“I can personally vouch for the fact that my children have been pressured by Brown Barge teachers to quit the PATS program,” said Dr. Melissa Venezia, mother of three PATS students. “They have been harassed when trying to get their make-up work and teachers saying, ‘I’ve got to decide if I’m going to let you make up that work or not.”

“There is, without a doubt, an excess of testing in Florida schools, and I look forward to working with Governor Scott and the Legislature to ensure we strike the appropriate balance between accountability and instruction,” Stewart said. 

“I set up this meeting to see if there would be interest in doing this,” said local entrepreneur Quint Studer, addressing the crowd of over 150 people. “I think we can skip that first step.”

“With a little continuity, we’ll be fine,” says Tidwell. “I can’t say enough about how proud the community should be of this corrections staff, because despite it all they come to work every day, they put so much into it.”