My daughter loved learning to read…by reading “Dr. Seuss…
You’re never too old…
Too wacky, too wild…
To pick up a book and read to a child…
-Dr. Seuss
#DrSeussDay
#ReadingIsFun 💜🪄💫✨🌟📚
Author: Janis Sexton
Retired elementary public school teacher; all thirty-eight years in Florida... Now spending my time advocating for our children, and their right to strong public school education...With an appreciation for the arts, and the magic in each day✨...
Once Upon a Time…Our Precious Children…
#floridateacher💔🇺🇲🍎📚 Unconscionable…
Our precious children…
WITH FREEDOM…
BOOKS, FLOWERS, AND THE MOON,
WHO COULD NOT BE HAPPY?
Once upon a time…
Our precious children…
Florida Turns Attention to Alternate Tests Amid Feud with College Board …
By
Jeffrey S. SolochekTimesPublished Feb. 20
The big story: Florida’s dispute with the College Board continued to broaden, with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ suggestions that perhaps the state can do without the organization’s courses and exams beginning to take shape.
Top state officials said they had been in conversations with Classic Learning Test — developed in part by DeSantis appointee to the New College board of trustees Mark Bauerlein — to implement that exam as an alternate to the College Board’s SAT. The Classic Learning Test supporters tout it as being focused on the “great classical and Christian tradition,” a movement that has been gaining traction in some charter and private school circles…
A move away from the College Board would not come without consequences. Tens of thousands of teens take Advanced Placement courses annually with the hope of earning college-level credits. They also take the group’s SAT test to help them earn university entrance and Bright Futures scholarship eligibility. Here are four things to know as the state ponders the role of the College Board.
The discussion about the organization’s future in Florida arose as an offshoot of DeSantis’ objections to some of the content in the proposed AP African American studies course. He called for changes before he would allow the Department of Education to consider approving it for use in Florida’s public schools. Much of the dispute centered on key ideas and phrases that have become politicized. The Washington Post examines how the course language changed over time.
Four other states now are reviewing whether the course meets their policies and laws on teaching about race, Axios reports.
The argument has become much more than academic. Black leaders and activists are vowing to take to the streets to fight against what they view as DeSantis’ assault on civil rights. The conservatives are standing firm in their effort to advance a counter-revolution and purge what they call “woke-ness” out of the schools, government and society…
The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks to a crowd of hundreds from the steps of the Senate portico during the National Action Network demonstration in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ rejection of a high school African American history course, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023 in Tallahassee, Fla…
Some people have asked whether DeSantis took any AP courses while attending Dunedin High. The Daily Beast published a page from his yearbook indicating that he was given an AP American History Award in 1996…
(Alicia Devine /Tallahassee Democrat via AP) [ ALICIA DEVINE | AP ]
staff
Jury Duty…Could Have Been one of my Students
I was recently summoned to serve on jury duty here in my community, Flagler County…I felt it would be my responsibility as a citizen and a privilege…
Never visiting our court house, Arriving at around 8:00 AM…I was screened by the officers on duty, who were all to be welcoming and appreciative…
The judge from the Seventh Circuit met us in a preliminary room where he spent a great deal of time going over our schedule and responsibilities… He said we may be there for 2 to 3 days…He was extremely knowledgeable and appreciative that we were there to serve…
There were about 25 of us, about 17 white men, and 8 female, one of whom was the only black… several Hispanic, one Asian…
We were then escorted to the Hearing room where all attorneys were present…A white, female prosecutor; and at the defense table 2 males, one of whom was black… Learning, one was the public defender and the other was the defendant, a young black male…
What struck me so, not having any previous knowledge about this case…Since both males were wearing suits, I assumed, at first, the black male was another attorney...
How wrong I was…He was the defendant…My impression was, he definitely could have been one of my students…What went wrong in his life that led him to this place in his life?
