FloridaCapitalTea wanted to know if our current school structure works for our Tallahassee families. We reached out to you with a survey a few weeks ago and compiled the responses. We ran this survey for about one week and received 76 responses.
Prior to Covid, there were cracks in the foundation of our school system. Since Covid, the cracks are feeling more like canyons. Parents and teachers are being bombarded with the noise of legislation and House Bill updates. We hear about legislation in every meeting and on social media, but we wanted to know what the parents and teachers need and want.
Our Community On School Structure
FloridaCapitalTea began this conversation after stumbling upon an article analyzing the pros and cons of year round school. We began asking local moms and received a wide range of responses about this. Some felt like they would be open, but would need to know how the community would decide to go forward. Others mentioned the logistics and obstacles this would create for working age kids and kids that attend summer camps. There were several with experiences either growing up attending year round or sending their kids at one point to a year round school. The moms who experienced year round expressed positive experiences.
After reaching out to local moms and hearing from them about their thoughts, we expanded the conversation to the rest of the community.
The School Year
“Are you open to learning more about a year round school structure with more breaks throughout the year but a shorter summer break, same number of school days?”
- Yes: 71% (53)
- No: 19% (14)
- Maybe: 9% (7)
- Other: (1)
What are your biggest concerns about a year round school year?
We wanted to know what the parents concerns with year round school might be. Several participants stated that they were concerned with child burnout and kids ability for sports or extracurricular activities. Some other parents expressed concern about the organization not transitioning everyone at the same time which would cause a failure of the program. While other parents want to ensure that there would be enough mental breaks and they would be long enough.
A couple of the parent’s concern stood out to us. They stated that they are concerned about physical education due to the hot summers we have here and they stated that their kids’ school does not have an indoor gym. One response was teacher burnout and making sure the teachers were on board due to a long summer being a perk for the teachers.
Many of the responses to this question is “none.” Other common responses were about childcare and camps.
Are summer camps affordable or possible for your family?
- Yes: 18% (14)
- No: 63% (48)
- Other: (14)
For the “other” responses we received participants stating that it depends on the summer camp, not the entire summer, there aren’t many for their special needs child and they are unaffordable. Others spend half the summer doing camp and the other half going to work with a parent. While others limit their camp experience to one week. Most responses stated that some are affordable and some are not.
The School Hours
Do you believe the current school hours are conducive to the working parent?
- Yes: 28% (21)
- No: 60% (45)
- Other: (9)
The “other” responses ranged from inquisitive about why FloridaCapitalTea would ask this question to explaining how this only works if they can pay for extra after school care but are understanding about bus schedules needing to be staggered.
We want to address why we included this question. We feel that for a family to succeed in school the parents need to be able to feasibly get them to school and pick them up while also being able to work. Unfortunately, not every family has access to extra money for child care, or their child care provider doesn’t have transportation, or live close to the school. With all families and walks of life in mind, we feel that it would be excluding some of our neighbors if we didn’t ask questions that address all the working parents.
Closing Schools
A few weeks ago there was a suggestion posed by a school board member to close a school. Superintended Hanna stated after the meeting that they will not be looking to close any schools anytime soon. However, we still wanted to know what our neighbors thought about closing a school.
In your opinion, Is closing a school a solution?
- Yes 3% (2)
- No 39% (30)
- I’m not sure. I need more information 50% (38)
- Other (6)
Under our “other” responses we received many thoughtful suggestions. One participant drew on a personal teaching experience where they combined classes suggesting doing this before closing the school.
Another participant explained that revamping the schools to catch up with the current culture and society we are living in. This answer went on to even provide examples including hybrid classes where students can can still be up to date with their work through zoom, if they are sick. Reducing homework to cut down on burnout and providing more breaks and days off for mental health.
Other responses were that Leon County Schools has other property they could sell and consider consolidating their operations to a single building. Another response stated that they would prefer that the schools improve so that more people would want to attend.
Obstacles, Needs, And Resources
What is your family’s biggest obstacles with attending public schools?
We received 61 responses to this question. The most common responses are Over testing. Lack of hands on learning and creativity. Transportation. Finances. Too much in classroom time. Not enough learning through play. Differences in teaching methods and teacher disciplines. Lack of personalized teaching. Late buses. Communication from administration. No after school programs for special needs. Scheduling and safety. Inconsistent. Drop off/Pick up times. After school care for young children. Priorities of administration staff. Safety. Drop off/Pick up times are not conducive to the working parents. School hours. Cost of after school care and summer camp. Lack of funding for schools. Failing the kids. Reliable transportation. Classroom sizes. School choice. Resources for high needs populations. Bullying. Teacher retention. Late Buses. Additional help when student is struggling.
