Author

Lisa Buie

Lisa Buie is online reporter for redefinED. The daughter of a public school superintendent, she spent more than a dozen years as a reporter and bureau chief at the Tampa Bay Times before joining Shriners Hospitals for Children — Tampa, where she served for nearly five years as marketing and communications manager. She lives with her husband and their teenage son, who has benefited from education choice.

For this educator, relationships are the reward

Lisa Buie January 14, 2021

Lisa Buie

About a third of the 435 K-12 student at The Rock School use state choice scholarships, including 108 who use the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income students and 15 who use Gardiner Scholarships for students with special needs.

Editor’s Note: At the end of 2019, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared 2020 “The Year of the Teacher,” championing a $47,500 starting salary and a new bonus program for K-12 educators. In June, DeSantis signed into law a bill allocating $500 million for teacher pay, boosting Florida from 26^th to fifth for minimum teacher pay.

That boost applied only to district schools, causing some private school administrators to wonder if they would lose teachers. Alicen Crane, a teacher at The Rock School, a faith-based school in Gainesville, is among those who chose to stay. Here, she explains why the intangibles of her job are more rewarding than a bigger paycheck.

Alicen Crane

My experience at The Rock School is unique.

I attended The Rock as a student in elementary school and then for a while in high school. I spent some time in public school and was also homeschooled, so I have a little experience in various settings. But there was something about The Rock School that always drew me back.

As a student, I felt cared for spiritually, personally, and academically. So, when it came time to apply for my first job after graduating from high school, there was no question; it was The Rock Preschool I wanted to apply to. Now I was on the other side of education – I was a teacher.

I worked at The Rock School while getting my bachelor’s degree in elementary education and was able to substitute. I loved the small class sizes and being able to connect with the students, including some whose parents or siblings had been my classmates. I was able to learn from the teachers and get experience in a classroom. The Rock still had that community feeling I felt as a student.

After graduation, I knew I wanted to spend my first year as an educator at a school where teachers had the opportunity to focus on individual students’ needs and where the administration supported unique learning environments. So, I applied to The Rock School as an elementary teacher and was accepted.

That first year teaching, I learned so much. With a smaller school, I was able to grow professionally and personally. The administrators and my fellow teachers guided me through one-on-one training and professional development. I was able to learn so much from veteran teachers, including those who taught and inspired me. I was also able to grow by sharing with others the skills I was learning.

Five years after I first started working at The Rock Preschool, I was teaching my first elementary class. When I received my roster, I realized some of the students were the same ones I’d taught as pre-schoolers. I was thrilled! I had built relationships with these students and their parents. The relationships with families have continued year after year, at school events, in the car line, or in after-school care.

I know I could make more money at a public school, but I won’t be leaving The Rock School. It’s more than just an 8 a.m.-to-3 p.m. school. It’s a place where students, parents and teachers can be seen and heard. My administrative team is phenomenal, working with us to customize instruction to each student’s needs. The small class sizes give me the opportunity to use creative strategies to help my students succeed.

But the most rewarding thing about The Rock School is the opportunity I have to give back to my community. As I’ve pursued a master’s degree in educational leadership, I’ve had the chance to teach these students that their voice matters – that they all can make an impact in a world that needs them.

At The Rock School, I’m able to partner with parents and fellow educators. I’m able to teach the whole child, spiritually and academically, as each one continues to teach me. I wouldn’t trade that for anything, even a bigger paycheck.

January 14, 2021 0 comment

Charter Schools Commentary and Opinion Educator Voices Educators Featured Parental Choice Public School Choice School Choice Voices for Education Choice

Word for word: Founding principal of IDEA Victory Academy Latoya McGhee

Lisa Buie January 12, 2021

Lisa Buie

Editor’s note: IDEA Public Schools, a Texas-based nonprofit that serves more than 63,000 students in 120 schools across Texas and Louisiana, is set to bring its award-winning college preparatory program to the Sunshine State this year with the opening of two campuses in Hillsborough County.