I was so relieved that I was not chosen to be part of this jury…All 7 were white, with one being a female…
My heart breaks for our children…
Jury did find him guilty of the charges…
He is in for life…for his orevious crime and there is an appeal pending..This current crime will Just add more time to a life sentence for his crimes…Where there was no loss of life…
Already Serving Life, Carlos DuPree Is Convicted on Charges of Assaulting Jail Deputy
#GunReformNow…MSU…
Just another school shooting…
Why do we have the NRA and divisive political climate having such little regard for our precious children??!!
When will they be the priority??!!
#GunReformNow
#SchoolSafety
#Floridateacher 💔🇺🇲🍎📚
#BlackHistoryMonth…2023
@NatlHeadStart
#BlackHistoryMonth
During this “era”
Inspiring my becoming an elementary school teacher in 1972
Specializing in early childhood education…
Beginning at a federally funded school… teaching migrants…
Then…Even having the opportunity to lead a Headstart Parenting Group in1974…
And much of my 38 year teaching career.. teaching children of diversity through Federal Funded Programs… 💜💫🌟💫📚
Florida Athletes May Soon be Required to Submit their Menstrual History to Schools…
BY SOMMER BRUGAL AND ANDRE FERNANDEZ UPDATED FEBRUARY 02, 2023 6:40 PM
Florida’s children who are the most vulnerable; those in need of inclusion the most … are being targeted; singled out by Governor Ron DeSantis only to bring national attention in his quest for power, securing his candidacy for president in 2024…
This latest requirement for Florida’s high school female athletes sharing their personal menstrual history goes beyond what anyone…other than family or a doctor, should know!!
He does not care how his authoritarian actions hurt Florida… especially our children…
He only became our governor by voter suppression and a lack of strong support of the Democratic candidate, Charlie Crist…
I myself remember, living in Flagler and Volusia County where he was our representative, and did absolutely nothing…
Now, with his divisive agenda, he has a strong support of those with money giving him the national stage…
This latest attack is once again hurting our high school athletes…
A proposed draft of a physical education form in Florida could require all high school student athletes to disclose information regarding their menstrual history, which opponents are pushing back against. Richard Bagan via Unsplash
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article272020202.html#storylink=cpy
DeSantis Targets and School Boards With Teachers Bill of Rights – Sun Sentinel
When I began my teacher journey back in the seventies…Even though our pay was quite inadequate… We had such hope, and a surplus of teachers…So much so, I had to travel 90 miles a day, just to teach…
Being apolitical, I did not realize, nor appreciate our teacher’s union…For years, stayed away from joining…
I then realized by those “No Child Left Behind ” years …We sure needed that unity of the union for our advocacy… And especially now in these divisive times it is critical…
So for me, doing my part, now, even though I am retired, I am proudly a member of my local, ACEA; Alachua County Education Association, FEA; Florida Education Association and AFT; American Federation of Teachers….
Divide and Conquer… Governor Ron DeSantis is once again using his authoritarian control over our Teachers Union…
Delaney Johnston January 23, 2023
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday unveiled a series of proposals aimed at school boards and teachers’ unions, the latest salvo in his battles over education policy in the state.
At an event in Jacksonville, DeSantis unveiled what he called a “Teachers Bill of Rights,” which would give teachers the green light to stand up to their school boards if they felt their policies violated state law.
He also proposed banning teachers’ unions from automatically deducting dues from paychecks, imposing stricter term limits on school board members, and amending the state constitution to allow school board candidates to reveal their political parties in the now bipartisan races.
DeSantis said he wants an additional $200 million for the special fund created to increase teachers’ salaries, bringing the total for teachers’ salaries in his recommended budget for next year to $1 billion.
A total of $3 billion has been spent on salaries over the past three years, he said.
Much of that money, however, went to raising starting salaries for new teachers, so the state still ranked 48th for average public school teacher salaries last year, according to the National Education Association, one place lower than when DeSantis took office in the year 2019
The state also had 5,300 vacant teaching positions this month, more than double the number two years ago, according to the state teachers’ union.
