School board continues to work out issues

Monday's workshop continues discussion that began at Friday meeting

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After hearing from many parents and members of the community Friday during a special meeting of the Duval County School Board called by Chairwoman Ashley Smith Juarez, the board and Superintendent Nikolai Vitti continued discussing issues and setting new goals at an open workshop Monday morning.

Conflict between board members and Vitti became public last week after Smith Juarez released a letter in which she discussed asking Vitti to "use his talents elsewhere." She later released a statement saying that she was not going to call for his resignation at Friday's meeting.

While there was no call on Friday for Vitti to resign or be terminated, several board members expressed frustration with the lack of communication with the administration, and Vitti and Smith Juarez apologized to one another.

Monday's meeting was a continuation of the discussion about hiring a mediator and setting goals. 

"You want to bring in a mediator and use taxpayer money and talk about personal differences, yet you don't want to bring in a mediator to discuss academics that's going to benefit our children," said Timothy Sloan, a parent of two who attended the workshop. 

The board unanimously agreed  to hire a mediator to help with relationships and expectations. It considered two different companies and having each company pick no more than two qualified candidates by Friday and decide who they want by the board's next meeting on Oct. 4.

The board also discussed setting goals on the district's strategic plan, but board members and Vitti could not agree on what that actually means when it comes to student achievement, and how to set targets and goals for academic achievement.

"I don't believe that targets and goals alone, and the target setting process, singularly defines what you expect and believe your systems will yield. That's not the process of goal and target setting," Vitti said.

Smith Juarez said all children have the potential to be better and the school district has to "set a bar" for the children they serve. 

Many of the board members voiced that they want to see targets and goals set higher.

Smith Juarez said the last time the topic was brought up, she asked Vitti if the targets he recommended were the best he could do.

"What you said to me at this time was 'No, this is not the best I can do.' So that's when you went back to re-examine, redefine, work with staff but then the same targets came back. So is this the best you can do?" Smith Juarez asked Vitti.

Vitti told the board that after speaking to his staff, they decided that raising numbers for the sake of raising numbers doesn't make sense.

Vitti said the target numbers shouldn't be aspirational, they should be realistic, which is why he suggested having a third party come in to help.

Vitti was asked to come up with a list of expectations and revised aspirational goals by Friday.