In their first year, the Tampa “schools of hope” – charter schools that serve lower-income students from one or more persistently low-performing schools – will be open to students in kindergarten through second grade as well as sixth grade, with additional grades added each year until the schools are fully scaled with K-12 campuses. Building on its reputation as the nation’s fastest-growing network of tuition-free, Pre-K-12 public charter schools, IDEA, which stands for Individuals Dedicated to Excellence and Achievement, plans to have four schools in the Tampa Bay area by 2023 and aims to grow that number to 20 by 2026.

IDEA Tampa Bay already has begun recruiting students and principals, including Latoya McGhee, who has been tapped as principal in residence at IDEA Victory Vinik Campus. At the school’s virtual groundbreaking in November, McGhee shared how she overcame her personal challenges to succeed in college and life and why IDEA affords her the perfect opportunity to prepare other students to do the same.

Hello everyone, my name is Latoya McGhee, founding principal of IDEA Victory Academy. I have been an educator for 11 years, and most of my career has been spent as a teacher and a leader in low-performing schools in underserved neighborhoods.

I grew up in a small town called Hartsville, S.C. Though I had a pleasant educational journey through elementary, middle, and high school, I was not prepared for college.

Throughout grade school, I was considered a “smart” student. I always did my work, always studied, worked hard, and maintained a B average. But in college, I could barely keep up. By the end of my first year, I had failed all my classes, and I was back home in Hartsville. I felt like a complete failure.

When I was pregnant with my son, I worked several jobs and struggled to make ends meet. I enrolled in three colleges and quit. I prayed for an answer, or even just to have options, and one day a co-worker mentioned becoming an educator. Immediately, the small hairs on my arm began to stand up.

I sat there visualizing the possibility. I could actual see myself in a classroom filled with students. It made me smile in that moment to think about the kind of impact that I would make. I knew then that education was my true path of service to both children and my community.

For the first time in years, I set a goal that aligned with my passion. I worked hard to complete the remaining classes I needed to obtain my bachelor’s degree. I became a teacher, earned my master’s degree and became an assistant principal. Now, here I am, founding principal of IDEA Victory Academy.

You might be wondering: Why is she sharing this?

I’m sharing because, as I’ve said, even though I was considered a “smart” student, I was not prepared for college or life. I believe that all children deserve to have options, and to have options, they need to be prepared as early as possible. They deserve to have the education and resources needed to thrive in this world regardless of where they come from.

When I learned about IDEA and its commitment not only to seeing students to the college door but also through college, I knew it was home for me. I knew I wanted to be a part of an organization that is committed to providing a quality education for kids and that stands behind that commitment by ensuring schools have the necessary resources to meet the holistic needs of all students, their families, and the community.

The children in this community deserve to have passionate educators who are willing to give 100% every day, and I have seen IDEA do this firsthand while completing my residency at an IDEA campus in Weslaco, Texas. I had the opportunity to work with teachers and staff who go above and beyond to ensure that every child has what they need to be happy, healthy, and successful.

Our Direct Instruction curriculum closes gaps and builds students’ reading confidence. As a result, we can close reading achievement gaps and get 90% of our students reading to grade level at the end of each school year. Our critical student intervention and special education teachers work tirelessly to ensure that differentiated, small group instruction is designed to address the specific content gaps daily. Our Eureka math curriculum allows students to learn math concepts by integrating grade/age-appropriate real-world scenarios and activities into daily lessons.

In addition to providing rigorous academics, IDEA Victory will serve as a pilar of the community by building partnerships to provide a bank of resources that students and their families can take advantage of.

I am grateful to be a part of IDEA because we are committed to breaking barriers, giving families options, and making a positive impact in our communities. Though we are new to Tampa Bay, IDEA has 20 years of success under its belt in Texas and Louisiana, and now, it’s our turn. I encourage families to apply today and continue to connect with us.

Interested families can apply at www.ideapublicschools.org/apply.

