Theresa Axford, superintendent for the Monroe County School District, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM to talk about what’s going on in the schools.
September is American Founders’ Month.
Axford said, “Schools are really busy with this because we really believe in patriotism, love of country, appreciation of sacrifice and all the things that go into making this country as great as it is. Students are studying about the founding fathers. On Monday, it’s Patriots Day and our 911 commemoration. So at 8:46 on Monday morning when that first plane hit the tower, we’re having a moment of silence. There’s different kinds of celebrations going on in schools to remember that. Last year, Marathon High School put a flag for every person who was lost on 911. That was 2,996 flags along the front of the school. But students do other things like they make chains, red, white, and blue chains and each chain represents somebody’s life. I think it’s very important that students know that history and understand what it was all about. Then we have US Constitution Day, coming up as well. Students put big papers up in the hallways, and everybody’s signs the Constitution. And then lastly, it’s celebrate freedom week, the last week in September. Everybody recites the preamble to the Declaration of Independence every day of that week. Some people say, well, they don’t do this anymore. They don’t teach that anymore. But I think it’s really nice for the community know that we do really focused on things like this, to help make students good citizens.”
The Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) testing has also started this week.
Axford said, “That’s our new progress monitoring system that was started last year. So this is our second year with that. All the kids, three through eight are testing at some point this week. So parents can go on the school website to find out what those testing schedules are? Sometimes when we’re testing, it’s good to go to bed early, eat a good breakfast.”
Affordable housing is always on the agenda.
Axford said, “We’re trying to build affordable housing down on Trumbo Point, and we have a couple of obstacles in our way. One is that there’s a piece of property there that is a small plot, a half acre, that is still owned by the Department of Education in the United States. When we first started this process, in order for us to get access to that plot, the Department of Ed wanted to charge us $1.8 million. We do not have that kind of money. So we went to the Congressman (Gimenez), and through a lot of meetings, and a lot of conversations, he was able to reduce that Department of Ed price from 1.8 million down to $250,000.”
The plot will turn over to the district in 2027.
Axford said, “The Congressman was so supportive of us. He really cares about education, has a lot of good ideas about how things should be done. Affordable housing is our issue here in Monmouth County. We don’t have a lack of teachers. We had 33 teachers this year who wanted to come and work for our school district. They just couldn’t find housing. It’s our top issue.”
The Trumbo project will require things to move in stages and the state recently provided $2 million.
Axford said, “One of those stages is to move our admin building, which is literally falling down around us over to a property that we have on United Street, Bruce Hall. So this money from the state is going to help us move that admin building and actually our ask was for $20 million. We’re going to go back out this year and see if we can get the rest. Commissioner Manny Diaz was extremely supportive of us, and encouraged me in an email to continue pursuing this. That 20 million, if we add 18 to the two that we’ve already gotten, that’s going to make our move over to United Street really happen and we can clear that entire property for the development of housing. There’s already housing going up in our area, SPGL and the sheriff, they’re getting 24 units, right on the adjacent property to the school board. So we just have to keep pushing in this direction, and hopefully, we’re going to be able to realize a great plan, which will generate 150 houses for teachers.”
The curriculum has seen some changes in the district.
Axford explained, “When you learned the times tables, how did you do it? You memorized them. That was learning the algorithms. It was abstract to you. So now, we’re finding that students really understand math so much more, if they can see an array. So instead of doing that, when I was in a third grade class at HOB, last week, the students were drawing an array. So to do the six times tables, they would put six circles down, and then seven across. So they actually see what six times seven means and then they count them out. So it makes that memorization so much more alive. They do that with tiles or they can draw it. So every math class now has a complete set of manipulatives so that students can understand what multiplication and division actually looks like by manipulating an object. Believe it or not, you can do that with algebra. You can create an array that helps you to understand how an algebra problem works. So it’s really a multi-dimensional framework where kids can build that math foundation and it makes those abstract ideas come to life. That’s what we want to do. I think we can create more mathematicians this way, using this practical approach. It’s not hard for parents to understand either. Imagine how much it can help with fractions, and five sixths and seven eighths. I used to run away from math. I’m an English major, but I definitely appreciate the way the students are learning today.”
There is an app for Monroe County Schools that parents can download from the website.
Axford said, “It’s really a wonderful and convenient way for them to learn information about their students, especially if they’ve got students in one school, at Key West High School and another child at HOB. They can get all this information in one place on the Monroe County School District app. It’s a great way to get information for parents and I’m really proud that we have it.”
For more information, click here: www.keysschools.com