Student activism: Hundreds of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students, parents and teachers are traveling to Washington, D.C., for the March For Our Lives rally Saturday. Another 800 or so marches calling for stricter gun laws are planned in cities around the world, and more than a million people are expected to participate. Miami Herald. Associated Press. Other Florida students will take part in local ceremonies. Sun-Sentinel. Orlando Sentinel. Gradebook. Palm Beach Post. Daytona Beach News-Journal. Bradenton Herald. Naples Daily News. Florida Today. Fort Myers News-Press. TCPalm. Five Stoneman Douglas students who have become national figures in the #NeverAgain movement to change gun laws make the cover of the April 2 Time magazine. Sun-Sentinel. Miami Herald.
Schools of Hope operators: Two charter school companies apply to become Florida's first "Schools of Hope" operators. Somerset Academy, which recently took over the Jefferson County School District, and the Texas company IDEA Public Schools were approved by the Department of Education, and the Florida Board of Education votes on their applications Tuesday. Hope operators get a streamlined process to open schools in areas with persistently low-performing schools, and access to low-cost loans for facilities and grants to pay for things such as longer school days. redefinED.
School security: The Miami-Dade County School Board is considering a pilot program giving schools the option of requiring students to wear clear backpacks. Miami Herald. Hendry County schools will require students to wear clear backpacks for the 2018-2019 school year, but Charlotte and Lee counties will not. WZVN. Charter schools are struggling to find money for school security. There's no road map for agreements between local public districts and charters on finding guards for schools, who those armed guards will be, or who will pay for them. redefinED. The Sarasota County School approves spending more than $1 million beyond what it will receive from the state to place armed law enforcement officers in each of the district's 21 elementary schools. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The Monroe County School Board is considering asking voters to approve a tax increase to pay for police officers in schools. Key West Citizen. At a town meeting, Hillsborough County parents quiz school officials on what's been done and what's being planned to keep students safe. School officials say their plans hinge on funding. Complying with state laws will create a $16 million deficit in security costs for the district, they say. Tampa Bay Times. (more…)
Recovering from Irma: Most school districts around the state reopen Monday but several others open even later and two, Monroe and Hardee, remain closed until further notice. Florida Department of Education. Orlando Sentinel. Miami Herald. Florida Times-Union. Florida Today. Fort Myers News-Press. Lakeland Ledger. Gainesville Sun. Ocala Star-Banner. St. Augustine Record. Wall Street Journal. WPEC. WBBH. WQAM. Schools in many districts around the state are providing meals and air-conditioning to families. WKMG. WLRN. WSVN. The question of why charter schools weren't used as shelters during Hurricane Irma is making the social media rounds. The answer is simple: Charter schools are not required to meet the construction guidelines for hurricane protection. Traditional public schools are. Gradebook. Seminole County announces its storm makeup days. Orlando Sentinel.
Lawsuit over bonuses: The state's largest teachers union, the Florida Education Association, is suing the state over the Best & Brightest scholarship program for educators, alleging it discriminates against older and minority teachers. To be eligible for the bonuses, teachers must be rated "highly effective" and have scored in the top 20 percent on the ACT or SAT test. “In some cases, (the teachers) took (the test) so long ago the testing agencies did not even have the scores archived,” says FEA attorney John Davis. Tallahassee Democrat. News Service of Florida. Sun-Sentinel. Gradebook. WRAL. WFSU.
