Grade appeal: Two West Palm Beach County schools are among 12 in the state appealing their overall grades to the Florida Department of Education. Sun Sentinel.
Charter schools: Pinellas County's newest charter school, University Preparatory Academy, draws complaints concerning students with behavioral problems. Tampa Bay Times.
Common Core: Will new Common Core standards mean less teaching to the test? StateImpact Florida.
Special needs: A Palm Beach high school culinary club partners with Autism Speaks to develop a cooking program that helps kids with autism make friends. Sun Sentinel.
Enrollment: Palm Beach County schools lose more than 1,000 students in official district count while charter school enrollment booms. Palm Beach Post.
Drop in: Orange County educators will visit former students who have dropped out of school to persuade them to return. Orlando Sentinel.
Mentors: What the Polk County School District needs now is more mentors, says the district's Superintendent Kathryn LeRoy. The Ledger.
The arts: "Orange County has reached a milestone,'' writes columnist Scott Maxwell. "We have at least one art or music teacher in every school. That is both impressive … and sad.'' Orlando Sentinel.
Name change: A social media campaign gains steam toward changing the name of a Jacksonville high school named after the first grand wizard of the Klu Klux Klan. Florida Times-Union.
School grades. Low grades create more teacher turnover, a teacher columnist argues. StateImpact Florida.
Turnaround schools. Pushback in Pasco yields some flexibility from the state. Tampa Bay Times.
Charter schools. The League of Women Voters ask questions in Polk. Lakeland Ledger.
Common Core. Administrators are training for Common Core too. StateImpact Florida.
GPAs. A proposed change in how they're calculated in Pasco stirs debate. Tampa Bay Times.
Principals. St. Lucie will have 13 new ones in August. TCPalm.com.
Superintendents. Duval board members evaluate Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, reports the Florida Times Union. Alachua Superintendent Dan Boyd wins the Florida School Boards Association's President's Award, reports the Gainesville Sun. New Lee Superintendent Nancy Graham starts shaking up administrative staff, reports the Fort Myers News Press. More from the Naples Daily News.
School safety. A third custodian is considered a suspect in the shooting deaths of two custodians at a West Palm Beach high school. Palm Beach Post.
School spending. A Marion school board member suggests some controversial cost-savings ideas to save teacher jobs, including having staff clean their own schools and either shutting down or charging students to attend IB programs. Ocala Star Banner.
Reading. More than 100 residents turn out to kick off a reading mentoring program for kids in Fort Meade. Lakeland Ledger.
Next steps. Florida should adopt parent triggers and education savings accounts to keep the reform momentum going, writes William Mattox at the James Madison Institute. Florida Voices.
More on teacher raises. Gov. Rick Scott’s proposal is “long overdue,” writes the Miami Herald. Teachers deserve it, writes the Tampa Tribune. Agreed, writes the Florida Times Union. A "major leap in his new commitment to education," writes the Tallahassee Democrat. A good deal if it’s part of a long-term commitment, writes the Fort Myers News Press. A "naked political ploy," writes the Orlando Sentinel: "The best teacher in Florida will get the exact same raise as the worst teacher in Florida. We're having trouble seeing the merit in that."
It clashes with other items on the education wish list, notes StateImpact Florida. "A lot of details need to be worked out," writes Sunshine State News. A tradeoff for pension ruling? asks Education Week. State Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Boca Raton, has filed legislation for a constitutional amendment that would push teacher salaries to the national average, notes SchoolZone. Florida PTA likes the idea, SchoolZone also notes. Scott talks up his plan at Twin Lakes Elementary in Tampa, reports the Tampa Bay Times, and at Gainesville High, reports the Gainesville Sun.
Teacher evals. Gradebook: Work in progress, lawmakers say. StateImpact Florida: Districts have flexibility, a DOE official tells lawmakers. Associated Press: Race and poverty have little impact on evaluation scores, a DOE official tells lawmakers. SchoolZone: SB 736 may need some work, Gov. Scott says. Florida Times Union: A Duval middle school principal accidentally emails evaluation ratings to her entire staff.
Teacher quality. Gradebook logs in the NCTQ report that gives Florida a B- on teacher prep. So does the Associated Press.
School spending. An audit finds the Broward school district’s transportation department is missing about $1 million worth of equipment, including “two 2009 Ford Explorers worth $20,000 each, six generators worth $300,000, a forklift valued at $20,000 and 250 radios each priced at more than $1,000,” reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The Franklin County school district's financial crisis could mean 19.5 percent pay cuts for employees, reports the Tallahassee Democrat. (more…)