January 12, 2021 0 comment

Education and Public Policy Education Choice Education Equity Education Legislation Featured News Private Schools School Choice

Dual enrollment bill would ensure equal access to college courses to all high school students

Lisa Buie January 12, 2021

Lisa Buie

A recently filed bill that would shift the cost of dual enrollment from private schools to the state would benefit schools like Center Academy in Pinellas Park, one in a network of 10 schools across Florida that serve students with learning differences.

The staff at Center Academy used to encourage eligible high school students to enroll in classes through Florida’s dual enrollment program. Not only did it pave the way for those students to get a head start on college; it boosted their confidence and allowed any with reservations if college was the best fit after graduation.

But a loophole in state law that made dual enrollment prohibitively expensive for private schools forced Center Academy and others to limit participation – or not offer the program at all.

“Our students would have a chance to be successful, but we don’t want to offer dual enrollment because the cost makes it difficult for us to operate our school, especially if every student took advantage of the program,” said Steve Hicks, vice president of operations for the Pinellas Park-based network of 10 schools across Florida that serve students in fourth grade through high school with learning differences.

Recent figures from the Florida Department of Education show the inequity that the loophole created has worsened over time, with the number of private school students participating in dual enrollment declining 60% over the past 10 years. District schools, meanwhile, more than doubled the number of dual enrollment students during the same period. Home schoolers also saw their dual enrollment numbers more than double.

At the same time, the number of lower-income students attending private schools on Florida Tax Credit Scholarships more than quadrupled, putting more lower-income students at an even greater disadvantage.

“For years, private school students have had this stumbling block,” said Michael Barrett, who oversees education policy issues for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Everyone should have equal access to education. We have 30,000 students on state scholarships and over 22,000 on (income-based) scholarships who could benefit from accelerated college educations while in high school.”

The high cost has forced many Catholic high schools to limit dual enrollment participation to college courses that their own faculty members are certified to teach, Barrett said.

Dual enrollment access first became an issue in 2013 when a change in the law shifted the cost of dual enrollment programs from colleges to school districts. Because school districts are state funded, the state picked up the cost. But private schools, which couldn’t pass the cost on to their students, had no alternative but to limit their dual enrollment offerings.

New provisions for dual enrollment that were expected to address the issue were included in a wide-ranging bill, HB 7055, which then-Gov. Rick Scott signed into law in 2018. One of those provisions removed the requirement that articulation agreements – the documents that allow students to take certain classes at nearby colleges — must specify whether the private schools are responsible for tuition. But educators were not clear on whether colleges or the schools would pay dual enrollment costs.

Private school officials waited for clarification from the state Department of Education, but a memo on the bill did not address the provisions. Lawmakers have tried for the past few years to clarify the issue, but proposed legislation never made it to the governor’s desk despite bipartisan support.

Last year, state Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, sponsored SB 1246, which would have established a state scholarship fund to cover the costs incurred by private schools and homeschool students. (The law already bars colleges from charging homeschool students who take dual enrollment courses.) An analysis estimated the cost at $28.5 million.

The bill won approval from the Senate Education Committee but died in the Senate Appropriations Committee. A companion bill filed by state Rep. Ardian Zika, R-Land O’Lakes, also died in committee.

Supporters haven’t given up hope. This year, lawmakers are making another run at changing the law to shift the cost from private schools to the state. SB52, filed last month by state Sen. Ray Rodrigues, R-Fort Myers, is nearly identical to previous versions.

School leaders hope this attempt will prove successful.

“We have always believed that our students who attempt dual enrollment classes will be more likely to attend college and pursue a degree,” Hicks said. “It is great for their self-esteem to take a college course and find success.”

January 12, 2021 0 comment

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education Choice Featured News Parental Choice Private Schools School Choice

redefinED’s best of 2020: Academic ‘redshirting’ gives families relief but threatens heartburn for school districts

Lisa Buie December 30, 2020

Lisa Buie

Brody Cholnik, 5, struggled with virtual prekindergarten but is showing promise as a kindergartner at the Wesley Chapel Montessori School at Lexington Oaks. His mother, Nicole Cholnik, chose to send him to a private school so she and her husband, rather than the public school district, will be able to make the decision to have Brody repeat kindergarten if necessary.

