Ep 220 | The Story Behind ECPS’s First-Ever A Grade

SPEAKER_00 0:00

A couple of our schools for the first time received an A. I know they're excited about that. Where I have to kind of calm myself down. Okay, that's what we did. Now we got to worry about what we're going to do. So that's where we are now working towards the future.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every child in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support your child's success. In any industry, it's always a win to beat your best. And for the first time ever, Escambia County Public Schools has a district-wide A-grade, an accomplishment felt countywide, but one not fully understood by the public. My next guest is the school district superintendent, and today he's going to not only brag on the people and policies that made that A grade a possibility, but break down what it means and what's next. Steady and student-centered district difference maker, Keith Leonard. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Thank you for having me, Meredith.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

I should say welcome back.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

It's exciting to celebrate a record. And obviously, district employees, they know what a big deal this is, but for others, maybe not as much. So can we start with what does it actually mean for like a whole district to have an A grade?

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Yeah, it's very, very exciting. It's powerful, quite honestly, knowing that we were able to accomplish that. And I want to emphasize the word we, our students. They worked hard day in and day out to be able to accomplish that goal. The parents of those students, grandparents, guardians, whatever it may have been at home, ensuring that those students knew that academic success was important. Our teachers were very, very proud of what our teachers do. There's no bigger difference maker as far as I'm concerned. I've been an educator now for about 40 years. Teachers are the backbone of America when you think about it. The success that they have, you don't usually see until 10, 15 years down the road. This is an example where we were able to see immediately after nine months of school the hard work and dedication and commitment of those teachers. So we're very proud of them. School-based administrators, district level support staff, support staff at the school sites, bus operators, food service workers, maintenance men and women that help us keep it cool. Some days we hope it's cooler than there are others. But it takes a team when you think about the nine months of education setting and where we're going to be, you know, at the end is what's critical. We were very fortunate to make that A. And our goal is to continue down that path, not just to be an A, but to make certain that those students have the opportunity to be successful here in school and also more importantly in life. So we're extremely excited about it.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

You're right, though, about you don't normally get that more immediate feedback when teachers as a collective have done well. It's usually someone telling a story, as you said, 10, 15 years down the road, oh, I had this one teacher and they made such a difference. And that's how we measure the success of a teacher or a community of teachers. But from a technical standpoint, what does the A grade mean?

SPEAKER_00 3:42

So, you know, there's no additional money that comes with it or anything like that, but it's just the sense of accomplishment for years and years, I guess for the entire existence of accountability as it relates to what they do in the state of Florida when they provide grades to schools and to school districts. We had never done this before. So it should be a great sense of accomplishment. We've had to spend some years where there were six, seven, eight, as high as eleven of our schools that were under the watchful eye of the State Department of Education. So you think about being able to overcome that. And at the end of 2026, to have 19 schools that earned an A, 16 schools that earned a B, and 18 schools that earned a C, and there were no schools that earned anything below that. That's really It's a big deal. It is a big deal.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

So from an algorithmic standpoint, what does the State Department of Education, do I have that right?

SPEAKER_00 4:38

You do have that right.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Okay, whoo, I made it. How do they determine the grade for a school district?

SPEAKER_00 4:45

So now before the year ever starts, there was a time 10, 12 years ago where they wouldn't give you the grading scale until after the school year had started. But now we know what that gauge is going to be, what the grading scale is gonna be at the elementary school to earn an A, to earn a B, earn a C.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

So it's different per grade level.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yeah, but not necessarily per grade level. It is different per level. Elementary school has its own grading scale, middle school has its own grading scale, high school has its own grading scale, and then combination schools where you may have a K-8 or like Pensacola High School this year, where they're having seventh, eighth graders, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders, they will be considered a combination school. So there's different grading scales. The district's grading scale goes along the same lines as the combination, but at least you know what the range is for you to be able to achieve that A. For last school year, when we ended up achieving the A, we knew that 65 was the score that our district had to get within that range to receive an A. And that's what we were able to do. We achieved that goal.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

So does that mean that out of all of the schools, 65% have to achieve a C or better? It's not that simple, is that simple.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

