Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 3-2-18

Features
High School Students Urged To Take State Tests Now
Adding More Security In Local Schools Will Cost $4.62M Yearly
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Governor Rick Scott vis- ited Tampa Wednesday to dis- cuss his $500 million initiative to make schools safer through- out the state.
Governor Scott devised the plan after 17 people died at a public high school in Broward County on Valentine’s Day.
The governor wants to have a law enforcement officer as- signed to every public school in the State of Florida.
Grayson Kamm,
spokesperson for the Hillsbor- ough County School District said, “We appreciate Governor (Rick) Scott’s desire to work with school districts and law en- forcement to address these very important issues. We are review- ing the outline of the governor’s plan and we look forward to working with the Governor, leaders in Tallahassee, and our local community to shape how these ideas may be implemented in our schools.
“Many of the Governor’s
points begin with phrases like “Establish funding for...,” which is encouraging. This is crucial, because we should not need to scale back funding for classroom needs to make sure our cam- puses are secure. These two pri- orities must both be funded at the same time.”
Hillsborough County Schools
The Hillsborough County School District is the 8th largest in the nation. It has a total of 218 schools under its jurisdiction. There are 142 elementary schools, 5 K-8 schools, 44 mid- dle schools, and 27 high schools. Of these schools, all of the high schools and middle schools have assigned Resource Officers. Their salaries are shared by the law enforcement agency and the School District. The officers’ yearly salary is $42,000.
Kamm said that 17 of the el- ementary schools currently have full time School District Security officers assigned to them and an additional 20 elementary schools share law enforcement personnel.
If the Governor’s plan is im- plemented, it would be neces- sary to hire additional law enforcement officers at a cost of $4.62 million per year.
Governor Scott’s plan also includes an expansion of serv- ices for mental illness.
In terms of the mental health component of Governor Scott’s initiative, Kamm said, “The support for mental health both inside and outside the school environment is also en- couraging. School is an impor- tant part of children’s lives, but they spend the majority of their time off campus. And adults who act against our children may have no connection with schools at all. Therefore, funding an ex- pansion of mental health serv- ices in both our schools and our communities is a wise invest- ment to foster safer schools and stronger neighborhoods.”
The number of officers needed would increase if Gov- ernor Scott includes charter schools, private schools, voca- tional/technical schools, and al- ternative schools in his plan.
At the end of the month, students will have another op- portunity to take the Florida Standards Assessment test re- quired for graduation. One teacher is encouraging students to take the tests and pass them as soon as possible.
Educator Ross Anderson said, “Students might think hard about if and when they want to take one of the State’s approved alternate tests they can substitute for the State’s graduation requirements.
The reason for this is because the Florida De- partment of Education is taking a look at making the passing scores higher.”
Anderson said no changes have been announced yet, so students can still rely on the current rules.
He further said Florida De- partment of Education Chan- cellor Hershel Lyons stated in a memo: “Once new concor- dant and comparative scores have been adopted, they will
ROSS ANDERSON
apply to all students who have the respective FSA assessments as part of their graduation re- quirements and do not already have a passing score.”
Anderson said some law- makers have proposed bills that would let students take the al- ternate test without sitting for the state ones. And others have called for a study to determine whether the SAT and other exams are still aligned with state standards.
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