School choice: Pinellas County schools Superintendent Mike Grego pushes to expand educational opportunities to woo back parents and students. Tampa Bay Times.
Magnet schools: A Polk County middle school for the arts class tries seating kids on bouncy exercise balls instead of a traditional desk and chair to help them focus better. The Ledger.
Private schools: Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa invests in technology to foster better collaboration and critical thinking among students. Tampa Bay Times.
Certificates of Completion: The not-quite-a-diploma certificate cripples career opportunities, writes the Fort Myers News-Press. Hillsborough County students look to the ACT to get their diplomas. Tampa Bay Times.
Common Core: The new education standards, state grades and teacher evaluations and pay are among the education issues to watch for in 2014. StateImpact Florida.
School funding: The Palm Beach County School District should lobby legislators to restore the 50-cent millage rate, writes Rick Christie for the Palm Beach Post.
Teacher evals: The TC Palm looks at the state’s new system of rating teachers.
Year in review: StateImpact Florida looks at 2013’s biggest education stories.
Class size: More than a dozen school districts claim all their schools are “schools of choice” to avoid the state’s mandated classroom counts and use school-wide averages instead. Tampa Bay Times.
School spending: Pinellas County schools is second only to Lee County in the amount it spends to keep school buildings open, comfortable and safe. The Tampa Tribune. Hillsborough County School Board member Susan Valdes defends her travel expenses. The Tampa Tribune.
Grad rates: The graduation rate among black males in Pinellas County has gone up since 2011, from 40 percent to 48.6 percent, but it’s still low. Tampa Bay Times. Palm Beach school officials reconvene a task force started in 2010 to focus on the floundering graduation rates and high-discipline rates of black male students. Palm Beach Post.
School name: There are plenty of Duval County schools named after people who did a lot of good for the community. Florida Times-Union.
Healthy kids: The Escambia County School District partners with United Healthcare to curb childhood obesity and diabetes. Pensacola News-Journal.
Special needs: Groundbreaking for the $35 million Els Center of Excellence – a complex featuring two schools, a golf driving range, auditorium, athletic field, swimming pool and future areas for medical research devoted to children with Autism – is planned for April and opening is set for the 2015 school year. Palm Beach Post.
School grades: A record number of high schools this year — 240 — achieved the coveted A grade from the state, but elementary and middle schools earned a record-high of 107 failing grades. Miami Herald.
New law: A new federal law financially rewards states that allow schools to stock up on injectable epinephrine, often called EpiPens, in case children suffer potentially deadly allergic reactions to food or drugs. Florida Times-Union.
Conduct: A civil lawsuit claims that a leader of Imagine Schools in Brevard County ignored signs that a teacher at the school was engaging in a sexual relationship with a then-14-year-old boy. Florida Today.
