Sept. 23, 2020 – As a high school principal, one is a leader of many stakeholders holding many diverse points of view. It is no easy leadership task to negotiate times when passionately held viewpoints intersect with the life and culture of a school community. Fletcher High School Principal Dean Ledford finds himself in such […]
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Sept. 11, 2020 – With crumbling walls and failing air condition systems, school buildings in Duval County need serious help. How did we get here? View the video above to better understand how multiple factors — such as state funding cuts since the 2008 recession — led to this issue; and the connection between better […]
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June 18, 2020 – In the communication below, Executive Director of Family and Community Engagement, Tia Leathers, shares a conversation she had with her daughter and how that helped motivate the creation of an Unconscious Bias training for families. (This letter is currently being mailed to Duval families.) The training sessions begin July 1 and […]
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May 26, 2020 –For our final week of Mental Health Awareness Month, I decided to be adventurous and give Calm Classroom a try. Calm Classroom? What is that? I know some of you may be familiar with Calm Classroom because your child already practices it. For the rest of us — including me — this was […]
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May 20, 2020 – As Mental Health Awareness Month continues and I reflect on how we can live our best lives, I am drawn to the topic of substance abuse. No, I don’t’ have any “just say no” or “this is your brain on drugs” messages. I am interested in starting a larger dialogue about why some of us may turn to […]
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May 11, 2020 –Not getting enough rest is a major culprit causing low energy or moodiness. Studies show that people limited to four to five hours of sleep experienced anger, sadness, and stress, which were all significantly reduced when they returned to the recommended seven to nine hours. If you’re thinking, “That’s not me! I go […]
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May 8, 2020 – (Note: Below is a message of encouragement from Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene to Team Duval families. It was originally shared via email to families on May 7.) Dear Families, Our Facebook community wasn’t very pleased with us last week. Our followers vigorously shared their disagreement when we announced the district would […]
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May 4, 2020 –During May, we’re celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month by focusing our Duval Dialogue on topics that promote ways we can be healthy, strong and vibrant in all areas of our life. For example, fitness and nutrition may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about mental health. But eating […]
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April 28, 2020 – Last week we covered how to follow the advice of Katrina Taylor, Director of Schools Behavioral Health, when it comes to staying socially connected. But in addition to the quality time we spend with others, we should also invest in quality time with ourselves. I spent two years in a mission community […]
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April 20, 2020 – Earlier this month, we learned from Katrina Taylor – Director of Schools Behavioral Health – that combating this pandemic is more than just an external fight. It is internal as well. The same care and vigilance we take with social distancing, and using gloves and masks to protect our bodies, we […]
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