JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Gov. Rick Scott participated in a roundtable discussion with educators Thursday in Jacksonville.
He said his mission was to listen to the 20 Duval County teachers gathered with him at Reynolds Lane Elementary School on the Westside.
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Scott said he enjoys going to schools and hearing from teachers, pointing out his family connection to education. He said his daughter is a teacher, and that his brother was a teacher, then a principal, so he often hears what it's like to do the job.
Scott said that he wants to learn how to recruit and retain the best teachers, and he asked the teachers Thursday for their insights and concerns.
One of the suggestions raised concerned reducing the fees associated with re-certifying.
“One thing, I'm going to go back and look at all the fees and see if there's anything I can get rid of there,” Scott said. “I'm going to work on getting rid of taxes and fees this year again, then I just want to make sure I understand the process. Nobody had brought that up to me actually before so that's something I want to understand.”
Scott also said he wants to see if he can connect university programs that teach the educators to follow up once a teacher has worked at schools for a little while.
He said he believes those teachers will have important feedback that can help higher education programs prepare teachers even better.