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 Have a great summer!
The end of the school year is here, and as we conclude another successful year, I would like to express my gratitude to the employees of Duval County Public Schools (DCPS). Each and every employee deserves a heartfelt thank you for the endless services they provide to the students and parents in our schools. Our success is possible because of the selfless commitment that our teachers, faculty, district staff, paraprofessionals, administrators and part-time employees have made to educate our students.
This has been a challenging year with the reality of the budget shortfall DCPS has had to face. It is unfortunate that we are forced to make cuts to any part of our students’ education. However, I know that, with the support of our staff and parents, our students will continue to receive an optimum education and will excel in all aspects of learning, both in and out of the classroom.
Last year, Duval County was second in the state in the percent of graduates completing at least one accelerated program course, and I am positive that this number has grown this year as all of our high schools now offer at least one of the accelerated programs to their students.
We will receive the final school grades from the Department of Education in a few weeks, and I am confident that the relentless contributions our staff and the community have made will be justified with a substantial number of our schools improving their grades. We faced many trials and tribulations this year as we worked to enhance the success of our schools, and we are optimistic that our efforts have paid off.
Thanks to the assistance of community members and business partners throughout the 2010-11 school year, we have been able to provide once in a lifetime opportunities to our students that give them hands-on experience and skills that correlate with the lessons in the classroom. I am grateful for the many partnerships we have with organizations that allow us to offer our students the necessary tools to be successful in their education.
Thanks again to everyone for your continued support of Duval County Public Schools. I look forward to next year and I hope that each of you has a safe and happy summer!
Ed Pratt-Dannals
Superintendent
*Remember: The first day of school is Monday, August 22, 2011. For more important dates, visit our website to view the
2011/2012 district calendar.
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 On Tuesday, June 7
Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) launched a bold new reading initiative aimed at raising the literacy rate for students throughout Duval County. The “Read It Forward Jax” campaign will partner city, business, faith based, and non-profit leaders throughout the community to share in helping teach Jacksonville’s children about the importance of reading.
“This is about changing the culture of the city. Reading can open so many doors for our students. Our goal is to have every child reading at grade level every year and this reading initiative provides the necessary resources to ensure success,” said Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals.
 Community members, parents, teachers and students gathered at Matthew Gilbert
Middle School to learn about the district-wide initiative to help our students
succeed at reading. Special guests included Superintendent Pratt-Dannals, School
Board members, Mayor Peyton, Mayor-elect Alvin Brown, JSO Sheriff John
Rutherford, JFRD Chief Dr. Charles Moreland, Hugh Green-CEO Baptist Health
2011-Chair Chamber of Commerce and many others!
This launch was the culmination of months of detailed research and planning. “Read It Forward Jax” will focus on improving reading performance for students in grades K-12. The school district will provide additional professional development opportunities for teachers and require extended reading instruction for students who are not yet proficient.
Mentoring agencies, non-profits and the business community will provide human and material resources to enhance the literacy skills of our students. DCPS' business partners have already begun purchasing new classroom libraries to increase student’s love of reading and increase their comprehension.
“Read It Forward Jax” utilizes the latest technology to reach every student at every age. This summer, a state of the art “T.V. Textbook” will be made available to 50 students in a pilot program. These small boxes will hook up to a standard television, and can be used to teach highly engaging reading lessons at home. In the future, parents can eventually utilize the boxes to learn new ways to read with their children. Business partners have stepped up to support this exciting development and
we are confident that more will join.
The DCPS’ academic team has built a plan to teach instructors the latest literacy techniques to provide students the tools they need to succeed. That professional development will be taken a step further as mentors and reading volunteers throughout the city mirror that academic plan.
Click these links to learn more about the
T.V. Textbooks
and
Classroom Libraries.
If you want to be a part of this incredible initiative, fill out this
form and return it to the Community and Family Engagement Office,
1701 Prudential Dr. Jacksonville, FL 32207-6th floor.
For other ways you can help, click
here. |
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The Florida Department of
Education has released the 2011 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT)
results for grade three reading and mathematics, grades four-10 reading, grades
four to eight mathematics, grade 10 mathematics, and grades five, eight and 11
science assessments. Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) has shown improvement in 11 different areas while scores stayed the same in 3 others.
Duval County Public Schools’ third-graders demonstrated more improvement in their math scores than any other large urban district in Florida or neighboring counties. In the past five years, math scores for Duval County public school third-graders have jumped 14 points, more than any other large urban district in the state of Florida.
Third-grade FCAT reading scores maintained their levels from last year which is a one point increase over scores from 2009. FCAT 2.0 is a new test but continues tracking changes in scores the same way the last edition of the FCAT was scored.
Grades six, and eight through ten all show one-point gains in reading scores, while mathematics scores either rose or stayed the same for grades four, five, seven and ten. Science scores also showed improvement for students in the fifth-grade.
The shining stars in this year’s results are Pinedale elementary who improved their scores overall by 139 points over last year. Ortega improved by 97 points, St. Clair Evans by 74 points, Long Branch by 70 points, S.P. Livingston by 58 points, and Biltmore by improved 54 points overall.
The results are very encouraging and show students are making great progress, but there is still work to be done to improve student scores even more.
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 Three culinary arts students from
Frank H. Peterson Academies of Technology won the 2011 Cooking Up Change National Healthy Cooking Contest in Washington D.C. The three-member team defeated four other groups from Chicago, Denver, St. Louis, Winston-Salem and Washington D.C.