Editor’s note: During the holiday season, redefinED is reprising the “best of the best” from our 2020 archives. This post originally published Nov. 4.

Even after eight months of pre-kindergarten, Brody Cholnik struggled to learn his ABCs. Regular sessions with a private tutor and supplemental lessons at home helped, but Brody’s mother suspected something beyond her control was in play.

Her 4-year-old’s birthday wouldn’t come until several months after many of his classmates already had turned 5. She worried that it put him at a disadvantage. On top of that, Brody’s pre-kindergarten was held in the day care he attended as a toddler and he was accustomed to it being a setting for play.

“It was hard for him to transition from a play atmosphere to a school atmosphere,” Nicole Cholnik said.

Then last spring, just when Brody began showing progress, COVID-19 hit. The tutoring center closed. His pre-kindergarten class made a hasty retreat to Zoom. And Brody, who was still two months away from blowing out the candles on his 5-year-old birthday cake, fell further behind, prompting Cholnik to wonder: What if my son needs to repeat kindergarten?

When school officials told her that decision rested with the principal, not with her and her husband, Cholnik took matters into her own hands. She transferred Brody to a private Montessori school, a move that allows her to maintain control over her son’s fate when he turns 6 and is required by state law to be enrolled in school.

“If we decide as parents that he’s not ready for kindergarten, then next year when he goes to (his zoned school) he can do kindergarten again,” said Cholnik, who lives in a suburb just north of Tampa. “Or, if we feel he’s prepared enough and ready for first grade, we can give them the certificate of completion and put him into first grade.”

A controversial but growing trend

A parent’s choice to delay kindergarten, commonly called “academic redshirting,” became a hot topic in academic journals in the early 2000s. Author, journalist and public speaker Malcolm Gladwell put redshirting on the public radar in 2008 with his bestselling book “Outliers,” championing the practice and arguing that the practice made a difference in a student’s long-term success.

Over the years, redshirting has been argued about in countless parenting blogs, journals and news stories, with critics saying it can harm children later in school.

There are many pieces in play. Research indicates the phenomenon tends to happen more frequently in white families, and more often with boys than girls. Because redshirting can require families to pay for an extra year of day care or kindergarten fees, it’s more common among those whose incomes fall in the middle or upper brackets, prompting equity concerns.

One argument supporters make in favor of redshirting is that when families hold children back a year, the child then likely will be the oldest and possibly most mature in his or her class, and therefore possibly more able to successfully compete in academics and sports.

Redshirting has taken on a new prominence in the COVID-19 environment as schools nationwide began reporting falling enrollments, especially in the kindergarten ranks, with the start of the 2020-21 academic year. According to an NPR survey of 100 school districts, the average kindergarten enrollment drop was 16%.

The survey attributed the decline partially to the emergency pivot to online learning in the spring. The negative experiences left some families dissatisfied and in search of other options, especially in districts that started the new school year 100% online. One parent of a 5-year-old boy in Texas told NPR she had concerns regardless of whether the school opened online or in-person because an in-person experience was going to be “weirdly socially distanced and masked.”

Though the parent chose not to delay kindergarten for her son, she did send him to a private school where masks were optional and class sizes were smaller.

High stakes for empty seats

Some Florida school districts experienced enrollment declines as well, especially in the early grades. An October student count in Palm Beach County showed enrollment for pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade in district schools at 187,776, the lowest level since 2016.

Kindergarten saw the biggest hit, with a decrease of 1,416 students, or 12%, compared with the previous fall. The figures prompted district chief financial officer Mike Burke to speculate that parents were delaying their children’s entry into school. It also caused district leaders to begin worrying how the enrollment decline would affect education funding for the district.

