UnitED For Florida Children

Written and compiled by Tammy Jaycox Kaplan, admin for Pinellas Parents Advocating for Improvements A copy of this letter to Dr. Fauci, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Network for Public Education Dear Dr. Fauci, First of all, I want to thank you for your service … More Open letter from Pinellas County parents

The delta variant is causing a significant rise in COVID cases across our state, and children are more vulnerable to the variant than the previous strain. The number of children contracting COVID has increased in both quantity and in severity, with those under 12 having even less protection because they are not eligible for a … More Call to Action: Protect our kids and schools

It goes without saying that 2020 was a tough year for education, and 2021 is turning out to be no different so far. Many students across the state are dealing with the disruption that comes with learning in a virtual environment. Even kids who are attending brick and mortar schools are in a state of … More Call to Action: Cancel High Stakes Testing in 2021

The Florida Council of 100 (C100), a statewide organization of business leaders, recently released a study showing a “rigor gap” between student grades and standardized test scores (specifically in Algebra I and English Language Arts) for high school students. It seems students are scoring low or failing standardized tests while passing classes for those same … More The “Rigor Gap” and Pandemic Schooling

Will the Covid pandemic be used to fundamentally alter public education in Florida? That’s a great question, asked recently by blogger Sue Woltanski of Accountabaloney. While nobody saw COVID coming, our education commissioner Richard Corcoran has not been quiet about his desire to privatize our public school system. Given that, it doesn’t seem too out … More Back to school 2020 and the long view for public education

K-12 schools, universities and businesses across the nation are using an online app called Zoom for video meetings to help facilitate connections while working/learning remote. Every day, new information is coming out regarding the privacy concerns of this well-known app. Below is a compilation of the issues we have come across that we think everyone … More Not worried about Zoom?  We think you should be. Here’s why.

A new bill titled HB 7079 was introduced in the Florida House last week. This bill has already passed through one subcommittee, and is expected to continue to move through the committee process very quickly. All parents of children in Florida public schools should be concerned about this bill. It has the potential to disrupt … More HB 7079 – Closing Schools Hurts the Community

As this parent learned, and most parents and teachers know, children are much more than test scores. Tests can’t predict how successful a child will be in life. They can’t measure independence, resilience, kindness, diligence, or all of the other qualities we all want our children to master. Why then, does Governor DeSantis want to … More Tests Don’t Make Kids Smarter: A Letter to Governor DeSantis

Thank you Mike Gondolfo, (President of Pinellas County Teacher’s Association), for your message to the Pinellas County School Board. It’s time for lawmakers to step up and stop the unfunded mandates and abusive high stakes tests attached to teacher pay, along with larger class sizes! It’s time to listen to those speaking up for what … More Speak up in support of teachers!