flynn082

Some teachers when talking about the upcoming election say, well I am not a single issue voter, when they explain why they are voting for DeSantis. It's like pulling teeth having them explain what their other issues are, but it generally boils down to abortion, guns (quite the juxtaposition there) and some muddled scream about socialism. The thing is it blows my mind that the republican are so against abortion when they are so anti children and how they are against gun regulations that would keep us all safer. They say it won't prevent criminals from getting guns, well if that is the case then it won't prevent them from getting guns either. So that leaves socialism. If you think raising the corporate rate two percent to pay for a teacher raise is socialism, then you are to dumb to vote let alone be a teacher. Now I get it there may be a ton of other reasons why somebody would vote republican, and if you are all about dumping pollution into our waterways, or have been making...

Last week tragedy hit DCPS as a West side  High student was gunned down on the way to his bus stop at 6:15 in the morning. The quick thinking and actions of his bus driver, picking him up and rushing him to a fire station saved the young man's life.  https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/data/crime/westside-high-student-boards-bus-after-being-shot-in-chest-while-walking-to-bus-stop/77-596122835   There is a lot to cover there but this piece isn't about the senseless violence, instead it's about the time the young man was shot. Why did we have this young man walking to a bus stop at 6:15 in the morning. When did this young man and thousands like him have to get up? 5:30, maybe 5:00?  When I worked at Ed White most of us walked around in a haze until 9:00 or so and I meant to say most of us, teachers and students alike, victims of a system that keeps us chronically sleep deprived, which is bad for everyone but especially bad for teenagers.  From UCLA H...

Who would have thought if you strip teachers of work protections, make it harder to become a teacher, force them to give up creativity and flexibility and teach to a test, tie their evaluations, pay and employment to a complicated math formula designed to measure the reproductive rates in live stock, blame them for many of the ills of society, giving them all the responsibility without any autonomy, while paying them less than a decade ago and severely limiting their earning capacity,  fewer and fewer people would want to become teachers or make teaching a career. Well it seems the state of Florida, that's who. For the past 20 years though it's been on steroids for the last 8, Tallahassee has done all it can to injure the teaching profession and a recent study confirmed the most obvious thing in the world and that's Florida is one of the worst states in the nation for teachers. From the Florida Phoenix, An analysis released Monday ranks the Sunshine State 47 out of the 50 s...

Gulp For the 2018-2019 fiscal year $873,565,674 is the cap on what can be diverted from our schools to private schools that take vouchers. It joins billions more lost to the black hole that the voucher program is. The problem with vouchers are legion. They can use certified teachers and teachers without degrees, they can teach junk science and history and most don't even have to report how they use the money. The over site on these schools is so low it is practically  non existent. Well now we can add kids at a quarter  of the schools regressed, REGRESSED, in math or reading skills. They actually lost knowledge.      I am just going to get right to it. From the Orlando Sentinel, There are no consequences, however, for the students or schools when the studies show some schools leave children worse off academically. More than 70 schools, out of about 280 studied, showed declines in students’ math or reading skills, according to the most recent repor...

Former president of the Duval County Council of PTAs and life long public school servant, Karen Nuland endorsed Charlotte Joyce over David Chauncey for the district 6 School Board seat today. A tireless advocate for our schools Nuland believes Joyce is a much better choice than Chauncey who has taken tens of thousands of dollars from interests related to charter schools and vouchers.  It couldn't have been lost on Nuland that Joyce is a life long resident of Jacksonville who not only gradated from DCPS schools but has been volunteering and working in them for nearly two decades, a trio of things Chauncey cannot come close to saying. In District 6 people have two distinct choices, a woman who has dedicated her life to DCPS schools, and a man who recently moved to town with barely any education experience, backed by the privatization movement. If you care about our schools then Joyce is the only real choice. Nuland joins Becki Couch the current district 6 school board member in endor...

Jason Fischer a house rep out of Jacksonville inserted 2 million into the budget for his super donor, Gary Chartrand's charter school the KIPP school in Jacksonville. Does Gary Chartrand's name sound familiar? He is is also on the state board of education. Here are some more random facts. Over 370 charter schools have taken public money and closed leaving communities and students in a lurch and most charter schools now open in affluent neighborhoods, the pretense of helping poor students trapped by zip codes all but abandoned. A recent report outlined just how bad and corrupt the charter industry and Tallahassee have become. From the Orlando Weekly A new report from a Tallahassee-based research group raises questions about the growing role of charter schools in Florida, including citing the closure of 373 charter schools since 1998.  Ben Wilcox, research director for the group Integrity Florida, said the closure of charter schools has averaged nearly 20 a year “and that comes ...

