A.G. Gancarski
Jacksonville’s issues with disparate outcomes, in terms of education and socioeconomic achievement, are well-documented. On Monday afternoon, potential solutions were explored, as veteran Duval County School Board members Constance Hall and Paula Wright hosted a quartet of new City Council members: At Large Councilwoman Anna Brosche, District 7’s Reggie Gaffney, District 8’s Katrina Brown, and District 9’s Garrett Dennis.
The point of the meeting? As Wright put it, to ensure that the Council and the School Board “work collaboratively and very closely” to “forge a close relationship” to address issues in the community.
The convergence of these guests is no accident. Each school district encompasses two council districts, and Hall’s and Wright’s districts encompass Districts 7 through 10.
This was, to be sure, an educational opportunity for most in attendance. As Councilman Gaffney put it, “I hear … people in the community asking about schools. I don’t know the answers. I want to learn.”
The vibe was almost uniformly positive. Councilwoman Brosche, who’s Council liaison to the School Board, said, “We all have the same goal … making Jacksonville a better place.”
Getting there, and how to allocate resources for that worthy goal, is the question.
An aspirational video played briefly, and then the board members made a harder sell, talking about how “public education is the heartbeat of the community” and how, especially in their districts with so many challenged schools, it was necessary to present a united front so that “the community begins to see us as one.”
One of the major issues: crime abatement. That includes what Hall and Wright described as prevention strategies, designed to put parents in position to help children.
Wright said the district is doing a “far better job” of achieving instructional outcomes within school walls; however, they need support to holistically achieve goals.
Thus, as Wright said, there is a need to “campaign as if it’s our own personal election,” especially given that “families are not traditional anymore” and “districts don’t receive money to help parents.”
“We know we need help, and the help need to come from the community,” the board member added.
Hall spoke to this specifically as well, referring to the “parent we aren’t touching, the parent with three jobs, who is beat down.”
Gaffney proposed some potential roads to solutions, such as tying the effort in with the Jacksonville Journey, which has $3 million of new funding for intervention work, integrating a best practices program with the Children’s Commission, and bringing in stakeholders, such as from the United Way and the Jacksonville Electric Authority.
Some other potential solutions proposed by the board members: brochures explaining how to get help with everything from mental health issues and addiction recovery to turning the electricity back on; an app, to do a similar service since “everyone’s got smartphones; everyone’s on Facebook”; and a mobile unit to go out into the community, necessary because “when we go to parents, it erodes mistrust and distrust” of which “there’s a lot out there.”
As well, the board members mentioned the need to facilitate career training in schools, as exemplified by various STEM partnerships between local schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods and corporate partners that exist now.
The board members have great ideas and a lot of experience in the game. The new Council members, however, have their own rules for engagement across the river at the St. James Building, and they did have pushback regarding some of the requests from the board members.
Dennis cautioned against “false expectations” regarding a financial commitment from city government, before remarking that the school district has “facilities for after-school programs” that comply with ADA requirements that could be used more optimally for the prevention piece.
Councilwoman Brown chimed in, observing that Pop Warner teams have to pay to use schools after hours … a policy that was not always the case.
Channeling concerns that Councilman Bill Gulliford and COJ Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa both have raised, Dennis observed, regarding unused facilities, the difference between “managing risk and eliminating risk.”
Beyond those issues, there was a shared understanding of the inextricable linkage between community uplift and economic development.
Wright spoke of the need to get businesses in her district, which encompasses the blighted area near Moncrief and 45th Street, dotted with “gas stations, hair salons, and boarded-up buildings.”
Councilwoman Brown, in response, spoke to the Curry administration’s “commitment to job growth,” while pointing out that businesses relocating don’t want to “come into an area and get robbed four times, five times, 10 times a year.”
Brown speaks with specific authority, as her family business is a leading employer in the northwest quadrant.
Still, the meeting closed with dynamic optimism from Dennis.
“It’s a new day. We get it. Fresh ideas, fresh blood,” the youthful Westside councilman said.
“Look at the mayor: He gets it. District 9 is open for business, Jacksonville is open for business, Florida is open for business.”
Speaking of business, this group will get together again in August.
