the $700Million K-12 RTTT Grant has been tremendously impactful to our schools and will bear fruit for many years to come in this state as it has put the status quo directly into the cross-hairs of reform.

Employee Health Clinic Concept to be presented for Board Consideration

2011-11-15T15:39:00.000-06:00

As an addition to the School Board of Escambia County’s organizational meeting that will be held one week from today, on November 22, 2011, a presentation on the recently completed Health Clinic Feasibility Study will be given to the board.

In November of 2010, this item was discussed by members of the board; however there seemed to be no really strong support for this concept at that time. The matter was set aside, referred to the benefits committee.

Fast forward one year, with health costs skyrocketing, premiums soaring, and more and more out-of-pocket costs being foisted on district employees—and the timing seems ripe for the district to establish a clinic for employees, dependents, and eligible retirees as a mechanism for controlling costs to our self-funded health insurance plan.

The feasibility study does not definitively recommend the establishment of a clinic, but rather discusses the potential savings and costs associated with starting up a clinic.

The upside is that lower paid employees could utilize such a clinic and save on out of pocket co-pays and some drug costs. Currently there are some employees who forego doctor’s visits because of the costs, which could lead to more expensive treatments down the line for these persons.

The district health trust fund saves if utilization by employees grows and employees with chronic conditions utilize the facility.

To be successful, the district must market this clinic as a convenient and less expensive alternative to seeing one’s primary care physician for minor or routine visits.

Also, the district must choose the clinic location wisely and be prepared to sustain some initial start up costs for the first several years.

I’m hopeful that my fellow board members will carefully consider this concept as a benefit to the employees and a cost saving, long-term employee wellness vehicle for our workforce.

AA Dixon Charter School Struggles Continue--The Good, The Bad, and the ..............

2011-11-11T11:47:00.002-06:00

At yesterday's workshop of the Escambia County School Board, a presentation on the progress of the embattled AA Dixon Charter School was given. Some interesting information was disseminated, but curiously-- no local press coverage of this school's progress report occurred.

An updated but not yet official (?) revised Corrective Action Plan was handed out to members of the board, along with other documentation. A verbal presentation was given by AA Dixon Principal Cathy Culbert as well.

The good: The school has made an effort to recruit students and their enrollment spiked to 165 students for the October count (it has subsequently receded to around 148 students). Additionally, anonymous donors have given the school a significant number of books and the principal reports that the library at this school has been established. (this has been an ongoing concern for me personally--what elementary school does not have a library with books in it for the students?) So many books have been donated that students were given books to keep and take home. This is very good. Also, some unknown, anonymous but generous donor has given the school over $30K in monetary support--a much needed boost for this financially troubled school. Additionally, the school reports that they are working to purchase and repair excess busses from the Escambia district in an effort to save on transportation costs. (Currently Dixon charter is outsourcing their transportation to Durham School Services) In addition to these positives, a local hotel chain company has pledged assistance with mentoring students at this school--an extremely helpful part of the puzzle if this school is to succeed. We were also given minutes from their newly constituted, locally recruited school board which was a nice addition to the presentation.

The Bad: As was discussed at many previous meetings, the financial condition of this school continues to erode fast. Their latest P&L statement has a negative fund balance of (-$2,689.00). Unreserved fund

balance brought forward from last year is a negative (-$100,688.00), Net Assets and year to date Net Income is a negative (-$19,139.00). There is a 35% increase in Current Liabilities since the previous month due to increases in accounts payable. The cash balance in the amount of $1,366.00 is inadequate to meet current requirements. (All of this with the remaining staff at Dixon having voluntarily agreed (?) to continued 10% salary cuts for themselves)

In addition to the financial woes--an audit team comprised of state department of education and Escambia County School district personnel noted significant curriculum deficiencies in a report dated 11/1/11, to include the following:

---Asst. Principal Position deleted
---No instructional coaches for reading, math, and/or science
---Delays in software implementation did not allow for an accurate review of the grade data
---FCIM processes incomplete
---FAIR AP1 test window missed
---School has inadequate resources to adequately meet new science standards
---Math--very few students scoring at or above proficiency

The Future?

Other concerns were expressed at yesterday's meeting. I reiterated my continuing concern about this school's train-wreck financial condition. Unless the anonymous donations continue, I see this school's cash burn-rate outpacing their revenues, and this will lead to a disastrous end.

The superintendent expressed concern about the fluctuating, up and down student attendance numbers, pointing to an increased churn rate of students between AA Dixon and Escambia District schools. This serves nobody well, students especially.

Why are we here?

A few months back, the 90 day notice was crafted and added to an agnda for school board action to close this school at the Christmas break and re-assign these students to other traditional district schools. three solid votes on the board seemed to be aligned with support the issuance of the 90 day notice back then. For reasons which I continue not to understand--that 90 day letter was inexplicably pulled and these students are officially stuck at AA Dixon, at a minimum, until the end of this school year in the spring of 2012. How far behind will these students be next school year at whatever school they end up attending?

As I have said numerous times with respect to this school, I wish them the best and I want them to be successful, but I do not think this school will survive--there are simply too many factors working against them.

And the students will fall further behind because we failed to intervene when we should/could have. I wish I would have been more foreceful in my calls to close this school when the opportunity was there--but I wanted to believe this could be salvaged.

We'll all have to wait and see how this shakes out over the next 7 months.

Law Enforcement Investigators Questioning Students at School Part III

2011-11-09T18:19:00.001-06:00

At this afternoon's meeting of the Escambia County School Board, I initiated discussion of the district's policy regarding student questioning by law enforcement at school.

As I have discussed previously here and here, I believe the district needs a better policy which affords parents the opportunity to be present when their children are questioned at school for serious incidents which could potentially lead to civil or criminal liability (for the student and/or the parents).

At the meeting, members of the sheriff's office were present to advocate for the continuation of the existing policy which they described as "working well". They want to keep the status quo on this issue.

But I have seen some issues arise which I believe necessitate a better policy.

Mrs. Hightower requested time to digest the data I brought to the meeting, and Mrs. Moultrie suggested she may be open to a policy change if it is developed in coordination with law enforcement.

Mr. Thomas expressed his support for the current existing policy "as-is", and Mr. Boone expressed no opinion one way or another.

Mr. Slayton expressed support for the status quo with respect to the current policy, in alignment with Mr. Thomas and the Sheriff's department.

I will attempt to meet with members of the Sheriff's department over the course of the next month to get their input into a better policy, and I will bring this revision to next month's discussion meeting.

Law Enforcement Investigators Questioning Students on School Property, Part II

2011-11-07T06:02:00.002-06:00

Last month I expressed an interest in modifying our existing policy with respect to how students are questioned at school for non-school discipline related or law enforcement purposes.

At the meeting, I explained that because our attorney was not present I would put this item back on the agenda for the following month.

Between then and now, I have worked with our attorney to craft draft policy that is legal and appropriate based upon how the state of Illinois handles this same issue. Our school district has the right to carefully and thoughtfully control access to its students by Law enforcement investigators and according to recent legal rulings I believe we should be doing this.

At Wednesday's discussion meeting, I'll be bringing this proposed language to discuss with my fellow board members with the intention of gaining a consensus for the idea of inserting this language into current policy.

School Board Discussion Items For Wednesday, November 9

2011-11-07T05:51:00.000-06:00

The following items will be on the agenda for a special discussion workshop to be held this Wednesday, November 9, 2011:

1. Protocol for Questioning of Students on School Property by Law

Enforcement - Jeff Bergosh (5 minutes)

2. Procedures for Organization of School Board - Jeff Bergosh (5 minutes)

3. Services for Students that Don't Qualify for Tutorial Service
Programs - Linda Moultrie (5 minutes)

4. Methods of Notification from Schools to Parents of Informational
Items - Linda Moultrie (5 minutes)

5. Operational Audit for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2011 - Patty Hightower (10 minutes)

6. House Bill 163 - Bill Slayton (5 minutes)

Paying Salaried/Exempt Employees Overtime Compensation

2011-10-19T06:14:00.000-05:00

I voted against 9 contracts tonight for supplemental education services (SES) providers. The reason for my no vote, which I discussed in depth at the School Board Workshop on Friday, was because a section of each of these contracts (20. A.) specified that for route management services, the SES providers would pay $500 per school for this service. I have no issue with charging these third-party, SES providers this fee—the issue is that the contracts also specified that this entire $500.00 fee would go directly to the route manager assigned to each school—the district would not receive a penny of the money! I had no intention of going on and on about my reasons for voting no last night at the meeting, until each and every board member took a turn saying they strongly supported this plan and then the superintendent took a turn saying this was the right thing to do. And they all talked about "student safety" and "no cost to the district" and other red herrings were thrown out that did not coincide with the reality of my disagreement with the issue. So, After they all spoke, I again addressed the issue and explained my precise reason for the no vote for the record.

The fact of the matter is that I looked deeply into this issue, and I could find no other transportation department in the state doing what Escambia is proposing. Not One. At the Department of Education, I spoke with transportation specialists that had never heard of anything like this being done. So, I did not gingerly jump into this issue.

Now, if these route managers were hourly and not salaried employees, I would not have an issue with their receiving additional compensation. These route managers in Escambia County, however, are well-paid, salaried employees that earn as much as $61,000.00 yearly. They are not subject to a collective bargaining agreement and therefore can be made to work overtime without additional compensation. And this extra work they will be doing will be on district computers, using expensive district software. I think appropriate compensation for these employees could have been “comp” time—with the monetary payments staying with the district. I was alone in that feeling, which is not surprising given my background as a small business owner. My colleagues on the board and the superintendent are all long term government employees. We see things differently.

Now, I’m told that these route manager employees only work on the SES routing “after their regular work-day hours”—however, because they are salaried and not hourly employees, how could this ever be verified? How do we know that these employees do not fit this additional work into their workday and daylight for this extra compensation? I'm not going to go down there, and this is out of my lanes in terms of what my role is in the district. But the question does come to my mind.

Our attorney did look into this issue and her opinion is that under the Fair Labor Standards Act, additional

compensation can be paid to Salaried Exempt employees in this instance. My feeling is that even if something is legal, it does not always make it the right thing to do. A well-paid, salaried employee should realize that in some instances the boss will give extra work and that is just the way it is and it comes with the territory of being a salaried employee. Understanding that these employees work 45-50 hours weekly on average, my feeling still remains that extra work comes with the territory-- and the expectation and realization of extra pay for working a few extra hours weekly by salaried/exempt employees in the district sets a dangerous precedent and puts us on a slippery-slope. I mean, who will be the next salaried/exempt employee that will advocate for additional pay for additional work in our district? Title I employees? Charter School Administrators? Principals who stay late for PTA fundraisers?

I do not believe a private employer locally paying his/her employees as much as $61,000 yearly would feel so obligated to give his salaried employee additional monies for working a few extra hours weekly on a short-term basis in a situation similar to what has been proposed for our route managers. And if he did, I doubt that it would be the full amount the third party was paying to the company ($500)—I just think the house would get some of that. In our district, the “house” is the district’s coffers (taxpayer’s money). And maybe that’s why nobody else had an issue with these contracts..........

Should Parents Be Notified Before Police Interviews of their Children on Campus?

2011-10-14T16:54:00.005-05:00

I believe the answer is YES.

This question is on my mind as I look at the news and see 14 year old students being arrested. This issue is on my mind when I think of other incidents of which I am aware where law enforcement officers are questioning students as young as seven years old without prior notification to parents. I’m thinking as a parent with three kids in the district—I want to be notified and given the opportunity to be present for any interviews police officers wish to conduct with my children at school.

I believe most responsible, caring parents would want this same courtesy if their children wind up in a situation where an interview with police is initiated. And I’m not talking about routine encounters with School Resource Officers who are doing school related policing (fights, drugs, theft, weapons, etc). I’m most concerned when the questioning is initiated for law enforcement purposes.

Most of the parents in our community are probably unaware that under current School Board Policy, notification of parents prior to police questioning of their children is not required. From page 27 of the students rights and responsibilities handbook, under Chapter 7: Safe Schools “…If any officer wishes to question a student at school, a suitable place will be provided after the officer has presented proper identification…..The school shall make a reasonable effort in a timely manner to notify the parent(s)/guardian(s), when appropriate, that the student has been questioned or has been placed under arrest.”

I have never been comfortable with a lack of parent notification, and therefore I have instructed my own older children to always request to have me present if they are ever asked to consent to any interview at school by authorities.

In light of recent Supreme Court Rulings which call into question some interview techniques used by law enforcement at schools, I feel compelled to work with our school board attorney to craft a more robust policy concerning the questioning of students at school by law enforcement. I’m not proposing this to stymie law enforcement in any way—to the contrary I am doing this to ensure that the rights of students (and their parents) are not being trampled upon. Recent rulings seem to be placing more onus on the schools to provide parental notification prior to the questioning of students on campus by police. If our policy does not help guide this process--then criminal cases built utilizing improper interview techniques and the resultant evidence obtained could be surpressed at trial--potentially wasting precious taxpayer-funded law enfocement resources. Nobody wants to waste taxpayer resources of any kind in this recessionary environment.
The big issue I have is that children, particularly very young kids, do not necessarily grasp the ramifications of statements they make willingly and do not always realize they are potentially incriminating themselves and/or their parents by statements made to police officers on campus.

Most young children do not realize the difference between a “non-custodial interview” by police and a “custodial interview” Children in many cases do not realize what Miranda rights and the 5^th Amendment mean as they are obediently agreeing to speak with police officers on campus as these police officers conduct law enforcement investigations and develop cases which in some instances could lead to criminal charges against these very students.

So, I believe the policy must be changed to give parents more notice.

I have found a thoughtfully developed policy formulated by a joint commission of Superintendents and School Attorneys from Illinois which I will suggest we utilize as a starting point for the development of a better policy in Escambia County. In particular, I like the way in which the steps are clearly delineated in V. A 1-10 and B of this Illinois Document.

It might come as a shock to some, but in this particular issue I am in alignment with Kagan, Breyer, Sotomayor, Ginsburg, and Kennedy; I’m no fan of the ACLU—but I am a civil libertarian!

A.A. Dixon Amendment to Amended Charter Coming to Board for Action

2011-10-10T07:20:00.002-05:00

This item, an amendment to the amended charter agreement between A.A. Dixon and the Escambia County School Board, will come to the Escambia School Board for action this month.

As discussed previously, the terms for the continued operation of A.A. Dixon, hammered out in an email exchange between the superintendent and the charter school board chair, are being memorialized and incorporated into the existing charter.

I'm convinced that this additional layer of oversight will allow the district the flexibility to support this charter school and help them be successful.

If, however, the benchmarks (financial and academic) agreed upon in this amendment are not realized, A.A. Dixon school will voluntarily close at the end of this school year.

It is time now for the school to perform and honor their contractual agreement.

October 13th School Board Discussion Meeting Agenda Finalized

2011-10-07T05:29:00.000-05:00

Here are the topics that will be discussed at a special meeting this Thursday, October 13th at 3:00 PM at room 160 of the Hall Center.

1) Video Streaming of School Board Meetings - Jeff Bergosh (5 minutes)

2) Protocol for Questioning of Students on School Property by Law

Enforcement - Jeff Bergosh (5 minutes)

3) Scenarios Regarding Various District Insurance Plans - Jeff Bergosh (10 minutes)

4) Half Cent Sales Tax Reallocation for District-wide Programs - Jeff Bergosh (5 minutes)

5) Update on Foundation for Excellence - Gerald W. Boone (5 minutes)

6) Update on Transportation Issues for N. B. Cook Elementary - Linda Moultrie (5 minutes)

7) IPad Issues - Bill Slayton (5 minutes)

8) Proper Protocol for Informing Parents of Incidents Involving Their

Child's School - Bill Slayton (5 minutes)

9) Funds for Advertisement for Adult Education Classes for District - Bill Slayton (5 minutes)

FSBA 2012 Platform Evaluation Matrix

2011-09-29T15:57:00.000-05:00

Each year the Florida School Boards Association (FSBA) combines individual School Board member inputs from around the state into a platform from which they can advocate.