I wish it was. There's a point value, and it depends on what level the school is, how many points you could get, and it's the percentage of the total number of points that you could receive versus what you do earn. And then every year it's adjusted depending upon the number of schools that were an A, the number of schools that were a B, and the number of schools that were a C, and they adjust that at every level. So to me, it's kind of funny how some people say, Oh, you you you decided what the grade was going to be, and you decided. Yeah, yeah. No, we don't have anything to do with it. State Department of Education that sets up those rules. It's actually the State Board of Education that establishes those rules, and then they implement those rules, and it tells you what the grading scale will be each year. I don't get too hung up on that. I don't think our teachers do as well. What we get hung up on and what we focus on is where are we getting that student? Where do they enter second grade? Where do they enter fifth grade? Where are they academically? And then what can we do with the 178 days that we're going to have them in class? Where can we differentiate instruction? When we do an assessment tool that helps us see where that kid is in math or reading, what am I going to be able to do as a teacher to help him get to the next level? And our teachers do a remarkable job. Some people ask me, what's the best program you have in the Escamie County Public Schools? I say it's people. It's our teachers, our subject matter experts, and they have really helped us. We've given them the liberty to be able to do the things they need to do, and they have really helped us perform at a high level.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

I agree with you totally, 100%. And I think that it's so heartwarming to know the stories sitting in the chair that I sit in, interviewing so many of these folks. Just before you came on today, I interviewed a nurse and the head of, I'm gonna say this wrong, like the health coordinator. Actually, I think I got that right, health coordinator. And, you know, something that the nurse said stuck out to me. She said, you know, as a registered nurse or the school, of course, I always look for financial resources to get the kids the medical care they need. And I was like, no, hold on. Wait, what? No, of course I don't know that. Well, I thought as a nurse, you would do nurse things. And the health coordinator, she was talking about, you know, the kids get these vision screenings. We were talking about the hiken vision program. The kids get the vision screenings every year. And we send home notes to mom and dad. And some of the parents cannot afford to get their child the vision care that they need in order to perform in school. And then, of course, later in life, that sets them up for a disadvantage. And in my mind, her job is done once she sends the note home to the parent. But in her mind, she's like, no, that's not good enough. And she did all this work behind the scenes. And then the nurse, she's like, Yep, I called all these people over the summer. And it's wild the work that goes behind the scenes. But as far as the A grade is concerned, I guess the reason I'm asking such detailed technical questions, like, how do you know how to earn the points? Is because it matters as far as the broader story is told. Because if we only know of a Scambia County public school performance of yesteryear, you know, then we're not looking ahead and we're not investing and we're not participating. And it kind of has this negative cycle that can keep going. And so I'm wondering how these literal angels, how they know how they can contribute to that. So I this is a really long-winded question, but I'm wondering do people in the district know what the points are? And is that something that they can be aware of during the year to help push that in the right direction?

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Yeah. The way it's set up now, there's uh what's called progress monitoring one, which we just completed. And it's just an assessment tool that tells Keith where he's starting the school year academically. What's his knowledge in reading, math, science? Then in around the middle of the year, you take what's called progress monitoring two, and it tells you where you've been able to achieve. What point of achievement are you at now? Whether it be a level one to a level two, a level two to a level three, all the way up to a level five is the range. And then ultimately at the end, the state hasn't changed this. There's still what I would consider to be a high stakes test. And there's going to be a point value to that. And again, you're either going to be a level one through a level five. And the gains that you've made are a testament to what you've been able to do academically. But kind of like here here's a story that I will tell that because you just brought it up, that kind of warms my heart. We're not worried about the points. We're worried about the kid. What can we do to help that kid? So you you talked about Miss Nimlet and Miss Haggins. You know, they spend very little time in the classroom. Whereas a teacher's going to spend six and a half hours with every student each and every day. And then they're going to spend uh umpteen hours at home as well trying to get ready. But if they found just ten to fifteen kids through the vision test that needed glasses, that's fifteen kids are gonna be able to perform better, not just in school but in life, and get to do better on the that high stake assessment. Just multiply that by you know forty, seven hundred employees that take ownership, whether they're the bus driver or the nurse. And that's what I see happening day in and day out. So that that was a great segue into telling you that it takes all of us, and it really does.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Wow, that's so interesting. I wonder when you were traveling around and visiting all the schools, if you were able to absorb or hear directly some of the impact story-wise of what the A grade did. Like, do kids care?

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Yeah, kids do care. They take a lot of pride. Do they? Yeah, in the school that they attend. The community does as well. Not this weekend, but I think it's the next weekend. Early in October, I'll attend an event at Montclair Elementary School where they're celebrating when the entire Montclair community is celebrating their achievement of being in an A school.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Really? Like a party?