Though local property taxes contribute to education funding, districts depend on per-student funding based on the number of students occupying seats. At the start of the 2020-21 school year, districts were able to shield their funding by striking a deal with the state that allowed them to maintain pre-pandemic funding levels in exchange for reopening brick-and-mortar campuses. That deal expires at the end of first semester, leaving administrators bracing for draconian funding cuts in the spring.

‘A tough conversation’

For the Cholniks and other families who are sitting it out this year, learning is still happening, although it may be unique ways, such as reading books together at home and playing with Nerf guns, or enrolling in a private kindergarten that gives the parents the option of having their child take a second shot at kindergarten next year.

Brody has made progress at his private school, but Cholnik predicts he will end up having to repeat kindergarten. In the meantime, she has scheduled testing to see if he has a learning disability. If tests uncover an issue that has “a simple fix,” there’s a chance Brody could move on to first grade next year.

But Cholnik would rather have Brody repeat kindergarten than enter first grade behind his peers, and eventually have to repeat fourth grade if he fails the standardized test the state requires for public school promotion.

“That would be a tough conversation to have at that age,” she said. “That’s why we’re taking this route now.”

December 30, 2020 0 comment

Advocate Voices Education and Public Policy Education Choice Education Equity Family Empowerment Scholarship Featured Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Gardiner Scholarship News Parent Empowerment Parental Choice Private School Scholarships Progressives and ed reform School Choice

redefinED’s best of 2020: Two decades of dedication, focus result in new landmark for Step Up For Students

Lisa Buie December 23, 2020

Lisa Buie

Martin Luther King III led a rally in January 2016 that drew more than 10,000 people to Tallahassee in support of education choice in response to a lawsuit brought by the Florida Education Association demanding that the courts shut down scholarship programs in the state.

Editor’s note: During the holiday season, redefinED is reprising the “best of the best” from our 2020 archives. This post originally published Oct. 14.

Nearly two decades after Step Up For Students began awarding tax credit scholarships for lower-income students to fulfill their school choice dreams, the organization is marking another milestone: the funding of its 1-millionth scholarship.

Over the years, as the concept of education choice has evolved, the scholarship offerings managed by Step Up For Students have changed to fit families’ needs. Today, students can choose from a variety of offerings ranging from the original tax credit scholarship to a flexible spending account for students with special needs to scholarships for victims of bullying. There’s even a scholarship for public school students who need help with reading skills.

“I’ve said from the very beginning my goal was that someday every low-income and working-class family could choose the learning environment that is best for their children just like families with money already do,” said John F. Kirtley, founder of Step Up for Students, the state’s largest K-12 scholarship funding organization and host of this blog.

Kirtley started a private, nonprofit forerunner to Step Up For Students in 1998 and since then has experienced all the milestones and challenges leading up to the millionth scholarship.

At the beginning, “It was just me, and I had enough money to fund 350 scholarships,” recalled Kirtley, who can recite statistics about the scholarship program the way a baseball fan quotes facts and figures about a favorite player.

Soon after, he learned of a new national non-profit, the Children’s Scholarship Fund, started by John Walton of the famous retail family and Ted Forstmann, chairman and CEO of a Wall Street firm. Kirtley connected with that group, which was seeking to match funds raised by partners in different states for economically disadvantaged families to send their children to private schools of their choice.

“We hardly did any advertising at all,” Kirtley said. “It was just me walking around to churches and housing projects talking about the program.”

Truth be told, he didn’t need glitzy marketing. The program drew 12,000 applications in just four months, confirming what Kirtley already suspected: Parents of modest means wanted the best education for their children just as much as people who could afford to pay private school tuition or buy homes in desirable neighborhoods.

In 2001, Kirtley took his pitch to Gov. Jeb Bush, House Speaker Tom Feeney and Senate President John McKay, all of whom strongly supported the creation of the Florida Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship program. When the program, capped at $50 million, began awarding scholarships worth $3,500 in 2002, there were just 15,000 scholarship students. Joe Negron, who sponsored the bill while serving as a state representative and later supported scholarship expansion as a state senator, recalled the strategy he employed to get the bill passed.

