Warrington Prep Academy Update
Last week, I met with Warrington Prep Principal Dr. Erica Foster and tour the former Warrington Middle School to see the vast improvements made in the past month since Charter USA Schools took over the property.
Why this matters: The filth left by former principal Denny Wilson and the school district has been cleaned up – new floors, cafeteria flooring, landscaping and a/c filters, plus windows tinted, walls painted and bathrooms scrubbed and graffiti removed.
- Dr. Foster had 73 positions to fill. She has hired 54 ad has 19 open positions for instructional staff.
Dig Deeper: The Escambia County School District has seven elementary, one middle and one high school on the state’s low-performing list. Several have been on the list for several years – pre-pandemic and pre-Dr. Tim Smith.
Are the Escambia County School Board and its administration able to turn around any of these schools? Or should we ask Charter Schools USA to take them over, too?
LOW-PERFORMING SCHOOLS & THEIR GRADES FOR PAST SEVEN YEARS
ENSLEY ELEMENTARY – Five D’s, One C since 2015
MONTCLAIR ELEMENTARY – Two F’s, Two D’s, One C, One B
OAKCREST ELEMENTARY – One F, Three D’s, Two C’s
SHERWOOD ELEMENTARY – Four D’s, Two C’s
WARRINGTON ELEMENTARY – Two F’s, Two D’s, Two C’s
REINHARDT HOLM ELEMENTARY – Five D’s, One C’s
GLOBAL LEARNING ACADEMY – Four D’s, Two C’s
BELLVIEW MIDDLE – Four D’s, Two C’s
PINE FOREST HIGH – Three D’s, Three C’s
History shows the Escambia County School Board and its administration – with or without an elected superintendent – cannot turn around a failing school.
Okaloosa County Lands 350 Jobs
Central Moloney, Inc., (“CMI”) headquartered in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, announced the selection of Okaloosa County for a new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that will specialize in producing pad-mounted electrical transformers.
- The total cost of constructing and equipping the new advanced manufacturing facility on 48 acres owned by Okalooa County near I-10 is projected to be approximately $50 million, and 350 higher-wage jobs are expected to be created as the company scales up to full production.
Why this matters: The new manufacturing facility is being built Okaloosa County’s Shoal River Gigasite located – over 10,500 Acres, with 6,850 Acres North of I-10 and 3,650 Acres South of I-10.
Dig Deeper: FloridaWest is behind on the infrastructure development of The Bluffs and OLF-8. However, this deal shows there is demand in Northwest Florida for manufacturing facilities.
Kudos to Dr. Meadows
The Florida College System Council of Presidents announced that Pensacola State College President Dr. C. Edward Meadows has been voted in as its next chair.
Dr. Meadows is Pensacola State College’s sixth president and has held the position since 2008.
Meadows is a past chair of the COP and returns to the role as Pasco-Hernando State College President Dr. Timothy Beard prepares for retirement. Beard will continue working with COP as the Honorary Chair until his retirement.
Now that the local chapter of the Republican Executive Mob Squad has elected its first Black president, we can all wait with baited breath for him to advocate getting those Black history books back on the shelves of ECSD libraries.
As Commissioner Kohler said in Commissioner’s Forum, Charles Thorton was elected by a “packed room” because of his “big heart” and his ability to “work with other people.”
Let’s see it. Will this be a real change, or simply a baton hand-off to yet another leader invested in stoking culture wars in our community? Hopefully this will be a big improvement over a previous Vice of this committee physically attacking a Black woman in public for wearing a mask. Of course, there’s nowhere to go but up at this point.
As the ECSD loses schools, is the administrator pay impacted? I mean, they have fewer schools to manage now, right? If not, they can let all the schools go to Charter, collect the same paycheck, and do absolutely nothing.
Warrington Prep Academy Update: “The filth left by former principal Denny Wilson and the school district has been cleaned up….” What happened to Denny Wilson? He was PROMOTED! Early in the traumatic May 16th meeting, Wilson was promoted to Assistant Superintendent – Curriculum & Instruction. A few hours later, Superintendent Tim Smith was fired in part for Wilson’s failings. There is a state manual that describes in great detail how public schools are to be properly maintained. I also reviewed the school district’s very detailed organizational chart. There are multiple officials charged to maintain our schools. Obviously, they didn’t do their job. Were any of them held to account for their failures?