School Board Concerned by 'Parent Empowerment Act'

A proposed 'Parent Empowerment Act' has raised concerns with multiple members of the Pinellas County School Board who say the bill would hurt the school district.

The bill, according to TBO.com, would "allow parents to request that school districts rehabilitate schools that earn consecutive failing grades from the state instead of leaving the decision up to the school board; in many cases, that would mean converting the schools into charter schools."

In an interview with TBO, school board member Chairwoman Carol Cook said the proposed legislation is more harmful to the district than it is helpful to parents.  

“We aren’t just a bunch of yahoos that have been elected; we are constitutional officers and we are responsible for the education of these students,” Cook said in an interview with TBO. “I think after our talks they’ll put something in there that says school board members have the final say on what happens to these schools."

The bill, which you can read here, is designed to let parents have more of a say in the education of their children who attend underperforming schools. 

Providing that parents who have a student in a public school that is implementing a turnaround option may petition to have a particular turnaround option implemented; requiring the school district to give parents of public school students, upon request, a performance evaluation for each classroom teacher assigned to their child; requiring the school district to notify parents of a public school student being taught by an out-of-field teacher or by a teacher with an unsatisfactory performance rating;

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