“My best argument was that the liberal establishment also supported school choice – for their children, but not for families with modest means,” said Negron, who is now a business executive. “In addition, the personal stories from parents whose students were benefitting from the privately funded program were very powerful.”

High demand created wait lists, prompting lawmakers to raise the cap to $88 million in 2005. The next year, the award increased from $3,500 to $3,750. The state required students to take a nationally norm-referenced test to ensure accountability.

Families kept coming. By 2009, the cap stood at $118 million, with awards at $3,950. Despite the increases, the state’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability reported that the program had saved taxpayers $38.9 million in 2007-08.

Shortly after the program was renamed the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, the first state-commissioned evaluation report showed students on the program in 2007-08 experienced learning gains at the same pace as all students nationally. Then in 2010, with bipartisan support, the Legislature approved a major expansion of the program. The bill allowed tax credits for alcoholic beverage excise, direct pay sales and use, and oil and gas severance taxes. The program also could grow with demand.

The Legislature returned again in 2014 to provide another significant boost in response to growing demand, prompting the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, to bring a lawsuit demanding that the courts shut down the program. Education choice supporters responded with a rally that drew more than 10,000 people to the steps of the state Capitol, including Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights icon Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

King told the crowd, more than 1,000 of whom had ridden buses all night from Miami to attend: “Ultimately, if the courts have to decide, the courts will be on the side of justice. Because this is about justice, this is about freedom—the freedom to choose what’s best for your family, and your child.”

The lawsuit failed in two lower courts and ultimately was rejected by the Florida Supreme Court in 2017.

The Tax Credit Scholarship was joined in 2014 by an attempt to give educational flexibility to students with severe special needs. Florida became the second state in the nation after Arizona to offer educational savings accounts to such students. Named the Gardiner Scholarship program in 2016 in honor of state Sen. Andy Gardiner, a strong supporter who shepherded the bill through the legislative process, the accounts could be used to reimburse parents for therapies or other educational needs for their children.

The state set aside $18.4 million for the program, enough for an estimated 1,800 students. A scant three months later, 1,000 scholarships had been awarded, and parents had started another nearly 3,700 applications. By 2019, the program was serving more than 10,000 students, making it the largest program of its kind in the nation.

Understanding the need for expanding the program so more families could participate, Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2020 approved a $42 million increase to the program, bringing the total allocation to nearly $190 million. The program which served 14,000 students during the 2019-20 school year, expects to serve approximately 17,000 students during the 2020-21 school year.

Choice programs also expanded in 2018 to help two groups of students dealing with challenges. The Hope Scholarship program became the first of its kind in the nation to offer relief to victims of bullying by allowing them to leave their public school for a participating private school. Reading Scholarship Accounts were aimed at helping public elementary school students who were struggling with reading.

Meanwhile, growing demand among lower-income families for Florida Tax Credit Scholarships prompted the Legislature to create the Family Empowerment Scholarship program in 2019. The program operates similarly to the tax credit scholarship program but is funded through the state budget.

Today, the five scholarships serve approximately 150,000 Florida students. As the number of students in the programs has grown, so have educational options available to them.

Charter schools, magnet schools, homeschools and co-ops, learning pods and micro-schools all address different needs. About 40% of students in Florida now choose an option other than their traditional zoned schools. In the Miami Dade district, the state’s largest, that figure is more than 70%.

Step Up For Students founder Kirtley sees a vital need to keep pace with that evolution and to eliminate the inequities these new programs can create for those of modest means.

“I have changed my stated goal to ‘Every lower-income and working-class family can customize their children’s education so they reach their full potential,’ ” Kirtley said, “just like families with more money do.”

December 23, 2020 0 comment

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Customization Education Choice Featured Parental Choice Private Schools School Choice

Executive profile: Mid-South Independent School Business Officers president and CEO Damian Kavanagh

Lisa Buie December 22, 2020

Lisa Buie

Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida, is one of 340 member schools in 18 states and the District of Columbia that benefit from assistance from Mid-South Independent School Business Officers.

