Charter schools, teacher accountability and the graduation rate of black males were among some educational issues that took center stage at a Tuesday night discussion at the Jacksonville Main Library about the movie, "Waiting for Superman." Proponents of the movie, directed and co-written by Davis Guggenheim and released this year, have said it put a needed spotlight on problems in public school systems.

But critics have said the movie simplified complex educational issues and put too much of the blame on teachers unions.

Tuesday, a panel consisting of Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals, Duval Teachers United President Terrie Brady, School Board Chairwoman Brenda Priestly Jackson, Duval Teacher of the Year Zachary Champagne, John Baker, chairman of the Knowledge is Power Program charter, and Gary Chartrand, chairman of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, discussed local education issues.

A couple hundred people, including other education and community leaders, listened for 2 1/2 hours to the discussion sponsored by the education fund.

Whether people loved or hated the documentary-style film, it caused local debate about a problem in every major city in the country. And it comes at a time when education reform is being talked about everywhere from the White House to local classrooms. The movie follows the stories of Anthony, Bianca, Daisy, Emily and Francisco as their parents push to find them quality schools. In each case, the movie follows the students as they wait for the results of lotteries to determine if they make it into charters in California, New York and Washington, D.C. Some make it, others don't. Pratt-Dannals said he noted that each of the students in the movie had a caring parent or surrogate parent to help them. That's more than a number of local students have, he said. Brady said the problems are more severe in other major urban districts and she is proud to be in Jacksonville. But she and the other panel members acknowledged the local schools are still leaving some students behind.

Baker said he couldn't help but be struck but the fact that students in the movie had to depend on a lottery to go to a high quality school.

Priestly Jackson said the parents who don't know how to navigate the system, and shouldn't have to navigate, deserve a quality school system.

Chartrand criticized the fact that last year 53 teachers were removed from several Duval struggling schools when they were deemed not to be a good fit but moved into other schools. They weren't fired, the district said at the time, because the teachers received satisfactory on their evaluations.

Pratt-Dannals said it can take up to two years to get rid of a teacher not performing well. Chartrand said that was too long, and he questioned Brady about tenure.

Duval teachers have continuous professional service contracts similar to tenure after they've taught for three years. That's not the problem, Brady said. Instead, she said teachers who aren't performing well shouldn't be getting satisfactory evaluations.

The district and the union are working on their evaluation systems now, Brady said. She said teachers throughout the district want accountability.

Champagne said the question is what does good teaching look like, and that's not always the same for a kindergarten teacher compared to a music teacher. He said student test scores are an important measure of teacher evaluations, but not the only one.

When audience members asked about how to improve the graduation rate for black males, Priestly Jackson said people send the students a message by middle school that they can't do it. Instead, people should look at how the students best learn. And Pratt-Dannals said the work needs to begin even before school to help all students become good readers.

Chartrand said when he sees charter schools like KIPP send 90 percent or more of their students to college, it's time to look at what is happening in those schools and replicate it at the district level.

The audience also asked the panel about money, and Pratt-Dannals said the district can do better with what it has, but it does need more resources.

The time for change, Chartrand said, is now.

"We don't have 25 years to fix this problem," he said. "This should be the Holy War of this community."

mary.palka@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4104