After the storm: Fifteen Bay County schools reopened Monday, more than three weeks after Hurricane Michael devastated the county and surrounding areas. A school district spokeswoman said about 90 percent of the teachers reported for work, but the district won't have a good count of students until later in the week. Students face a lack of supplies, no Internet service, damaged gymnasiums and split schedules. But the operative phrase of the day, according to Moseley High School principal Brian Bullock, was "we'll figure it out." Other Bay schools are scheduled to open later this week or next week. Panama City News Herald. Associated Press. WJHG.

Election day: More than 5.1 million Floridians voted before today, election day, according to state officials. That's 38.7 percent of the state's 13.27 million registered voters. On the ballot are the governor's race, a U.S. Senate race, 12 constitutional amendments, local ballot initiatives and school board elections. Polls are open until 7 p.m. News Service of Florida. Associated Press. Hillsborough County is asking voters to approve an extra half-cent on the sales tax to raise money to pay for replacing and repairing faulty air-conditioners, make capital improvements and build schools, and harden schools for security. The tax would raise about $138 million a year and be collected for 10 years. Gradebook. State law bars school districts from spending money on political advertisements. But it doesn't stop school districts from using existing resources to communicate factual information about issues, such as a tax referendum. And so it is that every public school in Miami-Dade County has rotating messages on their school marquees drawing attention to the tax measure on today's ballot, #362, which would raise money for teacher pay and school security. Miami Herald. Previewing the races for district 1, 2 and 5 seats on the Brevard County School Board. Florida Today. (more…)

School enrollment: Enrollment growth in the Palm Beach County School District is slowing, with new students totaling under 1,000 for the first time in more than a decade. The latest head count shows 196,000 students, about 880 more than last year. “We did expect a little more growth,” says chief financial officer Mike Burke. “But smaller gains aren’t problematic. What’s bad is declining enrollment — it’s much more difficult to deal with.” Sixty-eight of the district's 168 schools are still near-full or over capacity. Palm Beach Post.

Security shakeup: Just three months after the Sarasota County School District's police department was formed, its head of security is leaving and the police chief has been reassigned to an administrative role away from the department. To replace them, the district has hired Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Captain Timothy Enos to be both police chief and executive director of safety and security. Security head Michael Andreas resigned, and police chief Paul Grohowski will supervise the capital improvements program and the hardening of schools project. Enos is seen as a potential bridge to help repair the recently strained relationship between Bowden and Sheriff Tom Knight over school security costs. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. (more…)