Florida schools roundup: 10-day count, cell towers, background checks & more

Board of Ed: Florida public school educators want more per-student funding and more money for technology, teacher training, dual enrollment courses and algebra camps for rising 9th graders, according to a preliminary budget request the State Board of Education is considering next week. Sun Sentinel.

florida-roundup-logoCommon Core: New K-12 education standards are reshaping classroom instruction to better reflect the realities of college and the workplace, the Broward County school district says. Sun Sentinel. House Speaker Will Weatherford says he supports high academic standards, but tells StateImpact Florida that critics raised some legitimate concerns about Common Core.

Tony Bennett: A guest post in Education Week  says the only people who believe the former Florida Education Commissioner was exonerated are those who agree with him.

Charter schools: Palm Beach County School Board members approve plans for a city-run K-5 charter schools that calls for 600 students and is set to open next year. The school will focus on raising reading levels among the city’s children. Sun Sentinel. Pinellas County school officials determine there was no evidence of “cherry picking” students at a newly opened charter school in St. Petersburg. Tampa Bay Times.

10-day count: Some Treasure Coast students may not be in the same classroom where they started the school year about three weeks ago and others could have a different teacher as districts analyze data from the enrollment counts taken after the first 10 days of school. TC Palm.

Conduct: Three Broward County teachers are being charged with failing to report an alleged rape that a 15-year-old girl described in a class essay. Sun Sentinel. Two more Orange County high school girls basketball coaches have lost their jobs because they failed to tell authorities that the head coach molested and was sexting with a student. Orlando Sentinel. A St. Lucie County student and his mother want a teacher fired for her alleged involvement in a school attack. TC Palm.

Background checks: The Hernando County School Board is considering possible revisions to its background screening after the policy blocked a longtime volunteer from entering the schools. Tampa Bay Times.

Cell towers: The Collier County School Board vows to take another look at the 75-foot cell phone tower constructed at a local elementary school. Naples Daily News.

Retreat: The Florida School Boards Associations from as near as Escambia County and as far as Miami-Dade spend the next few days discussing the state of Florida education. Pensacola News Journal.


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BY Sherri Ackerman

Sherri Ackerman is the former associate editor of redefinED. She is a former correspondent for the Tampa Bay Times and reporter for The Tampa Tribune, writing about everything from cops and courts to social services and education. She grew up in Indiana and moved to Tampa as a teenager, graduating from Brandon High School and, later, from the University of South Florida with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications/news editing. Sherri passed away in March 2016.