The Tampa Bay Times published their interview with Gerard Robinson. A highlight: “One of the things I said I wanted to do to was to modernize what people thought about a state department of education. Simply meaning, when I say I am here from the Florida Department of Education, I am here to help, I really mean it.”
After only a year on the job, Florida education commissioner Gerard Robinson announced this past week that he’d be stepping down at the end of August. His tenure was marked by controversies over FCAT scores, school grades and the assessment of students still learning English. His style rubbed some school district leaders, and even some parents, the wrong way. Yet the governor and the State Board of Education stood by him through it all, penning editorials with him and supporting his contentious decisions relating to such items as the state’s No Child Left Behind waiver. In the end, family matters prompted Robinson to leave. He spoke with reporter Jeff Solochek a day after submitting his letter of resignation.
Read more at: www.tampabay.com
