Palatka's Moseley Elementary an "A" School

William D. Moseley Elementary School located on 1001 Husson Ave. in Palatka, Florida has come along way from being an "F" school at the bottom of the list for the year 2004-2005 all the way up to the top making them an "A" school for the year of 2005-2006. This school has shown the most improvement in such a short amount of time in the state of Florida. The average reading scores for a third grader has gone up 17% from 2005 to 2006. The average math scores for a third grader has gone up 33% from 2005 - 2006. The average scores for reading and writing for a fourth grader has actually went down from 2005 - 2006. The average math scores for a fourth grader has went up 29% from 2005 - 2006. The average scores for a fifth grader has went up drastically from 2005 - 2006 with a 37% increase in reading and a 28% in math.

The average FCAT scores for fourth grade had an increase of 10% from 2005 - 2006. Moseley Elementary has high standards and a high instructional staff. The student/teacher ration is 13 student to each teacher. This school has become one of the finest schools in Putnam County, and was once one of the worst schools just one year ago. There has also been a huge increase in attendance going from 67% in 2005 to 84% in 2006. In the years past, a high number of students would leave this school and transfer to another school. Now, parents are filling out forms just to get there children into this school. Moseley Elementary School is one of the smallest schools in the county, but they have one of the largest numbers in grades and truancy.

I am a parent of three boys and I filed papers myself and worked very hard to try to get my children into this school. I would recommend this school to any parent who is looking for a great school with lots of curriculum, lots of support and lots of one-on-one hands on with their children. A lot of people believe that this big change is all due to the principle Mr. Thomas Bolling. He is an outstanding principle who enjoys getting involved in activities for the student and treats every single student as if they were his own child often stating "This is my school and these are my children." Others say that it has a better curriculum than years before and there are those who believe that it is the teachers that have made a big improvement. It all comes down to Moseley Elementary as a whole.

This school works as a team not only amongst themselves but also with the students and the parents. They have student workers that are assigned different jobs for a couple of weeks to help out. They get the parents involved as well and have high numbers in parent involvement. They use tools like spaghetti dinners for the parents to come out and watch their child perform. They have door prizes and games for the kids. Although they do not have very many field trips at all, they do a lot of other activities with them. They also have a free tutoring program for grades 2 - 5. This is a wonderful school and I believe that their high ratings in academic excellence and overall quality of their school speaks for itself. The staff, faculty, and volunteers are so wonderful with these children and have a lot of patience you would not find in a lot of other public schools.

They treat their students like people. They believe in their students and they never give up. They try everything they can to make sure that every child is attended to and to make sure that every child does not leave the school year without succeeding. They give the children 100% and then some in maintaining strong will and confidence in each child. They do not have a crime rate at all and there has only been 8 childish fights in one year where only one child had to be sent home. They have a very effective way of maintaining and keeping down head lice. In 2005 there were over 90 children sent home due to head lice. In 2006, only 16 students were sent home, some which were just siblings of children they were found in as a precautionary measurement. Every morning a child gives the morning announcements, followed by the "Pledge of Allegiance" then the "Pledge of Moseley Elementary".

The pledge of Moseley Elementary is as follows,

"I believe I can be a good student
I can believe I can achieve
I believe that if I work hard, I will succeed
Therefore, I will work hard each day to do my best
I can learn - I will learn".

This is a very good school and I enjoy my children attending there as do over 300 other parents.