Reply to a comment

The days when Mississippi and Louisiana were ranked the lowest performing states are gone.

Currently, Johns Hopkins University, among numerous other think tanks, has named education within the state of Florida as being the second worst in the nation due to its high dropout rates in over 200 state schools. It gets worse. The Alliance For Excellence In Education has named 4 Collier High Schools with graduation rates of 50%, 53%, 53%, and 58% among the Worst In The Nation. In a first of its kind suit, the ACLU is even suing a Florida School District over the low graduation rates saying they reflect a violation of the Florida State Constitution guaranteeing a student’s right to a quality education. On August 24th, the USDOE awarded at least $170 million to the state of Florida as part of the Race To The Top agenda, further validating Florida‘s immediate need for educational improvements.

Thankfully, there are many Marco Island families whose children have been successful within district schools, in spite of these staggering revelations. That said, the families of local high school dropouts who clearly stand posed to become the silent majority cannot be ignored. I say silent because you won't find at-risk students whom the system has failed to serve adequately speaking out at a School Board meeting, in a Letter to the Eagle‘s Editor, or posting here. Therein, lies the dark side of our island Paradise that is all too rarely visible. Politically correct or not, we must face the fact that Marco’s youth have not been excluded from the district’s dropout or penal system rates. In short, there IS trouble in Paradise.

The Marco Island Academy is offering a solution. Given that our resident’s tax bills will remain the same no matter which school our children attend, who among us would not demand the better “bang for our buck“? Eldreidge Cleaver once said, “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” The children of Marco must be a part of the solution, not part of the problem currently being reported to Congress.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/a...
http://web.jhu.edu/CSOS/graduation-ga...
http://www.all4ed.org/files/Prioritiz...
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/ht...
http://www.fldoe.org/ARRA/RacetotheTo...
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2...

.