Around the state: Brevard’s school board approves a proposal to arm certain nonteaching employees in schools, Pinellas and Pasco school boards approve policies restricting the use of cell phones by students during the school day, email records show that a financial services company notified Florida A&M University that it could not verify donated stock was worth the $237 million its donor said it was weeks before the gift was announced, two Palm Beach County high school administrators who were charged with failing to report a suspected sexual assault but later cleared have been assigned to new jobs, and Seminole county commissioners agree to ask voters in November to extend a penny sales tax for schools and transportation infrastructure. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Hillsborough: When voters countywide go to the polls in November to vote in the District 7 school board race, their ballots will give them the option of choosing incumbent Lynn “Teacher” Gray, Johnny “Principal” Bush or another challenger. Both filed affidavits allowing the nicknames to be listed on the ballot. Other declared candidates are Karen Bendorf, Alene Atkins, Jen Flebotte and Ashley Hartfield-Viewins. Tampa Bay Times.
Palm Beach: Two Palm Beach Central High School administrators who were criminally charged for allegedly not reporting a suspected sexual assault and later cleared when the charges were dropped have been assigned to new jobs. Former principal Darren Edgecomb will become a principal on assignment for the district’s charter schools department, and former assistant principal Daniel Snider will become an assistant principal at Royal Palm Beach Community High. WPTV.
Duval: School board members heard a presentation Tuesday detailing how money raised through an extra mill in property taxes approved by voters in 2022 has been used by the district. About $113 million was raised last year, with most of the money going toward teacher pay. Educators at the low end of the pay scale received an additional $5,401 and those at the top got supplements of $7,041. Another $21 million-plus went to charter schools, and about $11 million went to arts and athletics programs. WJXT. Parental opposition has been steady at public meetings to the school district’s master plan proposing to close as many as 30 schools because of underenrollment and budget pressures. District officials have insisted that no decisions have been made, and won’t be until the school board has heard from the public. WJXT.
Pinellas: School board members have unanimously approved a district-wide policy regulating students’ use of cell phones in schools. Elementary students must shut off phones and store them during the school day, but can use them at the end of the day to coordinate transportation. Middle school students will have the same rules, except they will be allowed to use phones before classes begin. High school students’ phones must be on silent during classes, but can be used before and after school, at lunchtime and between classes. The policy takes effect in August. Spectrum News 9. Tampa Bay Times. WFTS. WTVT. Eight more schools are getting new principals after a round of retirements and reassignments. Tampa Bay Times.
Pasco: Students’ cell phones must be silenced and out of sight in elementary and middle schools starting this fall, school board members unanimously decided Tuesday in approving changes to the student code of conduct. High school students will be allowed to use phones during their lunch periods. Offenders will face disciplinary action. Tampa Bay Times. WTVT. An application to build a charter high school in the south-central part of the county won the school board’s approval in a 4-1 vote Tuesday. Some members of the community had objected to the Patel Foundation for Global Understanding’s proposal for a 1,000-student school, but board members said the charter company had met all the state requirements and gave them “no statutory reason for denial.” Board attorney Paul Meeker told the board, “These types of applications typically are approved in Tallahassee.” Tampa Bay Times.
Brevard: Certain non-teaching school employees could soon be carrying weapons on campus after the school board voted 4-1 to approve a memo of understanding with the sheriff’s department to expand the guardian program. Employees eligible to be armed after undergoing training will include “employees who are not assigned to a classroom,” though their eligibility to participate is “dependent on the terms outlined in the applicable bargaining contract.” Training for volunteers begins in July. Florida Today. WKMG. WOFL. WFTV.
Seminole: County commissioners agreed Tuesday to ask voters to renew the county’s penny sales tax to raise money for schools and for county transportation infrastructure projects such as building or upgrading roads, sidewalks, trails and bridges. A quarter of the $85 million a year the tax raises goes to the school district to build schools or buy equipment. If voters approve it, the tax will take effect Jan. 1, 2025, and continue through Dec. 31, 2034. Orlando Sentinel. WFTV.
Alachua: School board members began consideration of this year’s budget at Tuesday’s meeting. Projected revenue is $297.2 million, which is about $13.2 million higher than last year’s. The budget incorporates 23 positions that had been paid with pandemic funds, with the $1.4 million cost moving into the general fund. Board members will take a tentative vote Aug. 1 on the budget and millage, with a final vote scheduled Sept. 11. Mainstreet Daily News. Four people have been approved by the Newberry City Commission as school board members for Newberry Elementary School. They were recommended by Education First for Newberry, the group that pushed to convert public schools in Newberry into charter schools. Votes for Newberry High and Oak View Middle failed, and the vote for Newberry Elementary has been disputed, with conversion advocates saying the state agrees that it passed. District officials have said they have yet to be officially notified by the state. Mainstreet Daily News.
Bay: A proposal to expand athletic facilities at Deane Bozeman High School in Panama City has been approved by the school board. A new softball field with a fieldhouse, press box and dugouts will be built on a different site. District officials expect the $5.5 million project to begin within 45 days and take about 10 months to complete. WJHG. WMBB.
Citrus: School board members agreed Tuesday to boost starting pay for school bus drivers from $16.86 an hour to $20.09 as a way to address a shortage of drivers. Citrus County School District.
Colleges and universities: Email records show that weeks before a $237 million gift to Florida A&M University from hemp farm executive Gregory Gerami was announced, Raymond James Financial Services wrote a letter to FAMU that said it would no longer provide a value for the donated stock. “To the extent that Mr. Gerami has or does provide you with official account statements from Raymond James, we do not believe the pricing of certain securities was accurate, and that those statements do not reflect the actual value of Mr. Gerami’s account as of the statement period,” the letter stated. Tallahassee Democrat. Miami Herald. WTXL. Tallahassee Community College will offer eight new associate in science degree programs this fall in the computer technology field. WFSU.
Around the nation: The nation’s first religious charter school is preparing to open in Oklahoma this August, but the legality of the school remains tied up court battles and it’s unclear if the state will pay students’ cost to attend the virtual school. The 74.
Opinions on schools: Gov. Ron DeSantis’ declaration of war on the state’s largest public employees union, United Teachers of Dade, is a hyperbolic, tactical offensive in the administration’s broader efforts to transform Florida public education into a decentralized network of charters and private schools and to tilt the curriculum in a decidedly conservative direction. Nate Monroe, Florida Times-Union.
