Lawsuit: The Palm Beach County School Board faces a lawsuit from two students and their rabbi/attorney/father that charges the district fails to teach evolution and truths about religions. Sun Sentinel.
Protest: Parents protest the Lake County school district’s planned busing cuts that will force some elementary and middle-school students to walk to school when classes start Monday. Orlando Sentinel.
AFT: American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten blasts former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Education Commissioner Tony Bennett during a speech where she called the state “ground zero for every single market-based experiment that has been done to our children.” Miami Herald.
Accountability: StateImpact Florida looks at what the switch to Common Core State Standards would mean for Florida’s school grading system.
2016: A-F grades, Florida’s school grade results and Common Core – that’s how StateImpact Florida ranks talking points for Jeb Bush’s possible 2016 presidential run.
Working: Polk County’s Summer Youth Employment Program gives almost 400 teens and young adults work experience with businesses and public organizations before heading back to school or into a new career. The Ledger.
Homeless: Children from the Sulzbacher Center for the homeless in Jacksonville get a school bus ride to Old Navy and a gift certificate to buy new school clothes. Florida Times-Union. Pinellas County school officials look to a Hillsborough County program that helps homeless students. Tampa Bay Times.
Teachers: Nearly 5,000 educators head back to school this week in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. Pensacola News-Journal.
Charters: Steele-Collins All Male Charter Academy starts the school year with a new focus, a new curriculum and new students. Tallahassee Democrat. A state report shows more Florida charter schools had operating deficits at the end of fiscal 2012, compared to the previous year. Tampa Bay Times.
Fix it: The Hillsborough County School Board and administrators need to re-examine the district’s staffing levels and training to ensure its special needs students are adequately served, writes the Tampa Bay Times editorial board.
