196 E Pinellas St
Palatka, FL 32177

School Administration lacks in taking accountability. Who is promoting students with Kindergarten to First grade skill levels to a third grade classroom? The teachers and Administration who had these students from K through 2nd grade prior to 2022 is who -- not the new first year teacher assigned to the third grade class, with all of the willing excitement that a first year teacher oozes. Educational accountability goes beyond the school, to homelife and other social determinants. However, choices should be made to error on the side of giving students the best chance, rather than overpopulating a class with the most with learning difficulties and behavioral problems, and then pinkslipping the teacher in order she be the scapegoat. The student to teacher ratio is 21:1 in the lower income classes. Contrast this with the higher income, higher performing class that has 17 students:1. Resources need to be where it is most difficult to teach, and that would be in the class that has an impossible task with K/1st grade skills and one teacher. These decisions are at the Administrative level of Principal and Vice Principal, not the teacher scapegoat.