by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
Two years ago, when Stephen Wise was the chairman of the Florida Senate’s Appropriations Committee, a man named Joe Lockavitch walked into his Tallahassee office, claiming to be able to work a little magic. He told Wise, who as a politician from Jacksonville was desperate for innovative remedies for failing schools, that he could teach a child how to read in 30 minutes.
Skeptical but intrigued, Wise organized a presentation at Jacksonville’s SOS Academy, a local center for academically challenged students, and invited members of the School Board and other academics. What happened next was nothing short of amazing.
“This man took a kid who couldn’t even pronounce basic words and had him reciting paragraphs perfectly in literally half an hour,” Wise told the 15 people recently appointed to the City’s new Task Force on Education at its first meeting Monday. “And he was comprehending.”
Wise took Lockavitch on the road, and over the next few months, he made a presentation to the appropriations committee with a young high school age girl who Wise pulled out of jail, and then to Jacksonville’s Daniel Payne Academy and a group of local teachers. Once all parties were sold, Wise gleefully allocated almost $7 million to a handful of Florida’s biggest counties for grants they could use to buy this breakthrough new technique, called Failure Free Reading. If successful, Wise figured, this would be a big first step in solving Florida’s education crisis.
But in a somber testament when it comes to public schools, Duval County never actually applied for the grant. Wise contributes that, in part, to the fact that the application was tied to another program — one that focused on eyesight — that some thought was superfluous. But to see the look on the faces of the other Task Force members when Wise finished the story, was to see the faces of people who know they’ve got their work cut out for them.
When City Council president Jerry Holland announced that Ginger Soud would chair the new Task Force, he cited her experience with budgets. Holland said that experience would be required to fix what most everyone agrees is the city’s largest problem.
But by the end of the first meeting, it was Dr. Gary Lamar Williams, the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Mandarin, who reminded the audience that money alone won’t fix the problem.
“Education starts at home,” said Williams, echoing the words of another Task Force member, former Duval County School Superintendent Herb Sang, who said that the very first teachers were parents. “We’ve got to get the parents heavily involved.”
In addition to Soud, Wise, Williams and Sang, the new Task Force consists of City Council members Gwen Yates and Lake Ray, Dr. William Procter, the chancellor of Flagler College, Sharon Burnette, who is Gov. Jeb Bush’s Teacher in Residence, Susan Lehr, vice president of government relations for FCCJ, Janet Owens, director of governmental affairs at the University of North Florida, Steve Cagnet, community relations manager for TECO People’s Gas, Tim Mann, president of Swisher International, Mala Patel, a travel consultant who was educated in England, Randall Haney, the instructional program manager at the Aviation Center for Excellence at Cecil Commerce Center, Donna Richardson, a former vice principal and teacher, and Tony Iaquinto, the president of Commit to Be Fit, Inc., who also serves on the Mayor’s Council on Fitness and Well Being. In addition, a student will eventually be appointed to the Task Force — either a senior in high school or a freshman in college — as soon as fall schedules are determined.
The object of the organizational meeting was to set the agenda for the next few months and outline the committee’s strategic goals. According to the press release issued before the event by Soud’s office, the Task Force has two central questions: What have other city governments done?, and what must we do to achieve excellence in education?
Soud said the answer to the questions and the study will be thorough and decisive.
“The minds of our children and the city’s future are at stake,” she said.
An examination of the New Century Commission on Education report and recent studies by the Jacksonville Community Council, Inc. will be integral to the committee’s overall plan, according to Soud. The committee will also seek input from the community.
One Task Force member, who is a friend of Soud’s from her earliest campaign for City Council, is Patel, who is Indian, but grew up in Kenya and graduated from Leeds Polytechnic in England. She agreed that parents are the key to a strong education system. Patel has a son in medical school at Johns Hopkins and said she hopes to reach out to the community to help parents understand their children’s academic needs.
Dr. Procter, who was president of Flagler College in St. Augustine for 31 years and now serves as the school’s chancellor, said that it was still premature to determine specifically what the Task Force will be asked to do.
“It is my understanding that this is an advisory role,” he said. “I look forward to seeing how things progress.”
Iaquinto, who is on the Duval County Health Department’s Obesity Coalition, said that one of his goals will be to increase the physical education requirement in Duval County’s schools.
“Right now there is no physical education requirement in elementary school and only two semesters in high school,” said Iaquinto. “We need to have healthy bodies as well as healthy minds.”
The Task Force knows that in a county where there is a 47 percent illiteracy rate, there’s much work to be done. At the next meeting two weeks from now, Dr. Adam Herbert, former president of the University of North Florida, will present the findings from the New Century Commission on Education report, the 95-page analysis of Duval County’s challenges for improving schools. School Superintendent John Fryer will be invited as will members of the School Board.
The roll of the School Board was one that was glossed over by Soud. When asked whether the Task Force will work with the School Board, Soud mentioned JCCI and said, “the short answer is yes.”
Asked what the time line will be for the first set of recommendations to be delivered to City Council, Soud said optimistically they would be ready by the end of the year.