New scholarship: The House Appropriations Committee approves H.B. 7075, which would create a new state scholarship for students who are stuck on a waiting list for Florida Tax Credit Scholarships. The Family Empowerment Scholarship would be funded by tax dollars and be available for about 28,000 students in the next school year, including the 13,000 or so on the FTC waiting list. But the bill reduces the scholarship amounts by more than $1,000 for students in high schools, $800 or more for middle-schoolers and $500 or more for 4th- and 5th-graders. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer the FTC program. redefinED.
Arming teachers: The House Appropriations Committee approves the bill that would expand the school guardian program and allow districts to arm willing and trained teachers in schools. Also in the bill are provisions for school security and a requirement that schools share student mental health and behavioral records. The bill now goes to the full House for a vote. Politico Florida.
Mental health services: Legislators set aside $69 million last year after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting for school districts to expand mental health services for students. But there was nothing in the bill directing districts to include suicide prevention efforts, and 17 of the 67 state school districts’ plans make no mention of suicide or its prevention, according to a review of those plans. Only a handful explicitly emphasize suicide prevention programs as a specific focus. Miami Herald. News Service of Florida. Dozens of Parkland parents ask for help at a mental health and suicide prevention town hall meeting Wednesday evening in Coral Springs. Sun Sentinel. Miami Herald. A special wellness center created specifically to help former, current and future students, teachers and parents at the Parkland school opened this week in Coral Springs. Sun Sentinel.
Budget differences: The Florida Senate and House budget plans clear their respective appropriations committees but are $400 million apart and are both more than $1 billion short of the $91.3 billion Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed. Among the key differences between the chambers’ versions are overall education spending and money for mental health services in schools. Associated Press. GateHouse.
Shooting recordings ban: The Florida Senate approves a bill that would prohibit the release of photos, video or audio from a mass shooting such as the one at Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. A companion bill in the House has cleared all committees and awaits a vote from the full chamber. Associated Press. Sun Sentinel.
Bundling amendments: The Florida Senate unanimously approves a proposal that would, if voters approve, prohibit the Constitution Revision Commission from bundling topics into a single amendment. Last year the CRC proposed an amendment that could have imposed school board term limits, required civics education and transferred control of charter schools from local districts to the state. It was eventually stricken from the ballot by judges who said the language was misleading. News Service of Florida.
Contract deadlock: Brevard County school officials say they don’t have any money to give teachers more than the raises they offered three months ago: $770 for highly effective teachers, $540 for effective teachers and a one-time $1,000 bonus for all teachers. “As of tonight, I don’t have any additional money to offer you,” said district chief financial officer Pennie Zuercher. Union president Anthony Colucci rejected it, and the impasse will go to a special magistrate, who will make a recommendation to the school board. Florida Today.
Superintendent’s job: Indian River County school Superintendent Mark Rendell says he’s not resigning, even as he’s searching for another job. “I am under contract through June of 2020 and that has not changed,” he says. Board member Laura Zorc, who called for the resignation, now wants Rendell terminated. The board will consider Zorc’s proposal at next week’s meeting. TCPalm.
Education grant in limbo: A $1.5 million grant to the Escambia County School District for workforce development is on hold because Superintendent Malcolm Thomas doesn’t like the terms set by the nonprofit organization that hands out the money from a 2010 oil spill. The money is intended for aviation maintenance training. But Thomas says the requirement that the district repay the entire grant if it did not meet the performance measures set by Triumph Gulf Coast was too high of a financial risk for the district. Pensacola News Journal.
Storm recovery: Bay County school Superintendent Bill Husfelt meets with FEMA officials to urge them to release the money the district needs to begin rebuilding schools damaged by Hurricane Michael last October. “I don’t think they understood until today that promising us they’re going to give us the money doesn’t help us because we have to have the money in the bank before we can give a contract out,” Husfelt said. “I’m going to say this again and I’m going to keep saying it — they have billions of dollars in rainy day funds. If this isn’t a rainy day event, I don’t know what is.” Panama City News Herald.
