Superintendent reflects on new school grades

About 17 Bay District Schools went down a letter grade. Fifteen maintained their grade from last year and only four improved their grade. But that could change.

During Tuesday's school board meeting, Superintendent Bill Husfelt said he was happy with the overall district grade of a "B" but said the district would appeal the grades of about six or seven schools.

Husfelt said this has been done in the past when a school is very close to the next letter grade. Husfelt said it has become more challenging for schools to show learning gains and he thinks that's why many schools took a hit on their grade this year.

Husfelt added that it will take time for schools to become accustomed to the new standards.

"I believe that the teachers and students for the most part are working as hard as they can," he said. "And what we need to do is help them figure out where those tracks are they need to go to put their energy in and not expend energy on something they don't need to. And so that's what our mission is. Our mission is to help those schools find the area they can continue to improve on."

Husfelt said the biggest concern out of the Florida Standards Assessments grades were the English Language Arts Assessments among elementary school students.

He said elementary school principals will meet later this week to examine each school's strengths and weaknesses compared to the standards.