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Oh, like a party, a neighborhood party.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Oh my gosh, that's so sweet.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yeah, it really is. Because think about that. That's that's an incredible accomplishment for that entire community. Yeah, they've moved from a C to a B to an A in short order. So we're extremely proud of them. I've visited several of our schools. One of the things that they do, I mean, you you're like me, you liked athletics and participated in athletics in high school. And on Fridays, you know, you'd have the pep rally. Well, our schools have pep rallies about academic achievement.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Really?

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Oh, absolutely. And they get excited about, you know, what's coming up, what have they done? A couple of our schools for the first time received an A. I know they're excited about that. Where I have to kind of calm myself down, okay, that's what we did. Now we got to worry about what we're gonna do. So that's where we are now working towards the future.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

I definitely want to come back to what the future strategy is in a minute, but my mind is blown about the neighborhood party and pep rallies over academic milestones. What about for middle schools? Because when you think about, hmm, what grade would be most likely to care the least? You know, we stereotypically would think, oh, middle schoolers, they're not gonna care if their district was an A.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

No, they care. I can tell you. Uh, in fact, not today. I want to say it was yesterday. I was driving down the road. I want to say it was on 9th Avenue, and I saw the sign that had we were the heart, workmen. We love workmen. So obviously that was in their community that I saw that sign, student that goes to school there, and you think about the improvements we've been able to make at Workmen. In fact, you look at the improvements we've been able to make in all of our middle schools, and we need to tell this story more. Five of our eight middle schools are an A.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Yeah. And people just don't know that. I'm not a keyboard warrior. What I read each morning when I get ready and do go to work is what my next task is to make certain I'm where I need to be. But if you're in the grocery store, hair salon, wherever it may be, and you hear somebody saying, ah, this about this school or that school, no, you need to, if you if you hear this podcast, you can tell them, no, five of our eight middle schools are A's. I'm doing a great job there. Very proud of them. And they are working hard day in and day out to get better. And I know they will.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

I think when you last came on the show, we talked about the high school graduation rate of the 2025-26 school year being, I want to say 89.5%. It was really big. And during that episode, if I recall, the middle schools were also number one growth or something in the state of Florida.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Number one in acceleration, which means advanced coursework, biology, algebra, and then CTEs, workforce education credits. And 24-25, we were number one, 25-26, we were number three in the state at the middle school level, quite an accomplishment. And uh while it may benefit us from you know looking at the academic uh gains that we've made, think about what it does for those students. I did not take algebra until I was a freshman in high school.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Aaron Powell Don't tell anyone, but I never passed it. I'm not sure why they let me graduate high school.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

I don't have to tell anyone.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Whoever listens is what?

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Yeah. And then I didn't take biology until I was tenth grade, tenth grader. And we already have our middle school students taking that coursework.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

You know, I'm glad that you pointed that out because I don't think I fully grasped what acceleration meant. I thought like uh they're quick. I don't I don't know. I'm not I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

We've got some really fast middle schoolers.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

I'm sure we do, but you you're saying they're advanced. Correct. Essentially. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Taking advanced coursework. They're taking high school coursework and performing high on that coursework because we're neither number one or number three in the state, and they're being successful, and that frees up other courses for them to be able to take once they get into high school. Very excited about that.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

I can see now why you were saying, oh yeah, the students, they care. Because if I am a seventh grader taking algebra, I want everyone to know, yeah, I contributed to that A grade with my algebra homework that I did. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Right. And not only are they contributing to that A grade, they are excelling. I mean, they're doing really, really good because we're either number one or number three in the state. So yeah, we should have you back in school right now. We could get you through that algebra.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Lord, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

We can know. I'm confident we could get it done.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Well, thank you. So what about the teachers? What's been their reaction to the A-grade accomplishment?

SPEAKER_00 17:19

I can tell you the I I still have a few friends left that are teachers. They're excited. Uh, they are very proud of what they've been able to accomplish.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

I have seen them online commenting. Yeah, yeah, because I've seen the negative comments sometimes on good old Facebook. And yeah, you'd be happy to know. I see some district employees, I don't know if they're teachers or not, but they're like actually, and they're there, you know, correcting the the public on how the A grade was achieved, who handed it out, et cetera.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Yeah, good for them. And I'm gonna let them stay on Facebook, not me. But yeah, and they take great pride in the work that they do. And I do as well in our entire our school board, everybody that I deal with day in and day out appreciates their efforts. And they haven't stopped. You know, they know that we had the A last year, and they were they came back for six days of preschool, did some professional development, and then on August the 12th, they hit the ground running. A lot of people in my family are still school teachers. Believe me, if there was something awry, I would know, they would tell me, and those people that are still my friends, they let me know where we need to do better, and we're gonna continue to work towards that. But I'm very proud of our teachers.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Will they see any other benefits or perks, employment perks, because of this new A-grade accomplishment?

