Dr. Robert J. Metty
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      - Committed to the Children of Florida

focus on reading. With the addition of

annual learning gains, educators in each

school will understand how to best meet

the needs of their students.

Learning gains are a critical component

to the A+ plan and are designed to help

individual students make progress,

whether that student attends a high

performing or lower performing school,

said Governor Jeb Bush. Since students

begin each school year with different

levels of achievements and knowledge,

measuring individual progress will allow

schools and teachers to identify specific

areas of weakness.

The Opportunity Scholarship Program,

created under the Bush/Brogan A+ Plan,

reflects Florida’s commitment to higher

standards in education for Florida students.

Assistance Plus

The Department of Education (DOE) will

provide additional targeted support to lower

performing schools through the Assistance Plus

program. State and local officials will work

together to make sure resources and training

are provided to students and schools that need

it the most.

On June 12, 2002, the Department of

Education released the 2001-2002 school

grades. While many schools improved

their scores, there were ten schools that

received their second “F” in a four year

period, making students assigned to those

schools eligible for an Opportunity

Scholarship.

Accountability is a key component of our

K-20 reforms, and the history of school

grades shows that accountability has

brought about progress and

improvement, said Secretary of

Education Jim Horne. This year, with

Assistance Plus, we are reinforcing our

commitment and providing more

expertise and greater resources to help

failing schools recover quickly and

become good, strong schools again.

Options for Parents

Under the Opportunity Scholarship

Program, parents have the following

options:

Allow the child to remain at the

assigned school and work with the

staff and Assistance Plus team to

improve the learning environment for

students in that school.

Although “F” schools have historically received

more funding than higher performing schools,

Assistance Plus will expand existing services to

these schools by increasing the role of each

School Advisory Council (SAC) and calling

upon experts to work directly with schools to

develop and implement school improvement

plans. Individuals, such as superintendents,

SAC chairs and curriculum experts, will be

asked to serve on Assistance Plus teams and

work with their schools and communities to

offer customized assistance to each school

earning a “D” or lower. Obviously, schools that

earned an “F” twice in the past four years will

receive more intensive and targeted help as

required by law.

Transfer the child to another public

school, which has been grade C or

better.

Enroll the child in a participating

private school using Opportunity

Scholarship funds as tuition.

Learning Gains

Florida’s grading system now incorporates

annual learning gains. This new method

bases school grades on the measurement

of each student’s progress from one year

to the next through annual learning gains,

higher standards, as well as a stronger

Dr. Robert J. Metty

Bob Metty

, a new addition to the

Choice

Team, is a senior-level program specialist.

He has been tapped to be the director

over all three of Florida’s scholarship

programs: the Opportunity Scholarship

Program, the John M. McKay

Scholarships for Students with Disabilities

Program and the Corporate Tax Credit

Scholarship.

He was chosen for this position not only

for his exceptional leadership abilities, but

also for his extensive knowledge regarding

special education. His areas of

specialization include emotional handicap

eligibility determination, behavioral

interventions including discipline, and

educational programming for students with

disabilities in need of Exceptional Student

Education (ESE) services under the

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

(IDEA).

Metty has worked previously as a therapist

for students with severe emotional

disturbance and is a certified guidance

counselor. During his tenure with the

Department of Education, he has been a

frequent presenter at statewide

conferences on behavioral programming

and IDEA-compliance topics and has

authored, co-authored, and edited several

technical assistance notes and papers for

the Florida Department of Education.

The Choice Team extends a warm

welcome to Bob Metty and looks forward

to his contributions to Florida’s Choice

Movement.

Our educational system must be child-

centered, not system-centered or even

school centered. The educational universe

should revolve around the individual needs

of each and every child.

Governor Jeb Bush

Meet the members of the McKay and

Opportunity Scholarship Parent Hotline Team:

Claire Phillipe, Monique Duncan, and Monica

Settles.

Bill Greiner

manages these team members, in

addition to other hotline representatives.

The Parent Hotline team provides detailed

program information to parents. They offer

services to parents in three different languages:

English, Spanish and Creole. They are also

responsible for recording the filed intents for

each program.

In addition to assisting parents, the Hotline

Team provides technical and program

assistance to districts in a cooperative effort to

ensure the accurate reporting of parental intent

and matrix data.

