by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
The Task Force on Education will meet one last time Feb. 21 before compiling a list of strategic recommendations for improving the Duval County school system.
“Our schools should be havens for learning as well as havens for teachers,” said City Council member and mayoral candidate Ginger Soud, who also chairs and petitioned for the creation of the task force last summer.
“This has been going on since last August,” said Soud. “Before Jerry Holland became president of the Council, I asked him to establish the task force and he asked me to chair it.”
Following the group’s final meeting, Soud will publicly reveal the final recommendations to the Council.
Soud added that, in assembling the group, she was lucky to find a strong and diverse cross section to assist her in making the recommendations. The group includes a former school principal, a teacher of the year and several local businessmen.
“They are outstanding individuals who are committed to excellence in education,” said Soud.
Although still in draft stage, each individual member of the task force has their own ideas of what should be included on the completed document. Individual recommendations are based on the knowledge and statistics that several guest speakers meeting with the group have brought to the table.
Here are some of the potential recommendations:
• Establish a Commission on Education to “advise the mayor and to expand the City’s leadership role in education and to develop a vision for educational excellence in Jacksonville.”
• Expand learning methods to include computer technology.
• Determine the role of the teacher’s union in “the management of Duval County Schools and to what degree does it influence the administration.”
• Determine the qualifications required of new teachers.
• Develop a 100-question survey testing students’ knowledge of local, state and national current events. Children scoring highly on the test would be featured in the Times-Union.
• Create apprenticeship programs focusing on children who have dropped out of school and also students seeking an alternative to current curriculum.
• Establish a “municipal charter school” targeting students who have dropped out or are on the verge of dropping out.
• Define a district-wide standard of excellence for all students.
• Hold principals accountable for the educational and behavioral results of their schools.
• Fund a program providing health screening to all students in Duval County.
• Offer seminars informing parents and students of their available career and education options.