John Dick, chairman of the Monroe County School Board, joined Good Morning Keys this morning on KeysTalk 96.9/102.7FM to talk about the schools.
It’s crazy to realize we are three quarters of the way through the school year.
Dick said, “It really is. I think it’s May 26, or something is the last day of school for students. That’s only two months away. School is out even before Memorial Day. So that’s the way it is here. But yeah, this is important time for everybody. Students will be gearing up for testing, depending upon what grade level they’re in, of course, high school students will be facing AP tests, which is very important for their careers and for going on to college. So a lot going on. I hope that everybody understands that they’ve got to study for these tests. They should be well prepared and, and get a good rest before they come in and take the test. It’s a proven fact that a good breakfast is very good for somebody as they come in to take a test.”
The tests affect the school district.
Dick said, “It affects the schools, and it’s good for the community to have good grades in their schools. It highlights what’s going on in the community. To me, it’s very important. We’re doing fairly well. We want to always strive to do better. It’s important for us to help our students succeed and go on to a very productive life. I feel that we do do that. The test is to see a lot of our students as they come back over the years and see how successful they’ve been elsewhere. Then of course, some of them are very successful here. My son in law, had his boat repaired by a student that had graduated from Marathon High School and he’s working as a marine mechanic and doing very well. So a lot of good things going on in this community.”
There will be discussions between Monroe County School District and bargaining teams for the unions.
Dick said, “That starts tomorrow. But, let me first tell you we have our employee recognition banquet, and that’s not this Friday, but the following Friday, and that’s when all the employees come together and we honor all the different employees from all the schools that were selected as Teacher of the Year for that school. Of course in service employees, bus drivers everybody gets recognition.”
There was a new contract with teacher’s last year and it was a two-year contract.
Dick said, “These contracts are all opened up for salary. In other words, sometimes, our tax revenues can go down and if we’ve had it in their contract that we’re going to give us X amount of dollars, we don’t have it, well, then we have to open up. Of course, that’s not the case now, although, it has happened in the past. If we have more money, we want to get it to the employees. So we can open up the contract and discuss but basically, the whole contract will not be rewritten. But there are openings for certain areas and salary is one of them. The same union represents everybody but there will be two contracts, we approve two contracts. One is for the teachers only and the other one is for support employees. Along the same lines, there’s just different requirements. The teacher contract is a lot more extensive as to the rules and what they can do and teacher observations and all that. So that one’s a lot more extensive. But if we do two years for the teachers, we do two years for the for the contract employees also.”
MCSD has a survey out looking for feedback from the community on the use of funds.
Dick said, “We’re audited completely on everything every year, but federal funds are extensively and if somebody doesn’t do the right thing with federal funds, they come down with a hammer on. It’s very important. We really want the community also to understand that there are limitations. You cannot use federal funds for anything other than what they were expressly provided for.”
The calendar year for 2024-25 has been finalized.
Dick said, “What really will help make the community very happy is those early release days have been removed from the calendar. We’re not going to do them next year. They were a problem. I know a lot of us fought against them. This year, they decided that’s it. No more. There is one early release day, they’re going to have and it’s the day before the Christmas or winter break. On that last day they come out a little early, but nobody ever seemed to complain about that one.”
The Take Stock in Children luncheon will be in Marathon next Tuesday at noon.
Dick said, “They’re looking for people to help in funding for the Take Stock program. If anybody’s interested in helping support, what a wonderful, fantastic program that is. I can’t speak highly enough of it. There are so many students in Monroe County, that have gone on with a college degree and made wonderful things in life and they can thank it all to Take Stock in Children. They do come back. We even have them come and they speak at Take Stock graduations. We find that people that will previously graduated from our schools have gone on and become big, big shots in the world of finance and education and all different fields, doctors, lawyers, and they all can go back to Take Stock in Children. What a wonderful program.”
There will be a school board meeting in Key West next Tuesday.
Dick said, “One of the topics that we will talk we will touch on will be the Tommy Roberts Rex Weech field. I know we turned down a change order that was brought to us the last board meeting and seemed like the increase in price for a change order was a little bit above what we would really want to accept and hopefully the district and the contractor have gone in, sharpened their pencils and come back with something that’s more palatable to the board. But it was rejected wholeheartedly by the five members of the board.”