Category: Education
Charter schools aren’t necessarily the answer
ProPublica has published an article on charter schools. We tend to think of charter schools as locally run schools like Pensacola Beach Elementary, but the…
Lessons learned
Today I was asked during a radio interview on WUWF if the suspected sexual assault at Tate High School had triggered our cover story, Tarnished…
A School District that gets it right
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is the public school system (Pre-Kindergarten through 12th Grade) for Montgomery County, Md., a suburban area just outside Washington, D.C….
Tarnished Turnaround: Overnight comments
Our investigative report on Warrington Middle School and the under-reporting of crime and violence in the Escambia County Public School District has already gotten over…
Tate High is only the tip of the iceberg
Tate High School isn’t the only problem school for the Escambia County Public School District. The first year of Superintendent Malcolm Thomas’ turnaround of Warrington…
School board members could lose salaries
Legislation has been proposed by the Senate Education Committee which will eliminate school board members’ salaries for anyone elected, or re-elected, in 2012 and beyond….
School Violence & Crime rankings
At what high school was a student or teacher most likely to be a victim of battery-2009-10: Escambia High School. Which high school was least…
How safe is your child’s school?
The Florida Department of Education tracks crime and violence incidents on the school campuses. If the schools have accurately entered the data into the FDOE…
Class-size requirements may be gutted
The Florida Legislature is looking at a way to get around the class-size amendment. Two-thirds of the 849 core classes offered in elementary, middle and…
Reply to blocking Rick’s Blog
I received this email from the school district this afternoon: “Ricksblog.biz is not blocked; however, if RicksBlog.biz contains an entry that includes any key/inappropriate word…
Buzz: Thomas may reduce or remove SROs
Superintendent Malcolm Thomas was overheard this past week discussing the school resource officers. He said that he was considering reducing the number of SROs or…
School property remains vacant
NorthEscambia reports the Carver/Century K-8 School, which the school district closed in May 2009, remains empty. After two years, the Escambia County School District has…
Bergosh blames media (me) for Tate furor
School Board member Jeff “Godzilla” Bergosh sees the Tate sexual battery as “Rock’em, Sock ’em Robots.” He believes that Tate officials did no wrong and…
Sex Offense not reported to FDOE
As I’ve written on this blog, Florida Department of Education is clear that sex offenses should be reported to the agency and law enforcement. We…
School District refuses to release info on sex offenses
The Escambia Public School District reported to the Florida Department of Education that it had 17 sex offenses in the 2009-10 school year. Of those…
Scott’s advisor Rhee caught in possible cheating scandal
As the District of Columbia’s former public schools chief, Michelle Rhee rode soaring student test scores to a national reputation as a model education reformer….
DOE says report all sexual offenses immediately
The Florida Department of Education defines sexual offense and sexual battery in its “Definitions for Incident Reporting” (Appendix P)—that is part of Volume I: Automated…
District handled 1995 sexual incident differently
From Pensapedia: Horace Jones is the former principal of Pensacola High School who was removed in 1996 for allegedly attempting to cover up the PHS…
PNJ: No Tate Cover Up
The PNJ has reviewed the alleged sexual at Tate High School, meeting with the ECSO and Superintendent Malcolm Thomas and determined that there was no…
Is District Investigator Dobbs incompetent?
I’ve been bothered greatly by the March 24 Report of Investigation by Escambia Public School District Investigator John Dobbs (Read report). Here’s why: 1. Dobbs…
