Governor Rick Scott is visiting several Florida schools this week on an “education listening tour”. The Governor started his trip Monday at Jacksonville’s Pinedale Elementary school where he held two sessions: One for teachers, and one for Parents.
"My experience in business is that the more you listen to everyone, they would come up with ideas—and even if you have an idea they can improve it, often. So my job is to listen to them and make sure that our children, when you finish high school in our state, you’re either ready for a career or ready for college,” Scott said.
The first sessions in Jacksonville were closed to the media and by invitation-only.
"The Department of Education picked the schools, and the schools picked who is going to participate. But, what we want to have is, we want to have a conversation and get real feedback, and that’s the reason why we set it up the way we have," Scott said.
The Governor has hinted recently that he wants changes to the state’s standardized testing policies and has echoed criticisms that teachers are “teaching to the test”. But his critics say he’s taking advantage of a polity to phase out the FCAT that began before he was governor. Scott has planned stops Tuesday and Thursday in Boca Raton and Orlando.