School bus stop safety: The city of Cape Coral and the Lee County School District will meet to discuss school bus stop safety after the hit-and-run fatality of an 8-year-old student who was waiting in the dark Monday morning at her school bus stop. Some parents are lobbying the district to push school start times later in the day, but school officials say such a change would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Fort Myers News-Press. WBBH.
Turnaround school: The Clay County School District is getting help from the state to turn around Charles E. Bennett Elementary School in Green Cove Springs. After Bennett received a D grade from the state, a state representative was assigned to the district to help with a turnaround plan and offer extra services. Clay Today.
School sales: Two charter schools are sold by their investment companies to their operators, Charter Schools USA. The combined cost of Renaissance Charter School at Goldenrod in Orlando and Renaissance Charter School in Wellington was $45 million. Bisnow South Florida. The former Panama Grammar School, closed as a public school since 1965, is for sale. The building was damaged by Hurricane Michael but remains standing, and Panama City officials hope to find a buyer who will restore it. Panama City News Herald. The Lake County School Board approves the sale of the old Dabney Elementary School property in Leesburg for $725,000. Daily Commercial.
School calendar, start times: Next week, the Pasco County School Board will consider a 2019-2020 school calendar that schedules early release days on the second Wednesday of each month. Schools would end two hours early, giving teachers more time to plan and attending training sessions. Gradebook. The Volusia County School Board is expected to vote today on changing school start times. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Poster removal meeting: Charlotte County school officials meet with members of the black community over their decision during Black History Month in February to order a teacher to remove a poster of controversial NFL player Colin Kaepernick from her door. Port Charlotte High School principal Lou Long and executive director of student services Mike Desjardins said if they had it to do over, they would have slowed down the decision-making process. Charlotte Sun.
Student injured on bus: A Duval County student is injured when a BB pellet hit him in the back as he was riding on his school bus. The pellet pierced the window of the bus, which was carrying 27 students between the ages of 12 and 17, according to Jacksonville sheriff’s deputies. The Mayport Middle School student was not seriously injured. Florida Times-Union. WJAX.
Bears visit school: Two bears decide to hang out in a tree Tuesday at the Orlando Science Schools elementary campus near College Park in Orange County. A Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist was sent to the K-6 school to keep the bears separated from curious students. At 8:30 p.m., the bears climbed down and walked off into the woods. Orlando Sentinel.
Teacher arrested: A Hillsborough County teacher has been arrested after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a student. Police say a 19-year-old student told them that she had sex two years ago with Eric Milis, 30, a social studies teacher and tennis coach at Leto High School in Tampa. Tampa Bay Times.
Ex-school owner convicted: The former owner of two schools for autistic children in Orlando has been convicted of witness tampering. Maria Navarro-Martin, 46, owned Angels Creative Children’s Therapy, which operated two Orlando campuses known as Heaven Academy and Angels Center for Autism, as well as a Miami school. Orlando Sentinel.
Opinions on schools: On behalf of all Marjory Stoneman Douglas students, teachers and parents, I hope the district will finally take mental health seriously, so that these two senseless suicides don’t mark the start of an epidemic. Kimberly Krawczyk, The 74. This country can never atone for centuries of inadequately educating black students, but it can begin to move in the right direction by learning from the past and preparing these students for the future, through cultural awareness and empowerment. Keith Jacobs, redefinED. Guns don’t belong in classrooms. That shouldn’t be a controversial statement. Yet, in the Florida Legislature, a measure that would allow public school teachers to be armed continues to pass committee votes. Gainesville Sun. Money should not be spent on schools; it must be spent on children. Catherine Durkin Robinson, Tallahassee Democrat.
Student enrichment: Four Collier County teachers are awarded grants from the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples for their classroom initiatives on kindness. Naples Daily News. More than 900 Florida students are participating in the annual State Science and Engineering Fair of Florida this week in Lakeland. Lakeland Ledger.
