Teaching more to students

During Pam Baggett's teaching career, she taught something some kids weren't learning at home: which family relationships were normal and which weren't.

While teaching child development, parenting skills and family dynamics, Baggett would sometimes hear stories of students' physical and sexual abuse. Obligated by law to report those stories to guidance counselors and police, Baggett found the process heartbreaking but in the end, it saved students lives.

Here at the Broach Schools, we do just this. Our goal is teach our students more than the ABCs and 123s. Times have gotten a lot harder in the past few years and teaching students things, like what to expect from life, gives them that much more of an advantage.

We want our students to be prepared not only for college but life after they leave our schools walls.

Teachers makie a difference

Newsweek has ranked Camden County High School among the nation's best for encouraging students to take challenging, advanced-placement college-level courses and tests. But what really makes a school one of the nation's best schools, public or private?

There are many things to consider including, the students, school facility, sports and the teachers. The Broach School is proud of everything in this category, but most importantly our teachers.

There are a number of different teachers out there from ones who do enough to just get by or ones who don't put themselves out there and participate in school events, but then there are also teachers who make their students their lives. That is what we strive for here at The Broach Schools. We have teachers who strive for success and care for students both inside and outside the classroom.

Teachers are what make a school top notch. Everything factors in and adds to the equation, but without our great teachers, The Broach School would just be another Jacksonville private school.

Private schools have less students for a reason

As the Legislature debates a proposal that could expand access to a scholarship program for private school vouchers, the voucher program for a budget facing a shortfall of as much as $3 billion isn't often discussed.

People are wondering why private schools have less students, and it's because that is what parents are paying for in the long run. In all honesty, most children going to public schools don't have the financial stability or help to go to a private school and there for have no choice but to learn in larger groups.

It's also because private school enrollment has been falling for almost five years now, according to reports from the Florida Department of Education. A portion of the blame is going toward the nose-diving economy, but is that where it should be going?

A number of private schools are deciding to become charter schools, which receive public funding but aren't bound by all of the rules followed by most public schools. This might change the school system drastically. Only time will tell.

If you are interested in sending your students to The Broach Schools, please don't let the cost keep you from making the right decision for your student. The Broach Schools offer a variety of scholarship opportunities, including but not limited to McKay and Step Up for Students.

Call our main office today at (904) 637-0300 for more information about our schools and these scholarship opportunities.

Even as the Legislature debates a proposal that could expand access to a scholarship program for private school vouchers, a decline in attendance at nonstate schools and the resulting increase in attendance at public schools is putting more pressure on a budget spread thin by lagging tax revenues, according to The Florida Times-Union.

The voucher program will face a shortfall of as much as $3 billion. Opponents are more likely to speak about the proposal's potential to drain dollars from public education, which will really hurt in the long run.

If you have any suggestions or thoughts on this let us know. We are interested in making sure any students who are getting overlooked in overcrowded public school settings have opportunities for a quality education at private schools, especially at The Broach Schools.

"Quality education for more than 35 years: We go the extra mile."