Constituent Email of Frustration, Concern....

Received the below email recently from a constituent--not specifically addressed to me, so it was probably a blast to many recipients.  I thought it merited inclusion.  I totally know and can sense the frustration through this email.  I've XXXXX'd out identifiers in the email........

To whom it may concern:

If the Florida Education leaders are telling parents not to rely on FCAT, then WHY are some schools being punished with an extra hour?  “Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson said changes to the testing program resulted in some lower scores, but said the results shouldn't be interpreted as lower performances by students, teachers and schools. “  Rick Scott also has acknowledged FCAT is not doing what it is supposed to do any longer.  Then why waste the money on some schools going extra hours?

Do you really believe that extending school hours is going to help 5 schools make progress?    Have you read research studies?  Do you realize WHERE these schools are?  No amount of extra teaching is going to affect these children until their PARENTS get involved.  Faculty can’t make them care or get involved.  Those students come to school behind-they have no life experiences.  Most don’t care, they are simply trying to survive parents involved in drugs, murder, alcohol, abuse, jail,  etc.

Will these teachers get an extra break, no lunch duties, extra planning, and extra pay, earn extra time off?  I highly doubt you’ve thought of other

Huge loss In Teacher Bonuses is a Part of the Untold Story

At least $958,093.00 will not be coming to 22 Escambia County Schools for School Recognition Bonuses this year.   This is a continuing part of the fallout from the new, lowered FCAT grades our district received this year.   

The huge loss in performance bonus money is not being discussed at meetings of the board, and is also being overlooked by the media, for unknown reasons. 

But a $Million dollars is a lot of money that would have been distributed later this year, around Christmas time.  Most likely a good portion of this bonus money would have been re-spent in the community--meaning the benefits would have branched out beyond just the employees.  

Looking at a list of Escambia County Schools and the amount of cash bonus money each of these 22 schools received last year—that total was $958,093.00.  This list can be found on page 14 of

this document.

Compare this list to the recent list of schools (below) whose letter grades have dropped, and the 22 schools not maintaining their A letter grade or improving a letter grade become apparent.

Bailey Middle School has been an “A” school for nearly a decade running—and last year Bailey received over $100,000 for staff bonuses.  This year, nothing.  Ransom Middle School—another perennial “A” School, received $92,000 last year, but this year will get $0 for teacher bonuses.

This is a devastating blow to the hard working staffs of these schools; hopefully they can all bounce back next year and reclaim the lottery funded recognition money to fund more teacher bonuses!

The only bright spot—several schools did manage to maintain their “A” letter grades through this tough testing year, meaning they will still get their bonuses this year again.  Kudos to these schools! (Hellen Caro, N.B. Cook, Cordova Park, Pine Meadow, Suter, Brown Barge Middle School, R.C. Lipscomb, Blue Angels, Byrneville, and Pensacola Beach) 

For more information on the lottery funded school recognition awards program, look here.

Is Poverty Really the Reason for Poor Performance?

“Poverty is not an excuse” she stated loudly.

“It absolutely is not, it is an artificial barrier to achievement”

 These words came from District 3 Board member Linda Moultrie at yesterday’s school board workshop. 

And I wholeheartedly agree.  I grew up poor, really poor, for most of my life as a kid.  I know tremendously successful people that were poor their whole lives as kids.  Lots of people (and the number is growing) are poor and lots of kids are poor.  Poverty is everywhere—but does it excuse a family’s weak or non-existent parenting?

We, in the school district, are constantly told that poverty is the key reason why some communities and schools fail to achieve when other communities and schools consistently do well and flourish.  It is a safe answer, a safe explanation.  It, for political correctness’ sake, is apparently palatable to paint with a broad brush and say these lackluster performance issues are due to “poverty”.

But is that really the reason?

At yesterday’s meeting I wanted more information.   We are being asked to spend $2.4 Million in taxpayer dollars at 5-8 underperforming elementary schools to provide an extra hour of reading each day.  We are being asked to spend $700K at Warrington Middle School to support the next

Escambia County School Grades for 2011-2012 Released

The Grades are in, and more than 20 Escambia County Schools have had their grades lowered. 

A.A. Dixon repeats as an "F" School for the second year running.  Newpoint earns an "F" as does Lincoln Park Elementary.

Disappointing scores for many schools today and  on this list.  Many long-term "A" rated schools dropping to "B"s, meaning staff lottery funded bonuses will not happen this year for hundreds of Escambia County teachers.

So Who is Really Driving the High Stakes Testing in Escambia County and Statewide?

Gerard Robinson at Warrington Middle School, 2011

It isn’t the State, if you take it from Commissioner of Education Gerard Robinson.  Nope.  It is the individual districts that are piling on all of the testing—not the state!

From his blog:

“Florida statutes require students take the FCAT in grades 3-10. These assessments average two to three per student per school year and account for less than one percent of the instructional time provided during the year.  It is worth noting that local school boards require students to take many more assessments than those required by the state.”

Well, the problem with the above statement is that it simply isn’t true, and I find it incredible

Senator Bill Nelson Coming to Town Again.....AKA Let the RESTORE Act Victory Dance Begin

In April, Senator Bill Nelson came to PSC to address a group of local leaders and elected officials.  It was billed as a question and answer session with the Senator.

I showed up and the small conference room held roughly three dozen citizens.  Right away, the forum turned into a one-way lobbying session for the passage of the RESTORE act--and the demonization of those Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate that were opposed.

After a lengthy dissertation from the Senator about how good RESTORE would be, his handlers opened up the floor for questions.  The Senator took a total of five (5) questions and then his staff called the meeting.

Several participants seemed peeved about not getting an opportunity to ask questions of the Senator.  My sense was it (the meeting) was just an effort to lobby for the act and get some good press during this campaign year.  Nothing wrong with this, but I wanted a better answer to my question about the dangerous level of student loan defaults in our country--and what I got was a weak, canned response that was so generic and bland it could have been labeled "Great Value" like a Wal-Mart house product.

Hiring the Best, Most Qualified Candidates Regardless of Race is the Right Thing to Do, Part I

Recently the Escambia County School District has come under fire for not hiring enough administrative, professional, and instructional employees that are ethnic minorities.  I have seen this manifest itself as our district, for two years running, not having ANY Hispanic administrators---none, nada.  For two years running I have asked the EEOC director about this apparently severe underrepresentation—I mean Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic minority in our nation and they comprise roughly 5% of our student population—yet we have [ZERO] “0” administrators of Hispanic origin.  If a conversation were to be had about underrepresentation, I think a valid first priority would/should be to find a way to recruit and hire more Hispanic employees.  My questions about these disparities apparently fall on deaf ears as the situation does not change.    And the local press ignores this relevant issue.  

Asians represent a substantial part of our students on the west side—and yet we continue to have very few employees of Asian descent.  This situation goes along un-challenged and ignored.  Nobody wants to talk about Asian employees or Asian student achievement—just subjects not to be discussed, I suppose.  Nope-- Instead, we are taken to task by the weekly tabloid on our low numbers of African-American employees specifically.   In what seems to be a never-ending barrage of accusations and sinister allegations from one minor local weekly publication in particular,