As has been the custom in the past, every school board member has the ability to provide input on the final draft platform and priorities for the Governor and the 2012 Legislative Session.

I'm in strong agreement with the lion's share of what has been proposed, but strongly against several of the planks of this year's platform, particularly the ones that seek to create new taxes and the one priority that calls for elimination of penalties for districts that violate the class size law (like Palm Beach County did last year, saving their taxpayers $50Million dollars)

The complete Matrix and platform components with my input is here.

Who Should Be Atop the "Loser" List?

2011-09-29T06:34:00.000-05:00

Should it be Rick Outzen of the InWeekly?

Rick outzen, publisher of Rick's Blog and Inweekly, put me on his loser list for not supporting A.A. Dixon Charter School. But I voted to accept their Corrective Action Plan to give them the rest of this year to come out of financial and academic challenges.

Here's my email to Rick:

Rick,

I see that you've placed me atop your weekly list of losers, which I feel is a bit unfair.

Remember, I voted to accept the Superintendent's recommendation to accept A.A. Dixon's CAP at the last meeting. (which is recorded online--go look for yourself) In fact, it was a unanimous 5-0 vote. I don't think they are out of the woods, but I voted to give them a chance. This makes me a big "loser" in your opinion?

A.A. Dixon violated their contract with the district and have some significant financial issues which necessitated close scrutiny by the school board--surely you don't find fault with that?

And in your outtakes, you make an assertion that the school district has failed to address education in the inner city--however you are wrong in this. The district, and I, have stood shoulder to shoulder with Jackie Harris Prep, just ask Celestine Lewis.

We also have made tremendous strides at Weis, Montclair, and yes, Warrington Middle.

Look, it is apparent that you dislike me--I get that. But if you want to call me a loser, try to find a subject to base this upon which is reflective of reality. With respet to A.A. Dixon--you are wrong

But this is not the only time you've made baseless, inaccurate accusations about the district that you've been proven wrong about:

1. You said we violated law with respect to DCF reporting protocols at Tate--you were proven wrong, no retraction

2. Recently, you stated in your blog that the district was going to pocket Title I money that was earmarked for A.A. Dixon, and this was the reason we were motivated to close this school. (totally false) Again, this was proven to be false yet you offer no retraction.

3. You state we fail at offering educational opportunities in the inner city, yet we've just spent $20Million at GLA which serves inner-city youth--you neglect to mention this as you attack us for being failures while you skip the ribbon cutting at GLA.

Try to get some of these stories about the district right for a change, why don't you?

If you can't, don't, or won't--how about just putting yourself on the top of the "loser" list, as that is what you will be (are?).

Jeff Bergosh

Escambia County School Board, Dist. 1
850-469-6147
http://www.jeffbergoshblog.blogspot.com/
jbergosh@escambia.k12.fl.us

Benefits Premium Schedules for 2012 Plan Year Approved by Board

2011-09-24T08:58:00.001-05:00

At a special meeting of the Escambia County School Board on Friday evening, the premium schedule for the 2012 plan year was voted on and approved by the School Board.

The meeting, which began at 5PM and ran about 45 minutes in length, featured union representative Bill Vincent speaking out saying he felt the district could have put more money into the plan. Superintendent Thomas also spoke, expressing a continuing committment to put an RFP out for the 2013 plan year in the hopes of finding a better solution. The superintndent also said the employee walk in clinic idea was moving forward and a feasibility study was already in the works regarding the clinic concept for the district.

Members of the board also spoke, with board chair Jerry Boone expressing dissatisfaction with the communication between the superintendent's office and staff and the board.

Patty Hightower expressed disappointment with the fact that more money could not be found to augment the district's contribution. Mrs. Hightower also suggested that 2 Employee family premiums (currently free for the first two levels of coverage) may need to be looked at for next year

Kevin Windham, district Risk Manager, and I had a back and forth dialogue where the issue of equity of coverage percentages was discussed. I stated that I felt like everyone needed to pay something for their coverages, to have some "skin in the game". I also said that I felt the two employee family coverage for free was problematic and needed to be looked at for next plan year.

I expressed my disappointment with the overall process--but I also re-stated my belief that as bad and as dysfunctional as it was, the expedited impass resolution process worked for this year. If it could work this year--with the numerous big problems addressed--it was a process that needed to be kept in place, in my opinion.

Employee Benefits Settled for 2012 Plan Year

2011-09-21T06:02:00.001-05:00

At the continuation meeting for resolution of the Employee Benefits for 2012 held Tuesday evening, the issue was resolved for the 2012 calendar year.

After having a marathon 3 hour meeting on Monday, the meeting was recessed until Tuesday after the regular meeting. At the resumed meeting, the issues were again discussed at length, budget presentations were made, and a compromise was reached.

The solution came when Superintendent Thomas agreed to put an additional $900K into the plan from the district's LCIF account(the account which houses revenue from the sale of surplus properties)-which would be used to reduce the premiums of single employee+dependent and Single employee+family plans.

This added money, combined with a renewed district commitment to look at establishing a district walk in clinic for employees, was enough to convince me to vote for the plan as modified.

Friday, Sept. 23rd at PM the board will meet again to approve the revised premium schedules.

As frustrating and exhausting as this process was to resolve this thorny issue--at the end of the day the process worked the way it was intended an this matter was brought to resolution in time for an on-time employee enrollment.

That was where we can claim a small victory.

A.A. Dixon 90 Day Termination Letter Pulled

2011-09-21T05:47:00.002-05:00

In a stunning turn of events at Tuesday's regular meeting of the School Board, Superintendent Malcolm Thomas pulled the 90 Termination Letter for A.A. Dixon from the Agenda. Late Tuesday afternoon an email exchange between Thomas and A.A. Dixon Board Chair LuTimothy May led to an agreement which resulted in the abrupt, last-minute change by Superintendent Thomas.

At the meeting, the issue was discussed at length and several members of the public spoke in support of the school. At the end of the discussions, The Superintendent recommended passage of the school's corrective action plan by the board. In one of the most contentious unanimous 5-0 votes I have ever witnessed, the Board supported the Superintendent's recommendation voting to approve the corrective action plan.

I expressed my continuing concerns about the CAP, but said I would vote to accept the Superintnendent's recommendation because I trusted him.

Now it is up to the school to perform.

School Board Takes No Action on Employee Insurance

2011-09-19T21:31:00.000-05:00

The special school board meeting for the resolution of employee benefits ended in anticlimactic fashion as the school board recessed and took no action on either proposal (District or Union) to address a projected benefits trust fund shortage.

The motion was on the table to send the issue back to the benefits committee unresolved for their further action--however sending the issue back to the benefits committee without guidance from the board did not seem to make sense. Before that motion could be voted on, another motion was made and seconded to recess the meeting until tomorrow night (9-20). That motion passed 3-2.

The board listened patiently to the presentations of the union and the superintendent, as well as 16 members of the public--but all board members expressed frustration with the way the process has worked and also with the idea of having to make a rushed decision on this issue.

So nothing has been resolved and we'll discuss this again tomorrow night.

Monday's $10 Million Dollar Impasse Meeting will be the Big Meeting of the Week......

2011-09-18T07:41:00.001-05:00

Although we will be having our regular monthly School Board Meeting on Tuesday, September 20th at 5:30--the meeting held twenty-four hours prior on Monday will be the BIG meeting of this week. I anticipate fireworks at this big Monday meeting.

At this special Monday meeting, the School Board will be asked to decide on what course to take with respect to our self-funded health insurance plan. The subject of the meeting could not be discussed prior to this special meeting Monday--and oh, by the way, we've been told that we must make a decision at this meeting and no delays can be tolerated!

The big problem is this--the two plans being presented represent two vastly different formulas and costs, and since the subject of this meeting is an issue that the district and union are at impasse over--individual board members are precluded from requesting additional information or asking any questions of either party (union or Superintendent, staff) until we have this highly structured, tightly formatted, rigidly controlled meeting.

And, as previously mentioned, we have to make a decision, period, at this meeting--ne extensions, no delays. That's what we were told before impasse occurred.

And, as previously mentioned, the two plans we'll be asked to choose between represent a difference in costs to the district [ TAXPAYERS] of up to $10 MIllion Dollars.

So I've been spending my weekend trying to research this issue to the best of my abilities so that I can follow all the rules and make an intelligent decision this Monday; I still do not know how I will vote, but I know for sure I have concerns, deep concerns, about this process and how it leaves the board in total isolation. I don't believe this process works well for anyone.

Meanwhile, the union is busy stirring up the troops, putting flyers in teachers' mailboxes at the school sites one of which I have seen that says, in part, the following:

"*School Board Impasse Hearing* Monday Sept.19 @5:30 Rm. 160 Hall Center

This is a very improtant board meeting to vote for health insurance benefits. We want to fill the board room (160) and the overflow room to let the district know that our insurance is important to us..... If we don't get the board to come to a workable agreement, our medical costs will go way up. I believe, and your union believes, that the money is there to fund us....Please come, bring a friend, and wear red."

Monday is going to be big......

A.A. Dixon Charter 90 Day Termination Letter to be Presented to School Board for Action Tuesday

2011-09-16T17:02:00.000-05:00

Escambia County School District Superintendent Malcolm Thomas will be recommending that the School Board move ahead with issuing A.A. Dixon Charter School a 90 day termination letter.

After listening to a thorough and extended discussion today between members of the Escambia County School Board, district staff, and employees from A.A. Dixon--the Superintendent verbalized to the assembled group that he would bring this as his recommendation to the School Board at this Tuesday’s regular meeting.

In addition to the 90 day termination letter, the Superintendent will recommend rejection of A.A. Dixon’s previously submitted corrective action plan—as that plan does not reflect what is happening currently at the school and seems to be a document that is changing in many respects rather than being a static plan that the charter school intends to follow carefully to help navigate its way out of financial and academic performance problems. The Dixon Charter School Board will have the opportunity to re-submit a revised corrective action plan to the Escambia County School Board when such a document has been re-tooled, if it chooses to do so.

Per Escambia School Board attorney Donna Waters, the 90 day termination letter can be pulled back by the district if the Dixon charter school is able to get its numerous financial and academic problems sorted out and rectified before the Christmas Break to the satisfaction of District Staff, Florida DOE, and ultimately the Escambia School Board.

Absent a significant display of progress on the financial and academic fronts, the Escambia School Board would be able to dissolve the charter and close the school after the 90 day period per Florida Statute and per language in the three year contract signed by A.A. Dixon and the Escambia County School Board in 2010. Students attending A.A. Dixon at the time of such a closure would be subsequently reassigned to other Escambia District Schools.

School District Going Live With Online Parent Gradebook

2011-09-15T17:28:00.000-05:00

The Escambia County School District has installed the Focus Parent Portal on the District Homepage.

Parents who wish to track their students' progress will now have the ability to do so remotely via a login they can establish on the district website under the parent portal.

further information will be forthcoming via a press release from the district.

Parents need the following information to establish a Focus Parent Login:

Student name, school, student number, and social security number.

Once established, parents will be able to see their student's attendance, homework, quiz and test grades on a regular basis.

What an excellent tool this will be for district parents!

A.A. Dixon Corrective Action Plan Submitted--Many Questions Remain Un-Answered...

2011-09-14T06:10:00.003-05:00

The corrective action plan requested of A.A. Dixon Charter School has been submitted to the Escambia County School Board.

Some aspects of the plan seem to have merit, while some parts seem optimistic at best, unrealistic at worst.

Members of the school board have also been given a copy of the less than stellar review of A.A. Dixon submitted by the DOE after a recent site visit by personnel from Tallahassee.

On a brighter note, many of the debts carried over from last fiscal year by A.A. Dixon have been forgiven--but the list of what was forgiven leads to more questions.

What was LuTimothy May invoicing A.A. Dixon Charter School $6,000.00 dollars for in the first place?

Why was Friendship Missionary Baptist Church invoicing A.A. Dixon over $2,000.00 for?

Many other questions come to mind, including the proposed new contract signed by A.A. Dixon agreeing to pay 11% of their FEFP revenue to an out of state education contractor--can A.A. dixon really afford to do this?

The district staff will be addressing their concerns this Friday at the regular monthly School Board workshop, at which time individual board members will have the ability to ask questions and seek answers from those who are running A.A. Dixon.

It should be interesting.

Solving a $10Million Dollar Insurance Fund Shortfall the Old Fashioned Way (literally)

2011-09-13T16:46:00.006-05:00

Is Having One High-Stakes Meeting on 9-19-2011 Really The Best Way to Solve a Multi-Million Dollar Problem?

Doing things the “old fashioned way” can be interesting, unusual, and sometimes even fun. On other occasions, though, doing things the old fashioned way is stupid, inefficient, and downright ridiculous. If you have a horse and a car and you need to get somewhere fast would you ride the horse to get there? We are saddling up the horse right now in the Escambia County School District with respect to how we are responding to a financially urgent situation.

Employee benefits provided by the Escambia County School District are self-funded, to the tune of roughly $40Million yearly, which many people involved in benefits consulting believe is the most cost-effective way for an organization to handle employee insurance. A part of the mechanism which allows our district to be self insured is our Employee Benefit Trust Fund. Each year, the Escambia County School District Risk Management Department collects premiums from employees, pays claims (via a third party administrator) and deposits and debits these monies through the Employee Benefit Trust Fund. The district analyzes this Employee Benefit Trust fund annually and then proposes plan changes and premium adjustments to maintain the viability of the fund and also to ensure that the fund balance ends each year with an amount equal to two month’s worth of claims—approximately $6 Million Dollars.

Unfortunately, the 2011 year thus far has been disastrous in terms of our benefit trust fund revenue when compared to expenditures. We have had reduced revenue and a spike in serious injuries/illnesses among a number of employees such that the trust fund is hemorrhaging money every month. On its current trajectory and with no modifications to the benefits-the fund’s balance is projected to be well short of established minimum levels. Significant changes to the plan are going to be mandatory for the 2012 year, we have been told.

So, a few years back the school board developed a benefits committee approach to making plan changes yearly, which was incorporated into the master contracts of our organized union employees. The committee approach has been useful in shortening the bargaining timeline in years where premiums must be altered. The language that describes the makeup of the benefits committee also has language which spells out expedited impasse procedures should everybody not be in agreement. And these procedures will soon be followed.

Because of the disastrous claims year we have had thus far in 2011, combined with the bad decision last year to offer all employees an unsustainably cheap HRA insurance plan—our fund balance is in danger of losing $10 Million Dollars over the next calendar year—unless increases to premiums combined with plan changes are implemented by the district. This is what the school board has been told.

So, the benefits committee arrived at its recommendation to remedy this projected shortfall, to adjust premiums and make plan changes (AKA—putting the burden for the revenue shortfall back on employees’ shoulders) which the unions soundly and immediately rejected. However, the committee was not an autonomous committee—it had its hands tied with pre-ordained “parameters” which were given it by the superintendent, which called for no additional revenue to the plan from the district’s general fund. (To be fair, the committee did request $1.1 Million in additional revenue from the district’s general fund as a part of the overall recommendation it presented back to the superintendent.)

But the unions, meanwhile, are calling for the district to shoulder the burden of ALL of the cost increases, even though the union’s employees benefitted greatly by the inexpensive HRA premiums which helped to lead to this financial emergency with our benefits trust fund.

To settle this impasse, per the language in statute and also per our union contracts, the process is downright old fashioned.