DeSantis’ proposals to the school boards came after he got involved on an unprecedented scale in local board races for governor and promoted conservative candidates across the state. That included Orange County, where Moms for Liberty member Alicia Farrant won a seat on the board.
“What we’ve seen over the years is that you have … counties in Southwest Florida that voted for me by about 40 points, and yet they vote people into school boards that’s like a completely opposite philosophy,” DeSantis said. “…And sometimes it’s hard not to know because you have all these names on one ballot.”
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, wrote on Twitter that eight-year term limits on school board members instead of the current 12 and partisan elections aim to “essentially get rid of current members over time and improve public education partisan.” This goes way deeper than just culture wars — this is an educational power grab.”
The new proposals would have to be approved by the legislature or, in the case of a constitutional amendment, by state voters by referendum.
They come just days after DeSantis and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz made national headlines by banning an AP African American Studies course in the state and announcing plans for the state to fund all parents who send their children to voucher schools, regardless of income want to send.
His proposal on teachers’ rights is modeled after the Parents Bill of Rights, which allowed parents to ignore COVID restrictions in schools. DeSantis said the state will “protect” teachers from their boards or unions.
“[If] A teacher must either obey state law or listen to a school board or school union or administrator telling them to break state law. If they comply with state laws, they are protected,” DeSantis said. “…And it doesn’t matter if a school board or a superintendent disagrees.”
It could potentially affect teachers who squabble with their school boards over the interpretation of issues ranging from the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law to the “Stop WOKE” law banning critical race theory, both of which are broad.
The educators and board members speaking at the event spoke out against their boards’ vaccination mandates and other anti-COVID measures.
“At my current charter school, I am free to choose whether or not to wear a mask, and ‘social distancing’ and quarantining healthy children due to proximity are foreign words,” said Leah Hannigan, a former public school teacher in Duval.
Charlotte Joyce, a member of the Duval School Board, said: “During the pandemic we have seen teacher unions push for mask requirements and vaccinations. Because of our amazing governor, he just put an end to it and said, ‘We’re not going to have that in the state of Florida.’”
DeSantis’ proposal to end the automatic deduction of union dues also targeted teachers’ unions, which he felt had too much power.
“That’s your choice,” DeSantis said of paying membership dues, a critical funding source for unions. “If you want to do it, send money, that’s fine. But automatically deducted when you sign a power of attorney form? They don’t even tell you how much is deducted.”
He added that union officials “should not earn more than the highest-paid teacher. You have these people making huge sums of money, and the teachers make half of that amount. how is that fair How is that something that makes sense?”
However, he did not say if he would attempt to pass legislation mandating it.
Diaz continued to attack teachers’ unions after the event, writing on Twitter that unions are “standing in the way of teachers getting the raises they deserve.”
A spokeswoman for the Florida Education Association. the national teachers’ union, did not return a request for comment…
Florida teachers forced to remove or cover up books to avoid felony charges | Florida | The Guardian
Erum Salam
Tue 24 Jan 2023 12.06 EST
Florida ‘s children are being held captive by the authoritarian control of Governor Ron DeSantis;
Book bans, a factual accounting of history, the enclusitiy of all children…Our schools are not able to teach!!
He is now going after teachers!!!
State’s new bill goes into effect prohibiting material unless deemed appropriate by a librarian or ‘certified media specialist’
School teachers in Florida’s Manatee county are removing books from their classrooms or physically covering them up after a new bill went into effect that prohibited material unless deemed appropriate by a librarian, or “certified media specialist”.
If a teacher is found in violation of these guidelines, they could face felony charges.
The new guidelines for the Florida law, known as HB 1467, outline the books be free of pornographic material, suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material, and appropriate for the grade level and age group.
In order to determine if the books meet these guidelines, certified media specialists must undergo an online training developed by Florida’s department of education.
With only a few or even one media specialist present in each school, the process to vet books is lengthy.
