Districts lose funding: The state has now withheld nearly $209,000 from eight school districts because of their face mask mandates for students that do not allow parents an opt-out option. The Broward and Alachua school districts have had money withheld since August, and last week they were joined by the Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach, Duval, Brevard and Leon school districts in losing some funding. Florida has also pulled $567,000 in federal grants meant to go to the Broward and Alachua school districts to cover docked school board pay. State officials have said that once districts drop their mandates, they will receive all the money that has been withheld. Florida Phoenix. Florida Times-Union. Gov. Ron DeSantis denounced the Biden administration for its “cease-and-desist order” filed last week to block the state from withholding funds to the school districts that are not complying with the state’s rule on mask mandates. He said it “is not appropriate is to have the federal government come in, blundering into state and local matters and acting like they have a right to facilitate a local district breaking state law.” Politico Florida.
In the Legislature: A five-day special legislation session will be held Nov. 15-19 to consider ways “to protect workers against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and address employer policies that force COVID-19 vaccination,” Gov. DeSantis announced Friday. He also wants legislators to allow parents who sue school districts for enacting “illegal” coronavirus restrictions and win to collect attorney’s fees, and clarify existing laws that make it illegal for schools and governments to mandate the vaccine and testing options. Associated Press. Miami Herald. Politico Florida. Orlando Sentinel. Florida Politics. Florida Phoenix. WESH. Capitol News Service. The growth in virtual learning has prompted state Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, to suggest the state should begin a reconsideration of the way it funds schools. “It is a fair question that a 45-year-old funding formula that was designed in a world of zero school choice of any kind … does that funding formula still work in a world where more and more families are availing themselves of choice? I would argue that it doesn’t,” he said. He said Hendry County, which last year had 5,700 virtual students, and 96 percent of them lived outside the county, is an example of the problems with the Florida Education Finance Program, or FEFP, which is the main funding system for public schools. News Service of Florida.
Around the state: Starting today, face masks will no longer be required in Duval County schools, a book has been removed from Orange County school shelves until a review of the appropriateness of its content is completed, Polk school officials are considering adding middle school grades to an elementary school that opened Aug. 10 for almost 1,000 students, the Cape Coral City Council decides against outsourcing the management of the city’s Oasis charter schools, no charges will be filed against a Niceville High School teacher who showed a portion of the R-rated movie Alexander to her college-level Classical Studies students, and the state is prohibiting three University of Florida professors from testifying in a lawsuit against a new state law that revises the rules of voting. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: Vaccinated students will no longer have to wear face masks in high schools in the Archdiocese of Miami, starting Nov. 6. “Given the improvement in the positivity rates in the three counties of our archdiocese,” said Archbishop Thomas Wenski, “we are making some changes in our protocols. Hopefully, further relaxation will occur in future weeks. However, if the numbers go in the opposite direction, we may have to reinstate some of these protocols.” Unvaccinated students will still be required to wear masks. WSVN.
Hillsborough: The process of setting new boundaries for school board seats begins soon and is expected to conclude in December. The districts are drawn for election purposes only; no school boundaries are being changed because of the process. Proposed maps should be available on the district’s website this week, and five community meetings have been scheduled between Nov. 9 and Dec. 9. School board members are expected to make a final decision at their Dec. 16 meeting. Tampa Bay Times.
Orange: District officials said they have removed the book Gender Queer from three high schools after complaints from parents, and after a speaker at a school board meeting was removed from the meeting for reading of passages from the book that included vulgar language. The book, which tell the author’s story of gender identity and sexuality and includes some sexual images, was recently removed from school libraries in Brevard County. Orange officials said the book will be reviewed by a committee to recommend whether the removal should be permanent. WOFL.
Duval: Starting today, face masks will no longer be required for students and employees in district schools. “Today we learned that the community transmission rate for COVID-19 has declined,” Superintendent Diana Greene wrote Friday in an e-mail to employees. “Therefore, I am exercising the authority provided to me by the board to suspend the mask requirement for students and employees effective next week.” She cited the county’s positivity rate, which has been falling and was 3.7 percent on Friday, well below the benchmark of 7.99 percent or lower for seven days set by the school board. Florida Times-Union. WTLV. Sarah Park, a 14-year-old 9th-grader at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, has been named the winner of the national 3M Young Scientist Challenge. She won $25,000 for developing a device that uses artificial intelligence to create personalized musical pieces as therapy treatment for people with mental health disorders. WTLV. Last Wednesday, English teacher Caroline Melanie Lee was named teacher of the year at Darnell-Cookman Middle/High School in Jacksonville. Friday she was arrested and accused of child abuse for striking a student. Florida Times-Union. WTLV. A 12-year-old student at the KIPP Impact Academy charter school in Jacksonville was arrested week after a school resource officer found a handgun in his carry pouch. The boy said he brought the weapon to school for protection. WJXT. The sex offender son of a school volunteer has been arrested and accused of video voyeurism during after-school activities at Riverside High School in Jacksonville. Jamal Renard Collins, 25, allegedly tried to videotape teens in a bathroom. He was at the school helping his mother, who is an instructor for a dance team. Florida Times-Union.
