One of the meetings I most anticipate and enjoy yearly is
the round-table meeting with the school principals from District 1. Initially when I was elected in 2006, these
meetings were even more productive, as the meetings were much more low-key back
then. In my first few years the attendees consisted of myself, the principals
of district one, and Sandy Edwards. And
we would engage in frank, candid conversations about issues in district 1. That was then—this is now…
Fast forward to now (and for the last 5-6 years) and these
meetings are still beneficial and useful, however they are now attended by not
only me and the principals and one district staffer---now these round-tables are
also attended by every asst. superintendent, every level director, many subject
area specialists, and the superintendent of schools—the boss of everyone in the
room except me.
So I still ask questions and some of the questions are
direct; I can’t help but think that some of the questions I ask at this
round-table must put these principals in a tough spot, as candid, frank
responses may not go over with the assembled cast of onlookers.
But I asked these questions at yesterday’s round-table anyway
just to see who would answer them and how they would be answered. At the end of the day, I feel it is my
responsibility to bring concerns that have been shared with me by teachers,
parents, and others in District 1 to this meeting and ask about these issues
directly.
Not one district 1 school reported having any issues at all
with having textbooks available when needed. (This was an issue I received from
a different district High School, but I wanted to see if any district 1 schools
were having issues with this as well)
I asked about the greatest challenges at each school. Capacity was given as an issue at the
elementary schools that are overcrowded (Helen Caro, Beulah, Blue Angels). Pine Forest needs some facility renovations,
as much of the campus is spread out behind the schools in aging portables. Attendance -and conveying the importance of
attendance to students and parents was a challenge given by West Florida High
School. Helen Caro has issues with the
car-rider line at drop off and pick-up—as does Bellview. “Why don’t people carpool” quipped one
principal. Nobody does that anymore, it
seems.
One of the questions I asked all of the principals was to
gauge the level of teacher morale in their schools individually on a 1-10 scale
--with 10 being very high. On this
answer, nobody pulled any