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Not due to the A-grade accomplishment from us from a school district. The state does have a program to where if you earn an A or you improve your grade, the school receives a certain amount of money per student, and then that money is dedicated to the staff. It's not necessarily just teachers. The state dibbies that out. All we do is make certain that the rules are followed as it relates to a vote. The faculty and staff has to vote, and then we make certain it's paid out, and that that will occur. The other thing was there was a law that was passed during the last legislative session that does provide a salary increase to teachers, but there were some caveats to the legislation. You have to have 10 years of Florida public school teaching experience, and then you receive whatever the equal amount is for all teachers that meet that guideline. That did come out of the last legislative session, so that will occur. As far as other monetary uh compensation that will occur in the state of Florida, Chapter 447 requires collective bargaining. We're right now in the throes of collective bargaining, working with our teachers and our ed support personnel as it relates to compensation and employee benefits. I think there is a ratification vote that will be occurring within the next couple of weeks as it relates to the money that came to the state for Florida public school teaching experience and the doling out of that and for our insurance. So that we'll know the outcome of that, and I think we'll have that on our October 2nd board meeting.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

That's exciting. Yeah, very as far as the changes that have been made that led to the A grade. I know it's not like, oh, we made these changes at the beginning of the school year, and then at the end of that same school year, we got an A grade. Obviously, this is a long time coming of tweaking, experimenting, et cetera. But what do you find are some of the key difference makers in achieving that?

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Yeah, it wasn't just waving a magic wand, like you said, there. It took a lot of hard work. But I really believe that our teachers have made that difference where they're going down, drilling down to the individual student and the data that we have on that student, and then doing remediation, doing acceleration, whatever they need to be able to do for each student that is within their classroom. And if you think about a high school teacher, that might be 160 kids that they're responsible for in biology. Or for an elementary school teacher, it might be 17 to 22 that they're working with. Could even be more than that. It could be 25 or 26 students. I understand what they are trying to do day in and day out. I'm not a data guy, but I've been convinced through what our school transformation office has talked about. I've been convinced through our data scientists, I've been convinced by our level directors that if you stay focused and you are looking at that data, and then you show the student where they are, where they're going, and then where they are now, and that student buys in and they start having ownership of their own academic data, students are pretty competitive. And I believe that's been one of the Key components of us finding success is using that data, sharing that data between the teacher and the student, and then having buy-in by the student saying, this is my data. This is what I'm doing academically. I think that will only continue to show dividends as we go down the road.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

You know who else is competitive? Is your principals.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Very competitive.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

My goodness. Yeah. Yeah. I've had so many principals who have sat here and they're like, I mean, it's like they're an athlete. I'm thinking particularly of Tara Palaciano. Oh, yeah. She's so fierce. You know, she's very proud of her school. And they all have that sort of same spirit.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

Aaron Powell And you know, the school becomes really your home. You spend more time as a principal and as a teacher at this school awake than you do with your own family. And our principals are fiercely competitive. We're glad we have them.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Do you think that the change in cell phone policy has at all contributed to student performance?

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Aaron Powell I know that limiting cell phone use, getting rid of cell phone use, it has certainly helped. If it was up to me, I would like for it to also be, you know, because it's elementary school and middle schools, you can't have them. You're not supposed to have them. I wish we could do away with them at the high school level. Maybe that'll come in this legislative session. But yeah, I would credit focus. However, you can accomplish being focused for the time you're at school is certainly beneficial to success. I've watched people, I'm a people watcher, and you can be in a meeting and you're really trying to keep everybody's attention that's in that meeting. You're trying to engage them. And it's almost now, it's human nature that quick. They'll hear a buzz, and it may not even be their phone. And I'm not talking about students now, I'm talking about adults. They have to look at their phone now. How sad. We've got to get away from that. We need to disengage engagement, is what we need to do. Yeah, it's helped without a doubt. And if we could just borrow them, that would be the best thing to do. And I'm not saying borrow, I'm saying bar. I I know I stutter and I I talk funny, Meredith, but uh, I'm saying get rid of them.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Yeah. Well, the other thing that contributes to student focus is not having other students with behavioral issues to distract them. Has anything changed with the disciplinary procedures in order to, you know, shift that?

