The Florida Coalition of School Board Members hosted a
member’s only educational roundtable webinar yesterday with Senator Don
Gaetz. Gaetz (Senate President
2012-2014) is in his final term in the Senate, having spent nearly a decade in
this position. “I started out like you
all, first as a school board member, then I became a Superintendent of Schools,
and finally I slid all the way down to become a state Senator” quipped Gaetz at
the beginning of the call.
“This was a good session for education in general, we did
not get everything we wanted, but we did get a lot of things that are good”
Gaetz told the assembled group of school board members from around the state. “It was also a good session for your group
[FCSBM] as language was put into [HB] 7029 that allows you all to pull your
share of membership dues away from FSBA”
When asked about CAPE, he pointed out that this program that
he supported strongly, has exceeded expectations, with more than 400,000
Florida students having earned industry certifications thus far as a result of
this program.
When asked by Tina Calderone of Seminole County about the “Seminole
Solution” regarding testing reform—Sen Gaetz responded by saying the Senate was
ready to move on testing reform and legislation was submitted in the Senate to
address many areas of reform the Dr. Griffin and Seminole County had described. “There was no movement at all in the house on
this issue” Gaetz said.
I asked about how we are to ensure all students’ privacy
rights are maintained with respect to the mandate from President Obama’s
Department of Education regarding transgender students and access
