The vision committee roster proves to be almost entirely made up of employees of either Pine View or the district.
Background: A committee was tasked to determine a vision for Pine View school and what a Pine View diploma truly means. The administration would like you to believe the #1 ranked school with a 50 year history of excellence needs a “vision.” Throughout Pine View’s history, students have been allowed to take classes off Pine View’s campus to support their academic progression. This vision will now remove these opportunities.
The reality is, this new “vision” is all about money and preventing students from having educational options to fit their unique needs.
(DE courses are an expense, as opposed to AP courses which are fully funded by the state.)
If your student is in 8th grade or below, they will only be able to take classes offered on the Pine View campus. Historically, Pine View students, like all other district high school students, have been able to take classes at SCF as well as online. This new "vision” severely limits and denies opportunities for our students.
Example how this might impact a student at Pine View: Joe Student is currently an eighth grader at Pine View school. He is hoping to go to Florida State University where his older brother currently attends. His older brother just graduated from Pine View this year concurrently with his Associate in the Arts degree from SCF. Because of this, Joe's brother was able to transfer to FSU as a junior and saved $42,000 and two years of college time! Joe took the SAT this past year and since his scores are good for two years, Joe can take college-level classes because of his college eligible test scores. Since this school year is underway, Joe is hoping to take dual enrollment classes and online classes next year since he is proficient in the areas of math, science, and language arts.
If this "vision" is allowed at Pine View, Joe will not be allowed to take any classes that are not on Pine View's campus during the normal school day because he wants to stay at Pine View and continue to learn among the same gifted peers that he has been with since since he starred as Elvis in third grade in the annual production of "Third Grade Rocks!"
We requested a list of the members of the “vision committee” steering group. What we found is astounding for its obvious inherent bias and lack of genuine stakeholder input. Of the 27 people on the committee, only 5 are not employed by the district or Pine View School. Two are students and the other 3 are parents. (The facilitator is not an employee of either to our knowledge, but we assume he is being paid for his services).
We wish there had been a real attempt at stakeholder input. Best practices in visioning strategies stress early and continuous public involvement in the process.
We believe this process is flawed.
Over 80% of the committee responsible for the vision setting of the #1 school in the state with a national reputation for excellence, are employed by the district or the school;
There has been no genuine call for participation from parents, alumni, founders of the school, legacy teachers or national experts on gifted education into the visioning process;
There was no request to stakeholders to participate on the committee; the meeting dates and times were not noticed to the public; the work of the committee has not been done in the sunshine;
There has been a recent historical pattern in our district to limit and deny educational choices to families and students;
Previous climate surveys, completed by parents, teachers and students of Pine View school show withering criticism for the lack of communication and transparency by the administration, most notably, the principal.