SPEAKER_00 24:30

I think you and I have talked about this before. We have tried and continue to try to make certain that our students understand the rules in the student's handbook, rights and responsibilities, code of conduct, whatever you want to call it, at the very beginning of the school year. And you're gonna hear that when you're in first grade, and you're gonna hear it when you're in 11th grade. At the beginning of the year, you're gonna get all of that. And we provide it to all parents as well, so they know what the rules are. If you violate the rules, there's gonna be a consequence. If you continue to violate the rules, those consequences are gonna arise. I am certain we have been very consistent in applying those rules, and I do believe that that has assisted us in improving our academic success. Can we do better? Yeah, we're gonna continue to do better. The people that complain are the people that are getting in trouble. Well, you don't complain to me or anybody else if you're getting in trouble. Our board firmly supports us in that endeavor, and we're gonna continue to do it. So, yeah, that's the changes that we have made really aren't changes other than applying consequences to misbehavior.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

More follow-through.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Okay. So now let's talk about what's next, because it seems like you're always thinking 10 steps ahead, which is, I'm sure, a key part of your job. But what's the next milestone? What's the next trophy that we're shooting for?

SPEAKER_00 25:55

We had a principal's meeting yesterday, and we talked about everything under the sun that we needed to be able to communicate to each other. This is the example I gave them yesterday. And I did it about midway through my talk and then I brought it home right at the end. I kept talking about a plus one. I know you've got an invitation before and said you are cordially invited, plus one. Think about this. If all 56, 57 of our schools, call centers, if they improve just one point, plus one, then we improve 52, 57 points. Plus one. Get a little bit better every day, get a little bit better at the end of the year. Set that as your goal. You talked about our principals being competitive. If you've ever watched a grade level team meet or a subject area team meet departments, you'll see they're competitive as well. They know what they're trying to accomplish. Plus one. So if the people within our community will help us, just plus one, if our own schools will step up, plus one, we'll be a little bit better than we were at the end of last year. So plus one, Meredith. Will you be my plus one? I'll be your plus one.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

I feel like we just tapped into coach key. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

I get excited thinking about it. And I think our community does too. The vast majority of our community, they're right there with us. They want us to be successful because they know the impact. They know what it's going to be, you know, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 years from now. So they're there with us. I've bragged on those people that are in our shop. One of the other things I want to make certain I do is brag about those that are in our community. And I'm going to try to name a few of them. Mayor that I'm going to miss somebody, and I'm going to go ahead and apologize right now. But the citizens voted for the Children's Trust. And the Children's Trust is working hand in hand with us. And that has been a key ingredient to being able to find success with all students. United Way of West Florida, Healthy Schools of Scambia, Children's Home Society, who had been at Weiss for quite a number of years, and now we have them in the entire corridor at Bellevue and at Pine Forest High School. I could go on and on. Community Health of Northwest Florida, they work with us. They're working on a vision and a dental ban that'll be able to help our students. Boys and Girls Club. They're at, it's either two or three of our schools now. One of the places that they work day every afternoon is at Montclair. So they'll be at that community party here in early October celebrating that A with us. There are churches, religious organizations that partner with our schools, whether it just be simply bringing meals for kids to be able to take home for over the weekend. Derek Brooks just did a big chin dig out at Sims Elementary School where he made certain that every kid that attends that school got a new pair of shoes.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Yeah. Stacy Kostavecchi. That's right. What their group does, protecting our students and working with our families to make certain that students are taken care of the way they need to be.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Yeah, Gulf Coast Kids House.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Thank you. Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Our youngest daughter is part of the Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I just got an email from her today asking me if I would do a reference for her. I said, You want me to do a reference for you? That's everybody in our community. I didn't name everybody, but if you're out there and you help the Escamie County Public Schools, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

And you can really see that. I feel like, I mean, this is not meant to be a shameless plug for Podcast Tapalooza, the event we throw in the first quarter of the year. But it is where you can see that physically, because that's part of the challenge is all of these people and actions and extra phone calls and late nights are hidden. They're unseen. And at that event, you kind of see the room, you know, Booker T. Washington auditorium come to life.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

You really do.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

With all these people who are making it happen and the families who are asking questions and getting answers. And that's happening behind the scenes. So it's so special to see it in person. And it really puts it into perspective that, you know, everyone's doing a little bit to move everyone forward.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Plus one.

SPEAKER_02 30:15

The plus one. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

It's team effort. And I'm very, very proud of our team, and I'm proud that Scambia County as a whole, our citizens, and the support that they provide us here at Escambia County Public Schools.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Well, it's always a pleasure. Thank you so much for this.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

It's my pleasure.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.