What resources is your child lacking in public school?
The most common answers provided here were: Resources for my student with higher needs. Extra help in subjects they are struggling in. Food, Transportation, and/or other basic needs. More time to decompress while in school (i.e. longer lunch breaks, more breaks between classes). More flexibility for my child staying home for mental days. Smaller classroom sizes. And Other.
We realize this question should have offered multiple select options which we failed to provide. However, many of our participants expressed that they need to select all or multiple and the percentages even reflect that as they were all fairly equal. Ultimately, we are seeing that parents have a wide range of resources they need from the schools but are lacking.
If you currently do not attend public school, what would you need from the public school system that they are currently not providing?
The most common answers are: Teaching with the child and learning in mind instead of the test. Higher needs populations classroom restructure. Safety. Administration showing more concern and compassion. Accommodations. More resources for the students that are struggling academically. Remove some of the required unnecessary classes. Scaled back graduation requirements so that students can focus on taking classes that fit their interests.
Keeping The Conversation Going
At the end of all our surveys we ask the participants if there is anything they would like to add, explore , address, or contribute. Here is what our neighbors said:
Accessibility to address concerns outside school walls. Pushing standards down to younger ages (i.e. no testing at this age and reading should be delayed until 1st grade). Year round school would help with students retaining skills and routine. We need a parent network/Facebook group for communication and to discuss our public schools. Year round school could help with burnout and disinterest while creating continuity, this needs to be a whole community endeavor. More help needs to be provided for struggling students. A conversation about creating support for students. Mental health for students.
Some neighbors asked questions: Where is all the money going? Why are so many teachers resigning? Where are our tax dollars going?
Our Thoughts On School Structure
After reading these answers we have our own thoughts and conclusions on school structure. We also have a post historic storm perspective. While we recognize that this is a historic storm and Tallahassee rarely experiences tornados to the degree we had, FloridaCapitalTea will still use the previous storm in our thoughts on this.
Although our survey was closed prior to the historic storm, this storm emphasized what many of our community was feeling about our school board. Many respondents stated that the administration does not communicate efficiently or clearly with the parents and community. We saw this the day of the storm and you can read more about it here: A Hard Decision Needs To Be Made Quickly: LCS. Throughout the weekend we saw the school board listening to the community and making changes to their communications. Unfortunately, they also turned off commenting. This action has left the community feeling as if their voices have been silenced.
We are seeing an increase in neighbors expressing themselves on other pages including our own. Communication by definition is the imparting or exchanging of information or news. And a quick google search lists active listening as the first skill in communication. Upon turning off comments the School Board is squandering an opportunity to learn about their weaknesses.
FloridaCapitalTea will always advocate that we don’t judge a person’s intent, only the impact. We are going to assume that the School Board’s choice is so they can protect their own mental health. We also are going to stress the harmful impact this is having on the community. While they may not have bad intentions, the impact is still harmful.
Obviously, if comments are triggering the administration then perhaps they could benefit by telling their administration team not to read the comments and delegating someone who isn’t affected. That person can pull the constructive criticism and provide it to the School Board.
Chain of Command
In any efficient system there is a chain of command. We did look up the School Board’s organizational chart and the most recent one we could locate is from 2021-2022; there may be a more recent one. Regardless, the structure didn’t appear to be in effect or working prior to the storm. According to the survey responses, parents feel like there is a lack of consistency. This storm highlighted this disorganization. Natural and historic disasters are opportunities for our governments to be put under stress to reveal their weaknesses.
What does restructuring the school’s organizational chart look like? We believe that is a question the teachers, principles, administration, and school board should all discuss. They should ask themselves about who reports to whom from the teachers up to the school board and community. A strong chain of command will provide parents to be heard, less chaos in historic events, predictability and delegation of the workload so the superintendent has more information and ability to decide more quickly.
Final Thoughts
Many parents are feeling that the public school system no longer fits their needs and are looking at charter, private schools, or homeschooling.
Colleen Barret, an American Businesswoman, understood the key to success: “To earn the respect (and eventually love) of your customers, you first have to respect those customers. That is why Golden Rule behavior is embraced by most of the winning companies.”
The Schools can offer all the best education and opportunities, but people will chose other options if there is no respect and kindness shown to the public.