First of all, the school board has been told that it cannot meet to discuss the issue now that we are at impasse. We cannot meet in executive session (which I understand) but I have also been informed by our attorney that we cannot even discuss the issue in the sunshine at an open, advertised meeting. ( I’m not sure I necessarily agree with that opinion, but I am going along with it for now..) Not only can we not discuss this issue at a meeting—we are also precluded from discussing any aspect of the insurance issue with either the union OR the Superintendent’s staff prior to a special meeting scheduled for next Monday, September 19^th. And, to make matters even worse, we the board have been told that we must make a decision at the special meeting—no delays can be allowed because that will delay implementation and enrollment for the new plan year which begins January 1, 2012; Delays could further deflate the balance of the benefit trust fund. Oh, and we also cannot verbalize or in any other way express which way we as individual board members are leaning with respect to which recommendation (superintendent or union) we will accept or reject at this all important meeting on the 19th.

We have the World Wide Web, Video Teleconferencing, Consulting experts, all sorts of resources, yet we are expected to make a huge, multi-million dollar decision expeditiously and in isolation? We can’t meet to discuss, we can’t discuss with the parties, we cannot express an opinion, and we have to come to a decision on the same day of our special meeting? This process is fractured and not in anyone’s best interest.

Commissioner of Education Tours Warrington Middle School--Media "Absent"

2011-09-09T15:51:00.002-05:00

Florida’s Commissioner of Education spent this morning in Pensacola touring Warrington Middle School and meeting with local education officials. Gerard Robinson, named as the replacement for Dr. Eric Smith who resigned earlier this summer as Florida Education Commissioner, spent time visiting classrooms, speaking with students and teachers, and visiting the Warrington Middle School Flight Academy.

Florida Commissioner of Education Gerard Robinson Tours Warrington Middle School on 9-9-11

After the tour, Mr. Robinson sat down with Superintendent Thomas, WMS Principal Sandra Rush-Riley, District and FDOE staff, as well as members of the Escambia County School Board. A discussion of education policy topics ensued, and the Commissioner asked if the district had any priorities he could take away from Escambia County.

Florida Commissioner of Education Gerard Robinson Discusses Education Priorities with Superintendent Malcolm Thomas and WMS Principal Sandra Rush-Riley (above)

The four main priorities discussed with Commissioner Robinson were the following:

1. The District solicited support from the commissioner for a more realistic and fair way for intervene schools like Warrington Middle School to exit intervene status.

2. The District expressed the need for facilities funds—PECO maintenance and PECO construction--with an emphasis on equity between traditional schools and charter schools when state allocations are made(for 2011-2012—charter schools received PECO funds but traditional public schools did not)

3. The District reiterated our strong position that co-enrollment funding via workforce development needs to be continued and funded fully.

4. The District discussed the need for local control of the school year calendar, in particular the need to have control over the start date so that the first semester can be completed prior to Christmas Break.

Commissioner Robinson was gracious and friendly and thanked everyone on the tour for taking time to spend the morning with him. On a somber note, Commissioner Robinson was aware of the murder of an Escambia High School Student the night before, and he offered his condolences and said he would keep that student’s family in his prayers.

Given the fact that Mr. Robinson is the number 1 educational official in our state of 19 Million people—I felt his visit this morning to Pensacola was a significant event. Unfortunately, no local media showed up, no WEAR, no PNJ, and no INWEEKLY. Mr. Robinson is the type of role-model many youth in our community would benefit from seeing and hearing; The community at large would have been well served seeing this man and hearing his message to the youth in the classes he visited today-but that will not happen.

Some in the local media prefer to blame the school district for violence outside of school (and the district’s control) rather than covering The School Board’s important and meaningful events like today’s visit from Mr. Robinson.

GLA Enrollment Surges Past 800--A.A. Dixon Holding Steady--- Under 130....

2011-08-25T06:52:00.001-05:00

As of Wednesday, August 24th, the current enrollment at the district's newest elementary school, Global Learning Academy, is at 805.

A.A. Dixon Charter, the struggling start-up that assured the board that a projection centered around 230 students was realistic, is having a hard time even getting within 100 students of that projection; Dixon stands at 129 students enrolled as of August 24th.

Initial Enrollment Counts in---GLA at 784 Students---A.A. Dixon at 127....

2011-08-22T20:26:00.001-05:00

The initial enrollment figures for Escambia County Schools have been released, and Global Learning Academy has 784 students enrolled.

A.A. Dixon Charter School of Excellence, which has been mired in financial and academic troubles since its inception last year, has 127 students enrolled as of today.

A.A. Dixon ended last fiscal year over $100,000.00 in th red, and earned an "F" letter grade from the state due to dissapointingly low FCAT scores. Dixon is being funded initially for 190 students, however if the enrollment does not grow, subsequent distributions from the district will be reduced.

Given the fact that Dixon has not paid all of the bills from last fiscal year--this new development (dramatically lower enrollment) does not bode well for the future of this charter.

See the initial enrollment figures for all Escambia County Schools here.

A.A. Dixon Charter School On 30 Day Notice

2011-08-16T19:51:00.000-05:00

The Escambia Shool Board tonight approved an amendment to the charter for A.A. Dixon Charter School.

This school has had numerous issues during their first school year, to include earning an "F" letter grade and ending the fiscal year over $100,000.00 in the red.

In addition to these issues, A.A. Dixon violated the original contract with the school board, in my opinion, in several instances including failing to immediately notice the board when they carried a negative fund balance.

My intention at tonight's meeting was to make a motion to strike the amendment to the charter and insert language immediately terminating the charter--as I believe the original contract would support this action given the multiple instances of non-compliance by A.A. Dixon.

As I listened to my fellow board members discuss the issue, I realized I would not have three votes to close Dixon tonigh-so I chose not to make the motion.

I instead voted no on the amendment, expressing my opinion that the amendment giving the school a corrective action period did not go far enough.

I do not believe this school will survive financially or academically.

I hope they are able to prove me wrong

AA Dixon or Global Learning Academy? For Concerned Parents... IT IS A COMPETITION!

2011-08-13T07:52:00.001-05:00

At the regular workshop of the School Board of Escambia County yesterday, one contentious issue that was discussed for more than an hour by the board and staff was A.A. Dixon charter School of Excellence.

After sustaining a disastrous first year--this school, a charter school, appears to be in significant financial trouble. This on top of registering an "F" school letter grade by the Florida DOE and being listed as one of the lowest performing elementary schools in the state.

So, over the last three months, the school board has had this charter school and its revolving cast of officers and consultants at each regular monthly workshop in an attempt to get answers to significant questions like:

Why are there no books in your library?

Why do we not yet have an audit of your books from 2010-2011?

How is it that your ending bank account balance is only $800.00?

How come your projections for the 2011-2012 school year are based on 230 children, when you have only 157 registered?

How come your bus routes are not yet finalized six days before the start of school?

How come your finances seem to be so out of sorts?

Although I am convinced there is no more ardent supporter of Charter Schools (and the larger concept of Charter Schools and their place in public education) on the Escambia County School Board than me--I have deep concerns about A.A. Dixon and their viability going forward.

...And my initial thought, upon seeing no members of this charter school's school's staff that could provide answers to these and other difficult questions over the last several months, was to contemplate voting for non-renewal of this charter contract. Based upon one somewhat legitimate issue A.A. Dixon had with their payments from the district, and thorough deliberations and discussions with the superintendent and school board attorney last month, I held my nose and reluctantly voted to renew this school for another year--with stipulations. These stipulations included more accountability and oversight by the district.

So, these stipulations are to be voted on by the School Board this Tuesday night in the form of an amendment to their charter.

Here is where I have a problem.

Instead of acknowledging the serious issues this charter school organization has had and realizing that essentially they were given a reprieve by even getting an extension of another school year based upon their performance --the attorney retained by A.A. Dixon handed over a list of revisions to the contract they want from the district! This list was sent over at the last minute, to boot.

To me, it is a lot like a hypothetical "boss" bringing in an employee who is not performing adequately to be counseled and given an improvement plan. Imagine if such an employee took issue with each and every deficiency offered by the boss during the counseling session, refused to sign the performance improvement plan, instead offering his own list of demands from the boss? Imagine if this employee blamed the boss for said employee's numerous performance problems and demanded a bigger office, and less supervision? Sounds pretty balsy right? That's essentially what A.A. Dixon did to us at yesterday's workshop in my opinion. It doesn't sit well with me, because we are talking about kids that will bear the brunt of the repercussions from this charter school's failure if they do not get their financial act in order this coming school year.

So I asked the operations director(?) of this school to bring me a projection of how this entity could remain solvent if their enrollment decreses to 150 students--and he said he would bring it to the regular meeting this Tuesday night. I have little faith this organization can remain solvent even if they are fortunate enough to enroll 150, 160, or even 170 students. Corners will have to be cut to manage the budget, and this will directly impact the kids, and that's the rub.

As I said in the meeting yesterday, this charter school is like a Mom and Pop hardware store setting up in the shadows of a brand new Home Depot (our Global Learning Academy). it's trouble for them.

And I bit my tongue numerous times during the meeting when I had to listen to the A.A. Dixon folks, and my fellow board members and other staff say over and over that "we are not in competition with each other." Maybe we're not--but to the caring parents of students in the shared GLA/A.A. Dixon attendance boundary areas--you'd better believe it's a competition! It's on!

Global Learning Academy Pensacola, 8-11-2011

2011-08-11T21:04:00.000-05:00

The almost completed Global Learning Academy of Pensacola is set for opening for the 2011-2012 school year.

Today, the school was opened up to the school board, the 1/2 cent watchdog committee, selected staff, and interested members of the public for a tour.

According to everyone involved with today's tour--this facility will be open and accepting students on the first day of the school year, Monday August 22nd 2011.

The facility is coming along, but several areas of the school are still under construction.

The facilities planning department again stated that this 127,000 SF facility will be completed on-time and for about $130 per SF--which is reasonable given the current economy.

Comprehensive Drug Policy Results for 2010-2011 School Year-Tremendous Success

2011-08-11T16:55:00.001-05:00

At today's discussion workshop of the Escambia County School Board, the data from the first year of our comprehensive drug policy (2010-2011) were presented.

The results of the first year of implementation point to a tremendous success.

Next year's results may be even more significant, as we will be expanding our policy to include random student drug testing for students that participate in extracurricular activities.

Highlights from 2010-2011:

352---Drug dog searches, resulting in 24 alerts (findings)

42% reduction in suspensions for drug offenses at the middle and high school level

(92 suspensions in 2009-2010, only 53 suspensions in 2010-2011--note-this expulsion data for 2010-2011 was presented to the School Board verbally by ECSD Director of High Schools Carolyn Spooner, no back-up was given in writing)

Our campuses are becoming more drug free as a result of this comprehensive drug policy, and this data is solid proof of this fact.

Waivers are Coming from D.C. to Water Down the No Child Left Behind Act

2011-08-10T06:09:00.000-05:00

This was inevitable-the pressure of sanctions dictated by the well intntioned but flawed NCLB act are causing Washington policymakers to surrender.

Lawmakers had failed to act and update/modify NCLB to make the law more realistic-therefore President Obama will, by executive order, grant states waivers from the punitive sanctions on districts and states where schools have failed to meet the benchmarks of the law.

This will make education bureaucrats happy and give politicians cover--but this essentially will close the door on opportunities for many poor students, trapped in failing school attendance boundaries, from having the possibility of transferring to a better performing school.

And the recurring, tired line "The goal is unachievable" will be brought out by school systems nationwide and used again and again to rationalize and justify essentially what is a "grand lowering" of the bar by the Federal Department of Education. Sen. Ted Kennedy, an ardent supporter of NCLB, will be turning in his grave at what is going to happen--and it is sad.

My analogy is this:

Imagine a person is in terrible shape--so a long term excersise routine/regimen is introduced because absent this one's health will deteriorate and an early death will occur. The goal established is to have a physique like a professional bodybuilder at the end of a stipulated period--and nothing else will suffice. Is this a lofty goal? Of course. But it beats the alternative which is to just maintain the same failed eating and excercise habits. Now, the routines and dietary requirements of the plan to get in shape are easy at first, but the requirements gradually intnsify as the end period draws near. At the 60% completion stage, sanctions and penalties kick in. Things get hard. No weight loss, no breakfast. No strength increase, more workouts mandated. Assume that you stick with the plan, and you are making great strides, you are thinking about eating healthy, you are excercising more than ever, and your body is becoming toned and well defined. You are in much better shape than you were at the start of the program. With only twenty percent of the program left to complete, you have an epiphany: No matter what you do or how hard you work--you will never have the physique of a body builder--even if you complete the program. So, instead of completing the program to get as close to the goal as you, individually, can get--you cry, and whine and complain. You start making excuses for not wanting to do all the portions of the excercise routine-even though your body is now looking good. Great results do not matter, though, if you know you'll never look like Charles Atlas at the end of the program. So you cry, and whine and complain and beg for some of your old mainstays like jelly doughnuts and french fries. You complain so much to your trainer, that he lets you off the hook. He says, "Okay, you'll never get where this program says you must get to meet its definition of success, so I'll grant you a waiver of the routines if you just ask for them" You ask for the waiver, you get the waiver, and now you are headed back to the couch with a bag of chips and a milkshake, all the while saying to yourself, the goal was unachievable, so it is right that I return to my couch with my chips, candy and doughnuts"

As a nation, with these waivers, we are headed back to our couches to enjoy our doughnuts.

How very sad....

Matt Damon Says "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Testing!"

2011-08-05T16:12:00.001-05:00

An alleged cheating scandal in Washington D.C., and the recent, actual cheating scandal in Atlanta have opponents of accountability and reform lined up to decry the use of student assessment exams to measure teacher effectiveness. These guardians of the status quo are out in force, and have now deftly hijacked the student examination “process”. These folks now deridingly refer to the common practice of examining students for skills mastery assessment as “high stakes testing” “dumbing down education”, or “teaching to the test”. Somehow, this group has managed to make “testing” a dirty word. Grasping at straws to defile the practice of student testing further, many of this mindset argue that the utilization of test data for teacher evaluations will lead to more cheating in more school districts.

Funny how all this fear-mongering anger is just now coming to the surface, though. Standardized testing has been performed in America for decades, and for all this time as the resultant data showed that our students were learning less and less compared to their peers in other nations (even as public school expenditures were rising exponentially), nobody thought testing was so bad. But nothing was changing, American education policy was stuck in the mud, more money was being spent, yet we were still falling behind countries like China.

So “A Nation at Risk” came along in the 1980s, and in 2002 Ted Kennedy’s No Child Left Behind was enacted. And now, in 2011,

we are at a point where standardized test data is actually being used to determine and grade district, and yes, even teacher effectiveness—and suddenly testing must be the most evil thing we have ever done! The nerve, the gall, of anyone to think testing is fair, let alone vital! But, is this vitriol being spewed because now this testing data will matter and mean something?

Florida has passed Senate Bill 736, which, in part, stipulates that teacher compensation must be tied to teacher effectiveness, and effectiveness will in part be determined by student test performance. While I agree that basing a teacher’s evaluation and pay solely on test data from one test (and I have stated this publically many times) is foolish, I strongly believe that not looking at student test data when evaluating teachers is equally stupid.

States like Florida have it right; Student achievement must be measured and student learning data should and will be used as one part of a multi-faceted educator evaluation. And the only way to do this is through the use of standardized testing data. This is not a perfect teacher evaluation system—but yes, it is much better than the current evaluations we use which are badly flawed.

Meanwhile, Hollywood movie star types like Matt Damon carry the left-leaning NEA water and opine that using testing to determine teacher effectiveness is ridiculous, and that this will ruin education and somehow zap the creativity of students.

I wonder what Matt Damon would have us base student learning gains on, if not through the use of standardized testing? I wonder if Matt Damon thinks all testing should be abolished?

