Around the state: Florida A&M University President Larry Robinson resigned suddenly Friday amid an investigation into a disputed donation to the school, two books by authors who support the state’s book review challenge or the Republicans who created the law are being challenged to the Palm Beach County School Board, Brevard is expanding its armed guardians program to include school employees when classes resume Aug. 12, Lee County students improve their state test scores but still lag behind the state averages, and population growth is straining Santa Rosa County’s schools. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: Michael Gould, the longtime assistant principal at MAST Academy, has been appointed principal of the magnet school in Miami. He replaces Cadian Collman-Perez, who is now district director of post-secondary career and technical education for the district. Islander Media Group.
Broward: A member of the school board has accused a colleague of an ethics violation. Allen Zeman says Torey Alston advocated for the district to pay charter schools $120 million for previously failing to share revenue from a tax initiative while a company owned by a family member received payments from at least one charter school company. Alston, who recused himself from the vote on paying the charters, called Zeman’s charges politically motivated. Sun Sentinel. WTVJ. Allegations that two school board candidates were campaigning when they were supposed to be working have caused them problems with their school employers. Rebecca Thompson, who is running for the District 2 seat, resigned as a staff assistant to Zeman. And Chris Carter, a federal grants specialist and candidate in District 1, was reprimanded after an investigation concluded he attended school functions during work hours without authorization. Sun Sentinel.
Palm Beach: School board members will hear a county resident’s challenges to three books at Wednesday’s meeting. Notably, two of them are by authors who either support the state law allowing book challenges or Republicans who wrote and passed it. Kenneth Derrick contends Bill O’Reilley’s The O’Reilly Factor for Kids: A Survival Guide for America’s Families, Dean Koontz’s The Taking and Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead all contain sexual content that is unsuitable for students at Park Vista High School. He said he doesn’t want the books banned, but proposes adding labels to them. His challenge has been rejected by the school’s review committee and principal, and Superintendent Michael Burke. Palm Beach Post.
Lee: District students improved their scores on the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking tests over last year, but they remain below the state average at almost every grade level. In math, 56 percent of Lee 3rd-graders scored at grade level or above while the state average was 60 percent. Among 7th-graders, just 32 percent of Lee students scored at grade level or higher, compared to the state’s 47 percent. In reading, 48 percent of Lee’s 3rd-graders were grade level or higher while the state’s average was 55 percent. District 7th-graders lagged the state 50-46 percent, and 10th-graders were at 47 percent compared to the state’s 53 percent. Fort Myers News-Press.
Brevard: The district’s armed school guardian program is being expanded this year to include non-classroom school employees trained by the sheriff’s department. Who, how many and where they are will not be disclosed. The idea of arming school employees was broached last October by school board chair Megan Wright. It picked up support from most of the other board members, was approved in June, and will be in place when students return to schools Aug. 12. Brevard is one of 53 districts in the state taking part in the program. Florida Today.
Seminole: A science teacher at Seminole High School was arrested Friday and accused of child molestation. Sheriff’s deputies said Timothy Delaney, 48, is charged with lewd and lascivious molestation against a person younger than 12 years old. WOFL. WESH.
Sarasota: Three of the five school board candidates talked about their qualifications and answered questions about the charter schools, curbing disruptions at school board meetings, the tax referendum on the ballot and more at a candidate forum last week. Participating were District 2 candidate Liz Barker but not incumbent Karen Rose, and District 3 board member Tom Edwards and Thomas Babicz. Another candidate, Greg Wood, was absent because of a family illness. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
St. Lucie: District 4 school board candidates Jennifer Richardson and Nate Spera state their qualifications, why they are running and what their top priorities will be if elected. TCPalm.
Alachua: The four candidates for two school board seats — incumbent Diyonne McGraw and Thomas Vu in District 2, and board member Leanetta McNealy and Lew A. Welge in District 4 — state their qualifications, why they are running and what their top priorities will be if elected. Mainstreet Daily News.
Santa Rosa: Surging growth in the county is straining the district’s school system. Almost 5,000 new residents moved in between July 2022 and July 2023, another 1,400 homes are being developed this year and two high schools are already over capacity. Soundside High School in Gulf Breeze will open in 2026 for up to 1,800 students, and assistant superintendent Joey Harrell says the district is already thinking about building another school in the northern part of the county. WEAR.
Martin: District 2 school board candidates Marsha Powers and Sydney Thomas state their qualifications, why they are running and what their top priorities will be if elected. TCPalm.
Indian River: District 3 school board candidates Peggy Jones and Ron MacCallum, and District 5 candidates David Dyer and Kevin McDonald present their qualifications, and state why they are running and what their top priorities will be if elected. TCPalm.
Colleges and universities: Florida A&M University President Larry Robinson announced Friday that he was stepping down, effective immediately. FAMU has been named the top historically black public college or university for the past five years, but his seven-year tenure was tainted in May when he announced a $237 million donation to the school that could not verified and was later backed away from. The circumstances surrounding the donation are currently under investigation. Robinson said he will take a 12-month sabbatical and return as an environmental professor. Tallahassee Democrat. Politico Florida. News Service of Florida. WFSU. Florida Phoenix. Chronicle of Higher Education.
Around the nation: More than 1 million U.S. students are now participating in school choice programs to attend private schools. That’s more than double the number who used them just five years ago. That growth is expected to continue, with more than 22 million U.S. students eligible to participate. K-12 Dive. Forty-four states offer free “universal” preschool programs, but participation varies widely state-to-state. Florida, for example, has a 67 percent enrollment rate while some states are under 10 percent. Tribune News Service.
Opinions on schools: By focusing on state-level initiatives and empowering parents, the movement for educational freedom is creating a more dynamic and responsive education system. Diana Diaz-Harrison, Forbes. Making school board races partisan may end up boosting low voter turnout, but it risks making the boards’ members – and local schools – more polarized and less effective. Kathleen Knight Abowitz, Flagler Live.