Since July 2017, Damian Kavanagh has served as an officer of MISBO, a nonprofit association serving independent private schools in 18 states including Florida and the District of Columbia. He spent seven years as a vice president with the Southern Association of Independent Schools where he oversaw accreditation and membership programs and worked for 15 years as a teacher, coach and administrator at the Westminster Schools of Atlanta, a nationally recognized independent school community and the birthplace of Mid-South Independent School Business Officers. He also served as head of school at Cambridge Academy in Greenwood, S.C.

redefinED reached out to Kavanagh to learn more about his organization and the state of private schools as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Damian Kavanagh

Q. Tell me more about Mid-South Independent School Business Officers, how it serves independent schools and what your role involves.

A. MISBO serves independent private schools by providing relevant information and research, professional development, opportunities to grow their network, and a purchasing consortium focused on their needs. Member schools are primarily located in the southeast, but MISBO has members in 18 states and D.C.

Q. A recent survey commissioned by your organization of 160 member schools showed about 70% with higher or stable enrollment this year compared with the previous school year, with 14 of them unchanged because they were already at capacity in 2019-20. Why did MISBO commission this survey and what were the key takeaways?

A. During the MISBO annual conference in October, one of our speakers polled the audience on the mode in which they had opened: virtual, hybrid, or face-to-face. While we had anecdotal evidence of open rates, the speakers were astounded at the numbers and asked us to help with a follow-up survey to ask similar questions to our entire membership. Another piece of both the conference poll and the later survey was to overlay enrollment information and ask if enrollment had gone up, down, or was about the same. Our current work for a subsequent article overlays county data on public school open modality, county unemployment rates, and county COVID-19 rates. These data points allow us to run regression models to determine what factors are statistically most contributory to what we saw this fall in independent schools.

We are still working through the more detailed analysis, but it appears that public school virtual choice is highly correlated to private school increase in enrollment. I’m not sure we needed statistics to tell us this, but with stats, it is pretty clear. And it looks like that is the dominant variable that drove families to choose a private school for their children. Simply put, and again, something we already knew anecdotally, families wanted to be face-to-face. What I wonder is what would have happened if their public school had, like so many private schools, figured out how to provide an in-person experience to students that was safe.

Q. Given the changes in education that were hastened by the pandemic, what are the most pressing professional development needs and resource needs for educators and how will your organization adapt to meet those changing needs?

A. Two things happened so quickly it felt like a switch was thrown. The first is that schools had to purchase additional equipment for campus safety and teaching and learning. Both purchase areas represented opportunities for learning – first in how to keep people on campus safe while following appropriate guidelines of masks, cleanliness, distancing, exposure management, contact tracing, etc.

The second thing that happened was that schools helped faculty, students, and parents get up to speed quickly throughout the spring when campuses were shut down and into the fall when campuses were reopened to help continue the learning process for students. Our member listservs were very active with educators sharing what they learned and relying on each other for solutions to problems they were just starting to encounter. As an association, MISBO’s job is to provide a forum for this exchange, provide timely information to anticipate the needs of members, and help schools navigate the waters of new circumstances.

Q. As a longtime educator, in what direction do you see education moving over the next 10 years?

A. Throughout the next decade, I hope that we will learn from the pandemic just how resilient we can be. A teacher colleague of mine, whose independent school has been face-to-face since August, commented to me that her students know how to play with each other. They came back to school better equipped to listen to each other and they are very ready to learn. She attributed it to quality time over the spring and summer at home with attentive family members. I thought that was a peculiar silver lining that I hope plays out for many of our youngest students, and I wonder if more family engagement in our children’s education could be a good thing.

Economically, I do not know if that was due to work from home or unemployment, but students can pick up on the stress and the joy of parents very quickly and are more likely to be engaged when they know there are adults around them, beyond their teachers, cheering them on and helping them. If we have greater cooperation between home and school in the future, that will be a great thing for education. One of our schools in Mississippi used virtual reality throughout the spring to keep in touch with students, and although that isn’t something every school can do, the depth of commitment to find a way to stay connected is what I hope we double down on in education over the next decade.

