To: Marion County School Board Members
Save Evergreen Elementary
We, the parents of Evergreen, residents of the community, business leaders, community partners, education advocates, and parents of other local schools in Marion County all believe that Evergreen Elementary should be kept open and given the support and resources to make it a great school.
The student population of Evergreen Elementary represents the most vulnerable students in Marion County. However, these students’ spirit to learn and their desire to succeed are the cornerstones of why we support a new plan and strategy to keep this school open. When public decisions are chosen, prior to testing, we unintentionally plant the seed that the student cannot succeed. For those of us who believe in students, we know that when a student’s self-esteem is challenged then his or her propensity to learn is defeated. Therefore, we fight for our children now because we are fighting for their willingness to learn and succeed in the future. Our students need to see us believe in them.
As such, we affirm our position. We are strong supporters of free, high-quality, equitable public education. We believe that all children deserve the opportunity to attend a school that provides the best strategy and model to succeed regardless of their socioeconomic status. We believe and support placing the best teachers in the classroom especially in our most vulnerable schools. We believe and support a “community centered” academic model to be implemented to support schools that educate our most vulnerable students. Lastly, we believe and support a plan to encourage our students to succeed now and in the future.
Therefore, we call upon the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Heidi Maier, and School Board Members, Kelly King, Beth McCall, Angelia Boynton, Bobby James, and Nancy Stacy to support the students and staff of Evergreen Elementary by supporting and implementing the following steps:
1. Reject the proposal to close Evergreen Elementary and transform it into a middle, magnet school, and to rally with the community to give the students of Evergreen Elementary a fighting chance to achieve academic success and proficiency.
2. Investigate and review whether the academic strategies, such as the “no homework policy” at a failing school and staffing decisions, helped or hindered success.
3. Support an engaged community who are offering their support to provide small group tutoring and incentives over the next several weeks to improve the scores by permitting Saturday school and providing Saturday busing for students. We believe this support WILL catapult our students’ scores and bolster their self-esteem.
4. Request that the Florida Department of Education grant additional time to Evergreen’s turnaround program as the most critical component of a turnaround program is now in fully engaged: THE COMMUNITY.
5. Support a new Education Task Force that will work with School leaders to provide consistent communication to the community about the state of our schools; offer new strategies to achieve success in failing schools; assist with organizing parents by providing community support; and, organize and coordinate outreach programs that provide mentor/leadership programs to assist students who attend failing schools or who are in danger of failing.
The student population of Evergreen Elementary represents the most vulnerable students in Marion County. However, these students’ spirit to learn and their desire to succeed are the cornerstones of why we support a new plan and strategy to keep this school open. When public decisions are chosen, prior to testing, we unintentionally plant the seed that the student cannot succeed. For those of us who believe in students, we know that when a student’s self-esteem is challenged then his or her propensity to learn is defeated. Therefore, we fight for our children now because we are fighting for their willingness to learn and succeed in the future. Our students need to see us believe in them.
As such, we affirm our position. We are strong supporters of free, high-quality, equitable public education. We believe that all children deserve the opportunity to attend a school that provides the best strategy and model to succeed regardless of their socioeconomic status. We believe and support placing the best teachers in the classroom especially in our most vulnerable schools. We believe and support a “community centered” academic model to be implemented to support schools that educate our most vulnerable students. Lastly, we believe and support a plan to encourage our students to succeed now and in the future.
Therefore, we call upon the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Heidi Maier, and School Board Members, Kelly King, Beth McCall, Angelia Boynton, Bobby James, and Nancy Stacy to support the students and staff of Evergreen Elementary by supporting and implementing the following steps:
1. Reject the proposal to close Evergreen Elementary and transform it into a middle, magnet school, and to rally with the community to give the students of Evergreen Elementary a fighting chance to achieve academic success and proficiency.
2. Investigate and review whether the academic strategies, such as the “no homework policy” at a failing school and staffing decisions, helped or hindered success.
3. Support an engaged community who are offering their support to provide small group tutoring and incentives over the next several weeks to improve the scores by permitting Saturday school and providing Saturday busing for students. We believe this support WILL catapult our students’ scores and bolster their self-esteem.
4. Request that the Florida Department of Education grant additional time to Evergreen’s turnaround program as the most critical component of a turnaround program is now in fully engaged: THE COMMUNITY.
5. Support a new Education Task Force that will work with School leaders to provide consistent communication to the community about the state of our schools; offer new strategies to achieve success in failing schools; assist with organizing parents by providing community support; and, organize and coordinate outreach programs that provide mentor/leadership programs to assist students who attend failing schools or who are in danger of failing.
Why is this important?
The Students of Evergreen deserve our support. They deserve a chance to have academic success. They deserve a school that has permanent teachers not substitutes. They deserve real academic strategies to help them succeed. The students of Evergreen Elementary deserve a fighting chance, and they deserve to have their school kept open. WE NEED 10,000 SIGNATURES. Please help us save Evergreen.