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Pinellas School District Responds to News Story

Pinellas County Schools
Credit Pinellas County Schools

The Pinellas County School District has issued a response  to a Tampa Bay Times investigation into the district's lowest performing schools -- saying, " the road to transformation begins with solutions, not blame."

The Times'sseries charged the Pinellas school district with failing to provide adequate resources for five elementary schools in African-American neighborhoods after officials ended bussing in 2007, and with "resegregating" schools.

In response to the series called  "Failure Factories,"  the district responded with a list of initiatives it has instituted, as well as short-term results it says show improvement.

"These five schools are not factories, and the students are not widgets within them; they are lively places where hundreds of optimistic and determined staff and students work and learn each day," the district statement said.

Listen herefor to WUSF's interview with two of the reporters from the series.

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Robin is Senior Editor at WUSF, spearheading the station's podcasting initiatives and helping to guide the vision for special reporting projects and creative storytelling. She hosts the weekly current affairs program, Florida Matters, on WUSF and also created The Zest, the station's podcast that's all about food, which she continues to host and serve as senior producer.