Judy's JournalArticle Submitted By: Judith Stein
We are pleased to continue our work for school choice and educational options in Florida at Nova Southeastern University, Fischler School of Education and Human Services (FSEHS) which has provided the home of initiatives for school choice through the National Institute of Educational Options (NIEO) which has been part of the FGSEHS since 1998. This is our tenth anniversary. Our Florida School Choice Resource Center was developed under the 2002-2007 Voluntary Public School Choice grant (VPSC), which was provided to the State of Florida in the 2002-2003 school year to expand, reinstate or improve school choice in Florida. With the new grant for 2007-2012, we are expanding the reach of our Parent Resource Centers, beyond Miami-Dade and Broward and Jacksonville and Orlando, to school districts like Gadsden County, which has opened the new mobile Parent Resource Center in August of this year. We are working with many districts and community organizations like Orange, Duvall , Miami Dade, Broward, and Gadsden counties and soon to be--- Palm Beach, Glades and Escambia counties . We are pleased to work with the Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice, who is led by Yolanda Miranda-Hill, the VPSCC Manager. Yolanda has been busy developing the funding requirements for the three models of inter- district school choice that were unveiled in August of 2008. The districts providing leadership are:
Ms. Miranda- Hill also coordinates the State Parent Advisory Council (PAC) that will lead the state in developing local and regional councils to expand knowledge of school choice into the regions of the state under the new Differentiated Accountability Plan approved by the USDOE. We can also update you on the progress of the Florida Public School Choice Consortium (FPSCC), which began in 2003 and is an extension of the organization that Maryellen Elia (now Superintendent in Hillsborough County) started in Florida in the 1990’s and networks for school choice in Florida. Our new President of the FPSCC is Audrey Lewis-Potter of Gadsden County, who operates a thriving PRC and has taken her place as President and now follows Kathy Israelson of Bay County and Connie Scothel-Gross of Palm Beach County. Kathy Israelson resigned on September 1st of this year because of a change in job assignment. We wish her well! |
A highlight of her tenure and of the year was the presentation of the Dr. Carlo Rodriguez Champion of School Choice awards on June 17th, 2008 at the State Board of Education meeting in Tampa. This year the awards, which were named for Dr. Carlo Rodriguez who was the State of Florida Executive Director of School Choice and whose untimely death took away a visionary in school choice. The award ceremony was hosted by FPSCC President Kathy Israelson, and she presented the two Nova Southeastern University scholarships for masters and doctorate, which included a half scholarship each year for further education in an area of school choice. The Dr. Carlo Rodriguez Champion for School Choice awards for the year 2008 went to:
The conference will begin with strategic planning by Florida's new state, local and regional Parent Advisory Council members. In order to disseminate this presentation to a wider national audience, we will broadcast the presentation live in a webcast format. This live program will be available from the webcast and would be featured on www.buildingchoice.org and the State of Florida and Florida School Choice Resource Center and FPSCC web sites after the event. Registration Information is available at www.fpscc.net or call 1-800-986-3223 ext 5082 for Nigel Whyte, Conference Producer. For the 2008 year, Nova is continuing to provide “seed monies” for the Southeast Coalition of Essential Schools (SCES), which is at the Tampa campus for Nova Southeastern University. Our consultant and administrator in Tampa, Kathy Harris, is one of the national consultants for this organization. For more information, see www.southeastces.org and www.essentialschools.org. Kathy will be working with magnet schools, career academies as well as the Smaller Learning Communities grants. Read our quarterly enewsletters and learn about the conferences and institutes of our partner organizations, the Magnet Schools of America, the National Career Academy Coalition, the Southeast Coalition of Essential Schools and the Small Schools Workshop, as well as our own Florida Public School Choice Consortium and Florida Association of Charter School Authorizers and, thanks to new articles, learn what our schools are doing in the State under the No Child Left Behind law. If you have articles for our newsletter, contact our Logistics Coordinator, Carla McMullen at carlajon@gate.net to assist you in learning more about how school choice helps educators, parents and students with school climate; security; student achievement and education.
Judith S. Stein Ed.D. |
As a new school year begins fitfully due to declining enrollment in many districts and budget cuts because of state revenue, we must remember that students expect a happy and productive year and will need our support and love. We are pleased to continue our work with the Florida Department of Education (FDOE), which was funded as one of three grants in the State of Florida (Miami-Dade and Hillsborough counties also were funded) among only fourteen grants in the nation under the Voluntary Public School Choice (VPSC) program for 2007-2012.
