Q: As we are closing out this year and looking forward to next year, can you comment on some of the challenges the district has faced over the past two years?
A: We’ve faced a number of challenges. Schools have been working hard at keeping the fun in the classroom while health protocols are in place. All of our teachers deserve kudos for their hard work at keeping students engaged. We’ve had to be more creative with communication with parents and families. In the last few weeks, we’ve seen in many of the School Improvement Plans (SIP) that principals want to develop relationships with students, faculties, staff, and parents. This is important because before teachers and administrators can give students what they need (academically or socially) they need to know them.
It’s important to note that even with the many challenges of COVID, due to the dedication of our teachers, administrators, and staff, our district’s graduation rate has improved from 93 percent to 95 percent.
Q: Can you share upcoming changes to middle school social studies?
A: As we are working on our master schedule, we are reevaluating how we present middle school social studies. We have a plan that we will implement either next year or the year after: Civics will become the eighth grade capstone for middle school social studies, with World History taught in seventh grade and US History taught in sixth grade. We moved Civics to later so that students will have a firm foundation of World and US history knowledge beforehand.
Q: What addition is coming to District 4 high school career academies and acceleration opportunities?
A: As we continue to grow and with an emphasis on encouraging students to enter the teaching profession, Ponte Vedra High School will have a soft opening for a new teaching academy, Future Educators Academy, next year. The school is also expanding its academic offerings with AP Capstone, which has 60 students already enrolled.
Nease High School is also expanding acceleration opportunities with more dual enrollment and career and technical education.
Q: Do you have any student honors to recognize?
A: We recognized the winners of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. essay and poster contest at our February board meeting. Ponte Vedra High School was well represented in the high school division: Ailani Valencia, first place – poster; Katrina Lukacsa, second place – poster; Caleigh Monti, third place – poster, Gregory Constain, second place – essay; and Ella Reister, third place – essay.
Also, Ponte Vedra High School had two winners (they tied) at the district’s annual STEM Fair held in February: Emma Chirila (“Alternating Metabolic Pathways to Override Drug Resistance in Cancer”) and Andrew Lou (“Developing Anti-CLL-1 and MSLN Immunogens for CAR-T Cell Therapeutic Treatment of AML”).
Q: What else do you have to share with District 4?
A: During COVID, we’ve seen more families looking for more resources, such as mental health, primary care, emergency dental, insurance help, and prescriptions. The St. Johns County School District is partnered with Flagler Health+ to provide CareConnect+ to address these needs. Families can visit www.careconnectplus.com for more information. To date, we have served more than 1,000 youth with this partnership.
Q: How can our readers contact you?
A: They can email me at kelly.barrera@stjohns.k12.fl.us or call me at (904) 547-7510.
