Determined to reinforce his commitment to education, Gov. Rick Scott on Monday interacted with students at the new Evans High School on Orlando’s westside, one of three schools on the governor’s schedule.
Scott, who has been pushing for increased emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), toured Evans’ state-of-the art video production room and was interviewed briefly by Anthony Cooper, an 11th grade student in the school’s television studio.
“It was really exciting to visit this school which has a lot of interesting areas, from the production of news to great Algebra,” Scott said at the conclusion of his visit. “There’s a group of committed students and a group of committed teachers and administration.”
Scott had high praise for the state-of-the art Evans High School, but said, he was most impressed by the quality of the teachers. He did not directly address the question of Evans Community School and whether he believed other parts of the state could benefit from such a model.
“The building is impressive,” he said. “But most impressive is the quality of the teachers. There is a committed school board here and they are going to make sure that the right thing happens.”
Noting that one of his major priorities is providing a great education for kids, Scott recalled the $1 billion boost in funding for public education on which he had recently signed off, following passage through the Florida Legislature.
Responding to the downward trend in the jobless rate, Scott said, “unemployment is now at a 3-year low which is nice,” but that there were still nearly 900,000 people out of work. Looking ahead, there’s a lot more to be done and I am “shooting for full employment,” he said.
Scott also visited the Darnell Cookman Middle School in Jacksonville and the Joseph L. Carwise Middle School in Palm Harbor.
