Around the state: C.A. Weis Elementary School in Escambia County has been named the 2024 Community Partnership school of the year, school zones for 1,200 Sarasota County students are being redrawn to fill a new K-8 school, Polk schools are making a push to get a fulltime athletic trainer in every high school, an Orange County hotelier who gave millions for preschools and scholarships has died, and Brevard and Liberty schools announced employees of the year. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Orange: Harris Rosen, who built a hotel empire in Orlando and was a philanthropist who gave millions for preschools, mentoring programs and scholarships to students from two disadvantaged neighborhoods, died Monday at the age of 85. “His commitment to our community went beyond his work as a hotelier,” said Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings. “Harris invested millions into local schools, healthcare, and vital programs for underprivileged families, uplifting countless people in the process.” WKMG. WOFL. WFTV. WESH. Orlando Sentinel. Central Florida Public Media. Florida Politics.
Polk: The district was on a path to have fulltime athletic trainers at every public high school until the money for them was diverted to school security after 17 students and employees were shot and killed in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County. The push for fulltime trainers had to be restarted, but it’s been slowed by a lack of funding. Only three private schools now have them, and less than half of the county’s schools have trainers at football games. Until that changes, Sue Stanley-Green, former athletic training education program director at Florida Southern College who now works for the Women’s Tennis Association, will continue to be an advocate. She said she often hears district officials say they can’t afford it. “Well, then you can’t afford athletics if you can’t afford somebody to take care of the student-athletes,” she said. “That was something that was a mission from when I first moved here.” Lakeland Ledger.
Brevard: Kimberly White, a guidance clerk at James Madison Middle School in Titusville, has been named the school district’s employee of the year. She’s now eligible for the statewide award. Space Coast Daily.
Sarasota: Nearly 1,200 elementary and middle school students are being rezoned to attend the new K-8 Skye Ranch School that opens next August. Those students are coming from Ashton and Lakeview elementary schools and Sarasota Middle School, which all exceed capacity. Skye opens with students in K-6, and will add an additional grade in each of the following two years. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Escambia: C.A. Weis Elementary School in Pensacola has been named the 2024 Community Partnership school of the year by the University of Central Florida Center for Community Schools. UCF created the program in 2010. Each community school benefits from the partnership of the school district, a local college, a health-care provider and a nonprofit to offer a variety of services to students and families living in the neighborhoods around the schools. Weis became the first elementary school in Florida to become a community school in 2015. Pensacola News Journal. Some parents of football players at Pine Forest High School are criticizing the school for conducting random K-9 and metal detector searches on players before a Nov. 14 game in Jacksonville. “Yes, this occurs and will continue to occur at secondary public schools in Escambia County. Our students and staff deserve to learn and work in a safe environment,” the school district said in a written statement. Pensacola News Journal.
Alachua: Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward and school district athletic director Gary Pigott say while there is still no approved plan to make upgrades at Citizens Field, they remain committed to making long-needed improvements to the stadium that hasn’t been renovated since the 1980s. Citizens is used by football, soccer and lacrosse teams from Buchholz, Gainesville and East Side high schools. “I will consider my time at City Hall an abject failure if we can’t get Citizens Field built out the way that it ought to be and into something that we can be proud of,” Ward said. City commission workshops to discuss the project are scheduled in January and March, with a final presentation set in June. Gainesville Sun.
Hernando: New school board members Michelle Bonczek and Kayce Hawkins were sworn in last week after winning elections this fall. Holdover board members Shannon Rodriguez and Mark Johnson were elected board chair and vice chair, respectively. Hernando Today.
Citrus: After an extensive discussion on the use of artificial intelligence in schools, the district’s Policy and Forms Committee decided to create a subcommittee to begin putting together a proposed policy on how AI may and may not be used by students. Committee members agreed that blocking the policy is not practical, so teacher training will be needed to ensure that students aren’t taking credit for work they didn’t originate. Citrus County Chronicle.
Gadsden: County students who want to take dual-enrollment courses to work toward an associate’s degree but have had to travel to Tallahassee State College to do so will have a closer option next fall. Gadsden Technical College is starting the dual-enrollment program next August to make the courses more accessible. WTXL.
Monroe: Recently elected school board members Mindy Conn and Yvette Mira-Talbott were sworn in at a board meeting last week. Conn was then elected by her colleagues as board chair, and Darren Horan was chosen as the vice chair. During the meeting, it was announced that Jennifer Walker will be the new Head Start/VPK director, replacing the retiring Marla Russell. Key West Citizen.
Liberty: Keri Summers, a 2nd-grade teacher at the W.R. Tolar K-8 School in Bristol, has been named the school district’s teacher of the year, and the district employee of the year is Deanna Parrish. Liberty County School District.
Around the nation: President-elect Donald Trump plans to roll back the Biden administration’s efforts to cancel student debt. Trump has called the program “vile” and illegal. About $175 billion in student debt for 5 million Americans has been forgiven in the past four years. Politico. Hardening schools since the Columbine school shooting in 1999 as a way to keep students safe isn’t working, according to a study by Monic Behnken, Iowa State University associate sociology and criminal justice dean. “What the literature is clear about for the past 20 years is actually the thing that you want to do is, you want to soften your schools,” said Behnken. “You want to increase access to therapists, counselors, social workers, community liaisons.” Public News Service.
Opinions on schools: It’s hard to imagine public education remaining one-size-fits-all in a world of ubiquitous customization. Democracy can be terribly unforgiving to political candidates who attempt to give voters what they think they need rather than what they want. Ultimately this points to a bipartisan future for K-12 choice. Matthew Ladner, NextSteps. We question how Sarasota County School Board members can do their job as well by meeting only once a month. A big part of that job is communication with the public. As one speaker said in protesting the decision, “There’s no such thing as too much democracy, but there is such a thing as not enough.” Charlotte Sun.
