ORLANDO, Fla. — The Florida Department of Education released its A-to-F school report cards this week. 71 percent of public schools earned either an “A” or “B” grade.
However, there’s questions being raised about the handful of schools that failed.
Three schools in Orange County received “F” scores. Now, two of them say the score was given in error.
Orange County Public Schools’ BETA and UCP of Central Florida Downtown Charter School say they plan to file records Wednesday to appeal the score.
“UCP Charter Schools believes this school grade is an error. UCP Downtown Charter School along with OCPS BETA are designated as “School Improvement Rating” schools (not school grade) but apparently Department of Education combined the two schools because of the physical address and mistakenly gave both a School Grade. We are working in the Florida Department of Education to correct this issue.”
Channel 9 found there were no previous scores given to BETA. The school program allows Orange County Public School students who are teen moms or expecting moms to attend school while also having access to their kids.
UCP offers programs for students with various disabilities, including intellectual disabilities. It highlights inclusion for students with or without disabilities.
Another school got an F-rating in Orange County, Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy. It’s a charter school on Mercy Drive. We didn’t hear back from the academy on their grade or what they’re looking to improve. However, the charter school has received a D-grade in the last two years.
Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, there’s a statewide trend among the schools that score low.
“When we see that testing shows where our high poverty area is, where at-risk students are, then what that should give us a signal on is then let’s do something different there. Let’s invest in those schools,” Spar said.
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