But the bigger question for the elites like Matt Damon who occasionally come down to Earth to tell us how smart they are and stupid we are would go something like this:

Matt, we already know that because you have so much love for and confidence in public schools that your daughters will be attending private school, but…..when you get a chest pain as you get older, will you search out a cardiologist who attended an out of the country “creative learning environment” type of medical school—or will you insist upon a U.S. trained specialist (who aced his MCAT to get into a prestigious U.S. Med School) who has passed all three legs of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE)?

Or how about this one..

Matt, do you care how your private Lear Jet pilot did on the knowledge portion of his FAA exam, the written test, and was that combined with where he was trained important to you?

Testing is important and measuring test results says a lot about those who have trained the student, even if guys like Matt Damon say otherwise.

He makes good movies, though!

“Hostile Surrender”—Memphis Class Warfare with Kids in the Middle

2011-08-05T16:05:00.001-05:00

I found this interesting story on MSNBC yesterday, about a large, failing inner-city school system forcing a merger with an equally funded yet very successful suburban school district. Very interesting. Luckily, this is taking place elsewhere, in Memphis Tennessee. But is this the shape of things to come as budget pressures force more and more districts to the financial brink? Is this the shape of things to come when perceived disparities in quality erupt between equally funded yet vastly different school systems? From MSNBC:

“Memphis district aims to disband to force wealthier suburban system to absorb its students

At the heart of it, the turbulence is about dollars and cents and the quality of education. Fearing possible threats to its funding, the failing inner-city Memphis City Schools, with 209 schools and 108,000 students, decided to force a merger with its smaller, more affluent neighbor — Shelby County Schools. To accomplish that, the district's board surrendered its charter in November. That unprecedented move, essentially undoing the creation of the Memphis district in 1869, was subsequently approved by the City Council and by the city’s voters in a referendum in March. But while the move might make sense economically, it has triggered a heated debate about the fairness of merging two districts with different levels of academic achievement. It has even stirred the ghosts of the city’s legacy of busing students to alleviate racial inequities in the school system. Residents of suburban Shelby County — in which the city is located — did not have a vote, and the county Board of Education sued to block the merger. Its chairman, David Pickler, refers to the unfolding events as part of a “hostile surrender”

Full Story here

Escambia County School Board Cutting Property Taxes for 2011-2012

2011-07-20T16:03:00.001-05:00

At Tomorrow’s special meeting of the School Board of Escambia County, the agenda will include setting proposed millage rates for the 2011-2012 budget year for Escambia County property owners.

For the typical property owner in Escambia County, the School Board Millage rate is responsible for the largest dollar amount on the overall tax bill. The majority of the millage calculation formula is dictated to us from Tallahassee—so in most instances we are constrained in what rates we can, can’t, should, or must levy.

The good news for 2011-2012 is that this year our millage rates are going down.

Everything else locally is going up, gas, groceries, electricity, water—but your local school board tax rate is being CUT this year.

It may not be a huge cut, but it is a decrease.

Last year’s total school board levy 7.860

This year’s total school board levy 7.821

This special meeting begins at 5:00 PM Thursday, July 21^st at the Hall Center in room 160.

Escambia Student Drug Testing Plan: A Student's Perspective...and My Response

2011-07-17T17:48:00.000-05:00

I received the below email from an Escambia District student regarding our drug testing plan. my response follows below...

>>> "XXXXXXXXXXX" 07/15/11 2:47 PM >>>

Mr. Bergosh

I have been reading up on the new Drug Test Procedure scheduled to go into effect this 2011-2012 school year. Regarding the qualifications and rules of the test, I would like to say that from a personal perspective and that of a current students. This policy is aimed at the group of Students that are least likely to participate in drug consumption while the students more likely to be active in drugs are the ones riding buses to school, eating free lunch, and not involved in after school activities. If this policy is meant to be a way of making schools safer...Broaden the crack-down. Aim not only at the kids who drive cars and are in Beta club....aim at the students that arrive on campus in a bus packed full of people and the students that do not care for or participate in after school activities. Ultimately I am against this new Policy. If a student is handling his own at school and passing classes, and staying out of trouble, then why should what he/she does after school dictate if they can be on a team or drive to school. Also, to ensure the most efficient results of a drug test, ALL Escambia county employees should be drug tested randomly, as so the children are not contaminated to such hideous acts of morality.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXX Grade Student

XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX School

my response...

XXXXXXXXXXX,

Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding your opinion about the drug testing policy. Even though you do not agree with the policy, the way in which you present your opposing view is commendable.

From a personal perspective-I have three kids in the schools and my oldest son and my daughter have both been exposed to illegal drugs at their respective middle and high schools.

Drugs are out there, XXXXXX. Peer pressure is powerful, and what we are doing by the random testing is providing students an additional reason to say no to drugs, an additional buffer against peer pressure.

Our policy did not evolve in a vacuume; For the 2009 school year, incidences of student expulsions for drug offenses rose 17% over 2008. This alarming increase prompted the school board to develop a comprehensive drug plan and to put it in place. The 2010-2011 school year, with implementation of most of the portions of our plan having occurred, has seen a dramatic decrease in drugs on campus. The drug testing is a follow on addition to the existing policy.

I agree with you in that I wish we could cast a wider net and test all students--but unfortunately we cannot do this because we are a public school. Private schools such as Catholic High School have the legal ability to test all of their students, and they do. But public schools have a different set of rules and regulations that we must follow, and we cannot legally test all students.

And by the way, students who participate in extracurricular activities and sports do sometimes get into trouble with drugs--two examples I'll give you XXXXXXXXXXXXXX school. last year several students on the XXXXXXXXXX team on a trip out of state in Kentucky were caught with marijuana. a few seasons back, several players from the XXXXXXXXX team, on a trip in Louisiana, were suspected of using marijuana.

It happens at all schools, not just XXXXXXXXX, and It's not just those who do not participate in sports. Sometimes, often times, it is those who we least expect, those who are active participants in extracurricular activities.

You sound as though you have your priorities in order and I do not think this testing will impact you. I hope you have an excellent and productive year.

But please understand that as district leaders we must do everything we can to keep our campuses as safe and drug free as we can and having a comprehensive approach like the one we are implementing is the most effective way to do this.

Sincerely,
Jeff Bergosh

Jeff Bergosh
Escambia County School Board, Dist. 1
850-469-6147
http://www.jeffbergoshblog.blogspot.com/
jbergosh@escambia.k12.fl.us

Escambia County School Board Proposed Revised District Boundary Map and Statistics

2011-07-12T11:06:00.007-05:00

(Dark Blue Lines indicate existing district boundaries, color shaded areas indicate proposed boundaries, and red stars indicate the current residences of School Board, BOCC, and ECUA representatives)

After an initial School Board/BOCC joint meeting on the subject of redistricting in May and now a subsequent meeting yesterday—a proposed revised district map has emerged.

From the beginning, the unanimous consensus among and between members of the BOCC and School Board has been that our respective districts should be identical.

As a result of meetings with staff from the Supervisor of Elections Office and our counterparts on the county commission, school board members from all five districts may now have districts that mirror the BOCC.

The map above and corresponding data reflects the product of yesterday's excrutiating, tedious, deliberative, and meticulous 3.5 hour joint session.

My prediction is that this map will be the final draft rendition, as I clearly heard at yesterday’s open, advertised joint meeting that at least three BOCC members and three School Board members indicated support for this map, as proposed, to be the best rendition under all of the constraints that guide the redistricting process.

Once each respective body conducts public meetings and takes input from the community, the maps will be voted on by each board. If the maps change as a result of public input and/or any other reasons, the School Board and BOCC would most likely hold another joint session to iron out any changes. While not mandated by law, (again I'll restate) that my impression is that the majority of the BOCC and School Board members want identical districts; The common goal, from what I've heard after attending all of these meetings, is to follow every law and rule and have identical BOCC/School Board Member districts after this mandatory redistricting process is completed.

This map will be discussed again briefly at the school board workshop this Thursday morning at 8:00 AM, Room 160 of the Hall Center.

Escambia Schools Make Impressive Letter Grade Gains

2011-06-30T15:57:00.002-05:00

The Elementary and Middle School Grades for Escambia County Schools were released today by the Florida Department of Education. Escambia Schools as a whole made solid gains. Several schools improved markedly, including Montclair Elementary School—which went from an “F” to an “A” and Weis Elementary that went from a “D” to an “A”

The chart above shows the comparison in achievement between 2010 and 2011 for Escambia

County Schools. Schools that have this year’s grade highlighted in green have improved over last year. There is a lot of green on the chart—so much so that the PNJ is covering this fantastic achievement with a top of the page article on their online edition. Even our most ardent detractors acknowledge this is vast improvement. These naysayers will still find things to snipe us on, but that’s to be expected I suppose. Apparently the doubters have not seen this chart--showing the dramatic gains our district has made from 1999 to 2011. Negative downer people will always be among us.

I, however, choose to concentrate on the positives:

We are moving forward as a district, we are headed in the right direction. Even though our funding this year is $50Million less than it was just a few years ago, and we are being cut more and more every year, we still continue to improve. Despite generational poverty and other challenges unique to Escambia in the 4 county panhandle area, we in Escambia County have managed to meet class size (unlike Santa Rosa and thirty other counties in the state that didn’t), make drastic improvements on our school letter grades, give employees raises, consolidate functions to create efficiencies for the taxpayers, and create one of the top rated high school programs in the nation. We have also stedily improved on our FCAT scores even as the bar is being raised and in 2011 our schools are being measured on FCAT 2.0 standards with an increased writing score required to demonstrate proficiency.

Yes, we are making huge strides forward despite numerous challenges.

The students, parents, teachers, administrators, support staff, volunteers, corporate partners, and everyone associated with our school district deserves congratulations for the efforts put forth over the last year!

Interesting Look at School District Demographics

2011-06-14T16:34:00.001-05:00

At the School Board Workshop this Thursday morning, the board will discuss the demographics of the school district as a whole.

Once per year the district must submit an Equity Report which gives detailed analysis of the makeup of our student population by race and gender, our workforce by race and gender, and our administrators and professional employees by race and gender.

This annual report is mandated by the Florida Educational Equity Act and is the reporting tool which enables our district to demonstrate compliance to the appropriate state agencies and to the general public.

Some interesting facts from the report--Males are very much under-represented in the teacher job classifications, Hispanics (who now comprise 5% of our county population), appear to be severely under-represented in the administrative job classification--as we appear to not have one (1) hispanic in an administrative job in the district.

I always thought it would be great to hire the BEST candidate for any given position, regardless of the race of the applicant, and I'm told that is what we do in this district

But to not have one Hispanic person in an administrative position in our workforce stands out to me as an area of concern which may necessitate additional recruitment efforts by our district hiring teams.

The full report can be viewed here

Who Are The Schmucks?

2011-06-11T08:56:00.000-05:00

Is it outrageous to think that an organized governing body comprised of constitutional officers could blatantly violate state law and face no consequences? How about if dozens of governing bodies throughout a state violated a law and no action was taken against them?

This just happened in Florida.

The 2010-2011 school year was the final year for the phase-in of the 2002 class size constitutional mandate. Some districts, including Escambia County, followed the law and complied with it to the letter. And full compliance in Escambia County was not fully funded by the legislature—Escambia received just shy of $1 Million from the state for the final phase of compliance, yet the cost for full compliance locally was $4 Million. This was a giant unfunded mandate.

This situation resulted in a heated discussion at the School Board workshop of one year ago, May 14th 2010. There was talk at this particular meeting of “doing our best” and “trying” to comply with the strict provisions of the final phase of the law.

But our school board put its foot down at that meeting and said total compliance with the class size law was the only option for Escambia County Schools for 2010-2011.

Now, as the dust settles on the2010-2011 school year, we learn that over 30 Florida districts failed to comply. Several districts fell blatantly short and appear to have not even tried. Reasons have been universally weak.

“The legislature didn’t fund us for it” some districts said. But all districts receive the same per-student base allocations, so that argument fails.

“Amendment 8, if passed, would have relieved us from the burdens of the final phase of the law” other districts said. But this argument is preposterous because Amendment 8 didn’t pass and everyone knew it was going nowhere.

Insert into this chaotic mix the threats of “penalties” for districts out of compliance by the legislature, followed by threats of a lawsuit by the school boards association if the state penalized any districts, followed by talk of lawsuits by others if compliance did not occur and penalties were not levied.

Confused yet?

Don’t worry, all of this occurred under the backdrop of an oil spill, a lingering recession, statewide elections, and the worst economic mess this area has seen since the great depression.

So what was the result? Opinions vary. While the legislature and the department of education came up with a nifty formula for penalizing out-of-compliance districts--this plan has been winnowed down to a point that it’s toothless. Example—for spending $3Million over what we were funded for compliance, Escambia will receive a whopping $220,000.00, meaning we SPENT a net $2.8Million to fully follow the law. Congratulations, right?!

Palm Beach County, on the other hand (the most out of compliance district in the state) did not spend the estimated $59 Million it would have had to spend to fully comply, and for that it will be penalized $4Million dollars—meaning Palm Beach County SAVED as much as $55Million dollars via their non-compliance! And apparently there will be no legal repercussions for their failure to comply.

Perplexed, I asked our attorney her opinion on this matter. “How could these various constitutional officers get away with not following state law?” I’ve not yet received her official answer, but she has said it’s not a simple question and will require further research. So I’ll answer my own question with this rhetorical question.

Are we the Schmucks for following the law, when others saved their constituents $Millions by disregarding the law and apparently getting away with it?

You decide.

Class Size Penalties--Who were the Winners, Who are the Losers?

2011-06-08T06:36:00.001-05:00

The figures are out as of this morning--those districts that did what was necessary to comply with the class size ammendment will be rewarded with additional funds from districts that did not comply.

But the question now becomes the following--which was the right play?

A. Spending tons of money to comply in order to receive a fraction of the spent money back as a reward for being in "compliance"?

B. Spending as little as possible, saving millions of dollars, and paying a fraction of what was not spent in penalties for not being in "compliance"?

Go Tigers--PHS Ranked 28th Best High School in America by the Washington Post

2011-05-24T16:06:00.001-05:00

The Washington Post has ranked Pensacola High School as the 28th best High School in the nation!

Congratulations are in order for everyone associated with PHS--the students, parents, teachers, faculty and staff.

See the full write-up here

Another incredible achievement by our schools that will get very little coverage from the local press.....

Newpoint Pensacola has their Location

2011-05-24T16:02:00.000-05:00

Newpoint Academy Pensacola will be located at

826 Creighton Road
Pensacola, FL
32504

Newpint will be holding an additional Open House on May 31st at 6:00 PM at the Tryon Branch Library.

The second lottery for entrance to the Newpoint Pensacola School will be held on June 1, 2011, and all students picked during this lottery will be notified via email by June 2nd.

For additional information contact Donna Horton at 850-215-0770

Jeb Bush a Bradley Prize Recipient

2011-05-16T05:44:00.000-05:00

Former Governor Jeb Bush has been awarded the prestigious Bradley Prize for his continuing commitment to the reform of public education. The prize also carries a $250,000.00 stipend. Sunday's Miami Herald did a piece on the influence former Governor Bush still has on policymakers around the USA.

"With the help of Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, governors and lawmakers in at least 17 states — mostly, though not all, Republican — have explored legislation based on the “Florida model.” That includes grading schools on a A-to-F scale based on standardized test scores, making reading a requirement of advancing to the fourth grade, and giving parents and students private-school vouchers and online courses. “We’ve really moved the needle in Florida and that’s been recognized,” Bush said in an interview with The Miami Herald. 'People are curious to know how we did it.' "

Full article here

"Ebony" Is Rescued by District Personnel

2011-05-12T06:03:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday during the workday, district employees at the new downtown elementary school found a five month old stray puppy that had been hit by a car on Pace Blvd.

