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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

My lying eyes: The state of the district

Friends, I don’t know which would bother me more; whether Duval County School Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals actually believes what he wrote in his state of the county address, or that he just said it to keep his job. (One way he would mean he is crazy, the other way would mean he was disingenuous). Either way, I am reminded of the expression "am I going to believe the truth or my own lying eyes"?

You have to give the superintendent high marks in chutzpah - he doesn’t waste any time putting a positive spin on things. First, there is the "strategic plan", which is the equivalent of me having my kids make and grade their own tests. (If you noticed, Pratt-Dannels was a little light on details). He talks about gains in writing and science, the two portions of the FCAT that saw dramatic changes, which arguably made them easier. This is the same FCAT, by the way, that he criticized when he didn’t like the district's reading scores.

He then talks about the turnaround schools - you know, the schools where all the teachers work twelve-hour days during the week and take stuff home on the weekend. (You can recognize the teachers at turnaround schools by their about-to-jump-off-a-bridge look). It’s true: when you look at the turnaround schools in total, they did make gains in reading; sadly, they are marginal at best and only came because the district put yokes on teachers and worked them like rented mules. I think if we had given teachers support, autonomy and less tasks that only have a peripheral relationship to education, we would have seen substantial gains.

The superindendent's half-truths and self-serving exaggerations then came fast and furious.

Goal 2 is to increase the percentage of students graduating who will be ready for post-secondary education and work. In case you didn’t know it, 70% of our recent high school graduates who are now at Florida State College have to take remedial classes, and employers report having a hard time finding qualified applicants. Councilman Richard Clark says one of the reasons we can’t recruit businesses is our school system. (http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-06-04/story/too-many-duval-students-not-college-ready)

Duval County's graduation rate rose 3.2 percentage points, to 64.5 percent in 2009. While this is an increase, we certainly agree that more progress on the graduation and promotion rates needs to take place. By the way, in the '05-'06 school year, our graduation rate was 65.5%. Is he saying we got better after we got worse? (http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/121606/met_6848430.shtml)

His 4th goal would probably be the most laughable if it wasn’t so sad. - Goal 4 focuses on establishing schools where all individuals feel safe and are respected and valued. Our code of conduct violations, as measured by the state, decreased by 37% over the past year. Ignoring and not entering referrals does not make make one feel safe and respected, sir; it erodes discipline and leads to bigger troubles down the road. He also writes about additional staff training and awareness of disciplinary actions. The awareness part is true - in fact, it is the most accurate part of the piece. Teachers have become very aware, (painfully aware) that if they write too many referrals, their evaluations will suffer and their jobs will potentially be in jeopardy. Furthermore, the dramatic 49% decrease in suspensions couldn’t be because Principal's evaluations are tied to suspensions, could it?

Pratt-Dannals seems so proud of the fact that we are establishing advanced academic programs at all the high schools, though it begs the question: why do we have advanced academic magnet schools if they can get the same programs everywhere? Could it be that the programs at the neighborhood schools are just expensive bones he has thrown to the masses in an effort to say 'look at me, see what I have done. I am for magnet schools' ? They give kids a chance to take classes they are interested in rather than being thrown into the one-size-fits-all curriculum that the neighborhood schools have. In all honesty, however, they have different rules. Kids who don’t maintain a 2.0 GPA and have discipline problems usually don’t last very long at the magnet school, where neighborhood schools are required to educate any child who shows up, regardless of behavior, aptitude or desire.

I wasn’t surprised, but there are a few things Ed Pratt-Dannals didn’t mention that I think you should be aware of; chief among these is that our school system is contracting for the last three years. (Coincidentally, during his term in office, the school system has lost children). He also didn’t mention that every county in Florida except for Duval has seen home schooling and private school enrollment decline, either. Our graduation rates are low, teacher morale is low, our reading rates are low, in fact, and the only thing that seems to be high is our dropout rates. I ask you - does that look like a school district heading in the right direction? Are you going to believe what is in front of you, or your lying eyes?

Friends, I could go on and on as everything he wrote is easily refutable.

In the end, it will be up to you to decide if we are heading in the right direction. Do me a favor - think about it then let him and the school board know how you feel.

Chris Guerrieri
School Teacher

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