Around the state: The coach of the University of South Florida’s men’s basketball team died Thursday of complications during a surgical procedure, a law allowing school districts to put cameras on buses to ticket drivers was sponsored by a Miami state representative whose son and former stepson were subsequently hired by one of the companies that benefited from the law, Veterans Day will be converted to a makeup day for St. Johns County students, Leon school officials lobby the state Board of Education for one more year to turn around a struggling school, and election runoffs for school board seats in Lee, Seminole and Citrus counties are previewed. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: A company linked to a Republican state representative from Miami has financially benefited from a bill she sponsored last year that allowed school districts to use cameras to ticket drivers who ran buses’ stop signs. Less than three months after the bill passed, that company, BusPatrol, hired state Rep. Vicki Lopez’s son as vice president of government relations and her former stepson as a lobbyist. Lopez has denied wrongdoing. The Tributary.
Polk: Six early-release school days have been converted to full days for students to make up time classroom time lost when schools closed for Hurricane Milton this month: Nov. 22, Dec. 20, Jan. 17, Feb. 14, March 14 and April 7. WFLA.
Lee: Vanessa Chaviano meets Sheridan Chester in the Nov. 5 runoff for the District 7 school board seat now held by the retiring Cathleen Morgan. Chaviano pulled in 47.11 percent of the vote in the August primary to Chester’s 31.42 percent and Joshua Molandes’ 21.48 percent. Chaviano is campaigning on carefully planning for the district’s growth, improving school safety and boosting teacher pay. Chester’s priorities include teacher retention, fair wages and improved communication in schools. Fort Myers News-Press. Jennifer Lusk, principal of the Sanibel School, talks about relocating all students 14 miles to Heights Elementary School after Hurricane Milton hit the area earlier this month. The school’s students also moved to Heights two years ago when Hurricane Ian devastated the Fort Myers area. “Relocation is the ultimate professional learning community,” she said. District officials have no timeline on when Sanibel’s students can return to the school. Fort Myers News-Press.
Seminole: District 2 school board member Abby Sanchez is being challenged for her seat in the Nov. 5 runoff by nonprofit consultant Stephanie Arguello, who finished second to the incumbent in the August primary. Both are against the constitutional amendment that would require school board races to be partisan, but Sanchez cited her steady leadership on issues such as school safety and increasing teacher pay while Arguello believes the board needs a parent who has school-age children and a non-traditional family perspective. Orlando Sentinel.
Volusia: Four days that had been scheduled as early-release for students have been converted to full days in class to make up instructional time lost when Hurricane Milton closed schools earlier this month. Dec. 20, Feb. 19, March 12 and May 21 are now full school days. The rest of the time missed is being absorbed in the current schedule. WKMG. Daytona Beach News-Journal. District officials said this week that implementation of a “strong, zero-tolerance stance” and a series of “proactive and reactive” measures have significantly reduced the number of weapons being found in schools and cut the number of threats to schools from eight between Sept. 15 and 22 to one from Sept. 23 and 30. “As you can see, our initiatives to resolve this issue worked and returned our schools to normality,” said Capt. Todd Smith, the district’s director of safety and security. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Manatee: School board members have narrowed a list of 135 nominations to name a new K-8 school in the eastern part of the county to four finalists: Franke Howze, Tim Kolbe, Lake Manatee and Liberty. District officials are asking for public comment on the names by midnight, Oct. 28, with the school board scheduled to choose a name at a meeting the next day. Your Observer. WWSB.
St. Johns: District students will be attending classes on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, instead of being off on the federal holiday as scheduled after district officials converted it to make up a day lost to hurricanes Helene and Milton. Schools were closed for five days, but the district decided only two will have to be made up to comply with state instruction time requirements. The other makeup day will be announced later. WJXT.
Leon: District officials recently asked the state Board of Education to be given one more year to improve the Apalachee Tapestry Magnet School of the Arts’ state grade from a D to a C or better. The school has gotten three D grades in a row, and only 24 percent of its 5th-graders are considered proficient in math. Assistant superintendent Shane Syfrett noted improvements made at other district schools and said, “I believe that if we continue with our collaborative planning, we will make our gains so that school won’t be in D status again.” The plan includes more district intervention, increasing the number of teachers, training students with resource teachers, tracking data, teacher training and more. WTXL.
Citrus: Ken Frink and Victoria Lynne Smith are competing in the Nov. 5 runoff to succeed Ginger Bryant, who has represented District 2 on the school board for the past 24 years. Frink, a 58-year-old engineer, received the most votes among the four candidates in the August primary with 45.65 percent, while Smith, a 57-year-old who has taught in Citrus and Hernando for the past 26 years, was the choice of 24.18 percent of voters. She wants to make sure that teachers and staff are properly compensated and that helpful policies are implemented, while Frink’s top priorities are classroom discipline and teacher retention. WUFT. Superintendent Sandra Himmel attended her final school board meeting this week after 20 years of running the district. Her last day is Nov. 18, and Scott Hebert will be sworn in as her successor the following day. Citrus County Chronicle.
Colleges and universities: University of South Florida men’s basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim died Thursday from complications during a surgical procedure. He was 43 and starting his second season as the head of the program. Tampa Bay Times. WUSF. WFLA. WTSP. WTVT. WFTS. Juan Gilbert, a computer science professor at the University of Florida, has been appointed by President Biden to the National Science Board, an independent body of advisers to the president and Congress on policy matters related to science, technology and math. Gainesville Sun. Florida Memorial University is the home to a new museum dedicated to the contributions of black pioneers in aviation, from the first black woman to earn a pilot’s license, Bessie Coleman, to Mae Jemison and Guion S. Bluford Jr., the first black astronauts to go to space. Miami Herald. The NAACP chapter at Florida State University is calling on the school to investigate a student who made a social media post referring to “chimps,” apparently in reference to black fraternities and sororities, saying it “is profoundly damaging to the well-being of black students at FSU.” Tallahassee Democrat. WTXL. Free coaching is now being offered for Manatee and Sarasota high school graduates who want to pursue a postsecondary education. PLANit Sarasota, a partnership between the Education Foundation of Sarasota County and State College of Florida, guides adult students with some college experience but no credentials by helping with applications, college credit transfers and financial aid. Charlotte Sun.
Around the nation: Enrollment in U.S. charter schools was up by 83,000 students last year, and has posted a 12 percent increase in the past five years while traditional public school enrolled has declined by about 4 percent in that same time frame, according to a new report from the National Alliance for Public Charter School. “The data from this report should serve as a wake-up call to all who care about public education,” says Debbie Veney of the NAPCS. “We have to offer families an option they believe in, or they will leave public schools altogether.” The 74.
