School grades: It’s time to debunk the myth that Utah’s school grading system is similar to the one adopted by Florida, writes The Salt Lake Tribune.
BOE meets: The state Board of Education meets Tuesday to discuss plans to turn around troubled schools, approve next year’s legislative budget request and find Florida’s next education commissioner. Palm Beach Post.
Dream Act: The Miami Herald follows up on the path of an undocumented teen whose dream was derailed by immigration red tape.
Single-gendered: A Hernando County pilot program that separated girls and boys in one elementary school seems to have lost its cache. Tampa Bay Times. Flagler County students who spent last school year in all-boys or all-girls classes outperform their peers in mixed-gender classes on standardized tests. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Dual enrollment: A Polk County high school partners with the private faith-based Southeastern University to provide college-credit courses. The Ledger. Treasure Coast school districts grapple with the financial impact of a new state law that requires districts to pay the tuition of dual-enrollment courses for the first time. TC Palm.
STEM: Polk County looks at exposing more girls to science, technology, engineering and math to introduce them to careers in those fields. The Ledger.
Common Core: Naples Daily News looks at a proposal from state Rep. Debbie Mayfield to stop the state from implementing the new education standards.
Virtual ed: Hillsborough County used to encourage students taking courses above and beyond their school day to go to Florida Virtual School because FLVS could earn more funding for them then the district could, but now the push is to keep the kids in the district. The Tampa Tribune. Online education will be one of the great learning tools of the 21st century, writes the Daytona Beach News-Journal. The state must be ahead of the curve in using technology to improve education.
School spending: While the Manatee County School Board has not yet approved the budget, the district has already begun spending on the district’s needs this year. School budgets are no longer frozen and the district has repaid about one-third of the money it borrowed from schools. Bradenton Herald.
Boundary changes: Parents in Palm Beach County’s most crowded public schools can breathe a sigh of relief as there is no chance their children will be forced to switch schools next year. Palm Beach Post.
Bus routes: Parents continue to be upset about bus routes changed by the Polk County school district to save money. The Ledger.
Sports policy: Pasco County district administrators scrutinize athletic eligibility cases. Tampa Bay Times. An administrative judge will determine whether Collier County School District officials violated rule-making policy when they changed the district’s elementary after-school programs without public input. Naples Daily News.
Success story: A former Lee County foster child survives 12 foster homes, graduates high school and goes on to graduate from West Point. Fort Myers News-Press.
Conduct: A student at Monsignor Edward Pace High School in Miami Gardens accuses an ex-dean of sexual abuse. Miami Herald. A Jacksonville teacher fired after being accused of ignoring an episode of oral sex in her kindergarten classroom wins her appeal for reinstatement. Florida Times-Union.
