Civil rights complaint: A federal civil rights complaint is filed against the Pinellas County School District. The Southern Poverty Law Center charges that the district punishes black students and students with disabilities more often and more harshly than it does white students. The organization is asking the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate. Southern Poverty Law Center. Huffington Post.

School closings: Many Florida school districts, including all in the Big Bend area, decide to close today as a tropical system nears the state. Some will also close Friday. Tallahassee Democrat. WFSU. WUSF. WTXL. Citrus County Chronicle. WFTV. WJHG. WWSB. WTSP. Daytona Beach News-Journal. Panama City News Herald. St. Augustine Record. Bradenton Herald.

Act of kindness: Bo Paske, who is autistic, usually sits alone at lunch in the Montford Middle School cafeteria. But this week, Florida State wide receiver Travis Rudolph was visiting the Tallahassee school, saw Bo alone at lunch and joined him. “I'm not sure what exactly made this incredibly kind man share a lunch table with my son, but I'm happy to say that it will not soon be forgotten,” Bo's mom Leah Paske wrote on Facebook. Tallahassee Democrat. Associated Press. Fox News. Tampa Bay Times.

Turnaround plans: Three of the five Polk County School District's plans to turn around struggling middle schools are approved by the Florida Board of Education. But the state says a condition of the approval is that it gets to remove teachers it deems as unsatisfactory. The board says new principals and teachers are needed at Lake Alfred-Addair and Westwood, and told the district to submit updated plans for those schools by Sept. 23. Lakeland Ledger. (more…)