Parents for Transparency

08/19/2026

Turns out, according to this judge teachers do have some rights
And maybe we should just focus on the kids, because this is probably gonna be expensive.

A Florida judge recommends reinstating a Lee County teacher with back pay, finding her Facebook post about Charlie Kirk caused minimal school disruption.

08/19/2026

Who is the School District up against if they truly want to be considered world class?

Well. According to this DM that just hit our folder - there’s massive space for improvement.

A 9 for college readiness…
With a higher graduation rate that one of those schools?

If we want to keep people in Florida and in public schools, we need to genuinely offer world class education by the same scales as other states. Not tests we create and subjective standards.

Is the goal a World Class Education by the standards and funding programs in Florida? Or is the goal truly to be among the best in the world? Wouldn’t we first have to start by being the best in the nation?

Because those metrics aren’t the same and they do different things for our student population. And savvy parents? Apparently know the difference.

08/19/2026

We now have a school grading system of our own.
NO GRADE FLOORS. Every school rating gets categorized by District with the name of that school board member and an AI synthesis of the reviews of the schools inside that district.

And 5 star reviews?
Have capability to be shared to social media.

5 star and 1 star reviews require you to submit your e-mail address (it will not be shared, but you will receive a confirmation, so don't use your district e-mail address if you work there) and all entries require you to "sign" that you agree - that information stays confidential, it's simply your commitment to yourself and the betterment of the community.

The district will never get access to the people reviewing the school, but they can choose to submit responses to any reviews from any role inside the district's perspective.

If there is a district struggling for resources? That will come up. If there is a school with more issues than others? That will come up. This will be an ORGANIC GRADING system, in service of all.

The goal? Accountability.

Because, in the words of India Palencia, you can't fix what you don't face. NO CANDIDATES THAT LOST YESTERDAY SHOULD THINK THEY DIDN'T HAVE AN IMPACT. Those 4 candidate interviews candidate interviews that I did are some of the most impactful information that I received inside this entire initiative. And we should all thank them for their service to this cause, no matter who we voted for.

08/19/2026

A new website.

I know a lot of us are unhappy with the school board election results. BUT I want you to know that we take this initiative very seriously and plan to double down on data transparency and addressing your concerns.

In order to do that, I have completely re-faced and re-structured the website with our AI agents over the last 3 hours. Politics will still be on there, and we will still track and promote the issues impacting the community.

BUT - all of your issues that have come to light are going to take the biggest focus now. And rather than working through the traditional channels, we plan to be the change we're seeking.

The mission? To foster a truly collaborative atmosphere between the School District of Lee County, teachers, parents and students through a series of community engagements, established committees, data synthesis, and ongoing objective journalism.

Here's the new website: www.parentsfortransparency.com

If you have any suggestions for what should be included, please comment below or DM. I literally JUST built it out, so it's not final, and it needs your feedback to be refined and tweaked and true to the mission as it suits YOUR needs.

08/19/2026

The result of our meeting yesterday with the Chief of Academics, Chief of Schools, Associate Regional Superintendent, and the Director of Communication and PR:

08/19/2026

Woah, woah, woah, guys.
Toxic culture that's making its way to PARENTS?

A DM from a parent whose child is in Lee Virtual School:

"They have completely changed the structure this year and Im assuming its because a lot of teachers were let go.

We were threatened that if we dont respond to all emails and communication that CPS would be called. Im not worried on that end for my sake, but I know there's lots of families that could be affected."

Culture Indicator: threats do NOT fetch collaboration
Recommendation: explain WHY e-mails are important to the success of their child, don't just blindly require them to get in line.

I created an infographic for the district's HR department and, hopefully, the Chief of Schools and Associate Regional Super Intendant, to review to see why the communication style is problematic. While parents don't "work for" anyone at LVS, they DO all work together for the success of the child.

08/19/2026

We wrote an open letter to "whoever would hold these seats after the election" a little bit ago and we are clear that 2/4 of those board seats have been re-elected. The opinion of this page is not the opinion of the people running it, it has to be more objective.

That said, in the interest of the stated COMMON GOAL which is student education - we broke down the TALC negotiation meeting that happened 8/17 and edited some clips from it for you.

At that meeting? The TALC rep calls School Board Members UNRESPONSIVE - and that means 7/7 seats did NOT ANSWER THEM regarding the State's bonus and compensation crunch, relative to more tenured teachers.

Knowing that you're putting more work on teachers plates, how can you offer them less funds as a bonus?

How can teachers and the school board ever work together towards a common goal?

When teachers feel unheard, the authoritarian dictatorship culture that has been created is only perpetuated.

The school board needs to be responsive to the needs of the teachers in the wake of being a part of offering additional work without additional compensation or even the courtesy of being basic humans that explain why they should be enrolled to accept additional work at the same pay.

If we want to make School District of Lee County the world class education that we desire for it to be, basic communication and responsiveness is a pre-requisite to that success outcome.

08/18/2026

It takes one person.
one person brave enough to stand up and start something.

In early June, we conceived Parents for Transparency
On June 27th, an English teacher decided to speak up to the right people.
For the next month and a half after - we went ham posting research, gathering insight and records, stories, trends and building a website for advocacy and transparency.
On August 18th, we sat down with 4 district representatives and left with a regular meeting set and common goal: positive change inside the district through intermediary advocacy.

We don't know what will come next, but we will see September 29th. Check out the video we just dropped on YouTube of the entire DeBrief of the meeting we held with the Chief Academic Officer, Chief of Schools, Associate Super Intendent, and Director of Communications and PR.

We can't promise change.
But we can say - we hope things are moving in a positive direction.

No matter what the election determines tonight - YOU made this happen. You were brave enough to speak out for students, teachers and what you believe is right. And that is a HUGE community win.

We hope that we're able to make positive changes for our children. We hope that the district truly takes this opportunity as seriously as we do.

https://youtu.be/w6rG5ms0O-I

08/18/2026

As a point of reference.
I don’t need to be popular.

I stand on the side of what is right.
I stand with teachers.
I stand with accountability.
I stand with professionals sitting in front of my children.

The school board race is non-partisan.
Will you let them divide us?

They’re YOUR TAX DOLLARS.
They’re OUR CHILDREN.
Get out and vote.

- Amber Cebull, co-founder Parents for Transparency.