Missed warning signs: More than 30 people knew of disturbing and threatening behavior by accused school shooter Nikolas Cruz but didn't report it until after the Feb. 14 massacre of 17 people, according to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, chairman of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. Two students who did try to report what they knew were brushed off by school officials, according to testimony Tuesday. Another tip failed to prompt action from the FBI, which led parents of one slain student to file suit Tuesday against the agency. The commission's hearings continue through Friday. Sun-Sentinel. Politico Florida. Miami Herald. Associated Press.
Ex-charter owner sentenced: A former Florida charter schools owner is sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined $5 million for racketeering and organized fraud. Marcus May, who owned 15 Newpoint Education Partners charter schools in Escambia, Bay, Broward, Duval, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, was found guilty by an Escambia jury in October of colluding with a vendor to sell materials to the schools for as much as triple the market rate, then splitting the profits. Pensacola News Journal. WKRG. Tampa Bay Times. (more…)
Big raises for administrators: Eleven Broward County School District administrators received pay raises during the 2017-2018 school year ranging from 7 percent to 21 percent -- far above the average 2.2 percent that most of the district's 27,000 employees received. Six of the 11 raises were given after the massacre of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, when the district was complaining it didn't have enough money for resource officers and teachers. Superintendent Robert Runcie defends the raises as correcting pay inequities, though he has adjusted one downward. Sun-Sentinel.
Creation of a crisis: The crisis of escalating problems with school air-conditioners in Hillsborough County is a creation of declining funding from the state and school officials' decisions to emphasize teaching positions over maintenance during the recession and years of devoting fewer of their funds toward maintenance than any other large district in the state. In the past decade, Hillsborough spent about $122 per student on maintenance, compared to neighboring Pinellas County's $217 and Orange County's $179. Now, the district is asking voters to approve adding a half-cent to the sales tax to raise $1.31 billion over the next 10 years to fix the A/C problems and tend to other deferred repair projects. Tampa Bay Times. (more…)
Board member investigated: Brevard County School Board member Andy Ziegler is under investigation for allegedly retaliating against a district employee who had accused him of sexually harassing her last year. The investigation has been going on for about six months, and is being done by the same Tallahassee law firm that cleared Ziegler on the initial accusation. According to documents, the district's director of human resources, Carol Tolx, says she is being "continually harangued" by Ziegler because of her 2017 sexual harassment complaint. Ziegler has denied all charges. Tolx's retaliation accusation centers on an exchange she had with Ziegler at a school board meeting in January in which Ziegler called her analysis of a proposed contract with a company to provide substitute teachers "fictitious" and "fraudulent." Florida Today.
Website trackers: The Pinellas County School District's website, like that of many U.S. schools', is embedded with tracking scripts that install bits of computer code into a user's browser to track their movements on the Internet. The trackers were found last winter by Douglas Levin, an expert on educational technology. He let the district know, and was told by officials that they would be removed. Last month Levin checked again and found 22 trackers still embedded. Most trackers collect information used to improve websites, but some are used to buy and sell personal data or for targeting advertising. New York Times. (more…)
Tenure and achievement: When Florida legislators eliminated teacher tenure in 2011, they argued that making it easier to get rid of bad teachers could lead to better student academic results. Seven years later, a study finds that achievement by students in vulnerable schools has improved only slightly, and that there's no conclusive way to tell if the elimination of tenure played a role in that modest success. "The intent (of the statute) was to raise student achievement by improving the quality of instructional, administrative and supervisory services in the public schools," write researchers Celeste Carruthers, David Figlio and Tim Sass. "Whether (the law) or policies like it succeed in attracting and retaining high quality teachers remains an open question." Brookings Institution. Gradebook.
Special session request: Democrats in the Legislature resort to an obscure rule to force a poll of all lawmakers on the idea of calling a special session to deal with educational funding. Ordinarily, Senate and House leaders decide if a special session is needed. But when they resisted, 35 Democratic members filed petitions with the secretary of state to conduct the poll; 32 are required to force the polling. They don't expect to be successful, but say it will put legislators on the record in an election year. Answers to the poll are due May 24. Gradebook.
