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Allegations surface concerning Navarre High baseball coach
The Daily News reported that former Navarre High baseball coach Mickey O'Quinn resigned after allegations of inappropriate behavior surfaced. O'Quinn was being investigated by the school district for “kissing female students, changing student grades, inappropriate texting to students, [...]
A.A. Dixon Gets a Set of Wheels
Buses are something that most schools probably take advantage of, however the strain from renting them has cost A.A. Dixon Charter School of Excellence $150,000 a year on transportation. Board President, Rev. LuTimothy May took the task on of tracking buses at auctions. He found three, red-lined [...]
Escambia and Santa Rosa counties lag behind in AP exams
The Flordia Department of Education released an announcement that for the third year in a row, Florida had the highest percentage of high school graduates taking an Advanced Placement (AP) exam while in high school according to The 8th Annual AP Report to the Nation® released today by the College [...]
Black Man, White Robes
There’s a big difference between Daryl Davis and some of the friends he’s made over the years. He’s black and they were in the Klan. In an effort to explore the issue of racism, Davis traveled the dark road of the Ku Klux Klan. He arranged meetings—without revealing his race—and [...]
Thomas to spend $16.5 million on new E.Ward Middle
Superintendent Malcolm Thomas is a numbers guy. When dealing with the African-American community, his mantra is always about numbers. He closed Spencer Bibbs rather than upgrade because of attendance. He threatened to close Lincoln Park for the same reason. Other schools aren't given the same [...]
C-SPAN in Pensacola
You’ve watched it in the middle of the night on television, now come aboard the bus. The C-SPAN Campaign 2012 Bus will be making a couple of stop in Pensacola this Friday. The bus is currently on its Road to the White House tour, named after the channel’s signature political [...]
Elementary Schools Academic rankings
Top 25% Helen Caro #221 Molino Park 236 Suter 294 Pine Meadow 342 Cordova Park 383 Scenic Heights 392 Bratt 402 Top 50% Byrneville 564 Blue Angel 620 Lipscomb 684 Oakcrest 805 McArthur 879 -------------------------------- Bottom 25% Pleasant Grove 1402 Spencer-Bibbs (closed) [...]
Middle School Academic Rankings….not so good
There are 583 middle schools in Florida. Escambia County only has 4 in the top 50%--one of which, Brown Barge, is a magnet school. Top 10% Brown Barge #46 Top 20% Ransom Middle #111 Top 50% Ernest Ward #200 Bailey #225 ------------------------ Bottom 40% Ferry Pass Bottom [...]
High School Rankings – Academic, not sports
Out of 404 public high schools in Florida: Top 25% West Florida #30 Top Third Pensacola High School (courtesy of IB program) #111 Northview High #138 Top Half Washington High #199 Bottom 15% Escambia High #342 Pine Forest High #362
Buzz: Teachers must hand in tax returns to district office
I'm hearing that the District administration is asking teachers send in copies of front page of their federal income tax returns to comply with an internal audit. This seems like a huge invasion of privacy. I thought conservative Republicans ran the Escambia County Public School District.
Blueprint for keeping college affordable
In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for a comprehensive approach to tackling rising college cost. Here's his blueprint: Creating New Incentives to Promote Affordability and Quality • The Race to the Top: College Affordability and Completion will promote change in state [...]
Schools Make Education Fun
Taking a break from FCAT preparation, students at A.A. Dixon Charter School were treated to a night of skating at Landmark Skate and Fun Center last night. “Our students have been working very hard,” said Principal Kathy Bearden-Colbert. “We wanted to reward them and let them know we [...]
Dixon and the District and the ‘Steep Hill’
School district officials wanted to shut it down. It was $100,000 in the hole and labeled as “failing” by the state. But a semester down the road, A.A. Dixon Charter School of Excellence is still striving toward its goal. The Escambia County School District gave the charter one academic year [...]
Buzz: Suter to be replaced with $20 million new school
The Escambia County Public School District has closed three schools in African-American neighborhoods. The Superintendent would like to add Lincoln Park and A.A. Dixon to his hit list. The Superintendent isn't as harsh with schools in white neighborhoods. We're hearing that A.K. Suter [...]
UWF Hosts Pulitzer Prize Winner and New York Times Journalist
Tonight at 6 p.m., the UWF Department of Communication Arts, School of Fine and Performing and Communication Arts and College of Arts and Sciences will host the 2012 Jerry Maygarden Distinguished Lecture. The event will feature two parts. The first will be a showing of the documentary “Page 1: [...]
Escambia School District shrinking, especially white enrollment
The enrollment of the Escambia County Public School District has declined since the 2008-2009 school year from 40,921 to 40,495. Hispanic and other minority students rose by 1,714 students, 4,370 to 6,084. The African-American students declined by 662, but the biggest loss was in white students--a [...]
Are black children the problem with Escambia County public schools?
No, the problem is the Escambia County Public School District hasn't figured out how to teach African-American children. Give or take a percentage point, 40% of the African-American are below their grade levels in reading and math; 40% don't graduate from high school. Drilling these kids on [...]
Escambia County Public School District ranked 44th in Florida
Out of the 67 counties in Florida, Escambia County ranked 44th, placing it in the bottom third of the state-even though it got a B grade. Thirty-five percent of the district's students read below Level 3 (out of 5), 32% below Level 3 for Math and 52% below Level 3 for Science. Thirty-nine percent [...]
Global Academy isn’t global
The new shining star of the Escambia County Public School District is the Global Learning Academy....the old one was Warrington Middle and we know how well that has turned out. Last night at the school board meeting, two former teachers told the school board that Global isn't really global. PNJ [...]
Ferry Pass Elementary and UWF Unite
The University of West Florida and Ferry Pass Elementary held their signing ceremony this morning at 9 a.m. in the school’s library. Spirits were high and there was cake too. “This project brings together two great institutions,” said Bill Evans, director of the UWF School of Education. [...]
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