Local

Lake Co. Schools in danger of C grade

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Bad news for Lake County schools: The school district is in danger of dropping to an overall C-grade from the State Department of Education.

Ratings for individual schools came out. Most went backward.

For years, the Florida Department of Education has given Lake County Schools an overall grade of B based on student test performance. The latest results could drop the district to a C.

School board member Tod Howard is concerned that the previous overall A grade dates back to the last elected superintendent, Anna Cowin. She left in 2008 after four years of disagreements with the school board at the time.

"There's not enough A's and B's on there to float us. We had a large number of schools that dropped to a C," Howard said.

Since that time, the way the state has graded school districts has changed along with the way students are tested.

"I will say if we were given the same test now, we'd be an A district," Howard said.

Howard said Cowin does deserve credit for the results, but insists the current appointed superintendent Susan Moxley is leading the district in the right direction.

"I do believe Anna was right on many fronts, when we start talking about K-12's and some of the decision that were made facility-wise. And she was right."

Howard said to compare Cowin and Moxley would not be a relevant comparison because the system has changed so much.

Administrators are still waiting for the state grades for their eight high schools.

Howard doesn't expect it save the district from an overall grade of C.