School superintendents: Desmond Blackburn, superintendent of the Brevard County School District since June 2015, is resigning to become the CEO of the California-based New Teacher Center, a national nonprofit that trains and mentors new teachers. Blackburn's last day is no later than Aug. 10. The school board will discuss its search for a new superintendent at a meeting today. The highlights of Blackburn's tenure include a restructuring of district operations, scaling back teacher evaluations and district-required testing, and developing a new discipline policy. Florida Today. Space Coast Daily. Spectrum News 13. Viera Voice. WKMG. Sun-Sentinel. The Duval County School Board picks three finalists for its superintendent's job: Diana Greene, Manatee County superintendent; Erick Pruitt, area superintendent of Houston schools; and Michael Dunsmore, superintendent of Wayne County schools in North Carolina. Interview are this week and a decision could be announced as early as 4 p.m. Friday. Florida Times-Union. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
School security: Volusia County school officials are now considering hiring 44 armed "school marshals" for each of their elementary schools. Hiring marshals, who would not have the authority to make arrests, would save the district more than $1 million a year because they would work only during the school year. Daytona Beach News-Journal. The Cape Coral City Council commits $1 million to help pay for 22 resource officers so every city school will be covered. Fort Myers News-Press. Just a few days after creating positions for security guards, the Pasco County School District has begun hiring. Nine offers for the jobs of guarding elementary schools have been made, and another 28 have been approved but are awaiting background checks. The district plans to hire 53 guards and a security director. Gradebook. Stanley Switlik Elementary School in Key West will get a school resource officer from the sheriff for the last two weeks of school. Next year the school district will be responsible for the officer, says Sheriff Rick Ramsay. Florida Keys Weekly. (more…)
Housing for teachers: It's becoming harder for Miami-Dade County teachers to find a place they can afford to rent in Miami-Dade County. So the county and the school district are collaborating on a plan to build apartments for teachers above a new school. The first phase of the plan would be to tear down an abandoned public housing project near Southside Elementary School in the Brickell area and build a school for grades 6-8. One floor would be used for apartments, with other floors devoted to parking and classrooms. “When you look at teacher salaries, it’s just impossible for them to get into the housing market,” says Ned Murray, associate director of Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center. If it's successful, the county and board will propose building a 300-apartment complex next to Phillis Wheatley Elementary, just north of downtown. Miami Herald.
Education court case: Now that the legislative session is over, the Florida Supreme Court will resume its review of the lawsuit that alleges the state has violated its constitutional role to fund an "an efficient, safe, secure and uniform high-quality education." Legislative leaders asked the court to suspend its review during the session. The plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court after an appeals court ruled that the question of financing was not an issue for the judicial branch. The case, Citizens for Strong Schools, was filed in 2009. Gradebook.
Atheists offer signs: The Tampa-based group Atheists of Florida is offering to provide signs with the saying "In God We Trust" free to every school in Florida to fulfill a requirement in the recently passed education bill. "We want to help educate about the First Amendment and the establishment clause, as well as about the diversity in our country," says executive director Judy Adkins. One of the versions would state "E Pluribus Unum, In God We Trust" in a circle with red, white and blue stars and stripes. The outside of the circle would contain words from the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Gradebook. (more…)
Scott signs budget bill: Gov. Rick Scott signs the $88.7 billion state budget, dismissing pleas from Florida's school superintendents for a special legislative session to increase funding for schools. The budget includes new money for K-12 schools, mostly for school security and mental health counseling for students, and a boost in the amount Bright Futures scholars receive. Associated Press. News Service of Florida. Miami Herald. Orlando Sentinel. GateHouse. Capitolist. Gradebook. Politico Florida. Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, says legislative leaders are considering allowing school districts that don't want to arm school personnel to use any money left over from the marshals program to hire resource officers. Associated Press. News Service of Florida. The new funding formula takes $56 million in state money that in the past would have gone to larger school districts and is redirecting it to smaller ones. Miami-Dade, for example, will receive $7 million less. Tampa Bay Times. House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes, criticizes the state's school superintendents for complaining about the state's K-12 spending, saying those who are “grossly mismanaging their budgets” should resign. Bradenton Herald. Scott vetoed a $1 million item for Okaloosa County schools to buy buses that would help ease traffic congestion near Hurlburt Field, headquarters for the Air Force Special Operations Command. Here's a full list of the $64 million in projects that Scott vetoed. Northwest Florida Daily News.
School shooting developments: Mental health records show that Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School officials were worried about Nikolas Cruz's fascination with guns, and banned him from practicing his shooting with the Junior RTOC or carrying a backpack on campus 18 months before the massacre that killed 17 at the school. Sun-Sentinel. Associated Press. The Coconut Creek police officer who arrested Cruz describes his search and his shock when he found the accused school shooter. Sun-Sentinel. More than $4 million has been raised for the victims of the Parkland shooting and their families, and the Broward Education Foundation has appointed a steering committee to determine how to distribute the money and who will receive it. Sun-Sentinel. Deputies at Stoneman Douglas High are carrying AR-15 rifles at the school, but concealing them in backpacks so as not to alarm students. Sun-Sentinel. A Lighthouse Point man becomes the first person in Florida to have his firearms and ammunition seized under the state's new law addressing gun restrictions and school safety. Sun-Sentinel. The fiancee of a teacher killed in the shootings still struggles to comprehend what happened. Palm Beach Post. A sculptor is planning a 15-foot memorial to the shooting victims at the Parkland school. Sun-Sentinel. Five Stoneman Douglas High shooting survivors appear on 60 Minutes and give Florida lawmakers a C or C-minus grade for their response to the tragedy. Sun-Sentinel. Miami Herald. Three other survivors take their message for increasing gun regulation to the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press.
