Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Jackie Pons, transition principal at Jefferson Somerset School, recently had good news to share with the Jefferson County School Board regarding the budget that he and the superintendent have been preparing for when the district takes back the schools in July.
The good news, Pons said, was that the district’s budget was slated to receive an influx of money totaling $9 million in state and federal funds to support the coming transition – $5 million in non-recurring funds from the Florida Legislature, and $4 million from the U.S. government.
Plus, he added, the district was getting $400,000 in recurring funding to partner with the Children’s Home Society of Florida, a form of the Community Partnership School model whose aim is to provide students and their families with access to a wide variety of learning opportunities and health and wellness supports.
“You’re getting close to $10 million to start,” Pons said, adding that if things turned out the way that they had in the legislature session, the district could end up with a $13 to $14 million budget.
Admittedly, this was $3 million below Somerset’s current budget, but it was still a significant amount, he said.
“If we hadn’t gotten the legislative support it would be extremely difficult,” Pons said. “But we’re comfortable that with it, we’re in a pretty good position. This is a budget we can live with and be successful.”
He offered that one of the next things that needed to be done was to mail letters to all current Somerset employees informing them of when the district would begin advertising jobs. The schedule that Pons provided the school board members showed the job postings were set to begin on March 25, with core teachers the first group advertised, followed by custodians, transportation workers, elective teachers and finally paraprofessionals and other support staff.
Pons put the current number of core instructional staff at Somerset at 52, consisting of 20 elementary teachers, 25 middle and high school teachers, five ESE teachers and two Pre-K teachers.
He provided the board with a draft organizational chart that reflected the current situation at Somerset, except for the addition of two new positions. The two new positions are for a CTE/Safety specialist and an innovation specialist.
“The innovation specialist will run the media center, which hasn’t been opened in several years,” Pons said.
Additionally, he said, the school would have the benefit of three academic coaches, which would be doing the same things as an outside management team would have done. The difference, he said, was that the three coaches would be costing $400,000 annually, instead of the $2-million-plus that the outside management team would have charged.
A theme that Pons kept emphasizing was that in the coming months the board would be facing a great many issues in order to prepare for the takeover of the schools and the issues would be coming at the board fast.
“There’s a lot that we have to bring before you in a hurry,” Pons said more than once.
One of the burning issues, he said, was what the school grade was going to be next year, given that the district was taking over the schools after the fact. It was critical, he said, that the Florida Department of Education hold the district harmless for the grades the first year, noting that he had asked the superintendent to write the FDOE a letter to that effect.
“Things are going to be coming at you fast,” Pons repeated.
Among the ground rules that he mentioned going forward was that employees must be certified to reapply for their jobs; it’s being said that some of Somerset’s present personnel lack certification. The plan, Pons said, was to rehire all current employees at their existing salaries.
“It will help us to attract the most important individuals, the teachers,” he said.
The district, he said, had an academic improvement plan that it would put in effect. The district also, he reiterated, should be held harmless from punitive action in the first year if the school grade proved less than desired.
Pons identified the biggest problem at the school currently as discipline.
“I have a discipline plan for the board’s approval,” Pons said. “I will be clear. You can’t have a positive learning environment if you don’t have a controlled school. I don’t put up with fighting, and we’re going to stop that. You have to have rules and regulations.”
Part of the solution, he said, entailed improving communications with the parents and “getting them in the boat.”
Other factors in the equation, he said, was having dean of students and reopening the alternative school.
“Discipline is a mayor issue at the school and it needs to be straightened out,” Pons emphasized. “And it’s an easy thing to fix if you’re willing to commit to it.”
It was also part of his plan, he said, to bring back pep rallies, stage plays and other activities that instilled school pride.
“I feel we’ve got a lot of momentum right now,” Pons said.
Another of his goals, he said, was to bring back the 300 or so students who attend schools outside the district because their parents lost faith in the educational system here. The way to bring back these students, he said, was to make the local schools the best possible.
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