I sure hope you do! Jason Fischer district 16 has some explaining to do. These are irrefutable facts. Gary Chartrand is responsible for bringing the KIPP charter school to Jacksonville. Over the years Chartrand (and his friends and family) have given thousands of dollars to Fischer. Fischer had a two million dollar grant given to the KIPP charter school.   https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2018/5001/BillText/er/PDF Line 111 Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Jacksonville (HB 2851) (Senate Form 1756).......................... 2,000,000  KIPP is not in Fischer's district. He voted for a budget that gave our school district just an extra 47 cents per pupil in discretionary spending.  Those are all irrefutable facts. This wasn't a bill either which most likely would have failed. No he just had the money inserted into the budget because that is how  broken  Tallahassee has become after twenty years of republican rule.  https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/...

Five people ran to replace Scott Shine on the school board. After the very competitive primary, former teacher and current mental health counselor Elizabeth Andersen and businessman Nick Howland advanced. The three that didn't Shannon Beckham, Sam Hall and Casey Ayers have all since endorsed Elizabeth Andersen, and here Ayers explains why.  Running for Duval County School Board in District 2 as a first-time candidate, I didn’t know exactly what to expect from the process, or from my four opponents. I ran to share a message about how our schools can better serve our students by recommitting to career and vocational education, especially in cases where certification programs could add value to our students’ diplomas and unlock badly needed bonus funding from the state. Over the course of many forums and public events featuring all five candidates, I had the opportunity to share this message, but also to listen to others driven to serve their community. Given Scott Shine’s abrupt depa...

I had a Facebook conversation with an irate Darryl Willie supporter yesterday. They accused me of smearing Willie and of having a hidden agenda. I replied, by smearing do you mean pointing out the things he has said or done? And I let him know that I definitely have an agenda and I hope its not hidden, I want the best person for the job on the school board who is going to appreciate and respect the teaching profession.  We went back and forth and they were dismissive of the importance of the race, saying its just a school board race, well friends the 7 school board members control a budget, more real estate and employ more people than the mayor and city council does, and money doesn't matter. Friends do you think money doesn't matter in elections? They were unswayed by all the things Willie has said and done and by all his dubious connections but then they said something really interesting, it's not like I think Cynthia Smith would be bad on the school board I just think Da...

A few weeks back Willie was pretty hard on the charter school movement despite taking a lot of money from them. http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2018/08/darryl-willie-tells-people-what-they.html Willie also presents himself as a democrat, but he has no problem taking all that sweet, sweet republican money. http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2018/08/kimberly-daniels-and-darryl-willie.html This disturbing patern continued in a recent article in the Times Union about the pervasive influence of public school privatization money working its way into the school board races. From the Times Union: Willie said his donors know and trust he’ll represent his community. “A check or a donation is not going to drive how I make decisions,” he said. “Most folks said they believe in me as a person, they believe in my being able to make sound decisions about what my constituents want.” He also said, Willie said many of his donors know him from his times teaching in California and the Mississippi Delta re...

There are some remarkable differences between the school board candidates. Andersen, Smith and Joyce are supported by parents and teachers, while Howaland, Chauncey and Willie are supported by the charter school industry and the privatization movement. Andersen (Terry Parker), Smith (Jackson) and Joyce (Ed White) all went to DCPS schools while  Howaland, Chauncey and Willie did not. Andersen, Smith and Joyce all worked in DCPS schools while Willie and Howland didn't. Chauncey did for two years leaving the moment his two year Teach for America commitment was up. Andersen, Smith and Joyce are life long Jacksonville residents while Howland has been here 14 years and Willie and Chauncey 7ish and 5ish respectively How are these races close again? It goes back to money and the fact the privatization crowd, those that support charters and vouchers and who don't think teachers are professionals support Howland, Chauncey and Willie. Friends we have to choose who represents our schools, ...

Five people ran for the district 2 spot, and after the primary the three who did not advance all decided to support Elizabeth Andersen who as a former teacher and current mental health counselor has the particular skills and back ground that this board needs. Below are excepts from a press release due to released soon. Sam Hall,  “I am supporting Elizabeth Andersen for the Duval County Public School Board. Andersen has experience that is directly related to children and education. If elected, I am confident Elizabeth will make decisions that will be in the best interest of children.” Shannon Beckham,  “I am pleased to endorse Elizabeth Andersen, because as  a former DCPS teacher she is the only candidate in the race that has spent quality time in our schools.  In a time when many of our children are in crisis, her work in the mental health field would be an asset to DCPS. District 2 would be lucky to have someone represent us who is a true champion for public educati...

