This post is about beginning my search for information on public Elementary schools in Duval County. My wife and I went to Magnet Mania this weekend and it was pretty overwhelming.

We talked to few schools, but the whole process was hurried, crowded and confusing.

So, we got home that afternoon and did what we know. We made a spreadsheet charting the schools we want our 5 year-old to attend, along with their grades (ranking?) from the past 4 years, location, continuing middle and high schools and gut feelings about each. We’ll be able to visit three open houses next week, but after that, it’s on us to research.

There are no local education blogs out there (or are there? you tell me…) so I am starting with a few sources on Twitter and building from there. The first one is the Jacksonville Public Education Fund (@JaxPEF) who is:

committed to increasing the academic achievement of all students in Duval County Public Schools with a special emphasis on at-risk students and low-performing public schools through advocacy, community engagement and data analysis. They also envision every student in Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) will graduate prepared for success in post-secondary education, work and citizenship.

I plan on building my knowledge organically so if you have any resources or ideas you can share, I’d be grateful. I’ll be building an education list on Twitter you can follow along with and subscribe to: twitter.com/joeymarchy/education

So far I am following @JaxPEF, @DuvalSchools, @marykellipalka and @ReporterTopher.

I’ve also been checking out the Jacksonville elementary school pages on the GreatSchools.org webiste. Has anyone used this site for anything other than reading user reviews on various schools?

In this year’s election, three of the seven seats on the Duval County School Board will be up for election. None of the current board members are running for re-election, so the election can be a sea change for public education in Jacksonville.

The Jacksonville Public Education Fund is hosting three public forums for school board candidates to help the community learn more about the candidates. WJXT Channel 4 Reporter Ayesha Faines will moderate the event, asking a handful of questions selected by JPEF and then opening the floor to questions from those attending the event.

The forums will all be held from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on the following dates:

• District 2 — July 27 — Twin Lakes Academy, 8050 Point Meadows Dr, Jacksonville 32256
• District 4 — August 9 — Ribault High School, 3701 Winton Dr., Jacksonville 32208
• District 6 — July 29 — Ed White High School, 1700 Old Middleburg Rd. Jacksonville 32210

Listen and Subscribe

Download audio file (urban-jacksonville-weekly-episode53.mp3)
Subscribe with iTunes

Special Guests – Trey Csar (Jacksonville Public Education Fund), Mary Kelli (Education Reporter)

Upcoming School Board Town Hall Meetings

Thursday, March 11
Sandalwood High School, 2750 John Prom Blvd, 32246

Tuesday, March 16
Frank H. Peterson Academies of Technology, 7450 Wilson Blvd., 32210

Thursday, March 18
Jean Ribault High School, 3701 Winton Dr., 32208

Tuesday, March 23
Mandarin High School, 4831 Greenland Rd., 32258

Jacksonville Public Education Fund

• new group
• help school district realign and refocus as a system
• ___ Collaborative
• “critical friend” of school board

• if half the dropouts had graduated last year, we’d have an additional $$$???
• not enough money
• school day reduced by 45 minutes
• what needs to be done with the little money available
• another brutal year
• anticipated shortfalls will not be pretty
• fairly progressive with local revenue
• member of state consortium
• lack the patience to allow the value of education to bear fruit
• Urban Education Symposium
• Twitter – @jaxpef
• elected v. appointed officials
• more important who’s there rather than how they get there
• school board is paid
• give leaders freedom but accountability and they will be able to change schools
• “visionary leader”
• no excuses!
• takes more than a year to move a school
• plateaus are common
• change takes time
• judging teachers based on how well students do
• work with state and union to ratify ____ memorandum
• no appointed board members in FL
• food fight
• no one is happy with education quality
• John Delaney
• JTA appointed, JEA appointed (crappy beauracracies)
• Constitutional issue

Recommendations

Joey – Ritz Theatre Thu Feb 25 “Panel of Pros”
Tony – Last week fro FRAM, RAM starts again Mar 6 “Riverwalk to RAM”
Jonathan – Toxic past haunts future of Jacksonville’s Hogans Creek
Trey – Cozy Tea Indian Dinner once a month
Mary – School Board Town Hall meeting dates
Jack – my mind is GONE, sorry

Coming Up on Urban Jacksonville Weekly

• March 1st – Walk a Mile In Their Shoes with Tom McManus and Kelly DeGance join us to talk about Walk a Mile In Their Shoes, a 5K to benefit the Sulzbacher.
• March 15st: Josh Jubinsky from the Jacksonville Public Library will join us to talk about the Zine collection.

Jacksonville Public Education Fund President Trey Csar guests on Urban Jacksonville Weekly Monday February 8th at 9:30am
w/ guest Mary Kelli Palka, education reporter at the Times-Union
Watch Live on UrbanJacksonvilleWeekly.com

One item that doesn’t get much positive attention in Jacksonville is education. Now that I’m a parent of 2 (gulp) children, it’s something I’m forced to think about on a weekly, and increasingly, daily basis as my 4 year old prepares to enter kindergarten.

Magnet school or neighborhood school? Private or public? Will we make the right decisions and how will they map the future course of our child’s education? One question we have answered is we’ll be staying right here in Duval County.

This Monday we’ll be talking to Trey Csar, President of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund. The non-profit organization was formed in 2009 to take the place of the former The Alliance for World Class Education, which worked for more than 10 years on teacher recognition and enhancing non-instructional areas of the Duval County school system.

It is focused on student achievement, especially for at-risk students and in lower-performing schools and has the following goals:

• work with local education and community leaders to create programs to help reduce drop-outs
• increase the graduation rate
• erase the achievement gap

There’s not much information online about the JPEF so this should be an informative show. The best place to keep up with them is the Jacksonville Public Education Fund Twitter account.

Required Reading

Five Strategies to Help Education Leaders Break Free
Knowledge is Power Program
Teach for America
Duval schools joins Race to the Top bid with union’s backing