Florida schools roundup: Tax hike, security, appeal, reassignment and more

School security: The Broward County School Board agrees to ask voters Aug. 28 to approve a property tax increase for school security and teacher bonuses. If approved, the tax hike could generate about $93 million a year. Sun-Sentinel. The Pinellas County Commission votes against helping the school district put deputies into the 31 schools in unincorporated areas. Tampa Bay Times. Brevard County School Board members vote to hire “security specialists” instead of arming school staff. The specialists will get 176 hours of training and receive $40,431 a year in pay and benefits. Florida Today. Manatee County commissioners decided they won’t pay any more for school security than the $892,000 they currently provide. School officials will now consider a plan to hire 35 armed guards trained by the sheriff and paid for with state funds from the guardian program. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Putting a resource officer in every Lee County school will cost more than $8 million, school board members are told. The district is hoping the city and county will supply the $4 million it needs. Fort Myers News-Press. Jackson County School Board members and county commissioners agree that hiring eight more school resource officers is the best way to protect all its schools, and pledge to work together to pay for them. WMBB.

H.B. 7069 lawsuit: Pinellas and Collier county school board members vote to continue appealing the latest decision against school boards that are challenging the constitutionality of the state’s 2017 education law, H.B. 7069. The suit contends the law violates the state constitution by stripping authority from local school boards and by forcing districts to share their tax revenue with charter schools. Pinellas and Collier join the Lee and Bay county school boards in appealing. School boards in Duval, Clay and Wakulla have dropped out of the case, and those in Alachua, Broward, Hamilton, Orange, Polk, St. Lucie and Volusia counties have yet to decide. The Palm Beach County School Board is pursuing its own suit against the law. Gradebook. Naples Daily News.

Reassigning students: The Florida Department of Education orders the Duval County School District to reassign 378 students into schools that have a C grade or better from the state. Two years ago the district took the students out of four failing schools and sent them to other schools, including some that had D or F grades. That was a mistake, the state concluded in an investigation. Florida Times-Union. WJCT. WJAX. WJXT.

Discipline diversion: Broward County School Superintendent Robert Runcie says the district will review school discipline records and create a new department to coordinate and oversee the discipline diversion program called PROMISE. But he said he’s committed to the program, which tries to interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline by using alternatives to arrests and suspensions for certain misdemeanor offenses. It was revealed this week that confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz had been assigned to the program, contrary to what the district insisted earlier. Miami Herald.

New turnaround plan: Hillsborough County School Superintendent Jeff Eakins releases a plan to place the best principals, teachers and support services at the 49 schools that have long been plagued by low achievement. “We have to start asking questions that maybe we have never asked ourselves before,” Eakins says. “This really implies that the whole system has to change. The whole structure in our organization has to change.” He says he will bring an administrative reorganization to the board May 15. Eakins says the plan will not contribute to the district’s current budget deficit of $12.3 million. Board members question that assumption. Tampa Bay Times.

Teachers honored: Orange County computer science teacher Kyle Dencker and Seminole County math teacher Samantha Neff are among the five finalists for the Florida teacher of the year award given by the Department of Education. Dencker teaches at Timber Creek High School in Orlando, Neff at Idyllwilde Elementary School in Sanford. Each wins $15,000. Molly Diallo of Miami-Dade is another finalist. Orlando Sentinel. Florida Department of Education. Florida DOE.

Contract negotiations: While Hillsborough County teachers union president Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins considers the district’s offer of $30 million for teacher raises for the 2018-2019 school year, she makes it clear that her priority is the 3,600 teachers who were promised $4,000 raises in 2013. Negotiations resume today. Gradebook. About 200 Volusia County teachers rally for pay raises at a school board meeting. Daytona Beach News-Journal. Here are the average teacher salaries in each Florida school district. WTSP.

Charter school approved: A “classical, liberal arts and sciences” charter school’s application is approved by the St. Lucie County School Board. Independence Classical Academy will include courses in such courses as Latin and primary sources, and teach time management, organization, note-taking and research skills. The school will open in the fall of 2019 as a K-8 school with about 440 students. TCPalm.

Street’s partial closing: The Sarasota County School Board and city commissioners will consider a revised plan that would close School Avenue, which splits Sarasota High School’s campus, from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on days when school is in session. School officials say the closure is needed for security. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Safety of portables: Portable classrooms are intended as temporary classrooms that will be replaced with construction. But with capital budgets tight, some schools house students in portables indefinitely, which causes concerns for safety during emergencies such as hurricanes. WFTV.

Best high schools list: Twenty-five central Florida high schools are included in U.S. News & World Report’s latest rankings of the nation’s best public high schools. Sarasota’s Pine View School was the highest-rated Florida school, coming in at 19th. Orlando Sentinel.

Teacher gives up license: A Palm Beach County teacher accused of having a sexual foot fetish has agreed to surrender his license to the state. Kenneth Phillips, 60, a former teacher at Jupiter Middle School, was accused in 2015 of making sexual advances against a student. No charges were filed, and Phillips retired as the district was beginning the termination process. Palm Beach Post.

Student arrested: An 18-year-old student is arrested and accused of setting a fire in a bathroom at Vero Beach High School that prompted the school’s evacuation. TCPalm.

Opinions on schools: The Palm Beach County School District allowed itself to be bullied by a small, vocal gun lobby and the elected officials they finance or intimidate into canceling a town meeting on school safety. Frank Cerabino, Palm Beach Post. Here’s why the new school safety law won’t prevent the next school shooting. John Byrnes, Orlando Sentinel. School choice has become an all-purpose bogeyman. Mike McShane, Forbes.

Student enrichment: Twenty-five Glades Central High School students graduate from the Suits for Seniors program. Since the program began in 2015, it has provided leadership training and new suits to 320 students from 13 schools. Palm Beach Post. Sidhika Balachandar, a senior at Buchholz High School in Gainesville, is one of 161 U.S. students chosen as a U.S. Presidential Scholar. Gainesville Sun. Eight Leon County and four Brevard County students are among 7,500 students across the United States to win National Merit Scholarships. Gainesville SunFlorida Today. Students at the Davenport School of the Arts raise about $16,000 for children’s cancer research. Lakeland Ledger.


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BY NextSteps staff