The Florida Department of Education released grades for all state schools Friday and Leon County earned an “A.”
Superintendent of Leon County Public Schools Jackie Pons commended the principals and teaching staff in Leon County for all their hard work this year.
“I just want to let the entire community know how proud I am of our students, the great principals, the community partners we have and the best teachers probably in the nation,” Pons said.
Not only did LCPS receive an A+ the DOE released graduation rates as well. According to the DOE results Leon county made a 25-point increase over the last five years in African-American graduation rates.
The state is currently at 78 percent graduation rate as a whole and Leon County is at 87 percent individually. The capital city is once again the number one majority minority school district in the state.
Pons said the results show what a high performing school district Leon County is. Currently 80 percent of LCPS’s were ranked A, B, or C by the state.
Although the majority of the county performed well there were still 10 schools to receive a grade below a C.
Eight elementary and middles schools in the county received a D, while two elementary schools dropped from a D to an F. Oak Ridge and Bond elementary were the only two schools to receive an F this year.
Former principal of Bond Elementary Pam Hightower, Ph.D., said the teachers aren’t F students.
“It hurts because I know that the teachers and students there aren’t f students or f teachers,” Hightower said.
Hightower said she’s sympathetic because she understands the strenuous work that goes into improving a school’s grade. She was also the principal at Wesson when it was the only F school in the district.
Kevin Peterson, Bond Elementary parent, believes the parents have to get behind their students and get more involved in their student’s curriculum.
“I mean my kids come home with lots of homework every night. The teachers are doing a great job from what I can see,” Peterson said.
Peterson’s says he doesn’t see much of difference in his children’s education, being that his children previously attended W.T. Moore, which was an A school before they transferred to Bond.
Pons said he is prepared to give low performing schools the extra attention and resources needed for them to make the necessary improvements for next year.