FCAT 5, Michael Thorne, Page 4


 some clients ask the real estate agents what the grade of the schools are. One of
 the big things for the schools is where they're located. Sometimes, on the east
 side of town we get a bad rep, and that's not fair at all. In fact, I know this is a
 great school and there's some great ones surrounding us that feed us. That is
 the one blessing of Alachua County, that you've got great schools and great
 teachers. I've been in other counties where it's definitely more discriminatory
 where you live. Yet you feel that here, but I can tell you that the schools are very
 good, you just can't go wrong with them. That's a blessing for all the high
 schools, as well as the middle and elementary [schools] that feed them.

S: The FCAT has experienced much criticism over the years. Do you feel that some
 of these critiques are true?

T: Well, I think it's like anything you hear in the press or when the public opinion is
 strong whether you know the facts or not. They've been testing students since
 the beginning of time. Even if you take the 1950s; they use the old example of
 the pendulum swinging. They had tests when I was a student; anywhere from
 SRA's to the major comprehensive tests, and every five or six years those would
 go out and a new one would come in. That was supposed to be the end all.
 We've been with FCAT now for six or seven years, and we'll see how it goes.
 Other states have other types of exams that are similar to this, but it changes
 what education has to be about. There's always a better answer eventually. This
 is still experimental, if you ask me, of where we're going. It sadly is powerful
 because it tells a son or daughter, a student, whether they're going to walk or not
 for graduation. If you're talking about fearful; that's a student who's struggling
 and knows he has to face that exam to walk. They can have their 2.0 [Grade
 Point Average] and all their credits and just be a gem, and yet this thing that
 lingers over their heads can hold them back.

S: Is it unfair to minority students?

T: I always take that in. When we say minority students, I think about the majority of
 our school are minority students so I worry about them, yes, because are they
 getting the same skills that they would get at other schools? Well, my answer is
 yes. We've got to work hard for them, but this is where the community and I have
 to hold hands. We have to work together. We have the tutorial programs during
 and after school, our honor society students help tutor our students, so it's
 student on student, which takes off the walls of the parental or teacher factor. We
 try to give all of our students an opportunity to do well on this. So then you take
 away any kind of title or color away where it just becomes students. We try to
 give them the benefit of all.

S: Just a random question, what is the percentage of your school that is on free or
 reduced lunch?