The state passed out report cards Wednesday, and celebration mixed with relief at the Broward County Public Schools administration building.
For the first time since 2011, the district earned an “A” grade. It’s been pursuing that top rating for years, often falling short by a few decimal points, so that frustration turned to elation at a news conference attended by the superintendent, six school board members, and other community leaders.
“We are officially an A-rated school district!” shouted board member Debbi Hixon, leading off the event to cheers and applause.
That grade took 13 years to achieve.
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“BCPS means success and it is the best choice for education in Broward County,” said Superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburn.
NBC6 asked him what strategies were pursued to improve student performance.
“Prioritizing our focuses on resources and building the capacity for people to get the job done in the classroom and remaining student-centered, when our focus is off students, we start focusing on things that don’t help us accomplish what we accomplished today,” Hepburn said.
He said the credit goes to teachers, students, parents and everyone who works in the school system. The “A” grade isn’t just symbolic, it’s huge for recruiting.
“So at the minimum, it’ll create some inquiring minds and hopefully it’ll equate to more students wanting to enroll in our schools that haven’t been taking advantage of us before,” Hepburn said.
The hard work was done at the micro level, in the classrooms.
“The grade shows that we were intentional with everything that we’ve done and we worked very hard in the classroom, providing the right resources and also supporting our students so that they can excel,” said Fanoune Sainvil, a civics teacher at Apollo Middle School.
Her boss, the principal at Apollo Middle, Dr. Louis Kushner, said his school’s move from a “C” grade to a “B” is emblematic of the improvements made throughout the district.
“We are employing every strategy possible for every learner in our building and making sure that every student feels like they belong in your building because culture matters,” Kushner said.
There’s also a macro-level impact to the “A” grade, said the CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, an economic development group.
“It helps us when we promote Broward County as a business destination, more importantly, it helps us retain companies and people in Broward County when they know they can get great education for their children, but more importantly the source of their future workforce is coming from Broward County Public Schools,” said Bob Swindell, who attended the news conference.
Another point of pride for the district: for the first time since 1999, Broward has zero “D” or “F” rated schools.
Meanwhile, Miami-Dade County Public Schools retained its “A” grade for the fifth consecutive year. It’s a major accomplishment, considering the huge influx of immigrant students absorbed by the district, most of whom spoke little or no English when they arrived.
