Charter schools: Central Florida will see 14 new charter schools next year focusing on a range of themes from Montessori to military to science and technology. Orlando Sentinel. Ben Gamla Charter Schools take in more than $10 million in public funding. Miami Herald. A Lakeland charter school hosts free workshops to help teachers learn best practices for the classroom. The Ledger.
Social learning: Broward school district teachers and employees can use district computers to log onto previously blocked sites, like Facebook and YouTube. Sun Sentinel.
Common Core: Common Core State Standards could soon have an effect on report cards. As course work gets harder, students’ grades could take a hit. Tampa Bay Times.
District policies: Duval County’s superintendent wants to change a hiring policy that would allow applicants with a felony that happened more than 10 years ago to be eligible for a district job. Florida Times-Union. Manatee County parents want the district’s concussion policy updated. Bradenton Herald.
School budgets: The Manatee County School District has a $3.9 million budget shortfall. Bradenton Herald.
School security: Hillsborough school officials continue to debate the merit of added security officers at schools. Tampa Bay Times.
Evaluations: Pinellas County Schools didn’t have a single teacher rated unsatisfactory for the 2012-13 school year. Tampa Bay Times.
Education grants: Thirty Brevard teachers win $23,000 in School Bucks Mini-Grants from the Brevard Schools Foundation to encourage and pay for creative classroom projects. Florida Today.
Teachers: An Escambia elementary school science teacher is named People Magazine’s Teacher of the Year. Pensacola News-Journal. A Hillsborough elementary teacher is a finalist for the state’s Green School Awards. The Tampa Tribune.
Conduct: A former Palm Beach County teacher faces charges that she extorted another teacher by threatening to reveal nude photos of her. Palm Beach Post.