The winning team members are Alexus Baldwin, Leoniqua Jackson and Denver Singletary. Congratulations also goes to Judy Schmidt, Peterson's Culinary Instructor and Chartwells Food Service for their dedication and hard work in guiding and mentoring the students in this process.
The Cooking Up Change competition challenged culinary arts students from around the country to create a nutritious menu item that could be prepared in six steps or less using widely available ingredients. Before each menu item was approved for the competition, students had to submit their recipes for a nutritional review. Teams from the winning cities won first-place in their local competition before going on to Washington D.C. to compete nationally.
The winning recipe from Peterson’s culinary team was Caribbean-inspired beef rib salad with Moroccan rice and a sweet potato corn bread muffin.
The goal of the Cooking up Change competition is to engage students and the broader community in a dialogue about changing the future of school food so that all children have access to lunches as nutritious and appealing as those created in the contest.
All finalists received a cookware set. In addition, the winning team from Peterson received a trophy, a gift certificate to a culinary supply store and an all-expense paid dinner to a local fine-dining restaurant.
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 Mayor-Elect Visits S.P. Livingston Elementary
Mayor-elect Alvin Brown visited the students at S.P. Livingston Elementary as a reward for their success on this year’s FCAT. Earlier this year, the school promised the students that if they scored a 3 or higher on the FCAT, they would be treated to lunch.
As the results showed, approximately 95 percent of the students achieved this and were rewarded with an assembly and a limo ride to Golden Corral.
 Atlantic Coast High School Wins FAME Award for News Show
Atlantic Coast High School (ACHS) recently hosted the district’s Jim Harbin Florida Association for Media in Education (FAME) Festival, honoring the best and brightest television production students in the district.
Wolfson High Students Win Multinational JA Competition
For the first time ever, one of Duval County public high schools has won the 2011 Junior Achievement (JA) Banks in Action Competition. The Florida Bank from Wolfson High won first-place in the multi-national competition. Team members include Alen Kajdic, Meri Logoreci and Lexus Walton.
 Beauclerc Elementary Students Perform Una Noche en El Zoológico
Beauclerc Elementary recently held its end of the year dual language production, “A Night at the Zoo – Una noche en el zool`ogico.” More than 200 families and district staff enjoyed a wonderful musical show spoken and sung in both the English and Spanish languages.
The Englewood High Newspaper Receives Times-Union Award
The Englewood High newspaper, RamPage, recently won the Times-Union’s annual High School Journalism Awards contest. For the next year, Englewood will keep the Henry A. Blumenthal Memorial trophy as recognition for winning the overall award for the top paper.
 Lake Lucina Elementary Hosts an Evening of the Arts
Art, music, family fitness, books and more were part of a fun-filled, action packed evening at Lake Lucina Elementary during their Evening of the Arts.
Crowds gathered to hear performances by recorder club members Yaoshar Acio, Courtney Muturi, Harlee Simmons, Mara Stancil and Jenna Wolbers.
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Summer Camps: Several schools offer summer camps or summer team-up opportunities during various times throughout the summer vacation. Each camp is specific to the desires of that particular school.
Click here to find a list of schools offering these programs.
Summer Enrichment: There are a dozen opportunities available for students throughout Duval County to
assist with promotion and continued academic enrichment for students in
kindergarten through tenth grade. Fore more information, visit our website by
clicking here or call our Academic Services Office at 904.390.2926 and 904.390.2133.
If summer camp or programs are not possible this year, set up learning activities at home that your child can participate in over the summer.
For more information about summer packets and reading lists, visit
www.duvalschools.org.
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June
27 |
District Advisory Council (DAC) Meeting - DCPS' Administration Building, 6th Floor Conference Room, 6 p.m. |
July
4 |
Independence Day (observed) - schools and district offices closed |
21 |
School Board
Meeting-DCPS' Administration Building, Cline Auditorium, 10 a.m. |
24 |
District Advisory Council (DAC) Meeting - DCPS' Administration Building, 6th Floor Conference Room, 6 p.m. |
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IMPORTANT NOTE: All Duval County School Board meetings will now air
LIVE on Comcast channel 99 at 6 p.m., the first Tuesday of every month (subject
to change as needed).
DCPS produces two student-hosted television shows, School Matters and REAL
School.
School Matters airs the fourth Sunday of every month at 10 a.m. on WJCT. It will
now re-air the Monday immediately following the premier at 9 p.m. on Comcast
channel 99.
REAL School airs the first Sunday of every month at 10 a.m. on WJCT. It
will now re-air the following Wednesday at 5 p.m. on Comcast channel 99.
Visit
our website for more information.
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Duval County Public
Schools
1701 Prudential Drive
Jacksonville, FL 32207
www.duvalschools.org
Superintendent
Ed Pratt-Dannals
School Board Members
Frequently
Called Numbers
Main Line
904-390-2000
Transportation
904-858-6200
Human Resources
904-390-2840
School Board Office
904-390-2293
Community & Family
Engagement
904-390-2960
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Duval County Public Schools has a Facebook page. To follow us, visit
Facebook and select 'Become a Fan' at the top of the page.
You can also follow DCPS on Twitter by visiting
www.twitter.com/DuvalSchools and clicking 'Follow.'
Both pages are
updated regularly with news, important messages and information about current
events.
 Looking
for photos from school events? Visit our
flickr photostream.
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News Update
Looking for the latest school and
district news? Read our most recent
news releases, visit our
Spotlight on Education section or tune in to
dcpsTV for a detailed look into what's going on at DCPS.
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