The Parent Hotline hours of operation have

been expanded to 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Monday through Friday and 8:00 a.m. - 5:00

p.m. on Saturday. Hotline representatives may

be reached at 800-447-1636.

John Thompson and Lisa Alvarez work

exclusively with participating private schools in

both programs. They provide personal

instruction to private school personnel

regarding the use of the Opportunity Schools

website (www.floridaschoolchoice.org). They

also assist private school staff in re-enrolling

students who participated in the programs

during the 2001-2002 school year. As a result,

six weeks before the August 1 deadline, over

2/3 of the eligible students have been re-

enrolled.

McKay & Opportunity Scholarship

Program Quick Facts

Incoming Calls since May 28:

10, 241

Total McKay Calls:

9, 921

Total OSP Calls:

268

Total OSP Intents Filed:

106

Over 100 new private schools have chose to

participate in the McKay Scholarships Program,

and 137 private schools have elected to

participate in the Opportunity Scholarship

Program.

Choice & Charter Office

Committed to the Children of Florida

Technical Assistance and General

Information on Grants and Charters:

Federal Liaison & Senior Educational

Program Director: Dr. Rufus Ellis, Jr.

School District Choice/Grants:

Lynn Turner

Charter Technical Centers & Charter

School Start-Ups:

Karen Bennett

Grants/Funding & Data Collection:

Karen Hines Henry

Technical Assistant:

Melvin Jones

Technical Assistance on Choice

Programs:

Senior Educational Program Director:

Dr. Robert J. Metty

Private School Assistance for OSP &

McKay

Programs: Juanita Hurst

Parent Liaison:

Bill Greiner

McKay & OSP Representatives:

Lisa Alvarez, Monique Duncan,

Claire Phillipe, Monica Settles

& John Thompson

South Florida Liaison:

W. Steven Green

Technical Assistance for Home

Education and Nonpublic Schools:

Senior Educational Program Director:

Ed Bennett

Home Education/Parent Educators:

Mary Lou Carothers

Nonpublic Education:

Dr. Brenda Parks

Communications & Research:

Communications Director: Carl Miller

Communications/Research & Publications:

Kendra Lee

Choice & Charter Research & Public

Outreach:

Ruben J. Vazquez

Technology Communications: Mary Evans

Ed Bennett

of the Choice Office & Jean Miller of

the Bureau of Financial Management presented at

Leading the Way

, the 16th Annual DOE Database

Workshop. The presentation focused on the

McKay Scholarships for Students with Disabilities

Program and the Opportunity Scholarship

Program, identifying eligibility criteria,

responsibilities of parents, private schools, and

school Districts, funding formulas and district

reporting responsibilities.

Throughout the state, focusing on South Florida,

Steven W. Green

assists district administrators by

encouraging implementation of educationally

policies that reflect the intent of Choice legislation

and law. Green works at recruiting private

schools to participate in the programs. In addition,

he develops relationships with communities, their

leadership, private entities and faith-based

organizations to dispel myths regarding the A+

Plan, vouchers, FCAT and new policy.

Mary Lou Carothers

fields roughly 84 phone calls

a week dealing with Home Education issues. She

provides technical assistance to both school

districts and parents. Currently, she is planning

the annual fall home education technical

assistance meeting.

Mary Evans

functions as the technical

communications specialist in the Choice Office.

During the past two weeks, she has been busily

re-locating current staff members and ordering

new equipment for incoming staff. She is also

responsible for uploading Choice information to

the webstite.

Bob Metty

, the newest Choice Office staff

member, provided research to the Governor’s

Office on the McKay Scholarship Program in

response to an op-ed in the San Francisco

Chronicle. He also began working on the collection

of data regarding demographic information about

scholarship recipients.

Juanita Hurst

held 65 telephone meetings

with participating private schools, 32

conversations with parents, and 11

discussions with county ESE offices

regarding the matrix numbers of McKay

students. She transferred 16 students from

one school to another and executed 23

overrides for students who received late-in-

the-year IEPs (Individualized Education

Plans).

Dr. Brenda Parks

answers hundreds of

inquiries regarding nonpublic education per

week.

Director: J.C. Bowman

Research Assistant:

Mike Davis

Administrative Assistant:

Lisa Kammel

Office Manager:

Veronica Phillips