District 2 had five candidates, Shannon Beckham, Casey Ayers, Sam Hall, Elizabeth Andersen and Nick Howland. In a very competitive race Anderson and Howland advanced out of the primary to the general election. Now every candidate who didn't, representing 47.05 percent of the electorate has endorsed Elizabeth Andersen joining the 22.01 percent of the vote she received. Howland who has proven wiling to say and do anything to get elected is still formidable. In the primary he raised more than the other candidates combined taking in thousands from charter schools, voucher schools and people who lived outside the district.      That being said its a great sign that all the other candidates recognize that Elizabeth Andersen and her unique background as a former DCPS teacher and current mental health counselor would make a far better school member than Howland who has both questionable judgement and ties. District 2, you have the opportunity to make a real difference, an opportu...

Rick Scott and his colleagues in the Florida congress have done all they can do harm both public education and the teaching profession. If he were to tout these as an accomplishment, I would have to shrug my shoulders and as respectfully as I could be disagree. That's however not what he did in a new TV spot.  Did anybody else just spit out their milk? If so I apologize. In effect Rick Scott is asking people not believe what he has said and done and to give him credit for somethings, public education and the teaching profession that he was not able to completely dismantle and have succeeded   in spite  of him. Here is a head scratcher , if he thinks pubic ed is so great why did he push policies that sent billions to voucher and charter schools? Could  it be that is where many of his donors come from?  Among other lies, half truths and cherry picked statements Scott touts his education funding. From Florida Politics A new spot from Scott, per the campaign, “highl...

If you thought Mrs. Couch did a good job representing district 6 on the school board, and I surely did, then it would be a travesty to vote for Dave Chauncey. He pretty much represents the exact opposite of what she did. Via Facebook: If you live in my district, I ask that you vote for  Charlotte Austin Joyce  to represent the school board seat I am vacating. She is a seasoned educator who will put the needs of students first. She has grown up on the Westside and attended Stilwell and Ed White. She is an experienced educator with school aged children so she understands the needs of our students and community on the Westside.

I want to say, you know there are some good private schools that take vouchers who do it right and the bad ones who teach junk science and history, hire teachers with felonies or without a degrees give them a bad name. I would like to say that but the truth is we don't know, there is so little over site on voucher schools that they might all be crap.  A recent study does however say kids that attend private schools don't receive any gains. From UVAToday A  new study from the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education finds that low-income children or children enrolled in urban schools do not benefit more from enrolling in private school between kindergarten and ninth grade. “Despite the arguments in favor of the use of vouchers or other mechanisms to support enrollment in private schools, ostensibly as a way to help vulnerable children and families access a quality education, this study finds no evidence that private schools, exclusive of family background or income, a...

By John Meeks The first week of school in Duval County Public Schools perfectly illustrates why we cannot afford to stay home on Election Day. To begin with, Tallahassee created a new evaluation and pay system that depend on student learning gains in their classes.  For the sake of accountability, this is a popular idea among the education reform crowd.  After all, who is opposed to data-based, student-centered education that makes the most of our tax dollars?  More or less, we are asking educators to sing for their supper. The problem arises, however, when our state legislature imposes unfunded mandates on our school districts, forcing them to make up the difference in cost by either asking their residents to pay more taxes or by implementing this testing regime with subpar infrastructure and equipment. That is where we found ourselves the first few days of school.  Instead of administering baseline assessments, teachers were scrambling to implement contingency less...

Teaching today is not an easy job. You have all of the responsibility put on your shoulders but increasingly autonomy as well as flexibility and creativity is being stripped away. Come to my room, you will fill it filled with visuals and permanent products on the walls which my kids could care less about but which my administration has demanded. I am a special education teacher, and my kids are taking the same pretest that they took last year and the year before that. They will take it again at the end of the year and this will be used to determine my growth scores or half of my evaluation. That's not to say all things are bad. I love interacting with my kids and building those relationships. There is nothing better than seeing that light come on when they get a lesson, or some advice you gave sinking in to solve a problem. Yes teaching has its ups and downs but perhaps my biggest down is my paycheck. I literally get depressed every two weeks when my paycheck hits my bank account a...