December 22, 2020 0 comment

Education and Public Policy Education Choice Featured News Parent Empowerment Parental Choice Public School Choice School Choice

Legislation that would put holding back students in parents’ hands draws praise from Florida mom

Lisa Buie December 14, 2020

Lisa Buie

Brody Cholnik’s mother, Nicole, chose to send the 5-year-old to a private school so she could retain control of her choice to decide if he should repeat kindergarten. New legislation could put that choice in the hands of public school families.

When Nicole Cholnik learned earlier this year that her 5-year-old son’s district school principal would get the final say in whether he would be allowed to repeat kindergarten, she took matters into their own hands and enrolled him in a private Montessori kindergarten program.

“We thought out of the box,” said Cholnik, who was dismayed to learn that she and her husband would have no say next year in what would happen to Brody, who had struggled during online pre-kindergarten when the coronavirus pandemic began in the spring.

But a bill filed by state Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach, would prevent other parents from having to pay out of pocket for private school if they disagreed with a principal’s decision. SB 200 would let parents decide whether their children need to repeat a grade next year.

The bill follows through on an announcement that Gov. Ron DeSantis made last spring that parents would be allowed to hold their children back a grade in the fall if they had concerns about learning losses from online instruction.

DeSantis did not issue an executive order, and later guidance from Florida Department of Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran softened the governor’s stance by recognizing that while parents have a right to provide input, the final decision regarding student retention rests with school officials.

Berman’s bill would secure that authority for parents, which came as welcome news to Cholnik.

Private kindergarten has alleviated stress for the family and has allowed Brody’s teachers to pursue different approaches to find out the best method of education for him, she said. Most important, it ensures that she and her husband will be the ones to decide whether he begins the 2021-22 school year at his district school as a first-grader or a kindergartener.

“We know our kids best,” she said. “We should have a say in our kids’ future.”

December 14, 2020 0 comment

Charter Schools Education Choice Featured News Parental Choice Public School Choice School Choice

New KIPP campus coming to Jacksonville

Lisa Buie December 10, 2020

Lisa Buie

KIPP Impact Academy, which opened in 2010, is the highest-performing middle school in the North and Westside of Jacksonville. KIPP will expand its Jacksonville reach with a new elementary school.

The nation’s largest network of public charter schools is expanding its footprint in North Florida following approval of $23 million in bond financing through the city of Jacksonville.

The Knowledge is Power Program, commonly known as KIPP, will lease 8 acres in the city’s northwest area from the Jacksonville Transportation Authority to build a $15-million, 73,000-square-foot school that will serve students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Those students have been attending school on another KIPP site, which will be converted to a high school set to open in August.

Addition of the high school, which will be named KIPP Bold City High School, will allow KIPP to realize its goal of offering a comprehensive education to students from kindergarten through 12^th grade in the Jacksonville area.

Bond financing for the new VOICE Elementary School, which will serve 900 students, also will allow KIPP to refinance existing debt.

“We want families and local community members to know that our schools are built on a foundation of equity and high academic expectations where students will thrive, and this expansion means that more north Jacksonville students will have access to a high-quality schooling option that prepares them with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose, including career, college, or beyond,” said Jennifer Brown, executive director of KIPP Public Schools Jacksonville.

KIPP opened in Jacksonville in 2010 in a former greyhound track building with one class of fifth graders. It since has expanded to more than 1,600 students, 97% of whom are Black. Seventy to 80% of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. KIPP also has three campuses in Miami-Dade County.

The national network of 255 public charter schools, which launched in Houston, is dedicated to preparing students in educationally underserved communities for success in college and life. KIPP schools have expanded since 1994 to serve more than 100,000 students. Nationwide, KIPP students earn bachelor’s degrees at a rate of 35%, comparable to the national average for all students and approximately three times higher than the average for students from low-income families.

December 10, 2020 0 comment