Tag: status quo

This series of posts is primarily aimed at Polk’s business community and the wider community that doesn’t follow the intricacies of education policy and politics. It’s aimed at answering some basic questions: What are the real world consequences of years of self-defeating state stinginess in education funding? What does money buy? Why are community districts talking about money? Buying the…

I’ll have a fuller discussion soon of the rather fascinating issues raised by the great Townsend/Fields Sunshine Law kerfuffle of 2016. But I do want to say this now: public officials should be scrutinized, myself included. We should not whine about it — or hide from it. Indeed, that’s why I personally forwarded the emails in question to The Ledger….

If you doubt this campaign is making a major difference, if you doubt that they hear us in Tallahassee as well as Bartow, listen to Adam Putnam. The likely Republican nominee for governor in 2018 had this to say very recently at the Florida Chamber of Commerce Future of Florida Forum. “We have begun to lose the support of the…

Adversity reveals character. Over the last six months, I’ve used deeply researched, substantive critiques to hold Hunt Berryman to account for his performance as a School Board member and leader. I beat him by 10 percentage points in August’s primary race. I won 90 percent of precincts across the county. Hunt has responded to this adversity by adopting many of…

I received this Facebook note earlier this week from an Algebra and liberal arts math teacher at a Polk high school. 5 of the 6 classes I teach Have 30 or more students in them. My liberal arts classes have 31 & 32 students in them. My largest algebra 2 class has 32 in it. I have been told not…

The Polk School District has at least two major ongoing crises — in addition to our ongoing general crisis of public leadership and teacher shortages. These emergent crises are: The staffing and future of the five stigmatized middle schools that have been under Tony Bellamy’s failed direction. Those five schools have a combined 39 open teaching positions, according to the…

By my count, the four stigmatized Winter Haven schools, plus McLaughlin in Lake Wales, have had a total of 18 principals since 2012, when my incumbent opponent took office. Feel free to count for yourself if you want to verify. I’ve posted below the report the district sent me. It’s what death looks like for learning community leadership. It’s what…

Late Tuesday afternoon, I was driving to Lake Wales for a Chamber of Commerce gathering when I got a call from a desperate Lakeland mother. I met her a few weeks back at a Valencia neighborhood function at the Larry Jackson Library in northwest Lakeland. At the time, I gave everybody there my card. I urged them to call me…

The Lakeland Chamber’s “Business Voice” Political Action Committee (PAC) is about to start interviewing candidates for its endorsement. I’m scheduled for Tuesday. The Polk County Builders Association (PCBA) PAC is doing the same thing next week. It’s highly unlikely I’ll get either endorsement. My incumbent opponent Hunt Berryman has deep business and personal ties with both organizations. Bank of Central…

Quick: can you tell me how your school grade is calculated? There was a time a few years ago when I would dutifully trudge through the equation each year so I could point out its absurdities. I’ve since decided it’s not worth my time. The most recent edition of school grades came out last week. And I received an email…