Gov. Scott Recognizes Piper High's Hard Work
SUNRISE (CBS4) – It was a day of celebration for the students, teachers and staff at Piper High in Sunrise.
On Monday, they welcomed Governor Rick Scott.
"Good morning, what a great school and what a great band," Scott told the assembly. "It's always great to be here, there is so much energy."
The school's marching band welcomed Scott to the stage at his request. Piper's school band has been invited to march in the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago.
On his first scheduled "Teacher Appreciation Day," Scott chose Piper to thank the teachers, students and staff for a job well done in lifting their school grade from a C to an A in just one year.
"We appreciate and we are honored that the governor chose us to represent the Teacher Appreciation Week and his commitment to teachers. We really are thankful," said Piper High Principal Enid Valdez.
Scott also spoke about his efforts to get teachers pay raise.
"We've all had teachers who have inspired us. I cannot think of a better way to recognize the hard work and commitment of our teachers, through National Teacher Appreciation Week, than with a well deserved pay raise," said Scott.
It was a victory for teachers after a long battle.
"We've been able to invest more than a billion dollars, two years in a row, for our K-12. The reason is our economy is getting better. As our economy gets better, as we have more jobs, more people move to our state, we have more money in our budget so we can invest more in education.
Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie was in attendance.
Last March, Scott visited Piper High and presented Runcie with a check for more than $15 million from the School Recognition Program fund.