Employees pulled the dog from the street and took her to the nearest veterinarian. Unfortunately, the first vet quoted something like $3,000.00 to fix the shattered pelvis and femur that the dog suffered in the accident.

The employees then contacted safe harbor veterinary clinic, and these veterinarians agreed to help this stray for substantially less money.

Employees have taken up a collection to help cover the costs and have sent the below email and picture:

Hello all,

Yes.... we named the stray puppy EBONY. The vet said she is about 5 months old. She is doing well. Safe Harbor will fix her leg. They said her pelvis will most likely heal on it's own. They are very hopeful for her recovery. The only worry is her bodily functions, they are hoping the that will be okay. We will see in a couple of days. Thanks for your continued contributions. I did give Safe Harbor the money that was collected to help cover some of the cost to fix broken leg and medicines. Please pray for her. Safe Harbor Vets are awesome!!!!

Her picture is attached.

Terri Best
Accounting Specialist
Travel/Workers Comp
Escambia County School District
75 N Pace Blvd
Pensacola Fl 32505

FRS Changes Summary from 2011 Florida Legislative Session

2011-05-11T06:59:00.002-05:00

The following is a summary of changes to the Florida Retirement System following the 2011 legislative session.

The information was provided by Mixon and Associates, the firm that the ECSD uses as our lobbiest in Tallahassee.

I'm told that next year additional measures will be taken to further "reform" our state's pension plan--including potentially elimination of the DROP program...we'll have to wait and see how that turns out.

Here's the summary of this year's changes:

MIXON AND ASSOCIATES

Florida Retirement System Changes

Before we get to the details, let’s answer the big question: What does this do to me?

1. If you are a current employee and are enrolled in the FRS, you will have to pay three percent of your FRS earnings to your FRS account. That generally includes all earnings except bonuses.

2. If you are an FRS enrolled employee in DROP, you are actually a retiree and you will not pay the assessment.

3. If you are an FRS employee enrolled in the pension plan, the years of credit toward your retirement that you earn for the next five years will be excluded from the calculation of the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) that will be applied to your pension payment after you retire. (The details of this part are a little complicated and will be addressed below.)

4. If you are a retiree, including a retiree working while you are in DROP, none of the provisions of this law will apply to you.

5. If you are a current employee enrolled in the FRS, none of the provisions of the law will affect you except those for the contribution and the COLA.

6. The Health Insurance Subsidy (HIS) that provides up to $150 a month to help you pay your post-retirement health insurance costs has not been changed.

The details of the conference committee agreement are provided below.

1. “Compensation” and “Average Final Compensation:” For members initially enrolled on or after July 1, 2011, “average final compensation” means the average of the 8 highest fiscal years of creditable service prior to retirement, termination, or death. For in-line-of-duty disability benefits, if less than 8 years of creditable service have been completed, the term “average final compensation” means the average annual compensation for the total number of years service. It is projected that this will reduce the cost of the FRS $52.0 million per year for school districts.

What does this mean to me?

This does not affect current district employees who are enrolled in the FRS. This only affects new employees who become members of the FRS on or after July 1, 2011.

Current employees will continue to have their retirement benefits based on the highest five fiscal years of compensation.

For current employees who are members of the FRS and for new employees enrolled on or after July 1, 2011, the law that provides for including payments for accumulated annual leave and overtime in the calculation of final compensation is not changed.

2. Compulsory enrollment in the Investment Plan. There is no compulsory enrollment in the investment plan required in the conference agreement.

3. Normal Retirement Date: The conference committee agreement increases the normal retirement date for all members initially enrolled on or after July 1, 2011. It is estimated that this will generate $107.2 million per year in savings for school districts.

For Special Risk Class (mainly police and firefighters): Increases the age from 55 to 60 years of age; and increases the years of creditable service from 25 to 30.

For all other classes: (including regular class, senior management class and elected officials classes) Increases the age from 62 to 65 years of age; and increases the years of creditable service from 30 to 33 years.

What does this mean to me?

This does not affect current employees enrolled in the FRS. This only affects employees enrolled into the FRS on or after July 1, 2011. New employees in the regular class will have to earn 33 years of creditable service or be at least 65 years of age to retire without penalty.

4. Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP): Maintains DROP; however, members entering DROP on or after July 1, 2011, will earn interest at a reduced accrual rate of 1.3%. It is estimated that this will reduce the FRS costs for school districts $57.4 million per year.

What does this mean for me?

This means that if you are currently in DROP nothing changes. It means that if you are not currently in DROP you will be able to enter DROP now, or on or after July 1, 2011 based on the rules and the current laws that specify how DROP operates.

However, if you enter DROP on or after July 1, 2011, the interest you earn will be 1.3% per year.

5. Reenrollment in the FRS: The conference committee agreement does not address reenrollment in the FRS.

What does this mean to me? It means if you are a current FRS employee and you are thinking about leaving employment, get good advice about the consequences

6. Investment Plan Vesting: The conference committee agreement does not address vesting in the Investment Plan.

What does this mean to me? This means that if you are in the Investment Plan (formerly known as the Defined Contribution Plan), the vesting law has not changed.

7. Pension Plan Vesting: For members initially enrolled in the pension plan (formerly known as the Defined Benefit Plan) on or after July 1, 2011, such members will vest 100% of employer contributions upon completion of 8 years of creditable service. This will save school districts an estimated $21.2 million in FRS costs.

What does this mean to me? This does not affect any employee currently enrolled in the FRS. Employees currently enrolled in the FRS will vest 100% of employer contributions upon completion of six years of creditable service.

8. Employee contributions: Effective July 1, 2011, requires a 3% employee contribution for all FRS members. DROP participants are not required to pay employee contributions. It is estimated that this will save school districts $336.7 million per year in FRS costs.

What does this mean to me? Effective July 1, 2011 all FRS enrolled employees, except those in DROP, will have to pay 3% of their FRS earnings toward their retirement program. FRS qualified earnings generally include all earnings except bonuses. More details will be provided in the future as the law becomes effective.

Those employees who are in DROP will not pay the 3% contribution. This is because employees in DROP are retired and additional contributions would not be applied to affect the amount of the employee’s retirement benefit. Employees enrolled in DROP before July 1, 2011, will not have to make the contribution. Employees entering DROP on or after July 1, 2011, will stop making contributions upon entering DROP.

9. Cost-of-Living-Adjustment (COLA): Eliminates the cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for service earned on or after July 1, 2011. Subject to the availability of funding and the Legislature enacting sufficient employer contributions specifically for the purpose of funding the expiration of the COLA, in accordance with s. 14, Art. X of the State Constitution, the COLA formula will expire effective June 30, 2016, and the 3% cost-of-living adjustment will be reinstated. It is estimated that this will save school districts $284.6 million in FRS costs.

What does this mean to me?

This is the most complicated provision of the conference committee agreement. There is a reference to the COLA formula, which was included in the Senate bill. The summary also refers to the Constitutional requirement that the FRS be actuarially sound.

Based on what was available prior to conference meetings, this is what this means:

Current law provides retirees with a 3% COLA applied to their annual retirement benefit. For example if you were a retiree and your initial annual benefit was $30,000 per year, at the start of the second year you would receive a COLA adjustment of 3%, or $900. Your second year benefit would be $30,900. At the start of the next year you would receive a COLA adjustment of 3% or $927. The new benefit would be $31,827.

The way the formula was presented in the Senate bill, this is what would happen. Assume you are an employee enrolled in the pension plan, and you have 25 years of creditable service. Assume further that you plan on working five more years before either retiring completely or retiring by entering DROP.

During the last five years of your career, your pension will not earn a COLA. The formula that was presented in the Senate bill calls for this calculation: Divide the years of creditable service when a COLA was earned by the total number of years of creditable service, multiply the result by 3% and apply the product to the retirement benefit to determine the COLA.

What does that look like? Using the example above with an initial retirement benefit of $30,000 per year, here is what happens: First, divide 25 by 30. (Number of years with COLA credit by total years of service) 25/30 = .833. Multiply 3% by .833: 3% X .833 = 2.499%. The COLA rate becomes 2.499%

At the end of the first year of retirement, the 2.499% COLA is applied to the $30,000 benefit. The COLA is $749.70. The new benefit becomes $30,749.70. At the end of the second year, the COLA of 2.499% is applied to the new benefit of $30,749.70 to generate a COLA of $768.44. The new benefit becomes $31,518.14.

This is a little complicated. The conference report contemplates the possibility of the COLA reduction being eliminated after five years. When the actual bill is provided, it will be analyzed and we will communicate the information again. Be advised that this understanding may be changed when the actual bill is available.

The COLA changes will not affect current retirees, including retirees in DROP.

An Interesting Look at the Erosion of Per Student School Funding from 2002-2011

2011-05-11T06:56:00.002-05:00

This graph above really puts into perspective the funding erosion from the state on a per student basis from 2002-2011.

Thais chart was provided by Mixon and Associates, the Escambia County School Board's consultant in Tallahassee.

Escambia Students Knock FCAT Writing Scores Out of the Park for 2011!

2011-05-04T15:49:00.002-05:00

The 2010-2011 Writing FCAT Scores for Escambia County for 2011 have been released.

Escambia County Schools have improved significantly over last year’s scores, with only a few exceptions.

The attached file shows comparisons to last year’s results side by side with this year’s scores.

Lots of green (improvement over 2010) and very little red on these spreadsheets.

The PNJ has picked this very positive story up and will be running a more detailed piece in tomorrow’s paper.

Congratulations to the students, parents, teachers, and community volunteers that helped to make these gains!

Release the Death Photo Of Bin -Laden--Public Deserves Complete Transparency

2011-05-04T06:45:00.001-05:00

I typically only discuss education matters here on my blog--so in a sense this entry will be a departure. But looking at the issue of the death of Osama Bin-Laden from another perspective-this is a teachable moment.

The lesson is two-fold. First, if you anger the sleeping leviathan that is the U.S.A.-you will be dealt with. Case in point, Osama Bin Laden who sleeps now with the fishes.

Part two is that transparency is the best policy-therefore pictures of the corpse of Bin-Laden must be released to the public. Gamesmanship over releasing vs. not releasing the images should not be something the President engages in. He should learn the lesson of his own Birth Certificate--holding it and not releasing it until very recently was a mistake. He should have released it right away--just as he should release the information and images of Bin-Laden's death expeditiously. As of this writing it is up in the air whether or not the White House will release the photos.

The following passage is something I submitted to our local newspaper, the PNJ, yesterday as a Letter to the Editor. Whether or not the PNJ will publish it remains to be seen, however it would not surprise me if they hold it for two weeks and then publish it when the story is cold--or as they did with my last submission--perhaps they'll publish it un-credited. Either way, this is how I feel:

Show Us the Picture

Like all patriotic Americans I am extremely pleased that Osama Bin Laden has been taken off the game board for good.

The men who executed this mission are to be commended and all who participated in the planning deserve credit for their piece of the complex puzzle which brought justice to Bin-Laden – including the Navy, the CIA, President Barack Obama, and the Bush Administration.

The issue now is proof.

Show us the picture of Bin-Laden’s corpse.

America needs to see this, just as we needed the pictures of other high profile terrorists that have been terminated, including Saddam Hussein, his sons Uday and Qusay, Al-Zarkawi from Iraq, etc. etc.

I believe Bin Laden was killed in this recent raid, but like Coach Bill Parcells famously quipped in a beverage commercial when asked about his belief in Bigfoot---“..I would have to see some visual evidence at some point..”

America needs to see some visual evidence of the death of Bin Laden NOW.

Don’t treat Bin Laden differently than any other previously exterminated terrorists. Show us proof, and if it offends some Americans-- they don’t have to look.

If it offends non-Americans—that’s their problem, too bad!

BP Oil Spill Litigation Representation for Escambia School Board--The Short List is Getting Shorter

2011-04-27T20:06:00.001-05:00

The task of finding appropriate representation for the School District in our claim against BP has been ongoing. Finding the right firm to tackle this complex matter has been a very high priority for the School Board since last summer when it was apparent that the district was going to be suffering economic losses due to the oil spill.

Initially, last September, the knee jerk idea that the Florida School Boards Association (FSBA) put forth was for Escambia County Schools to join forces with a group of attorneys from Tampa, Houston, and Panama City that the FSBA had "assembled." They said "These are the firms we recommend for you"

I immediately took issue with this proposal and said I would not support out-of-area firms getting the job unless local firms got a look first. Stiffing locally owned and operated, well qualified mass-tort firms to hire out-of-towners did not sit well with me.

At a meeting of the full board, the guidance given to our attorney was to cast a wide net and look at all firms--not just the FSBA's hand-selected group.

Since then, our Attorney, Mrs. Donna Waters has served on a committee with her counterparts from the BOCC charged with selection of several qualified firms that could represent both the BOCC and the ECSD.

The School Board will not be bound by this committee's recommendations, and it is my understanding that the BOCC is not bound by these two recommended firms either.

However, these firms have gone through a rigorous vetting process and it is believed that these are the best of the more than a dozen entities who expressed interest in this matter.

The following are the two law firms that emerged from the joint BOCC and ECSD committee as well qualified to represent us in our attempts to seek restitution from BP:

--Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C. and McDonald, Fleming, Moorhead, Ferguson, Green, Smith & Dekozan, LLP

--Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Rafferty & Proctor P.A.

Here is the email Board Members received from Mrs. Waters:

>>> Donna Waters 04/27/11 10:12 AM >>>

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS - DO NOT 'REPLY ALL' - RESPOND ONLY TO ME

Good Morning:

As you know, yesterday I participated in Escambia County's review of proposals for attorney services in the BP matter. I am attaching the notice from the committee as to the selection of two firms, whose names will be forwarded to the BOCC for a final decision. I would point out that both are well-established Pensacola firms which have associated with out-of-state specialists in mass tort litigation. This allows the matter to be handled locally, yet the resources of larger firms will be available when needed.

I will be in further contact with these two firms to discuss specifics re representation of the school board, and I will update you as events occur.

If you are would like to see the materials provided by the two firms, I have placed copies in Ms. West's office for your convenience. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Donna

Donna Sessions Waters

General Counsel
Escambia County School Board
75 North Pace Boulevard
Pensacola, Florida 32505
850-469-6362

Escambia County Students of the Year Awards 2011

2011-04-21T20:30:00.000-05:00

One of the events I truly look forward to attending every year is the Escambia County Student of the Year Awards Ceremony.

Over Sixty students were chosen from Escambia County Schools to be honored as Students of the year from their respective schools and programs this evening at N.B. Cook Elementary School.

These students have had to overcome tremendous disabilities, tragic family circumstances, hardships, and other obstacles to succeed in school. Circumstances that some of these students have endured included the loss of parents, death of siblings, living with physical handicaps, being homeless, or not speaking the english language.

And these students honored tonight have succeeded in overcoming these hardships to thrive in our schools.

Nights like this make me especially proud of all of our students, parents and caregivers, and the teachers and staffs of our schools.

Congratulations to all that made tonight a special evening.

I especially want to thank the following sponsors of the Escambia County Student of the Year Awards for 2011:

Baptist Hospital

Escambia County Council of PTAs and PTSAs

Escambia County Foundation for Excellence in Education

PTA of N.B. Cook Elementary School

Plant and Flower Boutique

Stone's Studio, Inc.

Entitlement Mentality Threatens Bright Futures Scholarships

2011-04-18T06:15:00.001-05:00

There is a growing call among some in Florida to reform the Bright Futures Scholarship program. A pair of editorials last week called on the state to take a student's (and his family's) financial need into account when doling out the awards.

I could not be more strongly opposed to this.

I like Merit based programs-and I believe that the program should continue to operate as a merit based scholarship program.

I understand that the number of students who are attaining the grades necessary to win awards has been steadily increasing--and while this becomes costly I think this is a good thing.

