School shooting query: The design of classrooms at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School contributed to the massacre Feb. 14, witnesses tell a state panel investigating the shooting. Doors couldn't be locked from the inside, and had small windows that confessed shooter Nikolas Cruz fired through to kill several people who were inside. Faulty 911 systems contributed to the chaos, and one report indicates that while Broward deputies took cover, at least one knew the location of Cruz. Witnesses also say Cruz studied the 1999 Columbine school shooting as he planned the attack. Associated Press. News Service of Florida. Sun-Sentinel. Miami Herald. Politico Florida. WLRN. A judge rules that Cruz is indigent and will continue to be represented by the Broward County Public Defender's Office. Miami Herald. Here's a list of the commission members. WPLG. Broward County School Board members want Superintendent Robert Runcie to create a page on the district's website to debunk false information and share the district's responses to events. Sun-Sentinel.
School security, budgets: The Polk County School Board approves a plan to hire 90 "safety specialists" to protect schools at a cost of about $3.72 million. Specialists will be trained and armed, but won't have the authority to make arrests. Lakeland Ledger. The Marion County School Board agrees to spend $224,000 to have 34 resource officers in elementary and charter schools for the rest of this school year. Ocala Star-Banner. Bay County School Board members approve a resolution to ask voters in August to extend the extra half-cent sales tax to help pay for school security and construction projects. The request has to be approved by county commissioners. Panama City News Herald. The Clay County School will ask voters to approve a property tax increase to raise money to hire 44 school resource officers so there's at least one in every county school, and county commissioners agree to provide $2.1 million to help. Florida Times-Union. WJXT. Brevard County residents split at a town hall meeting about whether to arm school employees. Florida Today. Citrus County commissioners tell school officials not to expect any financial help to hire school resource officers. Citrus County Chronicle. Martin County School Board members seem willing to make cuts in the district's content coordinators and administrators overseeing specific areas such as math or social studies to save money and help pay for school security, but are hesitant to consider scaling back art, music, extended child care programs or outsourcing custodial and technology services. TCPalm. (more…)
Desegregation order: Indian River County School Board members renew their discussion about getting free from a court desegregation order, which it has been under since 1967. Board members feel the district has made progress toward fulfilling the court's requirement of "having racially balanced schools taught by diverse staffs to establish an equitable education system for minority students." The local NAACP chapter disagrees, saying the district still doesn't have enough minority teachers or a success plan for minority students. TCPalm.
Home education: The number of Florida students being home-schooled increased by more than 4,000 from 2016 to 2017, according to the state Department of Education's annual report. Since 2008, the number has increased by more than 30,000. redefinED.
Raising the bar: Florida and other states must continuously raise the standards for academic achievement, argues the CEO of the Foundation for Florida’s Future and the Foundation for Excellence in Education. “It is inevitable that when rigor is increased, student test scores and school summative grades initially will decline," writes Patricia Levesque. "But once teachers and students adapt to the higher expectations, the scores will begin trending back up. This is how we drive better learning gains — through a continuous but realistic raising of the academic bar.” Politico Florida.
H.B. 7069 lawsuit: Indian River County School Board members meet about joining a lawsuit against the newly signed state education bill, H.B. 7069, but make no decision. Several districts are committed to suing the state over the bill, which requires districts to share tax money with charter schools. TCPalm. Bay County School Board members will vote Tuesday on whether to join the lawsuit against the education bill. Superintendent Bill Husfelt and board members have complained about the bill and the secret manner in which it was put together. Ginger Littleton, board chair, calls the bill “slimy, underhanded, treacherous and very expensive for taxpayers.” Panama City News Herald. (more…)
Graduation rate up: The state's high school graduation rate for 2016 was a record 80.7 percent, according to the Department of Education. That's 2.8 percentage points over the 2015 rate. Fifty-five of the state's 67 districts showed improvement. Florida Department of Education. Orlando Sentinel. Miami Herald. Palm Beach Post. Gradebook. Florida Times-Union. Florida Today. Space Coast Daily. TCPalm. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Daytona Beach News-Journal. Orlando Sentinel. WJXT. WPLG. WTLV.
Socioeconomic segregation: The Bay County School District is becoming segregated along socioeconomic lines, with richer, high-performing students increasingly moving to charter schools. That's the summary of an analysis of the district's charter school population. "I don't think anyone got a surprise here," school board chair Ginger Littleton said. Panama City News Herald.
Classroom learning: How much time students spend learning in classrooms will be the focus of the new chairmen of the Senate and House K-12 education committees. “We want to take a deep dive and make sure that we’re getting every penny that we can to that classroom across the board, whether it’s a traditional public school, a magnet, a charter,” says Rep. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah. Miami Herald.
Bullying in school: Faced with statistics that bullying in schools is up, and several recent examples, Broward County School Board members say they plan to take a closer look at what they can do to cut down on bullying and the violence that often accompanies it. Sun-Sentinel. (more…)
Homework fight: Miami-Dade teachers and parents spar at a school board meeting over the amount of homework students are being given. Parents say too much is being assigned, cutting into family time. Teachers say the homework is needed because testing takes too much instruction time away from students. Miami Herald.
Testing transformation: Pinellas County school officials say younger students at struggling elementary schools are doing much better in new literacy tests than students in third, fourth and fifth grades. The differences are most apparent on language arts tests. Officials credit the use of biweekly tests, which are helping teachers see how well they've taught to the state standards and to catch students' weaknesses earlier. Tampa Bay Times.
Spending oversight: The Broward County School District is asking the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Education to oversee the district's spending of $800 million it is receiving from a voter-approved bond to renovate schools. Sun-Sentinel.
Students from Cuba: The Miami-Dade County School District is preparing for a "potential influx of child and adult learners" emigrating from Cuba after the death of Fidel Castro on Friday, says Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. CNN.
Education secretary: Betsy DeVos, a strong advocate of school choice with deep Florida ties, is nominated to be President-elect Donald Trump's secretary of education. redefinED. News Talk Florida. Politico Florida. Education Week. Groups that oppose the Common Core school standards are unhappy with the selection of DeVos as education secretary, even though she is now saying she does not support the standards. Sunshine State News. What will education in Florida look like with Donald Trump as president? Tampa Bay Times.
