Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 10-25-19

FLORIDA SENTINEL FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2019
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Partnership Places CEOs In Local Schools
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
On Friday, Derrick Blue en- gaged in school improvement discus- sions with students at Potter Elementary, chatted up administra- tors and teachers about the campus food pantry, and took part in a drum circle – all before noon.
Blue’s time at Potter was part of CEOs in Schools, a new partnership between Hillsborough County Public Schools and Vistra Communications that offers business leaders the op- portunity to step inside local schools to better understand them.
About 180 CEOs and senior exec- utives from companies of all sizes – including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tampa Bay Rays – were paired with elementary schools throughout the county.
For Blue, chief executive officer at the nonprofit Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan (THAP), it was a chance to get a deeper look within a commu- nity with which he’s already familiar.
Through THAP, Blue oversees programming on hurricane-pre- paredness, home repairs, and disease education and treatment. Many of the residents who live in neighborhoods surrounding the East Tampa school have participated in those initiatives, he said.
Shown from left to right are: Brian Butler, CEO Vistra Communications, Sharon Waite, Potter Elementary School Principal, and Derrick Blue, CEO Tampa-Hillsbor- ough Action Plan.
said she likes that idea. That way, Blue sees areas where Potter needs help and learns more about its good qualities.
“I think it’s a good place for kids to learn,” she said.
Establishing a strong connection between the school and business lead- ers is exactly what Vistra CEO Brian Butler had in mind when he ap- proached district officials about CEOs in Schools earlier this year.
After volunteering for a day at Mort Elementary School, it occurred to him that there was a viable route to bridge the business community with local public schools.
“I thought if we can connect CEOs with principals, they could get in a di- alogue,” he said. “Everything starts with a conversation.”
It’s Butler’s hope that those talks can spark a relationship between the two leaders with students, parents, and the school community gaining the benefit.
“Let (business leaders and princi- pals) figure it out,” he said.
Butler said he’s received requests to expand the program to middle and high schools as well as outside the district.
A review of the feedback from this pilot project will determine how to proceed further, he said.
So when he was approached to sign up for CEOs in Schools, it was a nobrainer, Blue said.
“We’re here in the community every day, so why not support the school?” he said. “This is amazing. I’m speechless.”
Potter Principal, Sharon Waite
said Blue’s physical presence in the school is important.
“It’s a great opportunity for the kids. We’re grateful he chose us,” she said.
Blue said he envisions Friday’s visit being the first of many.
Fifth-grader Zoraya Smith, 11,
Listening Tour: An Opportunity To Have Input About Changes To ‘State Required School Tests’
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
The Florida Department of Edu- cation’s proposal to make changes to the state’s education standards was met with a firm message from Tampa Bay area teachers and parents.
About a dozen educators and par- ents voiced their concerns Thursday at a meeting with State officials at Jefferson High School in Tampa.
The community meeting is one of nine planned throughout the state, a venture that’s been dubbed the Stan- dards Listening Tour 2019.
The tour follows Gov. Ron De- Santis’s calls for an overhaul of the state standards.
In January, he issued Executive Order 19-32, which eliminates the Common Core standards in grades Kindergarten through 12. Instead, state standards will return to the ba-
sics of “reading, writing, and arith- metic,” according to the executive order.
It’s the fifth revision to the stan- dards since they were first put into place in 1996. Common Core was ini- tially adopted in 2010 by 40 states as the product of the National Gover- nors Association and an effort to have a national set of standards.
The Tour, announced earlier this month, offers teachers, parents, stu- dents, and community members a chance to add input to the revision process, said Jacob Oliva, chancel- lor of public schools.
A second draft of the revised stan- dard also was released earlier this month. Suggested changes to the standards are being collected at the meetings, via email at standardsre- view@fldoe.org, and online at www.floridastandardsreview.org/.
“We want to ensure we’re hearing
from you because we want to get this right,” he said.
But more than a dozen teachers and parents told Oliva and his team that changes to the standards aren’t necessary.
Elimination of Common Core means that it would be impossible to gauge how Florida students compare to their peers in other states, said reading specialist Victoria Taylor.
Other teachers expressed concern that changes to the standards could have a negative effort on curriculum rigor and how students retain infor- mation. Some even suggested that the changes would move student achievement backward – the oppo- site of the state’s goals.
Antonio White, vice president for United Teachers of Dade, was more forward and said the revisions “appear to be another political scheme.”
He urged state leaders to look to teachers who “know their students’ needs, not those who have never spent a day in the classroom.”
Parents also should have a promi- nent say, said Alexandra Gilmore. Gilmore, who has two sons ages, 7 and 12, said she’s frustrated by the current standards, but isn’t opti- mistic that the proposed changes will
be better.
Gilmore says her seven-year-old
struggles with reading and spelling because he isn’t being taught vocab- ulary. Additionally, it’s required he learn about the Constitution, which Gilmore doesn’t think is grade ap- propriate.
But if the standards are being re- vised, Gilmore said officials must focus on the basics.
“They definitely have to bring vo- cabulary teaching back,” she said.