But, what needs to be done is the requirements need to be raised to allow for the revenue available to fit the number of students who meet higher threshhold criteria. (i.e. higher SAT, higher GPA, etc.)

I agree with reformers who believe that this lottery funded program SHOULD NOT be subsidized by general fund tax revenue from the state--because feeding this program with tax revenue will only intensify the calls for this program to become a "needs based" program rather than a merit based award.

And look at what has happened in Georgia with their HOPE scholarship awards now that that state has instituted a needs assessment for their program.

Let's not do this in Florida-let's not water this program down, let's make it more competitive and raise the bar instead.

To summarize--I believe the money available annually from lottery proceeds should be looked at, and an adjustment to the eligibility criteria made as often as necessary to continue to make this a 100% lottery proceeds funded, competitive, merit based scholarship program.

Telling parents and families that make more than $100K that they "make enough" and do not "need" the scholarship money for their kids is ludicrous-- and ammounts to nothing but socialist class warfare rhetoric. Luckily for hard working Florida middle class families, I believe our current legislature and Governor wish to keep bright futures a merit based program. I'm thankful for this.

There are already TONS of needs based, entitlement programs for children from low income households--we don't need to destroy bright futures by buying into the propaganda of the PC, liberal entitlement set.

School District and Unions Settle Salary for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012

2011-04-15T06:17:00.002-05:00

The proposed settlement was agreeed to by the School Board in executive session yesterday.

The School Board met in this executive session at 2:30 yesterday afternoon, at which time a proposal which would result in nearly a 3% increase for employees was formulated.At 4:30 PM, the School Board’s negotiating team met with union officials, and by 6:00 I received word via a phone call that the union had agreed to the district’s proposal.

I see in this morning’s PNJ online that the union already got word to the press about this proposed settlement of the salary issue for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. EEA president Kathy Breakall was quoted in the story saying the following:

"While the salary proposal can't compensate our employees for continuing to go extra miles for the students in Escambia County, it is an attempt of both the union and the district to recognize that even in these gloomy budget years, we know their work is at the heart of any successes [in] the (school district),"

I would have hoped for a more magnanimous quote—perhaps reflecting gratitude that the employees will receive some increase in compensation from the taxpayers despite the dreadful economic landscape that currently exists in Florida—but instead we are told that the only reason for ANY progress in our schools is because of the EEA and its members. Not Parents, not the students, not the volunteers from the community---Nope, it’s just the union members that make a difference.

Off-putting quotes like this one from today’s PNJ are why so many taxpayers have disdain for public sector white collar unions. It takes a concerted effort between parents, schools, teachers and students to achieve high performance--but this quote pours cold water on that perspective.

To follow up on this quote this morning, in my email inbox I (and every other district employee) received this “announcement” from the union about the salary settlement. (Which also doubles as a membership solicitation, by the way)

I’m not sure how I feel about the union using district resources and time for their recruiting effort—I mean, I know they want to reach 50% membership,(which they currently do not have) but they ought to recruit outside of utilizing district email; many employees will be opening and reading this union “bulletin” during working hours today.

Changes to Florida Retirement System (FRS)--Pending Legislation Analysis

2011-04-15T05:17:00.000-05:00

The Escambia County School Board memebers have received the attached comparative analysis of the house and senate proposals for FRS reforms.

Many people are watching this issue closely, as the quality of their retirement rides on what is decided in this legislative session.

HB1405 leaves much of the law unchanged, except that this house version closes the DROP program to new enrollees beginning July 1, 2011. (Senate Bill keeps DROP open to new entrants through July 1, 2016)

Employee contribution rates--House version stipulates everyone pays 3%.

Senate Version stipulates the following:

Effective July 1, 2011 each member, except members in DROP, shall contribute 2% of the first $25,000 of compensation, 4% compensation above $25,000 to $50,000, and 6% for compensation above $50,000 to their retirement account. State Legislators, Governor, and Cabinet Members pay 3%, 5%, and 7% for the same incomes.

Everyone who is a participant in FRS needs to know what is pending in the legislature and should look at this chart

Live Blog School Board Workshop 4-14-11

2011-04-14T16:19:00.000-05:00

I am blogging live from the afternoon school board discussion workshop.

Items of interest:

Julie Collins--office of safe schools gave a detailed, powerpoint presentation on SESIR.

The big take-away from the presentation- SESIR does not police the reporting by districts-They are not an enforcement agency. I asked if it is accurate for the public to judge a school or district by the percentage of incidents reported to SESIR compared to other schools or other districts. The answer was not necessarily.

Oil spill litigation-list of potential firms has been narrowed from 12 to 4. All day meeting will be held April 26th, at which time our Attorney will finalize her recommendation for the School Board with respect to which firm should be hired to represent our interests.

Democrat L.A. Mayor's Education Initiatives Look Pretty Conservative....

2011-04-13T06:08:00.000-05:00

And this guy is a Democrat??

Rock-Star Popular Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is planning a series of vigorous reforms of the struggling LA Public School System, outlined in today's LA Times.

From the article:

"In his sixth State of the City address Wednesday, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will turn his sights to education and call for throwing out the telephone-book sized teachers contract as a fundamental strategy for reforming the state's largest public school system....Villaraigosa's remarks offer his latest challenge to United Teachers Los Angeles, for which he once worked. In a December address he called UTLA 'one unwavering roadblock to reform'...The mayor believes the new contract should include a teacher evaluation system that is based, at least in part, on student test scores...Villaraigosa also reiterated his call for changing rules that grant virtually automatic tenure to teachers after two years. And he asserted the need to alter the quality-blind "last in, first out" seniority rules that govern who is laid off during budget-related cutbacks."

Some of these ideas sound familiar--a lot like our Governor and Legislators' proposals here in Florida. Maybe it's not just the evil Republicans that the NEA and AFT need to worry about....

Retire on $9,000.00 Per Month? This District Support Employee Did....

2011-04-10T08:51:00.000-05:00

Over the course of the last school year I have spent some time weekly at one particular school where I mentor a young student. During that time I have frequently had occasion to speak with one of the support employees who works at this school--we'll just say her name is "Jean"

About a month back, Jean seemed exceptionally bubbly and multiple personnel were coming in and out congratulating her, so I asked her what the occasion was. Jean then proceeded to inform me that this day, this particular day, was the last day she would ever be working in her life--she was retiring. I congratulated her as well. I asked if she would miss the job, the kids, and the people. She politely smiled and said she was looking forward to not working anymore.

Some small talk ensued, and Jean then frankly said that, although she was not a highly paid district employee, she had been working for the schools in support positions since the early 1980s--and she had been diligent about saving money and investing these funds.

"I'm not even a savvy investor--I don't have a clue" Jean explained. I just read a few books about saving, and I followed a plan and did not deviate from it"

Jean explained that, even going through personal issues, including a divorce, she maintained her saving and investing regimen.

We discussed rising costs, the recession, etc. and I, feeling comfortable with the discussion and the topic, off the cuff asked her if she felt a state pension, social security, and her savings would permit her to retire in a comfortable fashion.

Her response about floored me.....

"I'll be retiring with an income of about $9,000.00 monthly"... "I'm going to sell my home here in Pensacola if I can, I owe very little on it. Then, I'm going to move closer to one of my sons and grandkids about a twelve hour drive away from Pensacola. I am looking forward to enjoying this next stage of my life with my family"

I absolutely love stories like this--the American Dream comes in all shapes and sizes and can be reached by any and all that choose to go for it-whether it is a start-up business-the hare-or a retiree who made good, disciplined financial choices and will reap the benefits--the tortoise.

The American Dream is alive and exists even for those who earn low to modest hourly rates--as long as they make good financial decisions--as Jean apparently did.

Two Huge Accomplishments for Escambia County High School Students

2011-04-10T08:26:00.000-05:00

I received word last night via email of two exceptional achievements garnered by Escambia County High School Students.

1. The Escambia Academic team has won the state academic championship. Back to back championships have only occurred twice - 02/03 and now 10/11. The Escambia Academic team is the only team to win back to back ... And now they have accomplished the task for a second time. The Escambia teams for the past ten year period have either won or placed second every year--an amazing achievement and a testament to the fact that Escambia County produces some exceptionally smart students!

2. Pine Forest finished 4th in the ROTC national finals. There are over 600 units in the US. Only the top 25 make it to the finals. The Escambia School Disrtrict had 2 schools in the finals: Pine Forest and Escambia.
Escambia won the Jason Harvey award which is awarded to the one unit that displayed character and integrity throughout the competition.

Crime on Campus--Email of Concern and My Response

2011-04-09T08:16:00.001-05:00

I received the below email this morning.

>>> XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 04/08/11 9:13 PM >>>

Dear Escambia County School Board members: I am a parent of a XXXXXXXXX school student. I want you to know that both me and my daughter want you to work on developing a plan to address violence of any kind in our schools. I also want to be very clear in that I demand to know immediately if my XXXXXXX is suspected of either committing a crime, or being the victim of one, a crime of ANY kind. All crimes which happen on your campuses should be handled in the same way they would be handled should they happen at a local hospital, restaurant or home. Local law enforcement, the public servants our tax dollars train and depend on to be knowledgeable and experienced in responding to crimes, must be notified immediately.
I also want you to know that if my XXXXXXXXX is sexually assaulted and proper procedures are not followed (meaning a trained investigator be called immediately) I will hold each and every one of you personally accountable for that crime. I do not know if you are parents or not (in which case the depth of my feelings may be misunderstood); I mean no personal offense by these words. I just want to be clear in my expectation of you, our elected officials charged with educating in a safe environment the most precious part of our society, our children.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

My response: (redactions to protect writer's identity)

XXXXXXXXXX,

Thanks for your email of concern.

We report crimes, we do not condone or attempt to cover-up crimes. A fringe element of our local so-called media has reported erroneous data in his publication which becomes dangerous; He essentially said we broke the law by not notifying the DCF about the Tate H.S. Incident. Of course he was proven wrong when our attorney confirmed that we had followed the law and the statutes he quoted were inapplicable to the Tate HS incident. Now this same individual is hurling new allegations our way that are incorrect regarding protocols for SESIR reporting. He will be proven wrong on his allegations here as well-at a special board meeting this Thursday at 3PM. Of course I do not expect he will retract his allegations when they are found to be baseless--he will then move on to some other topic he can sensationalize for maximum hit counts on his blog.

XXXXXXXX--We care about all of the kids in this district--and I can say that to the best of my knowledge on our campuses if crimes are committed and discovered--these crimes are reported, that is the law and it aligns with our school board policies on reporting of such incidents.

The guilty are punished, and Escambia Schools are, save for the isolated random incident, safe.

XXXXXX--I, too, have a student at XXXXXXX, and my XXXXXXX went there for three years. My wife and I are in the XXXXX PTA(XXXXXXXXXX) My youngest son XXXXXXXXXXXXXX. I have three kids in this school system, one of which is at PHS (a school I graduated from in the 80s) and believe me, I care about student safety. I'm the driving force behind a drug awareness program that has cut expulsions for drug possession in half. (Ironically, the same media personality that is attempting to demonize us for the Tate incident and SESIR reporting DISAGREES with drug dog searches and random testing of athletes for student safety--pretty ironic. He feels that this is simply too "invasive") But the truth, XXXXXX, is we expel students who are violent or who harm other students, period. That is the way this works.

Bottom Line: We have great personnel in our schools who care about kids. My advice to you would be to be involved, go to the schools, meet the faculty, and observe the environment for yourself. Don't allow third-hand, unreliable and inaccurate souces to frame your opinion for you; I would also strongly caution you against putting too much stock in believing in the paper monsters that one local newsblogger attempts to incarnate in order to vent some sort of passive agressive disdain he has for our current elected superintendent of schools and school board.

Jeff Bergosh

Jeff Bergosh
Escambia County School Board, Dist. 1
850-469-6147
http://www.jeffbergoshblog.blogspot.com/
jbergosh@escambia.k12.fl.us

School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting (SESIR) System--Data Interpretation

2011-04-06T06:28:00.000-05:00

Several local blog posts recently have sought to draw conclusions about the Escambia County School District and its schools based upon data from Florida's School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting (SESIR) System.

The data is complex and there are many factors that go into the reporting of incidents to the state via SESIR. It would not be difficult to imagine local bloggers not comprehending this data and therefore misinterpreting it. Data is complex yet some bloggers are not.

Of paramount importance when attempting to draw conclusions about schools and districts is the following statement from SESIR regarding data interpretation. (page 7 from Introduction)

"When examining data contained in the Statewide report, caution should be exercised when comparing school districts. Numerous social and environmental factors, such as the size of the district population, can significantly impact SESIR data between districts. The number of incidents may vary among districts due to differing interpretations of incident definitions, varying levels of consistency with which schools report incidents, and variation in the amount and level of training provided to school personnel who report SESIR incidents. It is not recommended that data from the Statewide report be used to make general comparisons between districts without taking into consideration external factors and variables. "

If one is attempting to demonize schools--at least they ought to get the data right, right?

Elimination of School Board Salaries in Florida a Real Possibility

2011-04-05T05:54:00.002-05:00

This afternoon shortly after 1:00PM in Tallahassee-a committee will decide the future of a proposed Senate Bill that would eliminate salaries for elected school board members in Florida.

The committee will be comprised of three Republicans and One Democrat. A 2-2 vote will stop this bill in its tracks. With a 3-1 vote, the bill moves forward.

The author of the bill, a lame duck serving his last term in the Senate, apparently has an issue with part-time elected constitutional officers earning a salary (except for part-time legislators like himself, part time city councilmembers, part time county commissioners, part time utility board members, etc.--which are all apparently okay to receive a state paycheck for part-time service in this senator's opinion)

This Senator (that many do not take seriously, by the way) apparently has a long standing beef with the executive director of the state school boards association--and now that this senator will term limit out and is a LAME DUCK, the word is that this bill is an attempt at settling a score on his way out the door.
If true, what a petty, small minded, and weak way to get even.

But the unintended consequences of this bill are huge. This bill will consolidate power 100% to superintendents around the state, with no real backstop to challenge their every proposal. A volunteer board simply will not have the credibility and/or courage to challenge anything a superintendent (elected or appointed) puts forth. Example--"Superintendent Recommendation--today will be the sky is purple day. School Board votes 5-0 to accept the purple sky recommendation, adjourned"

A volunteer board will not attract the same caliber of person, period. Slowly, statewide, boards will lose talented individuals that will seek employment elsewhere.

Let's just put the Booster Clubs in charge.

But this Senator will get his jab in the backs of the 355 Sitting School Board members as he walks out the door, while he collects a STATE PENSION for his many years on the public dole, the last 14 of which have been as a PAID, part-time, legislator working 2 months per year.

What a hypocritical piece of work this guy is.

Fed. Gov't Providing Guidance on Sexual Assaults on Campus

2011-04-05T05:21:00.000-05:00

Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan unveiled a message to America's Universities and School Districts yesterday.

The message: Sexual harrassment, intimidation, and assault will not be tolerated on American campuses. Following a brutal gang-rape of a 14 year old female student in the stairwell of a DC public school that went virtually unmentioned among the staff of the said school--a teacher came forward and demanded action.
"It wasn’t handled at all, she said. At a staff meeting the Monday after the attack, she said, the school administration didn’t even bring it up. “After the meeting, I had to go up to my classroom and pretend that nothing happened,” second-year teacher Jessica Lilly wrote in an email to The Washington Post. “For the rest of the day, I attempted to teach how to write an equation of a line in slope-intercept form in between student conversations about the attack.”

Read more here.

Parents, Students, School Choice Reform Advocates 1--ACLU, NEA, AFT--0

2011-04-04T16:03:00.002-05:00

In what can be best described as a devastating punch to the guts of the ACLU and organized teacher's labor unions nationwide, The Supreme Court has just today ruled in favor of parents, students, and school choice reform advocates in upholding an Arizona voucher plan.

