State says Duval teacher can reapply for license, discipline disparity, Bright Futures, and more

Around the state: Florida’s Education Practices Commissions decides a Duval teacher whose contract was not renewed after she declined to remove a Black Lives Matter flag from her classroom can reapply for her state teaching certificate, Broward schools are still closed today because of rain and flooding but the demolition of the Parkland school building where 17 students and staff were shot and killed in 2018 will proceed, some Hillsborough school board members are calling for changes to end the disparity in discipline referrals between white students and students of color, referrals for vaping in Volusia schools were up 80 percent this year, New College of Florida trustees approve a new strategic plan, Charlotte school board members approve a contract between the district and teachers, and changes are recommended for the Bright Futures Scholarship program to increase the number of black students receiving funds. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:

Broward: Broward schools remain closed today because of heavy rains and flooding moving through the area, but demolition of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School building where 17 students and staff were shot to death in 2018 will begin. The work is expected to be completed before students start school Aug. 12. Sun Sentinel. Florida Department of Education. WPBF. Associated Press. ABC News.

Hillsborough: Some school board members and community leaders are calling for changes in the way the school district hands out discipline after a recent report shows Hispanic and black students are 2 to 3 times more likely than whites to receive referrals for discipline. “The number of referrals being handed to our children of color is unacceptable,” said school board chair Karen Perez. District officials say they are using “discipline report cards” to school leaders to make them aware of the data disparity, and a new program encourages and rewards positive behavior in schools while looking at alternative interventions for misbehaving students. WFTS.

Palm Beach: A school district investigation reveals that coaches of Jupiter High School’s baseball team required players to raise more than $1,200 each to be on the team, used $6,000 from student fund-raising to take trips to Nashville and Daytona Beach, and overpaid consultants by more than $3,000. School board members approved an auditor’s recommendation that coach Andy Mook and his assistant coaches pay back $3,359. The district is also looking into allegations from parents about a toxic team environment and a coach verbally abusing players. Mook resigned in January after 13 years as coach, the same month the district began its investigation. Palm Beach Post.

Duval: An English teacher at a Jacksonville high school who says she was fired after the 2020-2021 school year for having a Black Lives Matter flag in her room can reapply for her Florida teaching certificate, the Florida Education Practices Commission decided Thursday. The commission sided with an administrative law judge’s April recommendation that Amy Donofrio receive only a written reprimand for wearing face masks that read “Robert E. Lee was a gang member” at a time when the district was renaming six schools, including Donofrio’s Robert E. Lee High. After her dismissal Donofrio sued the school board, charging it retaliated against her, and won a $300,000 settlement. CNN. WTLV.

Polk: Alricky Smith has been named the interim superintendent of the Lake Wales Charter School System, replacing the fired Wayne Rodolfich. Smith has been the assistant superintendent in charge of the district’s finances, and was interim superintendent before Rodolfich was hired in July 2022. An attorney for Rodolfich has requested a hearing with the board that is expected to be held in the next three weeks. Rodolfich was fired a week ago after a district investigation into allegations that he had created a hostile work environment and racially discriminated against at least one employee. Lakeland Ledger.

Brevard: Angela Owens has been named the principal at John F. Kennedy Middle School. She had been the interim principal. School board members also approved the appointments of eight assistant principals. Space Coast Daily. A teacher who used an “MMA” move to break up a fight between two 17-year-old students at Space Coast Junior/Senior High School in Cocoa last month will not face charges after a sheriff’s department investigation concluded he did nothing wrong. WKMG.

Osceola: Saving energy is a core element at the NeoCity Academy high school in Kissimmee, and it’s paying off in a big way for the school district. NeoCity has 650 solar panels, a specialized air-filtration system, and is able to often use natural light instead of electricity because it has so many windows. It also chose to have a food truck instead of a cafeteria “so we don’t have a … kitchen that is using energy to cook the food here,” said principal Yvette Ponzoa. The cumulative effect is that the school produces more energy than it burns and saves the district $115,000 a year, Ponzoa said. WKMG.

