Staff Reports
An original newsletter seeking to be a one-stop-shop for educational news in the state is going live Tuesday, as ‘The Pineapple Report’ will send out its inaugural edition.
The publication comes courtesy of Rick Rodriguez Piña, a long-time governmental consultant with more than three decades in the education sphere. Rodriguez Piña has done that work out of South Florida ever since he left the Tallahassee lobbying scene.
In mid-May, Rodriguez Piña launched a website version of The Pineapple Report. The site contains both aggregated and original content. Those articles will be featured in the newsletter, which is sent to an email list curated by Rodriguez Piña containing “about 9,000 people.”
That database contains superintendents, school board members and other individuals working within the education and political scene.
“What I think makes me unique is the fact that we have sections for statewide associations and labor unions,” Rodriguez Piña said of the site.
“Nobody really focuses on the statewide associations and the labor unions like we do.”
Those organizations will also be represented within Rodriguez Piña’s email list, which he touts as “most detailed, comprehensive database of K-12 education.”
In February, Rodriguez Piña told Florida Politics there were silos of different interest groups throughout the education realm.
“What does that mean? You have a superintendent association. You have a Florida School Board and a Florida Administrators Association. You have unions,” Rodriguez Piña said.
“I see where these different silos are, and they don’t necessarily communicate with one another and share what they are doing and their best practices and policies.”
He says his database will help break down barriers for the various organizations to get information out in a wider way.
“What I’m offering is a platform for everybody to take it beyond their membership.”
The venture was originally slated to launch in March. Rodriguez Piña said that target was pushed back to help further curate his list of contacts.
“We put a lot of effort into seeking information from unions of all type: bus drivers, teachers, mechanics, police,” Rodriguez Piña explained.
“We really felt that we needed to be more deliberate in our audience.”
Now, Rodriguez Piña says it’s showtime for the newsletter, which will be sent out biweekly.
“I think right now it’s about creating awareness and it becoming a viable tool for people to get information.”
