Around the state: The increasing number of violent incidents in south Florida schools has teachers and school officials concerned, a police investigation has thrown some doubt onto the parents’ story of their 7-year-old daughter with Down Syndrome being abused by Brevard school workers who tied a mask to her face, pioneering educator and politician Carrie Meek has died in Miami, a Volusia student has been told he can’t wear his school’s JROTC uniform until he cuts his hair, 15 finalists have been named for the Duval County teacher of the year award, and student enrollment is down about 10 percent at some central Florida two-year community colleges. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: Carrie Meek, an educator at Bethune-Cookman University and Miami-Dade College who later was elected to the Florida Legislature, then became one of the first black Floridians elected to Congress since Reconstruction and served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, has died at the age of 95. Miami Herald. New York Times. Associated Press. Tallahassee Democrat.
Broward, south Florida: The number of violent incidents in south Florida district schools is escalating, according to teachers. There are reports of teachers, security staff and administrators being attacked, and footage of student fights being posted on social media. “We are legitimately scared every day to go to work because we don’t know what’s going to happen today,” said a teacher at Coral Springs High. School officials said stress brought on by the pandemic has been a major factor, as have shortages in the number of guidance counselors, therapists and behavioral health specialists. “It definitely has been a concern,” said Alexandria Ayala, a Palm Beach County School Board member. “I think that’s to be expected after two years of unconventional learning, financial strain, family loss.” Sun Sentinel.
Duval: Fifteen finalists have been named for the school district’s teacher of the year award by the Jacksonville Public Education Fund. The field will be pared to five finalists on Dec. 3, and the winner will be announced on Jan. 22. WJXT. Four-year-old students at the John Love Early Leaning Center in Jacksonville are learning how to form complete sentences with the help of augmented reality technology. Florida Times-Union.
Polk: A secretary at Edgar L. Padgett Elementary School in Lakeland has been arrested and charged with DUI manslaughter after she struck and killed a man on I-4 the night before Thanksgiving. Deputies said Lucretia Bruno, 46, was on her way home from a bar when she hit two stopped cars, killing the driver of one of them. WFTV. WESH. WFLA. WTSP. Lakeland Ledger.
Brevard: An investigation by Indian Harbour Beach police is uncovering discrepancies in the story of the 7-year-old child with Down Syndrome (unable to breathe properly” after a mask was tied to her head at school because she wouldn’t keep it on. The girl’s stepfather, Jeffrey Steel, said she got off her school bus Oct. 7 with a face mask tied to her head with a rope and was unable to breathe properly. The story was quickly picked up by conservative media outlets and politicians, and a Christian crowdfunding site raised more than $100,000 for legal action against the district. But the police investigation found there was no evidence that the girl, Sofia, was in any danger and that “there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal violation against” her teacher and instructional assistant. Police also said that photos of Sofia used in fund-raising were staged, and that her parents made false statements. Florida Today. Courtney Lundy, who has worked in the school district as an exceptional education and math teacher, a dean and an assistant principal of curriculum, has been named the principal at Stone Magnet Middle School in Melbourne. Space Coast Daily.
Volusia: A 15-year-old Spruce Creek High School freshman who wanted to join the school’s Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program was told he’d have to cut his hair before he could get a uniform. Logan Rentz, who wears his hair in locs and usually ties it into a bun on top of his head, chose his hair and the ties it has to his family and their culture. Since the decision, he claims he’s been harassed by program officials, and his family said they were considering filing federal and state complaints. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Escambia: A former special education teacher at the J.E. Hall Center in Pensacola has been sentenced to more than six years in prison after she was found guilty of having sex with a student in 2019. Susan Weddle, who was then 40, was convicted of lewd or lascivious battery of a victim over 12 but younger than 16. The relationship with the Tate High School student lasted more than a year. WEAR.
Colleges and universities: Student enrollment is down about 10 percent at some central Florida two-year community colleges, according to those schools. College leaders attribute the decline to the pandemic, the cost of attending school and students’ anxieties about personal finances. Orlando Sentinel. Helping law enforcement officers better recognize potential domestic violence situations through enhanced risk assessments is the goal of a $3.3 million University of Central research project. Orlando Sentinel. Walter L. Smith Sr., the president of Florida A&M University from 1977 to 1985, has died in Tampa. He was 86, and his tenure as seventh president of the school was marked by an expansion of academic and research programs and international recognition. Tallahassee Democrat. WCTV. WTXL. Officials at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne said their master plan for the campus includes seeking $47.3 million in state funds for upgrades and to build a new planetarium. Florida Today.
Opinions on schools: It shouldn’t take a pandemic to realize that families must have access to permissionless, individualized opportunities to find the right fit for their students – opportunities that bring education into the 21st century. Jeanne Allen, Forbes. The American Library Association fully supports the right of every parent to control what their child reads and to select alternative reading or instructional materials for their child. We do not believe, however, that a parent’s right to control their child’s reading includes a right to restrict what other children read, or to limit the books that are available to young people in the library. Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Miami Herald. Alachua County School Board members made a mistake in passing over Tina Certain as chair, sending the wrong message at a time when the board should be building public support for the district’s efforts to close the widest racial gap in student test scores in the state. Gainesville Sun.
