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School Zone
Superintendent looks back on his first year as the
district’s leader on next DCPS “School Matters” public
affairs TV show
The Superintendent’s
first year in his job, the expansion of rigorous courses
to all high schools and a $1 million arts education
grant are topics of lively discussion on “School
Matters.” The next edition of Duval County Public
Schools’ monthly question-and-answer program can be seen
each Wednesday at 5 p.m. on Comcast Channel 29. It is
also available on dcpsTV, which links to the district’s
home page.
The director of high school
acceleration programs and the principal of Jean Ribault
High School will join Superintendent Ed
Pratt-Dannals to explain how nationally and
internationally recognized acceleration programs such as
International Baccalaureate and Early College
are being expanded to every high school in the district.
The panelists will describe how all district students
soon will have access to more rigorous programs in
neighborhood schools and will dispel the myth that top
academic courses are available only at select schools.
Officials of the Chartrand
Foundation and the Jacksonville Children’s Commission
will detail a comprehensive effort by 20 community
organizations to create the New Town Success Zone in
Jacksonville. In the works since
April 2007, the model program will seek to make “every
neighborhood school a school of choice” by bringing
expanded arts, civics and sciences learning
opportunities as well as family engagement and social
services linked directly to schools in the success zone.
After receiving a $1 million
grant from the U.S. Department of Education, leaders of
the school district’s arts programs will describe how
teachers at 12 Duval
County
schools will learn how to integrate arts throughout the
core curriculum. The panelists will explain how “the
magic occurs when arts are used to develop high-level
thinking skills” in all subjects.
The program’s final segment
will include reflections by Superintendent Pratt-Dannals
on his first year as leader of the nation’s 20th
largest school district. He’ll lists successes –
receiving District Accreditation and the adoption of a
Strategic Plan – and well as challenges he will face in
his second year as superintendent, such as an expected
huge decrease in funding for the second consecutive
year.
The program is produced monthly by WJCT-TV and the
Communications Department of Duval County Public
Schools. Veteran interviewer Joyce Morgan Danford is the
moderator. “School Matters” airs the fourth Sunday of
every month at 10 a.m. on WJCT-TV, over-the-air Channel
7 and Comcast Channel 8. After its premiere, “School
Matters” is televised each Wednesday at 5 p.m. on
Comcast cable Channel 29. As well, the program can be
viewed 24/7 via the World Wide Web by linking to “dcpsTV”
from the school district’s home page,
www.duvalschools.org |
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