Collier County School District Excels Again

For the second time, two years in a row in fact, Collier County Public School (CCPS) students have outscored the state on the 21 state assessments, despite the challenges of the pandemic and aftermath. In fact, they exceeded the state average in every content area. 

In 2020-2021, during the heart of the pandemic, submission of the data to be analyzed by the DOE was optional, but CCPS wanted to use the feedback for improvement, and those results identified academic gains. Collier was one of just a few counties that submitted their data.

In addition, during 2021-2022, CCPS increased its ranking and placed in the top five school districts in the state. CCPS has surpassed 64 counties for this ranking.

In fact, CCPS was again ranked as an “A” School District in a recent July, 2022 press release from the Florida Department of Education and has carried that “A” ranking for five years since 2017.

Our most sincere commendations, yours and mine, should go to the outstanding teachers, students, administrators, staff and parents that we have in our CCPS family. Without the support and expertise of this team working together, we would not make the positive progress that has been achieved.

Thanks also to the outstanding efforts of the CCPS Technology Department during the initial shutdown of schools in Florida. All computers were gathered from each school, trucked to a central location right after schools were closed, then cleaned, scanned and re-imaged (to prevent access to sites not allowed). A monumental task when you realize that 48,000 laptops were collected and then distributed to 48,000 students along with a hot spot so students without internet access could continue to learn while schools were closed.

Along with the laptops, the CCPS Food Service prepared and provided healthy breakfasts and lunches for students and they were distributed from the same sites. All parents and students needed to do was to drive through a designated line and they were handed to them with smiles and encouragement. After distribution of the computers was completed, other more central locations became better for food distribution, which lasted until schools reopened.

Having access to technology while not in school enabled the students to communicate with their teachers and continue their educational progress. Some students signed up for eCollier, which was a CCPS school totally online with CCPS, teachers and some enrolled in Florida Virtual School. Some had daily sessions simultaneously with their original teachers via cameras and big screens and, when the initial pandemic seemed to decrease, many students came joyfully back to their classrooms. 

All the students, teachers, parents and administrators I spoke to were glad to return to some ‘normalcy,’ but nonetheless, the students were supported during this challenge.

I was asked by one angry parent whether we think we did the right thing by closing temporarily and then opening schools with masks mandatory. My answer was this; “Since none of us ever experienced a pandemic before, the infection rate and the death toll kept rising, and we were directed to follow the Health Department’s medical advice, we proceeded with caution.” And with all that disagreement and divisiveness, CCPS enabled students to make educational gains that are personally, district-wide and state-wide, commendable.

Next issue, an article about the strategies that were implemented by all Collier Public Schools to ensure that they are targeting the necessary remedial resources for each student.