Polk: School officials are considering adding middle school grades to Bella Citta Elementary School in Davenport, which opened Aug. 10 with almost 1,000 students. The proposal would add buildings for 465 more students in grades 6-8. It would have 21 classrooms, a gymnasium and a dining room, and the cost of about $20 million would be paid by school impact funds. Lakeland Ledger. School board members have begun a discussion to tear down Alturas Elementary School in Lakeland because of low enrollment and maintenance issues. The school was built in 1947, and is home to just 326 students. Also problematic for the district are the school’s well and septic systems, and the need for a new roof and a heating and air-conditioning system. Lakeland Ledger.
Lee: The Cape Coral City Council has decided against outsourcing the management of the city’s Oasis charter schools. The schools have had financial issues, but city officials decided to retain control and consider taking over some functions from the school district, such as maintenance, human resources and managing technology. Fort Myers News-Press. Jamie Michael, the president of the union representing bus drivers and other support workers since 2012, retired last week even as the union is in the middle of contract talks with the district. She said she had been planning to leave at the end of the school year, but decided to move it up because she was tired. The change also comes in the middle of a driver shortage in the district. WINK.
Brevard: Substitute teachers who work on high-demand days will be paid $50 extra, school officials said last week. This month, those days are Nov. 12, 22 and 23. Space Coast Daily.
Seminole: A rumored “sick-out” protest Friday by school bus drivers didn’t develop, and school officials said they were able to run all routes as scheduled. Sixteen drivers and five bus monitors called in sick, fewer than the district had feared, over a protest about wages. WKMG. WFTV. A Lake Howell High School student has been arrested after a school resource officer found a weapon in the student’s care on campus. No threats were made, school officials said. WFTV.
Okaloosa: No charges will be filed against a Niceville High School teacher who showed a portion of the R-rated movie Alexander to her college-level Classical Studies students. The sheriff’s office announced Friday that the teacher did not subject the students to pornography, as some parents had claimed. The teacher, who has not been publicly named and had been put in administrative leave during the investigation, could be back in her classroom as early as today. Northwest Florida Daily News.
Flagler: The Flagler Beach City Commission has turned down a request by the Coastal Community Church to open a small, Christian school onsite. The school would have had 15 students and two teachers. A majority of commissioners had concerns about the creation of a school precluding other businesses from opening in the area, and parking, traffic and noise. Flagler Live.
Calhoun: A social media photo of a sign in front of Blountstown High School is doctored, district officials said Friday. Online, the sign includes the phrase “Let’s go Brandon,” which has become a code for disparaging President Biden with a vulgarity. In reality, the sign read, “Go Tigers,” referring to the football team. WMBB.
Colleges and universities: The state is prohibiting three University of Florida professors from testifying in a lawsuit against a new state law that revises the rules of voting. Allowing the professors to be paid experts for those challenging the law would be “adverse to the university’s interests as a state of Florida institution,” the university said in a statement issued Saturday. Sunday, it issued another statement saying the professors could testify as long as they are unpaid. Gainesville Sun. Associated Press. The state will direct $6 million from the Job Growth Grant Fund to the city of Tavares to partner with Lake Technical College to create a new workforce training center. Diesel and auto mechanics, forklift operators and collision specialists would be trained at the center. Daily Commercial. WKMG. A statue of the TV character Mister Rogers has been placed on the campus of Rollins College in Orlando. It honors Fred Rogers, the host of a children’s TV show who graduated from the school 70 years ago. NPR.
From education to workforce: Florida has become a leader in matching the education of trade-oriented students with the needs of industries, according to a new report from the education advocate group ExcelinEd. It concludes that policies approved the Legislature in its spring session have created policies that significantly improve the connection of education and training to the workforce. Florida Politics.
Defining an ‘upright citizen’: The state’s new rule requiring schools to teach students to become “upright and desirable” citizens by respecting the military and elected officials, recognizing that recognizes that communism and totalitarianism “conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy essential to preserving the United States constitutional republic,” and defend the core values of the nation’s founding documents. But by defining “upright citizens,” the rule also raises about questions whether students are being taught or indoctrinated, and allows the possibility that government can also define “undesirable citizens.” Florida Phoenix.
Masks and kids with disabilities: As more districts make face masks optional, disabled students who are most vulnerable to the effects of the coronavirus are increasingly feeling isolated. Many of them are learning online, but said that makes them lonely and shortchanges their education. Many parents have joined together to sue the state, claiming Florida is in violation of the federal law that requires an “appropriate public education” that provides them with needed special education services in the “least restrictive environment” possible.” Last week, an appeals court hinted that the parents may not have the standing to challenge the state because because the state’s order did not appear to take any action against them. Orlando Sentinel.
Around the nation: The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of lower doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old. About 28 million children are eligible, and could start getting their shots as early as this week. Associated Press.
Opinions on schools: While the country is divided over COVID-19 vaccines, and Florida lawmakers plan to pass laws to undermine federal mandates, another ominous problem is going largely unnoticed: Routine immunizations for children, required under state law for school attendance, have fallen during the pandemic. Miami Herald. It is disappointing that Orange County Public Schools lifted the universal mask mandate. That mandate provided protection to students, employees and their families, security and peace of mind to educators and parents, and sent the message that district leaders put health and safety above politically motivated executive orders. Orange teachers union president Wendy Doromal, Orlando Sentinel. Banning books in schools is not the answer. Stephana Ferrell, Orlando Sentinel.
