by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
Five of the seven-county area’s public school superintendents want help, understanding and advocacy.
Money wouldn’t hurt, but that’s where the help, understanding and advocacy appear to be beneficial.
The other two superintendents had scheduling conflicts and weren’t there to ask.
“You business people need to be informed and know about things,” said Nassau County Superintendent John Ruis.
Ruis and superintendents from Clay, Duval, Putnam and St. Johns counties spoke to a Jacksonville Community Council Inc. study group Wednesday.
They said business leaders, parents and citizens need to understand the issues facing public K-12 schools, including state legislation, educational and operational funding, and the needs for tutoring, mentorships, internships, jobs and career-planning assistance for student.
To name a few.
They said that families and businesses who become involved in the schools will understand their needs and become advocates, possibly with the state Legislature when it comes to proposed funding cuts.
The superintendents met with the JCCI “Recession Recovery and Beyond” study committee. The superintendents for Baker and Flagler counties were invited, but study Chair Elaine Brown said they had conflicts.
More than 30 participants listened to the educators answer questions about the role of public K-12 education in preparing the work force of the future; the importance of vocational education; the challenges educators face in their rural, suburban or urban districts; and the validity of using K-12 outcomes as an indicator of a community’s work force viability.
The superintendents repeated what the group has already heard, and that is employers and colleges both need students who are proficient in the basics.
Duval Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals said that when the public school system was created about a century ago, just 20 percent of students needed to be prepared for post-secondary education.
“Now we have to get 100 percent to that level,” he said. Community and technical colleges as well as employers seek entrants with the skills to be proficient.
Pratt-Dannals said that 60 percent of new jobs require at least two years of post-secondary education or training for an associate degree or certification. He said that requires the same high-school proficiency level as college preparation.
Pratt-Dannals also said that the high-school graduation rate was a key number used by business and industry in evaluating an area.
However, he said there are “about eight measures of graduation rates.”
“You can have a high graduation rate, but the students still aren’t ready,” he said.
All the superintendents cited a need for more involvement from businesses and the community at large. Pratt-Dannals called it the need for “an army of volunteers.”
Ruis said that businesses and the community also could help ensure another constituency understands the needs of public schools, and that is the state Legislature.
“We need collaboration from private industry. We need to collaborate with the business community and the Legislature to look at what is our paradigm?” he said.
Putnam Superintendent Tom Townsend said his county was “one of the poorest counties in the state.”
“We need the help of the business community,” he said.
All the superintendents said they were working with businesses in their counties, especially with their career academies, which train high-school students for technical jobs, careers or for further post-secondary education and certification.
St. Johns Superintendent Joseph Joyner said his district has had strong success with engineering, aerospace, financial and medical partners who train and then employ students during high school.
“It’s worked,” said Joyner. “Businesses are hiring these students.”
Joyner also echoed other superintendents in saying that it was critical to make school relevant.
“We’ve been able to focus students on why they’re in school,” he said.
Clay Superintendent Ben Wortham said it was critical that work-force skills be taught in the K-12 system, allowing students to “learn math and reading skills in context.”
Joyner and others said that Gov. Rick Scott has proposed a more than 10 percent decrease in school funding, forcing administrators to figure out “what gives?” and “what has to go?”
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