6 Sept. 2020
Weekly Current (archived version)
If you are reading this inaugural newsletter, it means you are part of an exclusive audience who has elected to receive information and updates from the Cayman Current.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for caring about education — which we believe to be the number one issue in the Cayman Islands.
(If you haven’t signed up for our email list yet, please consider doing so now.)
This is our first newsletter. Each issue we’ll go over education news from the past week, and then preview what the Current will be looking at in the week ahead.
Week In Review
The biggest news of the past week (in our biased opinion) is the launch of the Cayman Current, a nonprofit news organisation focussed exclusively on education in Cayman. (Read our welcome message here.)
The launch of the Current coincided with the start of the new school year … and the return of associated morning traffic gridlock. With the aim of easing the AM commute, the government pushed back the start of the school day at public primary schools by 15 minutes. Instruction now begins at 8.30am, instead of 8.15am. (Read our story here.)
During the first week, we created a few features on the Current website that we hope will become comprehensive practical resources for the Cayman community.
The Cayman Islands Scholarship Directory is a list of scholarships available to Cayman students. If your organisation offers a scholarship that isn’t listed, or you know about one, please contact us so we can add it to the directory. (Find the directory here.)
The Cayman Current Document Library is a growing database of public records related to Cayman education. The collection starts with Education Data Reports from the past decade, along with an in-depth Auditor General’s report on the education system, as well as Home Learning Reviews published this summer by the Office of Education Standards. Again, if you have a record that should be in our library, or can point us to a relevant set of documents, please contact us. (Find the library here.)
And elsewhere, we reported that the government is seeking bids to provide 100 new laptops to local educators. (Read more here.)
Around The Web
In addition to our own reporting, the Current also intends to become a central source for education journalism by others, including regional and international news that is relevant to or provides context for Cayman education. (Find our running collection of links here.)
- Jamaica Gleaner: Jamaica considers cancelling high school sports for 2020-21
- Bermuda Royal Gazette: Bean speaks on FDM’s vision for education
- Bahamas EyeWitness News: Teachers seek govt. intervention to return to Family Island schools
- UK Telegraph: Boys fall further behind girls in studies during pandemic
- Tampa Bay Times: Complaints intensify over ‘simultaneous teaching’ in Pinellas schools
- Miami Herald: On first day of class, Miami-Dade schools hit with tech woes as learning goes virtual
- Puerto Rico Centro de Periodismo Investigativo: Caribbean Public Education Systems Adrift Due to the Coronavirus
- Jamaica Observer: New study shows importance of technology in education
- Cayman Compass: Tardy exam results complicate Year 12 entry
The Week Ahead
- Interview with Peter Carpenter, Director of the Office of Education Standards — who is in charge of inspections of Cayman schools. Carpenter talks about the role of school inspectors, how his office adapted to the COVID-19 school closures, and plans for inspections this semester and going forward.