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…)
Recognition money: The Florida Department of Education is handing out 36 percent less recognition money to schools this year. Last year, 1,673 schools received $134.58 million. This year, 1,226 schools are getting $85.7 million. State officials say the decline is due to the number of schools with A grades falling from 1,184 to 754. Officials attribute to decline to harder Florida Standards Assessments tests and higher standards for individual school grading. Florida Times-Union.
Testing cutbacks: Another bill is filed in the Florida Senate that would push most state-mandated testing to the end of the school year, but this one also calls for an end to five specific exams, state oversight of teacher evaluations and the rules that tie teacher evaluations to student test scores. It also wants a written alternative to computers and allow districts to use national tests like the ACT or SAT instead of the 10th-grade language arts section of the Florida Standards Assessments. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, and Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, would kill the ninth-grade language arts Florida Standards Assessments test and end-of-course exams in Algebra 2, civics, geometry and U.S. history. Orlando Sentinel.
House vs. feds: The Florida House Education Committee will consider a resolution Tuesday that asks Congress to "end all current, and prohibit any further, interference by the United States Department of Education with respect to public school governance." The resolution also asks Congress to turn Title 1 funding for low-income children and IDEA Part B funding for disabled students into block grants controlled by the states. Gradebook.
Teacher evaluations: There are more than 2,800 teachers in the Manatee County School District, and only three received unsatisfactory evaluations. Two others were told they needed to improve. "Highly effective" was the evaluation 48.1 percent of the teachers received. Fifty percent were judged to be "effective" and 8 percent weren't evaluated at all, according to Florida Department of Education statistics. Teachers with highly effective ratings in other state districts ranged from 97 percent in Okaloosa County to 6 percent in Putnam County. Teachers suggest the disparity in the numbers points to the pointlessness of the evaluation process. Bradenton Herald. (more…)