Scrutiny of teaching material in Florida schools heightened under the leadership of the rightwing Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, whose administration says it is actively working to “protect parental rights”, which includes a prohibition on childhood education on gender, sexual orientation and critical race theory.
DeSantis has emerged as a legitimate rival to Donald Trump in the Republican party. The former US president has already declared his 2024 candidacy for another White House run, while DeSantis is widely expected to do so later this year.
As part of his appeal to the party’s rightwing base DeSantis has sought to portray himself as a culture war warrior, cracking down on LGBTQ rights and taking conservative stances on the fight against Covid-19 and a host of other issues such as immigration.
In 2021, he announced the Stop Woke (Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees) Act to “give businesses, employees, children and families tools to fight back against woke indoctrination”.
Teachers have condemned the new guidelines.
The Manatee Education Association union president, Pat Barber, told local TV station Fox 13: “We have people who have spent their entire careers building their classroom libraries based on their professional and educational experience and understanding of the age of the children they teach.”
Barber added: “Now, their professional judgment and training are being substituted for the opinion of anyone who wishes to review and challenge the books. We’re focused on things that cause teachers to want to walk away from education because they can’t focus on their mission of educating children.”
Some teachers are even covering up their library books with paper…
Don Falls, a history teacher at Manatee high school, told the Herald-Tribune newspaper: “If you have a lot of books like I do, probably several hundred, it is not practical to run all of them through [the vetting process] so we have to cover them up.”
More school districts in Florida are expected to follow suit as a result of such policies this year. The state’s education department issued a deadline of 1 July 2023 for when “the superintendent of schools in each district must certify to the FDOE Commissioner that all school librarians and media specialists have completed this training”.
Mark Lane: Teacher shortage isn’t real? So why does math class have a sub?
Mark Lanemlanewrites@gmail.com
When government faces a problem, the response often goes through three stages before its tackled.
Step 1: Deny that the problem exists. It’s just a few noisy people lying to you for their selfish political interests.
Step 2: The problem exists but not to the extent or for the reasons critics claimed.
Step 3: The problem is real and we’ve been addressing it for some time despite the harping of critics…
Florida now has a teacher shortage problem. And unsurprisingly, the state of Florida is in Stage 1 with one foot in Stage 2.
A recently released Florida Education Association survey tallied 5,294 vacancies in Florida public schools. The survey noted that five years ago, the state had only 1,492 vacancies.
The Florida Department of Education disputed the number, talked about the “myth” of a teacher shortage, and blamed the teachers union for twisting number to create a fake problem. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. Pay no attention to that substitute teacher wandering the halls trying to find the right classroom….
Help from abroad?Volusia school board considers hiring international teachers to address critical shortages
Another district could look overseas:Could international teachers address critical shortages? Flagler Schools is considering it
Yet this report of shortages jibes with other surveys. Like a report issued last summer by Brown University’s Annenberg Institute that found the teacher shortage to be more than a passing pandemic problem and that Florida had the worst shortage of any state.
Closer to home, this also jibes with measures local school boards are forced to take as they scramble to staff classrooms. The Volusia County School Board, for instance, discussed importing teachers from abroad to fill the staffing gaps. The school system started the school year with 272 instructional vacancies which it managed to whittle down to 141. And it has 239 support vacancies. And even the district’s recruitment and retention coordinator has left…
Flagler County, too, is looking at importing teachers from abroad to fill some of its vacancies.
All this probably jibes, too, with what you probably heard from any kids, parents and teachers you know.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced the state is tackling this situation — which is not really a problem — by allowing military veterans to teach without getting a college degree. As of the start of the year, a total of — wait for it — 10 had been hired statewide.
So, yes, there really is a teacher shortage. Maybe not in every school, maybe not in every subject area, or in every grade, but enough that it’s clearly a problem. This is not fake news.
And as a believer in the wisdom of free markets, I generally regard teacher shortages as nature’s way of telling us that we aren’t paying teachers enough.
Or more accurately, that we aren’t rewarding teachers enough.
Janis Sexton...Teacher...Advocate 