From Fox News:

"The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of an Arizona school voucher program that critics say improperly directs taxpayer funds to religious schools.Monday's 5-4 ruling expands long-standing court precedents that citizens don't have standing to legally challenge taxes they don't like simply because they're taxpayers.....The ruling drew immediate praise from Arizona groups defending the voucher system. "Parents should be able to choose what's best for their own children. This ruling empowers parents to do just that," Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel David Cortman said in a statement. "The ACLU failed in its attempt to eliminate school choice for hundreds of thousands of students nationwide and also failed to demonstrate that it had any constitutional basis for its clients to file suit in the first place."

Full article here:

Inside the Under-Construction Global Learning Academy

2011-04-01T15:42:00.005-05:00

The Escambia County School Board toured the currently under-construction Global Learning Academy this morning in Downtown Pensacola. Construction on the facility, which is slated for completion by the end of summer 2011, is moving along at a brisk pace and the personnel associated with the project anticipate timely completion.

The Facility is being built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standard, a designation meaning that the facility is being constructed in an environmentally friendly manner. The building materials are being recycled where possible, with an emphasis on energy efficiency and sustainable building. Once completed, the facility will use natural, ambient lighting throughout. Additional information on LEED can be found here.

The one hour tour highlighted the various features of this facility, which will be 118,000SF upon completion and will house nearly 800 Prek-5^th grade students. According to Mr. Ron Peacock, District Director of Facilities Planning, the facility is coming in significantly under-budget. Mr. Peacock estimates that at completion, the costs for construction of this brand new school will be at about $125.00 per SF, a figure which is reasonable compared to costs of similar structures around the country.

Interesting Education Stories From Around the USA

2011-03-31T06:05:00.001-05:00

Ohio-Public Sector Unions Lose Huge Battle as Law Curbing Collective Bargaining, Striking, Passes Legislature

Oklahoma Following Florida Model on Education Reform

Tenessee Legislator's War on Teachers: "Mind your Own Business and Leave Reform to the Legislature"

Virginia Governor Vetoes Physical Education Bill

Texas-Paying Millions for Prisoners' College Degrees?

California-110 Districts are in Financial Trouble

Brevard County Looks At Escambia County's Drug Dog Search Successes

2011-03-29T05:17:00.002-05:00

About two weeks ago I was contacted by Michelle Spitzer, a reporter from "Florida Today" a Gannett Newspaper for Brevard County. She had found, online, that Escambia County had begun a robust anti-drug campaign in our schools. She was particularly interested in the canine search component.

We had a long talk on the subject and I gave her some of the information we have compiled locally.
In yesterday's edition of Florida Today, the drug dog search issue was one of the lead stories, with significant mention of Escambia County. This article was also a featured story on yesterday's edition of "The Gradebook" blog from the St. Pete Times. From the Florida Today article:

In use elsewhere

Escambia County, which is in the Panhandle and includes Pensacola, invited drug-sniffing dogs into schools this year, as part of a wider anti-drug program.School board member Jeff Bergosh said the 40,000-student district has already seen results. During the 2007-08 school year, 75 students were expelled for drugs. The following year, that number increased to nearly 90 students. So far this year, expulsions have been cut in half.
"It's had a tremendous impact in that students know it's happening, and it's deterring them from bringing drugs to campus," Bergosh said. "It gives them a way to say no to the peer pressure."
Every day, the drug dogs randomly visit one to three middle or high schools. Initially dogs visited only one of the district's 16 middle or high schools per day. That changed when students started texting friends at other schools, telling them they were "safe."

Searches include common areas, parking lots and lockers and classrooms. When a dog searches a classroom, students move to another area and leave their backpacks behind. The dogs do not search the students. Escambia County uses off-duty canine officers, which Bergosh said helped cut the costs down to about $36,000. The district's other initiatives include a student campaign against drugs and testing athletes.
"The proof will be in the pudding at the end of the year," Bergosh said. "If we wouldn't have taken the bull by the horn, it wouldn't have happened."

Read the article here

Rick Scott Signs Historic Merit Pay Bill

2011-03-24T21:05:00.001-05:00

Last year, then Governor Crist vetoed merit pay for teachers. In a move which pacified the Democrats and the Teacher's Unions, yet alienated many Conservatives and Moderates within his own party-Crist killed SB6. For this, he recieved golf claps from liberals, who in turn voted for Kendrick Meek, all but assuring the Senate seat for Marco Rubio and handing Crist a crushing defeat in November.

Fast forward one year and Governor Scott makes the first bill he signs the teacher merit pay bill, SB 736. Scott has pushed aside the rhetoric and made a statement by making this bill the first bill he signs as Governor.

What a difference a year can make. Let's get to Work!

Tate H.S. Incident Investigation--Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots!

2011-03-24T16:16:00.009-05:00

When two constitutional officers from two different governmental entities have a disagreement, it can get messy. With a local press that loves to stoke the fire and never lets facts (or lack thereof) get into the way of a good story-- the conditions become even more fertile for disagreements.

I would like to hope that a recent, very regrettable and disgusting incident at Tate High School does not turn into something that takes on a life of its own; I hope this incident and the ensuing controversies, speculations, and prognostications do not create a wedge between school personnel, The Sheriff, SROs, Administration, Parents, students, and School Board Members. Hopefully, we can all concentrate on preventing incidents like this Tate H.S. assault from happening, and not play "rock em sock em robots" publically in the media over blame and responsibility.

But the Tate H.S. incident of March 1^{st --}which was horrendous and disturbing-- continues to be discussed in the media. Today, a report concluded by the school district Investigator was released to the School Board and the local “press”.

In the report, we learn that an ECSO SRO was notified, in a luncheon meeting on March 2^nd, of all information known up to that time by school personnel regarding the March 1^st Incident. The notified SRO was assigned away from the school on March 3^rd. Two days later, on March 4^th, that SRO turned in a report that was apparently deficient, and that officer was reprimanded by his superiors in the ECSO.

Meanwhile, the Sheriff is characterized as being frustrated in an article in the PNJ ( “Tate High assault, silence probed--- School waited days to report alleged sexual assault to Sheriff's Office” PNJ 3-18-2011 ) – from that article: “the Sheriff's Office did not learn details of the Tate High School incident until three days after it occurred”

In the same article, Sheriff Morgan himself is quoted saying :

"We would have expected to have been notified immediately either directly to the Sheriff's Office or through our school resource officer with the specifics of this possible crime so we could make a reasoned determination how to approach it," Morgan said. ‘And that is the law.’”

Well, I guess a meeting between the SRO, Principal, and multiple Tate H.S. deans on March 2 (1 day after the incident), where the latest details of the incident were discussed at length, does not count as noticing the SRO of the incident?? Umm, okay. What, then, would constitute notice to the SRO?

But I digress.

This incident will be handled by the courts, and the guilty will be punished; hopefully the ECSO and the ECSD will not engage in an ugly, public fight over who was right and who was wrong, who did this right, and who did that right. Hopefully we can just get past that sort of posturing and ensure that communications are improved and investigations of this nature are handled better going forward--- By both agencies.

That’s what I’d like to see happen from this tragic event.

Tate H.S. Alleged Sexual Assault: Weak Reporting Locally=Finger Pointing =Rush to Judgment

2011-03-18T16:35:00.006-05:00

Everybody is concerned about what happened at Tate H.S. on March first. Nobody is happy about it, and nobody is saying the whole incident has been handled flawlessly by the District or the Sheriff’s office. I’m certainly not happy- and I want answers just like everybody else does. From what I have learned thus far about the incident—I am confident that local media has yet to get this story right.

This is bad enough.

But when local media ups the ante, like this post in “Rick’s Blog”-- and proclaims that the law is not being followed by school district personnel—that is different altogether from an accusation of a sloppy investigation or a procedure not being followed. This assertion of law breaking produces a torch and pitchfork mob mentality in the community and press which leads to inaccurate, biased reporting like this rubbish from the PNJ today.

Here is what is known-the incident was not reported to Tate H.S. Administrators until the end of the school day on March 1^st,. The report came second-hand from a person not even in the class. The next school day, On March 2^nd, School officials did notice the Tate H.S. SRO about the incident. The SRO did not follow up. Why the lack of follow up by the SRO until two days later? That is a question for the Sheriff's department.

This afternoon, Rick Outzen essentially backed away from his earlier assertion that the school district did not follow state law. He does not apologize, but he does backtrack from the earlier rhetoric. Information provided to him by the school board attorney, Donna Waters, via this blog post was verified by DCF and he admits as much in his post this afternoon. Now he simply needs to retract the part about the school district not notifying law enforcement, because the district did notify law enforcement on March 2^nd. Even the PNJ got that part right.

Nobody has all of the answers yet, but the answers will come to light eventually, this incident will be handled, and the guilty will be punished.

Meanwhile—the rushing to judgment and finger pointing to whip up frenzied posters who are ignorant of the facts accomplishes nothing.

Tate High Alleged Sexual Assault Case--District Followed the Law

2011-03-17T19:13:00.002-05:00

Today in "Rick's Blog," the accusation has been made that school district staff violated state law in its handling of an alleged sexual assault on a student at Tate High School. From today's post on Rick's Blog:

"The moment the school officials were notified by a parent that a possible sexual assault, involving a 14-year-old victim, happened in a classroom at Tate High School, there were required by law to report the incident to Florida Dept. of Children and Families and law enforcement....The school and the district failed to follow the law."

As a district and  a school board--we take our share of criticism in the media for various decisions we make, for property we sell (or do not sell), for how well our students do on tests, or how we stage the flag at our monthly meeting. We get criticized and second guessed ad nauseum from the peanut gallery and from our local media for many different reasons. This comes with the territory.

However, if someone alleges that we have violated a law, I take that very seriously. If involves the well-being of a child, I go to Red Alert.  If things go sideways and issues end up in court--it is the School Board that gets sued. So, when I read this post in "Rick's Blog" today--I immediately asked our attorney to look into the matter and render a written opinion for the board.

Based upon the what is known about the facts of this incident at this time (and additional information is coming in still) our attorney, Donna Waters, believes that the district did not violate the statutes Rick Outzen cited in his blog post this morning. Late this afternoon, I met with our attorney and discussed this matter with her at length. I have her written opinion, and I have her permission to quote from it, however she asked that the memo not be released in its entirety at this time and she has labeled it   "ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT APPLIES - DO NOT RELEASE WITHOUT CONSULTING WITH GENERAL COUNSEL."

Rick Outzen and his attorney have requested a meeting for this coming Monday morning at 10:00AM to discuss this issue further, at which time Mrs. Waters will undoubtedly challenge these assertions from "Rick's Blog"

The important aspects of Mrs. Waters' rebuke to the allegations from today's Rick's Blog are as follows:

"As with so many issues, the answer depends a great deal on the specific facts involved in the incident. §39.201, F.S. provides that: Any person who knows, or has reasonable cause to suspect, that a child is abused, abandoned, or neglected by a parent, legal custodian, caregiver, or other person responsible for the child’s welfare, as defined in this chapter, or that a child is in need of supervision and care … shall report such knowledge or suspicion to [DCF]. School personnel are required to give their names when making such reports, and thus can be prosecuted for failing to make a report when required. If a report is not required by law, failing to report an incident does not violate the law.
Reports are required when the following elements are met:
1. “A person knows or reasonably should suspect” – Actual knowledge is not required. If a reasonable person who has this person’s knowledge of the facts would suspect abuse or neglect, the report must be made.

2. “That a child” – For this section to apply, the alleged victim of abuse or neglect must be under the age of 18.

3. “Is abused, abandoned or neglected” – the law gives specific definitions, but in general, reporters can rely on a reasonable person’s understanding of these terms.

4. “By a parent, legal custodian, caregiver, or other person responsible for the child’s welfare.” – The alleged perpetrator must be a parent, caregiver or other person who has legal responsibility for the child’s welfare.

Element 4 is commonly misunderstood by the public. An assault by one child upon another is not normally a child abuse situation which must be reported to DCF. Reporting would be mandatory only if the perpetrator is a babysitter or older relative who has been left in charge of the victim’s welfare.

...This analysis does not mean that a perpetrator is not criminally liable for a child-on-child offense. § 800.04, F.S. makes it a second degree felony for any person to engage in sexual activity with a person between the ages of 12 and 16...The statute provides that neither consent, prior sexual experience of the victim nor the offender’s ignorance as to the victim’s age are defenses to the crime."

Taxpayers, Students, Parents--1 Teacher's Labor Union 0-----Historic Teacher Quality Bill Heads to Governor Scott for Signature

2011-03-17T06:16:00.000-05:00

The much discussed, controversial Florida teacher quality bill has now passed the house and is ready for signature by Governor Rick Scott. Last year, a similar, much stronger bill passed both chambers of the legislature only to fall victim to a veto from then governor Charlie Crist.

Current Governor Rick Scott will sign this year's version. Governor Scott said in a piece from Reuters:

"This bill is going to improve our system to the benefit of our students...We will make sure the best teachers stick around, that we retain them, we train them and we'll find the money to make sure they are paid fairly."

The measure passed right along party lines, supported by Republicans and opposed by Democrats. (Ironically, this bill, Senate Bill 736, aligns itself with the goals of Democratic President Obama's Race to the Top Education Reform Initiative--which unions and Democrats opposed )

Next up, the union dues and political activities legislation.

This is going to be a tough session for Democrats and organized public sector labor unions and their supporters

The Difficulty in Voting "No" on Superintendent Recommendations....

2011-03-15T20:48:00.004-05:00

As a board member, it is difficult voting against recommendations that come to us from the Superintendent. It happens so infrequently-- that it actually gets noticed and becomes almost a scene at a meeting if every item is NOT a 5-0 Sweep.

So in 5 years on the board, I have only voted "no" maybe 8 or 9 times. It is rare that it happens. It is really rare that any board member votes "no" on anything recommended by the superintendent and his staff. It just does not happen much because we work out most of our issues at workshops before the meeting. Or we (individual board members, one on one with the superintendent) talk things through and compromise prior to things being added to an agenda or put forward for a vote.

Generally a "no" vote happens when something is politically supercharged--like the closure of a school.

For me, my no votes typically come with recommendations that I cannot come to grips with; typically it is an employee or student recommendation that will significantly impact someone's life.

Or, it might be an issue that impact's the district's right to manage their staff, like when I voted against the collective bargaining agreement becuase I did not feel the language put students first.

Or when I voted against superintendent Jim Paul's recommendation to give back $2Million in Merit Pay money for Great Escambia County Teachers--because the union wanted to give the money back to the state because merit pay was viewed by them as "not fair"--yeah, I voted against that.

Or, it might be a financial issue like the district wanting to raise discretionary millage tax rates on local property owners--which in the past has triggered my "no" vote on several occasions.   My feeling is that we need to live within our means like our constituents do-and the solution to money shortages cannot always be "raise the property tax rate".

Tonight, my "no" vote was because I could not stomach the "deal" that was constructed between an employee, his union, and the district. Lawyer to lawyer, behind the scenes, without board involvement or input, this agreement was put together.

I wanted more time becuase even up to and including the time of the meeting, I still had unanswered questions about this situation. I asked the Superintendent to pull the item, but he said he felt like going forward despite my concerns.

The settlement deal was bad enough that I just could not bring myself to support it--because it takes precious, dwindling tax dollars for granted. It's easy to say-"We'll pay dollars now to eliminate this potential future problem"  But, that is flippant with someone else's money. We're paying as much as $50K EXTRA in taxpayer money to make this deal happen, when we could have simply followed the judge's order and saved the taxpayers the $50K.

And suddenly-- we are led to believe that this employee is a HORRIBLE teacher and some kind of monster that cannot be trusted around his adult students--although there has been no signs of him being unsafe with students in his 20 year career in the district. Sounds like a "paper monster" has been created.

