Florida roundup: Charter schools, testing, blessings and more

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Charter schools. A loan brings a Collier charter school closer to a permanent facility. Naples Daily News.

Testing. Where is Florida’s testing controversy headed? Tampa Bay Times. Parents await score reports. Florida Times-Union. Duval superintendent Nikolai Vitti questions the push to set tougher cut scores. Gradebook. A school board member calls for raising the bar. Pensacola News-Journal. School administrators weigh in on testing and accountability. Gradebook. Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano criticizes testing and accountability policies.

Teacher quality. Thousands of South Florida teachers apply for a controversial bonus program. Miami Herald. Sun-Sentinel.

Field trips. A TV news show catches up with students from a South Florida charter school on a field trip. WPBF.

Administration. Is turnover among district leaders increasing? Fort Myers News-Press. Alachua’s superintendent shakes up the top ranks of his administration. Gainesville Sun.

Campaigns. A Leon County district administrator might have to resign his post to run for superintendent. Tallahassee Democrat.

Blessings. A Catholic school blesses pets to honor St. Francis of Assisi. Bradenton Herald.

Prayer. Okaloosa schools face another complaint from a freedom-from-religion group. Northwest Florida Daily News.

Cyberbullying. Palm Beach schools want to regulate students’ social media posts. Palm Beach Post.

Math. Leon County students top international tests. Tallahassee Democrat.

Accreditation. Orange County Public Schools pass muster with AdvancED. Orlando Sentinel.

Class size. The Palm Beach Post wants to know how class size limits work in practice.

Photography. The Daytona Beach News-Journal profiles a longtime photo teacher.

Firearms. A gun found on a school campus, first thought to be unloaded, turns out to have been loaded. Florida Times-Union. A Gainesville student is under investigation after firearms are found on campus. Gainesville Sun.

Whole child. Duval schools grow a youth development program. Florida Times-Union.

Transportation. Do late buses hurt student performance? Palm Beach Post.

History. A Brevard middle school marks its 50-year anniversary. Florida Today.

Entrepreneurship. Santa Rosa schools and the local chamber of commerce team up to teach business skills. Pensacola News-Journal.

Transition. A transgender student finds her voice. Tampa Tribune.

In search of lost time. Brevard students hunt for a missing capsule. Florida Today.

Completion. A Manatee AVID program gets results. Bradenton Herald.

Pay raises. Polk staff could get a raise. Lakeland Ledger.

STEM. A conference highlights the joys of science. Naples Daily News.

Fundraising. A principal and her husband each lunch on the school’s roof to raise money for digital devices. Pensacola News-Journal. A car show helps a school raise money. Northwest Florida Daily News.


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BY Travis Pillow

Travis Pillow is Director of Thought Leadership at Step Up For Students and editor of NextSteps. He lives in Sanford, Fla. with his wife and two children. A former Tallahassee statehouse reporter, he most recently worked at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a research organization at Arizona State University, where he studied community-led learning innovation and school systems' responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. He can be reached at tpillow (at) sufs.org.