Parent focus: Lincoln Park Elementary Principal Cassandra Smith plans to work closely with parents at the turnaround school in Escambia County. Pensacola News Journal.
School spending: Manatee County School Board members meet tonight to consider a 2.16 percent increase to this year’s tax levy to help bring in more money for the district. Bradenton Herald. Palm Beach County teachers will get raises and elementary schools will get 24 new police officers under a tentative $1.6 billion budget. Sun-Sentinel. And Palm Beach school board members don’t like that an advisory committee didn’t get to review the entire budget. Palm Beach Post. Teacher raises, and new buses and computers are on tap for Broward County schools. Sun-Sentinel. Miami-Dade school board members discover that despite Gov. Rick Scott’s pledge for a $2,500 raise for every teacher, the figure is really more of a suggestion. Miami Herald.
Overhaul: Renovations at North Palm Beach Elementary continue with the Palm Beach County school set to open next fall featuring a new choice program, the Children’s Orchestra and Performing Arts (COPA) project. Palm Beach Post.
Charter schools: The Hillsborough County school district formally closes GATES High School after the charter school’s leaders failed to obtain land for expansion. Tampa Bay Times.
Athletics: Hillsborough County school officials continue working on a new policy concerning student participation in district school sports. Tampa Bay Times. Booker High School football players finish up with a Summer Athletic Academic Enrichment and Life Skills Program to bolster their academic and social skills. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Cutbacks: Lake County students will lose their bus ride to afterschool programs due to the district slashing $1.4 million from its transportation budget. Orlando Sentinel.
Settlement: The Pasco School District reaches an agreement with former Connerton Elementary Principal Anna Falcone that allows her to resign rather than face suspension or lose her teaching certificate. Tampa Bay Times.
Summer school: Pinellas County’s summer program attracts more than 9,000 students. The Tampa Tribune. Oakridge Elementary students learn about how pollution affects fresh water during summer lessons. Tallahassee Democrat.
Busted: A Lake Mary Elementary teacher is arrested after police find cocaine, amphetamines and marijuana in her purse. Orlando Sentinel.
Book review: Two Brevard School Board members are reviewing a world history textbook used in Advanced Placement classes after a state lawmaker and citizens’ group criticized it as biased toward Islam. Florida Today.
Common Core: Controversy over Florida’s role in a testing system tied to the new Common Core education standards highlights a simmering feud between grass-roots activists who want Florida to abandon the benchmarks and longtime education-reform advocates who want to move forward. News Service of Florida.
New game: Pepin Academies hires former hockey player Craig Butz to lead the school’s K-12 program. Tampa Bay Times.
Laptops: All 3,900 high school students in Flagler County will get a MacBook Air computer to use during the new school year. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Safety: Okaloosa County Sheriff Larry Ashley plans to spend $3.4 million to keep an armed deputy in every school for another year. Northwest Florida Daily News.
