Education bill signed: Gov. Rick Scott signs HB 7029, the sweeping education bill passed during this year’s legislative session. The law allows students to attend any public school in the state with an opening, lets high school athletes transfer and be eligible immediately, and gives charter schools a higher proportion of state money for construction. Miami Herald. Orlando Sentinel. Sun-Sentinel. Sunshine State News. Florida Politics. Pensacola News Journal. News Service of Florida. Politico Florida. Associated Press. St. Augustine Record. Here’s a summary of what’s in HB 7029. Pensacola News Journal. Here’s a summary of the five education-related bills Scott signed. Gradebook. Small private, charter and Christian schools say the state’s education bill allows the Florida High School Athletic Association to prevent them from competing for state championships. Florida Politics.
Schools still going: Four financially troubled Pinellas County charter schools continue to operate even though its management company has apparently withdrawn. That company, Newpoint Education Partners, has been silent since it issued a false statement saying the company had been obtained by Alliance Ed of Florida. Meanwhile, parents and the boards of Windsor Prep and East Windsor Middle Academy in St. Petersburg and Newpoint Pinellas Academy and Newpoint Pinellas High in Clearwater continue to keep the schools going. Tampa Bay Times.
Recruiting success: The Leon County School District says it has recruited back about 500 students from private, charter and developmental research schools. It’s a small portion of the 8,000-plus students who have left public schools for home-schooling, private and charter schools. Tallahassee Democrat.
Businesses and schools: Tampa Bay area business leaders are giving financial advice to Pinellas school principals as part of the Executive PASS program. The program operates in 34 Pinellas schools and in three other Florida counties. WUSF.
Magnet programs: The Orange County School District wants to give preference to neighborhood children to attend Hillcrest Elementary and Howard Middle, which are going to be magnet-only schools. Under the plan, 25 percent of the spots at those schools would go to children who live within the schools’ current attendance zones. Orlando Sentinel.
School changes: Combining Orange-Ridge Bullock and Rogers Garden elementary schools results in 26 Orange-Ridge staffers being transferred to other schools. The process to transfer the 14 teachers and 12 paraprofessionals begins today. Bradenton Herald.
Ambassadors sought: The Southside St. Petersburg Community PTA, which formed in December to help the area’s struggling schools, is looking for ambassadors/mentors for those schools. Gradebook.
Teacher resigns: The Tampa teacher who polled her students on gender identity, religion and sexual orientation has resigned. Yoselis Ramos, 23, taught Spanish at Monroe Middle School. Tampa Tribune. Tampa Bay Times.
School threats: A 20-year-old Port St. Lucie man is arrested after threatening to “shoot up” some schools. Benjamin Olsen posted a photo of himself on Snapchat with this caption: “Time to shoot up dem schools today fam.” Palm Beach Post. TCPalm.
Opinions on schools: We can only hope the judge in the Citizens for Strong Schools vs. Department of Education case addresses inequity as well as inadequacy of funding. Dan DeWitt, Tampa Bay Times. If Florida’s students are to have better opportunities to prepare for lucrative careers in science, engineering and technology fields, it will be because the school districts themselves — and not the state — make improving achievement in math and science a priority. Paul Cottle, Tallahassee Democrat. Is it worth it for the Martin County School District to spend more than $800,000 annually for at least the next four years to give every student a computer if the result isn’t measurably better outcomes, but merely “all sorts of learning and critical thinking?” TCPalm.
Student enrichment: Florida Atlantic University High School student Hannah Herbst presents her prototype, BEACON (Bringing Electricity Access to Countries Through Ocean Energy), at the annual White House Science Fair. BEACON uses a water turbine connected to an AC generator to convert the energy produced by ocean currents into electricity. She built one model for $12. Medill News Service. Students in the International Baccalaureate program at Riverdale High School are taking on more community service projects called CAS, which stands for creativity, activity, service. Fort Myers News-Press. Students from Archimedean Middle Conservatory, a Greek-based K-12 charter school in Southwest Miami-Dade County, will represent Florida in the U.S. Science Olympiad Competition in May in Wisconsin. Miami Herald. More than 100 Brevard County students compete in the Harris Corp.’s Student Design Challenge. Florida Today.
