Credit to our own investigative journalists To We the People
Our recent newsletter regarding the Nassau County School Board seems to have struck some nerves with a few of our members. As a result, a couple of them have dug even deeper. Thanks to both of them for sending me some more interesting findings which they have permitted me to share with you, provided they are simply listed as “Anons”. So, below is insightful investigative info provided by Anon #1 and Anon #2:
Insights From Anon #1: More on the Yulee property “deal”
Developer Matovina, his LLCs, and his traffic engineer, Chindalur, have donated to these commissioners [Jeff Gray and Klynt Farmer].Neither the developer nor the engineer live in Nassau County:
To see the original source of the ^above^ info, click on the button immediately below:
Their controversial development, Northgate Duplexes, goes before both commissioners review for approval/disapproval in September [aftertheir re-election]. Any “reasonable” guess as to the intent of the donations???
Insights From Anon #2:
More on Nassau County Schools
Are Nassau Schools really excellent?
Especially during the campaign season and, in particular, with the overwhelming media blitz by the Burns’ campaign, we’re hearing over and over again about the fact that there are 12 “A” rated schools in Nassau and # 13 only missed an “A” rating by 2 points! This is based on the latest data from the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE). Wow, we must have really excellent schools in Nassau County. Not so fast. Now for the rest of the story.
As you can see from the data below taken directly from the FLDOE website, 9 of the13 schools are rated in the sixties. The one that missed by 2 points from being rated an “A” scored 60%. How can that be? This is also the same school that had a 30% resignation rate before the last school year was half over.
The FLDOE considers any elementary school that scores 62% or higher to be “A” rated, the same % used last year. This year, they reduced the grade necessary for an “A” rating for a middle school from 65% to 64% and, reduced the grade for an “A” rated high school from 70% to 64%. I guess there weren’t enough “A” rated schools in Florida last year. Per data elsewhere, 40% of the schools in the state are rated “A”.
The top-rated school in the county scored 77%, then one at 74%, two at 73% and the rest in the sixties. Is this how excellence is measured? Is this worth celebrating with banners and school celebrations? I don’t think so.
Other big questions need to be answered. One “A” rated HS scores 56% in Mathematics achievement and has a 98% graduation rating and another scores 48% in Math and has a graduation rate of 93%. This does not compute and I’ve been unable to get a satisfactory answer from district administration. Are we really graduating so many students who are so unprepared for life in the real world? The answer is, “Yes, we are!”. It is time to measure ourselves against national standards not the dumbed down Florida standards. How do our schools rate when compared against the best schools in the nation where an “A” rating is only earned by scoring in the nineties and the criteria is much more robust.
If you comprehend how flawed the school ratings are and how much work there still is to do to achieve true excellence, you have to agree that we need a change at the top. Give Curtis Gaus the opportunity to make real progress and stop the celebrations until we have true success and excellence that’s worthy of celebrating.
To see the original source of the ^above^ info, click on the button immediately below:
