The State of Florida has a grading system for schools, which also impact the district. However, we believe this grading, while well-intended, creates a negative impact on our neighbors and our students. Individual districts are tasked with executing the parameters for education in order to achieve higher grades based on the components outlined by the state. Unfortunately, this means that some districts will have more success than others. The type of leaders the district has will determine the success of the district.
The state shouldn’t have to manage each district and should be able to provide guidelines. We are responsible for holding our leaders accountable for our performance and success of our students.
State Guidelines For District Grades
To understand how the district grade affects our students and neighbors, we first have to research the parameters in which the schools are graded on. We found an detailed report on the Florida Department of Education (2023-2024 guide is most recent linked at time of this post on the FLDOE website) as well as an overview (2024).
The State explains the scale focus is on Achievement, Learning Gains, Graduation, Acceleration Success, and Maintaining a focus on students that need support. The way the state gauges these components appears to be largely based on standardized testing. Some areas like Learning Gains are not based on a passing score of the test but rather an improvement score from the year prior.
Leon County’s Scores
- English Language Arts (ELA) Grade 3 Achievement: 57%
- ELA Achievement: 54%
- ELA Learning Gains: 55%
- ELA Learning Gains of lowest 25% : 51%
- Mathematics Achievement: 56%
- Mathematics Learning Gains: 60%
- Mathematics Learning Gains of the Lowest 25% : 51%
- Science Achievement: 53%
- Social Studies Achievement: 75%
- Middle School Acceleration: 75%
- Graduation Rate 2022-2023: 86%
- College and Career Acceleration 2022-2023: 61%
- Total Points Earned out of 1200: 731
These scores indicate that only half of our students are performing at grade level or higher or are showing learning gains.
We asked our neighbors in a social media survey about which component they feel our district focuses on. Some neighbors stated that the district emphasizes passing scores (68%). Learning Gains next at 18%, and graduation rates at 13%.
Commentors express students are only being taught to the test. Others stated that without the tests, the students only have to show completion. Also not learning the material. There was a lot of conversation around the district only caring about attendance. If you recall, last year the district ran a tone deaf campaign. It relied heavily on shaming parents who allowed their kids to miss school. Our community is still feeling the negative impacts of that campaign. Finally, parents commented that the district definitely does not focus on students who need the most support.
Reflection On The Results
We took some time to reflect on what our neighbors said in our conversations about the focus of the District. We also researched some on learning and the importance of how and what we learn. One statement stood out to us in our research: You may not need the material the subject is teaching (geometry, statistics, physics, etc). But the instruction isn’t just the material, it’s teaching skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and assessment of solutions and answers.
So often we hear about educators teaching to the test. Or how our students are simply learning short term memorization and not learning about the benefit of knowledge. The state’s district grades provides opportunity for some Districts to focus on testing and forget the purpose of education: to learn and retain the joy of problem solving and perseverance.
The state attempted to resolve this problem by having an improvement category. The state specifies this is also a tested category in which the score does not have to be passing. Instead it has to have a certain percentage of improvement. If the State is requiring an improvement score on a standardized test, rather than just school work being completed, our District leaders should communicate this better to our community.
Interestingly, we held several conversations on how the district does not support higher needs students. In fact, one neighbor expressed how they assisted Hanna in his first campaign because he promised to support the ESE and ELL students. They stated that since his first election they, along with other parents, have gone largely ignored. While we know this isn’t the superintendent’s intentions, it is a devastating impact of his actions towards them.
We had a significant number of conversations about attendance as well. Our parents are feeling like the District is emphasizing and shaming parents around attendance. Many of our parents feel like teaching mental health and taking a break from work is an important life skill the district is failing to recognize.
Leon County School’s focus is on the “checklist” provided by the state, finding shortcuts to complete that checklist, and the consensus of our neighbors is the district is failing our students.
One Response
Leon County Schools Needs Better Leadership
Last night’s Leon County School Board meeting once again showed the dysfunction that has become normal in Leon County Schools. Superintendent Rocky Hanna, once again, could not respond professionally when questioned about his own words and actions.
After Board Member Alva Smith quoted directly from an email he sent, the superintendent reacted with visible and unnecessary hostility. This was especially striking because only moments earlier he had spoken about the need for unity and respectful dialogue to address the district’s challenges.
Instead of answering the question or clarifying his position, he attempted to talk down to and intimidate a board member for simply quoting him. This is not new behavior. Anyone who has followed Leon County Schools knows this is how dissent is handled, challenge the narrative and you are treated as the problem.
Later in the meeting, Board Member Smith read another email sent by Superintendent Hanna to Leon County Virtual School teachers stating that the decision to close the virtual school had already been made. Even though the school board has not approved such an action. This directly contradicted his earlier, angry response where he claimed no decision had been made and that he had only offered a recommendation. Which version is the truth remains unclear, and that is exactly the problem.
This moment is not an isolated incident. It reflects nearly a decade of his leadership marked by declining enrollment, financial strain, and poor communication. Warning signs have been ignored year after year, while political positioning, financial gain, and personal ambition appeared to take priority.
Students, teachers, and families have paid the price. Meanwhile, compensation at the top has increased and insiders have benefited. The public has been repeatedly misled through deflection and shifting blame. During his election, promises were made to the teachers that financial support would follow. In reality, teacher pay increases only happened because the Florida Legislature specifically line-itemed funding for salaries. Without that intervention, nothing would have changed, especially when the superintendent’s own pay continued to rise.
Transparency has also been lacking when it comes to district finances and decision making. Positions created with temporary COVID funding were allowed to continue years after that funding ended. Declining enrollment was not addressed early, when corrective action could have made a difference. Instead, the district focused on optics. A new logo does not fix structural problems.
These failures did not happen by accident. Addressing them would have required tough decisions and political courage. Instead, those decisions were delayed or avoided altogether. The result has been a steady erosion of trust and damage to a school system that previous leaders worked hard to build.
Leadership matters. The behavior modeled at the top sets the tone for the entire organization. When accountability is resisted and transparency avoided, confidence in the system disappears.
Leon County deserves better leadership and honest governance. Parents, students, and teachers should come first every day, not just during election season. Until that changes, families will continue to lose faith in Leon County Schools and continue to walk away.