Because parents know it takes a village.
Now that states are allowed to measure the success of schools by their own state-specific standards, who is responsible when they fail your kids across the board? I’m perplexed by the rainbow of fruit flavors that’s going into measuring how well schools are doing their job. If we don’t speak a common language, how will we […]
by Basilisa Perkins, mother of 2 and public health educator in Broward County, FL. Advocate for her girls and, at times, homeschool teacher to her daughter with special needs. Exciting. Delightful. A joyful experience for the mind and soul, escaping into other worlds. This is the power of reading. Frustrated. Discouraged. Feeling like a failure. Being locked […]
Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) launched a new app last year. I downloaded it immediately. School information in the palm of my hand? Yes please! Knowing how my kids did and how schools are doing is important to me… and to all parents. And though no one source can really paint the full educational picture, this app […]
Dear Education Warriors, I gotta tell you something. I spent 3 days…barely even that…more like the 48 hours with you, and I am in awe. You are the most passionate voices I’ve ever met. You use every keystroke as if it was the very last chance to save our kids…to save my kids. I watched your fingers type […]
by Basilisa Perkins, mother of 2 and public health educator in Broward County, FL. Advocate for her girls and, at times, homeschool teacher to her daughter with special needs. We found an at-home early intervention program just after she started chemotherapy. Outside of her medical needs, we knew Katie would need a lot of help. Unlike her older […]
It’s not easy to get an audience with the person holding the highest office in the school district, so when we do we take full advantage. We get the parent-insider on big ticket items from the superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, Robert Runcie. In our first conversation last month Runcie was serious about staying focused on our schools and […]
Update to our recent post Parents and Kids are Counting on Florida to be Brave. Florida is plugging away at creating our Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan with a September deadline in its view. Our recent post implored Florida to be brave and not succumb to lower standards. Jeffery Solocheck of the Tampa Bay Times shares some insights […]
It is done! The big education budget decisions are made and will now be put in motion. Some of us are happy, and some…not so much. Florida’s teaching profession will continue to suffer because salary raises are not going to happen this year. But families who have been locked in failing schools have new hope to break free from chronic underperformance. Charter […]
Here we go again. We’ve been keeping an eye on the educational budget building process in FL for the last few months. Last week we wrote an update on the state budget for education. It proposed a $24 increase to per student funding, also called the Base Student Allocation. Most education advocates were underwhelmed, but […]
Ten days before her second birthday, my husband and I sat across from a neurosurgeon whose job it was to inform us that she had a brain tumor. That was over eleven years ago, but the impact of that moment cannot be understated. It’s devastating, painful and scary…like someone threw you into the deep end […]