by Glenn Tschimpke
Staff Writer
City Council president Jerry Holland laid the cornerstone to one of his top initiatives this week by naming fellow Council member Ginger Soud as chair of the City Council Task Force on Education.
Holland, who assumed the Council presidency July 1 from Matt Carlucci, promised to make education a top priority over the course of the coming year. While he acknowledges that the Duval County School Board has first dibs on making sure Jacksonville’s public schools are up to snuff — he’s smart enough not to overstep his political boundaries — he is willing to explore other educational alternatives.
“It is not my intention to jump into the curriculum,” Holland said. “I don’t want to get into the classroom. It’s not so much that we want to help them from the first bell to the last bell, there are many things we do for children after school.”
Holland said he has no preconceived expectations about how the task force should be run or what it should study. Those worries he will leave to Soud. Where it will likely focus its efforts, which Holland has alluded to in the past, are how after-school programs can be enhanced or implemented to complement what schools are trying to accomplish during the day.
“I want them to look outside the box,” he said of the task force. “What have other cities done and what roles do they play in education? I’m not trying to box them in and say, ‘Here’s where I want you to go.’ Look outside the box.”
Soud’s first assignment is to fill the task force, though she remains tight-lipped about who she has in mind and when she expects to fill it.
“We will put together a top team of individuals with expertise to look into this,” she said. “I want to put this together as quickly as possible. I’m not going to linger.”
Possible members include educators, School Board members, legislators, parents, or as Holland put it, anyone with a good idea.
Soud and Holland expect the task force to conclude its studies and make recommendations by December.