‘It’s a great school district’

Clay superintendent touts district’s achievements

Clay County Public Schools Superintendent David Broskie said his organization is a great school district, claiming that the Green Cove Springs-based school system is one of the best in Florida.

The superintendent made the statement during two strategic planning town hall meetings, one at Keystone Heights Junior-Senior High School on Jan. 12 and the second at Oakleaf Senior High School on Jan. 19.

“The reality is our school district is not a good school district,” Broskie declared. “It’s a great school district, and I don’t know how I could express that any more exuberantly than that.”

The superintendent added that his claim is based on state Department of Education scores, the school system’s ranking of fifth best in the state by the website Niche.com and the Florida Department of education’s designation of the system as a high-performing district.

Broskie said many parents and community members share his viewpoint on the district’s performance, citing a November 2022 survey in which 87% of respondents said Clay County schools were on the right track.

 “When you give people a choice,” he said, “the choice is either: right track, wrong track, got to pick one. When you do that, a 60-40 split is considered killing it. So, 87% is like…super killing it.”

The same survey reported that 93% of respondents believe the district holds high standards for all students, 82% believe the school system provides a safe and orderly environment, and 58% marked “recruit and retain high-quality staff as their first priority.

Broskie told his audiences that the district’s current strategic plan states the organization’s major goals, the activities required for achieving those goals, and how the school system will measure its progress towards its objectives.

He added that the district’s current goals center around maximizing student achievement, recruiting, training and retaining talented teachers, engaging families and the community, creating a safe and positive learning environment and operating with fiscal efficiency.

The superintendent then went into more detail about each of the district’s five major goals and asked the audience to provide written feedback on how the organization is progressing toward those goals.

He added that a steering committee will update the current plan from February through May based on the survey, community input and other data. The updated plan will be presented to the school board in June for approval.

Clay County Public Schools Superintendent David Broskie touts his organization as one of the best school districts in Florida.