We lost a hearing and were compelled to bring this employee back on a technicality after we fired this employee for testing positive for using Cocaine. So instead of bringing the employee back and paying him adjusted back pay of around $15K and putting him back to work (what the judge specified in his order)--the district agreed to pay him $75K just to retire and not come back for a job in the future.

We may never know the real story behind the story-- and it is a moot point now --as this measure passed via a 4-1 vote.

This individual will now be paid $75K in taxpayer dollars to walk away. My feeling is that people were burned by this guy winning his hearing and did not want to deal with this individual reminding them of it on a regular basis--plus, his replacement is a really swell teacher.

Sorry, I'm not going to support that at taxpayers expense. And no, I don't buy the safety argument-if he was such a ticking timebomb-why was he not dealt with earlier in his 20 + year career with the district?

This was just a deal made to make this guy go away at taxpayer's expense--and as I said at the meeting tonight--I'm not going along with it.

Interesting Thoughts from Tallahassee, 3-14-2011

2011-03-15T06:30:00.000-05:00

I spoke to our School Board Consultant in Tallahassee yesterday about several key issues currently in the legislature. I also spoke with one of our local state representatives and listened in on a group teleconference regarding the status of the state budget shortfall and some other hot-button issues. The following are some points that were identified:

---House Teacher Bill--will pass out of the house this week, may not need to go back to senate, could be signed into law as early as this Friday by Gov. Scott.

---Revenue Estimate revision will happen Friday. Overall the picture is bleak-looks as though the shortfall may be announce as $4.6 Billion rather than $3.6

---Schools should brace for 10% funding cut (although this could be mitigated slightly, resulting in a 5-9% cut overall)

---RLE budgets will continue to be based on collection percentage set at 96%

---FRS conference-discussion about a tiered approach to employee contributions were discussed, with employees making more than $75,000 yearly paying 4 %, employees making $45-74,000 paying 2%
and employees making less than $40K paying none. Discussions settled in on everyone paying 2%-but this is very much subject to change

---Union Check-off bill by Thrasher-passed committee 5-4 and looks likely to move forward

---Class size penalty procedure not settled as of yet

--Gaetz bill SB 1160 discussed, lots of consternation surrounding this bill (which would preclude retired Florida State Workers from collecting a state salary and a Florida Pension simultaneously)

Could Senate Bill 6 Be Reincarnated?

2011-03-15T06:12:00.000-05:00

Several Bills that were vetoed by former Governor Charlie Crist may be poised for a second life according to House Speaker Dean Cannon. Writes Speaker Cannon in a memo from yesterday:

"Several bills vetoed by former Governor Charlie Crist remain available for override by the Florida Legislature. I am directing the committee chairs to evaluate potential veto overrides in their area and, should they find a candidate for an override, to conduct a public hearing on the bill. The House will take up any override formally recommended by a committee."

Senate Bill 6 is on list. read the full memo with a full list of potential override targets here

Brownsville Property Sale in Limbo....

2011-03-10T15:38:00.003-06:00

In our board meeting which is currently underway, the viability of the sale of the Brownsville Middle school property has become the subject of discussion.

Mr. Hawthorne, the party that had expressed significant interest in the property, has not returned numerous calls from the district. According to the superintendent and his staff, the idea that we may no longer have a viable interested party is appearing to be a reality.

We have no contract with this buyer, we have no good faith money, and it is looking like we don't have a deal.

Disappointing but not entirely surprising.......

UPDATE 3-11-11 5:30AM--At the conclusion of Yesterday's school board workshop, the Superintendent let the board know that during the course of the meeting, Mr. Hawthorne had made contact with the district and that he was still interested in the property and intends to move forward..But we were also told that there is no signed contract with this individual or good faith money on deposit. The PNJ today reports that a contract was signed on January 17th by George Hawthorne to purchase this property. If a signed contract exists-we haven't seen it.....

Newpoint Academy Charter Schools Coming to Pensacola--Open House March 1st

2011-02-24T06:15:00.000-06:00

Two Newpoint Academy Charter Schools will be starting classes this fall in Escambia County. These schools are currently enrolling students, and there is an open house scheduled for March 1st at 6:00 PM at the Tryon Branch Library on Langley Ave. in Pensacola.

The Newpoint Schools currently operate successful campuses in Tampa and Panama City, and the newest campuses will be here in Pensacola.

I'm told that Newpoint feels that if they can enroll 150 in their middle school academy, and 150 students in their 9th and 10th grade high school program-this will be a success. There will be two lotteries for entrance, one in late March and a second in May.

The school does not yet have a location, however representatives from Newpoint have stated their campus will be somewhere within a radius of 5 miles from Cordova Mall. (This does not narrow the location much, though)

For further information on Newpoint, their philosophy, and enrollment procedures, contact Donna Horton
at donna.horton@newpointeducation.com

Their website is here

Big Education Reform Stories of the Week

2011-02-20T08:11:00.000-06:00

Here are some interesting education stories from around the USA last week...

Florida Governor Backtracks on Universal Voucher Proposal

Opposition equals widshield, idea equals bug. Bug, meet windshield.

Tradgedy in Banning, California--Three Middle Schoolers Plot and Execute Rape of Classmate

Disgustingly horrific

Texas Governor Rick Perry--Cap the Cost of a Bachelor's Degree at a State School at $10K

Parents would approve-but is this even doable...

Teacher Blog to Students--"Go Get a Job With a Garbage Company" "You're Lazy Whiners"

WoW-talk about speaking freely!

Wisconsin Teachers Union Protests Against Anti-Union Bill--Teachers Bring Students to the Protests

Okay, well, uh, class, we'll call this one an improptu "field trip"--this is important so we'll just shut down school 'till we get OUR salaries and benefits sorted out....

Really? Liberal SF Cal. Paper Editorializes in Favor of Kids, Parents Over Dems and Teacher's Unions??

Unbelievable, a breakthrough--the Chronicle will undoubtedly lose some suscribers over this back-turning to their core readership...

Where Does All of That Lottery Money Go? Part I

2011-02-19T10:06:00.000-06:00

The question comes up frequently, and the answer is that the majority of the $22+Billion that the lottery has kicked in to Florida Schools since the late '80s has gone into the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program and a part of the lottery money goes to School Recognition funding.

The Bright Futures program accounts for the lion's share of the lottery money. I'll go into that in detail in part II. The recognition awards go to the individual schools through their respective districts. The table above shows which Escambia Schools got this money for last school year.

Essentially, if you maintain a n A school average or improve a letter grade or more over the previous year--you get an award. The award is calculated by multiplying your student count by $75.00.

School Staff and the School's Advisory Council determine, by a vote, how each school will spend the money. More than 90% typically goes into the pockets of the teachers as one time bonuses.

Examples from this year.

The staff at West Florida High School spent their money as follows: (According to Principal Eric Smith)

$7,838.50 (8% of the funds) to be reserved to purchase various resource materials and equipment for the classroom.

$89,411.50 (92% of the funds) were spent on bonuses for teachers, administration, administrative support staff, custodians, cafeteria workers, SRO, and medical staff.

Jim Bailey Middle School spent their money as follows: (According to Principal Dr. Judy Pippen)

$6,200.00 (5.5% of the funds) were spent on school supplies

$102,813.00 (94.5%) will be given to teachers and staff as bonuses

Although the majority of these funds statewide go directly into the pockets of teachers as bonuses--these funds can be used for a variety of purposes. The complete description of how these funds can be used is here

Update from Tallahassee Pension Reform Legislative Hearings, from Mixon and Associates

2011-02-18T18:16:00.000-06:00

Mixon and associates provided the below email update from Tallahassee this afternoon on the status of some of the pension bills.....

The Senate Governmental Oversight Committee has been meeting all morning work shopping the local and FRS retirement bills. They started with the local government bill first and it appears that the Committee will not hear from the public on the FRS bill today. They will begin testimony on the FRS bill next Thursday. The Chair, Senator Ring, a Democrat from Broward County provided a quick summary of the FRS bill. He stated that the bill:

1). Does not change the accrual rate.

2). Maintains the DROP program.

3). Preserves COLA (no freeze or reduction).

4). Keeps retirement age for current members.

5). Makes no changes in membership classifications.

6). Does not set employee contribution rate.

The bill ,Senate Bill 1130, DOES the following:

1). Closes the defined benefit (DB) program to new employees as of July 1, 2011.

2). Changes vesting in the defined contribution (DC) to a five year plan.

3). Requires employee contribution to retirement plan but not retroactive.

4). Maintains death benefit.

5). Includes a portability provision in and out of the system. M&A has worked this issue very hard.

6). Commences benefits for retirees for those employed after 7/1/11 at age 65 rather than 62.

It is expected that some amendments will be made to the Bill this next week. Number 5 above will be amended into the bill at that time. The actual employee contribution rate will be determined by the Budget Committee later in the Session. In addition, there will be a reduction in the DROP interest rate from 6.5% to an amount which will also be determined by the same committee. I expect that the employee contribution rate will be between 2-3%. Each % yields approximately $316 million in savings to the State and hence school districts The DROP rate should be between 1.6% (current CPI) and 3% based upon my conversations with staff. The adjustment in interest would yield about $89 million in savings.

School Board Votes 5-0 For Random Drug Testing Policy--Media Portrayal Weak

2011-02-18T04:33:00.003-06:00

...But to read the accounts in the local Media there was a contentious crowd in opposition to the policy!

The reality? There were very few speakers present, and of those who spoke there was an equal number of speakers supportive of the policy--including serveral middle school principals. Also absent from the media's weak coverage--the important reasons why the board was taking action and the justifications for this policy.

None of the important issues--legality, precedent (U.S. Supreme Court Rulings in support), and necessity (how about detailing the two year drug related expulsion data-media?)--none of these issues which board members discussed at length with one another made it into any account of the meeting.

Nope--It is just important to show one parent saying "This policy bothers me"

And It is apparently much more important, interesting and informative to report that "Susan Watson of the ACLU" spoke in opposition to our policy. Susan Watson was mentioned in every media account of last night's meeting, and I guess that, in and of itself, must be newsworthy. Okay,I guess, if you say so....

I only wish the media showed or described her jumbled, stammering, awkwardly delivered prepared remarks which essentially parroted her counterpart Ben Stevenson's badly flawed and inaccurate PNJ viewpoint piece from a few weeks back.

It was a "fail"

His piece was bad--but her attempted regurgitation of his piece was even worse-- and more importantly-- it was off-point and ineffective.

I looked her in the eye and rhetorically asked the million dollar question during the meeting - "Why are we in Escambia County 'Government Bullies' for proposing a random testing policy--Yet Santa Rosa County Schools (With which the ACLU is very familiar) has been doing this for years-and that's okay?

It's a fair question for which the ACLU has no answer because there is no good answer they can give. They are either hypocritical or ignorant. And our media, either terrified of the ACLU or totally enamored with them--failed to report this newsworthy and intriguing aspect of the meeting.

Another "fail"

Here's the bottom line of the important aspects of last night's meeting:

ACLU Watson's remarks would never sway me--but more importantly-- she failed to sway an essentially center, center-left leaning school board and superintendent that she and the ACLU was right and the board had it wrong on random drug testing.

Instead, she and those of her opinion were rebuked with a show of solidarity by the school board; Our board debated, discussed, and ultimately voted unanimously to pass this policy despite the fact that the ACLU and those of similar mindset dislike it.

That's the story that did not get reported by our "so-called" local media.

Updated Escambia School Drug Dog Search Results--Where the Drugs Are 2010-2011

2011-02-15T19:53:00.002-06:00

The Superintendent's office today provided board members with the following documents. This data is current as of Friday, February 11, 2011.

The first document, above, lists which schools have been searched (and how many times each)and the number of times this school year drugs were found at each campus.

The next document, below, lists additional information about what drugs were found and where at each campus drugs were found.

Interesting that out of 228 searches, 17 searches yielded drugs. This equates to about a 7.5% hit rate, which assuming 2-3 campuses are searched daily, means on average the dogs are finding one location a week that has drugs.

I'm amazed that some schools have a much higher hit rate than one might expect-while others that many might expect to yield big finds-- have so far not had any significant findings.

I'm told the searches and the random nature in which they are being deployed is proving to be an effective deterrent to students bringing drugs to our schools; Less drugs at schools equals safer schools.

Interesting Education Reform Stories From Across the USA from Last Week

2011-02-13T09:12:00.001-06:00

Here were some intriguing stories from last week...

OOOPs-Superintendent Cannot Produce Open Records Claim for Emails--Entire Mailbox "Deleted"
uh-oh, damage control time..

Florida-Union In an All-Out Panic Over New Bill Which Hampers Their Political Spending Ability
Panic is setting in big-time within public-sector unions over SB830

Pop-Star Prince Giving Big Money to Arts Education

Very Cool

Kansas' Plans Could Result in Forfeiture of $26Million in Federal Special Ed Funding

someone's gonna get rolled for this misstep...

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels Education Reforms-"A Mitch-Slap" to Teacher's Unions

A Lawmaker coined that phrase--Imagine that!

Governor Rick Scott’s Proposed Budget— A $ 17.7 Million Cut to Escambia Schools?

2011-02-11T17:04:00.000-06:00

"Bottom Line: Assuming the property rolls remain relatively static at $15.1 Billion, our overall funding will be reduced this upcoming year by $17,791,464.00, or 10.54%. "

Ever since the heavily anticipated release of Governor Rick Scott’s Budget this past week, people involved with Florida public education statewide have been studying it meticulously. While many in the state are rightly concerned that this budget will have an enormous negative effect on schools, my personal belief continues to be that this initial draft was the “I’m going to get everyone’s attention” version.

After the legislators are done with it, I believe it will result in a 4-6% cut across the board for school districts around the state. Is this a huge cut?—uh, well, yeah. Is it the end of the world, though? Of course not, and we will get through it. But people are overreacting and getting all worked up before the final rendition is offered-- which makes little sense to me. And I continue to believe that the Governor’s focus on fiscal austerity, while creating some discomfort in the short-term, will serve the state well over the long term. (It’s just too bad lawmakers at the Federal Level don’t cut the spending like we are doing in Florida!) Budgeting to spend no more than what is brought in is smart and is sound fiscal policy. Doing it while simultaneously lowering property tax burdens on middle class Floridians and small business property owners is also a good idea. Doing both of these things while at the same time lowering the tax burden on Large Corporations [READ: JOB CREATORS] completes the recovery trifecta. These policies will stimulate hiring and economic development across the state, and making these hard decisions now will contribute to our state’s strong economic recovery in the years ahead.

The Escambia School board discussed these budget issues at length today. At this morning’s workshop, Terry St Cyr, director of the District’s finance department, unveiled how the Governor’s newly proposed budget (in its current form and assuming no further modifications) would impact our district’s budget for the upcoming year. You can see the analysis here. Again-this is the WORST CASE SCENARIO.

Bottom Line: Assuming the property rolls remain relatively static at $15.1 Billion, our overall funding will be reduced this upcoming year by $17,791,464.00, or 10.54%. Obviously this is a huge reduction—however, as previously stated, I do not believe the finalized reductions will be this steep. We as a district have been extremely frugal with the taxpayer’s money these past few years as this budget crunch has worn on; we’ll be able to weather a steep cut this year, according to the staff at today’s meeting.

The only ominous signal from today’s session-- Both the Superintendent and the Director of Finance stated, unequivocally, that we could not take a steep cut 2 years in a row. With Governor Scott projecting a budget of $63 Billion for 2012-13 ($2Billion less than for 2011-12) a cut of some sort will be coming for 2012-2013. We just have to get through this year, continue to be intelligent in our spending, and keep looking for ways to be more efficient while maintaining our services to our students; it’s not getting easier...