The informal school board meeting on 12/13/16 discussion ranged from the outcome of the recent Small District Consortium, Collier County School District’s use of social media and general ways of getting parents involved in their child’s education.
School Board Chair Beth Naverud began the discussion with stating, “We’ve talked about a lot of things but we’ve never moved them forward. I’m hoping that we can use these meetings to talk them through and hopefully get things going.”
School Board Members Mark Johnson and Linda Prescott recently attended the Small District Consortium. Johnson stated that the legislators they heard from at the meeting “painted a rosy picture, but at the same time said there might not be any money available.” He said that the legislators verbally support the expansion of public education but say there might not be any money to do it. Johnson said that shifting from single district program funding goals to regional funding goals may be the way to go in the future. He gave the example of potentially purchasing a 3D printer for Hernando, Citrus, and Pasco Counties. Johnson stated that the idea has been discussed with Senator Simpson.
Johnson said that the Legislators are currently more interested in capital outlay funding for charter schools.
“I don’t know where we’re heading. It’s a mixed bag until session starts…Quite frankly if we want to get anything done, we need to get the constituency on our side to help.”
School Board Member Duval agreed, stating that one thing the Legislature will be looking at during the upcoming session is testing, which was pushed hard by parent groups.
On the matter of funding, Board Member Gus Guadagnino stated, “I truly believe that our government doesn’t want to be in the education business anymore.” He said that sooner or later, districts are going to be under some sort of umbrella and have obligations to get their money locally. A brief discussion about a charter districts followed.
Guadagnino stated, “On the outside of educating children, the most beneficial thing we can do as a school board is to bring our community involved in our school system.”
School Board Members Prescott and Johnson spoke about Collier County’s media relations and their use of twitter in the classroom to reach out to parents. Collier County will send out tweets about what is happening in the classroom which facilitates communication with parents. They provide training on using this platform for teachers and principals. It is setup so that all the tweets funnel through information officer. The majority of school board members as well as Superintendent Romano were enthusiastic about starting a similar program here in Hernando County. Board Member Guadagnino was more skeptical about the program and worried that the use of social media detracts from family discussion at the dinner table and is not good for the family unit.
Dr. Romano stated she would do a statewide survey to all districts to find out what they are doing in terms of tweeting and social media.
The remainder of the meeting focused in large part on how to get broader support from the community and get parents more involved with their child’s education.
School Board Member Guadagnino felt that linking the student’s grade to parental involvement could be a strategy to increase parent participation.
“My thought is, I don’t care what the percentage is, but a student’s grade, whether it be 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 percent, should be based on parent participation.”
Board Chair Beth Naverud stated she disagreed with that. “I just think that parents sometimes are really stretched. To punish a child because a parent can’t do something or won’t do something is unfair.”
Board Member Guadagnino explained, “I don’t think it’s a matter of punishment, it’s a matter of us telling the parents the importance of being involved with your student.”
Naverud stated that the social media program they are talking about is “a way to reach out to parents.”
She said, “They start to see who we are, we might be able to get them back to the table.”
Dr. Romano explained that there are volunteer requirements at magnet schools, but not at the general public schools.