- November 20, 2024
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In a Tuesday-evening presentation on strategic planning for the upcoming year, Assistant Superintendent Jacob Oliva said the district should be prepared to set aside funding for special flagship programs to prepare students for life beyond high school.
“We have challenged the schools to go back with a focus on college and career-readiness,” he said. “We’ve spoken with the Flagler Economic Opportunity Council and said, ‘What are the targeted industries that you guys are searching for to come into Flagler County?’”
The council came back with a list, Oliva said: Agriculture, aviation and aerospace, green technologies, health sciences, high technology, logistics manufacturing and marine research.
These areas, Oliva said, are ones on which schools should focus their special programs. At the high school level, he said, many already have.
“Our high schools have a buffet of opportunities for students,” he said.
But he’d like to see even more at the middle and elementary school level.
“My feeling is, if students are showing up at the high school without the proper exposure to a true college- and career-readiness curriculum, then they’re not ready to take the course that they need to advance and be successful," he said.
That wouldn’t mean that elementary school children would be picking their career paths, but they could be exposed to different kinds of industries and real-world experiences, Oliva said.
One example of a program that's working, he said, is the green technology program at Bunnell Elementary School.
"They have an unbelievable greenhouse and garden program," he said. "They have an incredible amount of teachers that are very committed to what they're doing, at each grade level."
Voluntary Pre-K
Those kinds of experiences could start even earlier, Oliva said, and the district is looking at expanding its voluntary pre-K program until there’s one at every elementary school.
“We are moving forward with those plans,” he said. “We know that early intervention is the best intervention for students. It’s easier to close an achievement gap if you can not have that gap begin.”
The district has faced challenges with space at two schools, Belle Terre Elementary School and Old Kings Elementary School, and would like to be able to find a solution so that all children can attend voluntary pre-K programs at the elementary school they would go to when they start kindergarten.
Top teachers to get one-time bonus
In other business, the Flagler County School Board voted unanimously at its regular Tuesday evening meeting to approve one-time bonuses for teachers rated “effective” or “highly effective” on their 2013-2014 evaluations.
Almost all Flagler County teachers — 97% — received those scores.
The bonuses will be $52 for “highly effective” teachers and $35 for “effective teachers, and the money comes from the federal Race to the Top initiative.