Volusia: Referrals for vaping on district campuses skyrocketed 80 percent this past school year, from 289 between January and March 2023 to 521 in that same time span this year. “It’s not healthy, and it’s a discipline issue. If you get busted in a high school multiple times for this, you could face suspension or expulsion, so now your little habits turned into a life-altering event,” said district spokesman Greg Trechetta, who also said the district is collaborating with the sheriff and the state attorney to roll out a new anti-vaping educational campaign in the fall. WKMG. WFTV.

Manatee: When Richard Tatem resigned from his District 5 school board seat May 30 to run for a state House seat, he said his departure was effective Nov. 5. Because the remainder of his term is less than 28 months, the state constitution says the open seat will be filled by gubernatorial appointment. If the rest of the term is 28 months or more, a special election is required. The League of Women Voters is arguing that the remainder of the term should date to his resignation May 30 instead of his announced departure of Nov. 5. But Supervisor of Elections James Satcher rejected that argument, ruling that Tatem’s seat would be filled by appointment because the law was amended in 2021 to clarify that the office is declared vacant on the effective date listed in the resignation. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Clay: County commissioners approved spending $6.8 million during the 2024-2025 fiscal year on resource officers for the school district. The district decided last year to drop its own police department and instead contract with the county sheriff’s department to provide officers for schools. A three-year deal was signed; it takes effect July 1 and continues through June 30, 2027. Clay Today.

Leon: Construction projects are in the works for Griffin and Nims middle schools, and Hartsfield Elementary. Tallahassee Democrat.

Charlotte: School board members approved a contract agreement between the district and its teachers that will boost the average pay to $47,235, provide a lump sum payment of $8,091 to instructors and administrative employees with 30 or more years experience, and increases hourly rates for teachers who teach during their planning periods, classroom substitutes, teachers with advanced degrees, and more. Charlotte Sun.

Colleges and universities: New College of Florida’s trustees have approved a new strategic plan that calls for the school to increase enrollment from 750 students to 1,800, the number of faculty from 107 to 257, and the number of student-athletes from 140 to 650 by 2034. A core curriculum framework was also approved to continue the goal of turning the school into a classical liberal arts college. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. News Service of Florida.

Proposed Bright Futures changes: The Bright Futures Scholarship program should adjust its minimum test score exemption for black students to increase their representation in the program, says Ron Klein, the former state senator who wrote a bill 24 years ago to improve Hispanic representation. State Sen. Dianne Hart, D-Tampa, said she agrees, and has begun writing a bill to address the issue. Klein’s bill helped triple Hispanic participation, but the number of black students receiving Bright Futures has remained at 7 percent or less for almost 30 years, even though blacks make up 21 percent of student enrollment. WTSP.

Education and the courts: A hearing of the state’s appeal of a preliminary injunction issued against  a 2022 state law that placed restrictions on how race-related concepts can be taught in universities was moved from Thursday to today by bad weather in south Florida. The law, dubbed the “Stop WOKE Act,” was challenged by university professors who said it violated their free speech rights and academic freedom. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction against the law, saying it is “antithetical to academic freedom.” The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will consider the state’s appeal of that decision. News Service of Florida.

Opinions on schools: If I and others like me cannot teach the most essential aspects of the Latino experience and history because of the state’s stop-woke law, then how will students learn about the factors that led to Latinos becoming the largest minority group in the U.S.? Elizabeth Aranda, Tampa Bay Times. The knowledge-creating relating process requires students to hypothesize, infer, correlate, extrapolate, imagine, predict, generalize, synthesize and so on, to use the dozens of thought processes not taught in schools because they’re too complex to be evaluated by machine-scored standardized tests. Marion Brady, Orlando Sentinel. As always, there is not a single course in the spring top 25 dual-enrollment courses that would help a Florida student who intends to pursue a math-intensive STEM major advance toward college graduation. Paul Cottle, Bridge to Tomorrow. In Florida, union representation does not necessarily lead to higher salaries for teachers. Maddie Dermon, Sun Sentinel.


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BY NextSteps staff

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