Around the state: Gov. Ron DeSantis is threatening political consequences if the Legislature doesn’t address his immigration agenda during a special session that begins Monday, at least 13 north Florida school districts remain closed today because of cold and icy weather, Broward school board members approve a plan to close one school and change the grade configurations for several others, teachers of the year are announced in the Hillsborough, Clay and Alachua school districts, and a Hernando County 11-year-old student hit by a car near her bus stop this week has died. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: A security officer at Felix Varela Senior High School in Miami has been arrested and accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student who was under 16 years old. District officials said Johnathan Lee Coard, 35, has been fired. WPLG. WFOR. WTVJ.
Broward: Broward Estates Elementary School in Lauderhill will be closed and converted into an early-learning center, school members decided this week. Coconut Creek Coral Cove and Hollywood Central elementary schools also will be turned into K-8 schools, Silver Shores Elementary in Miramar will become a full-choice school, and Pembroke Pines Middle School will become a grades 6-12 collegiate academy. Miami Herald. WTVJ. WSVN. WLRN.
Hillsborough: Henry Bryson, a history teacher at Leto High School in Tampa, has been chosen as the school district’s teacher of the year. Also honored were Bonnie Walters, a secretary at Tampa Palms Elementary, as support employee of the year, and Antonyia McCray, a student success coach at Freedom High School, as diversity educator of the year. Tampa Bay Times. The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded an $86 million grant to the Tinker K-8 School on the campus of MacDill Air Force in Tampa. It will pay for most of the nearly $108 million project to replace the school. Florida Politics. Department of Defense.
Palm Beach: School board members are asking their legislative delegation to help get an exemption from a law requiring districts to begin later school start times for middle and high school students by the fall of 2026. They say there are too many challenges for the district and that parents are rallying against the changes. WPEC. WPTV. Palm Beach Post. A school district electrician has been arrested and accused of stealing copper from light poles and electrical boxes at 20 schools. Police said Michael Falcone, 50, caused nearly $780,000 in damage over a six-month span that began in July 2024. WPEC. WPTV.
Polk: Superintendent Frederick Heid is recommending a high school be built on a 70-acre site in the Poinciana area of eastern Polk County. A school board vote is expected Jan. 28. Lakeland Ledger. A former substitute teacher has been arrested and accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old student. Deputies said Chase Crabb, 23, sent sexually explicit messages and photos to a 16-year-old student. Lakeland Ledger. WOFL. WFLA. WTSP.
Pinellas: With federal pandemic funds ending, the school district said its Summer Bridge program will focus on helping about 6,600 K-4 students with their reading and writing skills. Tampa Bay Times. A 16-year-old sophomore at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg was arrested Thursday and accused of having a gun on campus. Police said the boy had stolen the gun but didn’t threaten any classmates. WTSP.
Pasco: A 20-year-old man who snuck into Zephyrhills High School, tried to rob several students and attacked a student in a bathroom was arrested this week. Deputies said Keyshawn Gardner jumped a fence to get onto the campus and was let into the school by a student who thought he belonged there. WTVT. A 13-year-old student was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries Wednesday after she was hit by a car just after getting off her school bus in Hudson. Troopers said the 59-year-old driver drove right past the stopped bus, which had its warning lights activated, and struck the girl as she crossed the street. WFLA. WFTS. Suncoast News.
Clay: Amanda Watson, a 6th-grade science teacher at Orange Park Elementary School, has been named the school district’s teacher of the year. Also honored was Misty Massey, a secretary at Lake Asbury Junior High, as the school-related employee of the year. WJAX.
Alachua: Monica Benson, a special education teacher at Sidney Lanier Center in Gainesville, has been selected as the school district’s teacher of the year. WUFT.
Hernando: An 11-year-old student who was struck by a car Tuesday while walking home from her school bus stop has died. Florida Highway Patrol troopers have not identified the girl, her school, or whether the 65-year-old driver will face charges. WFLA. WTVT. WFTS.
Columbia: Teachers are lobbying the school district for higher starting pay that’s comparable to neighboring districts. New teachers in Columbia make $45,275, which is more than $2,000 a year less than Union County. “It’s no wonder teachers are leaving left and right when a quick drive down the road can earn them thousands of dollars more a year,” said Kristy Boeckman, a district teacher. WJXT.
Monroe: School board members are expected to finalize a timeline for finding a superintendent to replace the retiring Theresa Axford during a meeting next week. Consultants from the Florida School Boards Association will help the board with the national search, which is expected to conclude with a new superintendent being named May 6 and starting work July 1. Axford retires July 31. Florida Keys Weekly.
Weather disruption: Thirteen school districts are still closed today because of the wintry weather that hit north Florida this week. District officials say the icy conditions continue to make travel hazardous. Districts shuttered again are Calhoun, Escambia, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington. All are expected to reopen Monday. Florida Department of Education. WFSU. Northwest Florida Daily News. Okaloosa County School District. Jackson County School District. NorthEscambia.com. WJHG. Leon County School District. Tallahassee Democrat.
Special session warning: Gov. Ron DeSantis warned legislators that there will be a political price to pay if they come to Tallahassee on Monday for the special session he called and quickly adjourn. Leaders of the Senate and House have been cool to the governor’s call for the meeting to deal with immigration issues that include denying in-state tuition for children of undocumented immigrants, saying it was “premature” because the regular 60-day legislative session begins March 4. Politico Florida. Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald. Jacksonville Today. Axios. A Trump administration directive to allow immigration enforcement in schools will be honored by Florida’s Department of Education. “Florida schools will cooperate with all law enforcement working to enforce the nation’s laws on illegal immigration and keep our schools safe,” said FDOE spokeswoman Sydney Booker. USA Today Florida Network. Orlando Sentinel.
Public school enrollment: Five of the largest 10 U.S. public school districts are in Florida, and four of the five have lost enrollment since 2020, according to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics. Miami-Dade, the third-largest, has lost 3.4%. No. 6 Broward has lost 6.6%, No. 8 Orange 1% and Palm Beach 2.5%. Only No. 7 Hillsborough gained students, with a 0.4% increase. EdSurge.
Positive reviews for phone ban: The impact of the state law banning students from using cell phones during the school day has been mostly positive, according to school administrators who recounted their experiences to the Florida House Student Academic Success subcommittee. “It’s gone very very well in many of our classrooms, especially I would say it goes really well in our classrooms with struggling learners. The teachers have seen the benefit of that increased interaction with each other, the increased focus,” said Toni Zetzsche, principal of River Ridge High School in Pasco County. Florida Phoenix.
Around the nation: A federal school safety commission that just began meeting in October has been disbanded by the Department of Homeland Security. The agency said it “will no longer tolerate any advisory committee which push agendas that attempt to undermine its national security mission, the president’s agenda or constitutional rights of Americans.” One of the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse External Advisory Board members was Tony Montalto, who started Stand with Parkland after his daughter Gina was one of 17 people killed in the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County. The 74. Education Week. A student shot and killed a classmate Wednesday at Antioch High School in Nashville, wounded another student and then shot and killed himself, said a spokesman for the Metro Nashville Police Department. It was the first school shooting of 2025, according to a database kept by the Education Week news organization, which reported 39 shootings with injuries or deaths in 2024. WKRN. WTVF. Chalkbeat.
Opinions on schools: The most maddening thing about the long-running debate over later school start times for older students is that most Florida leaders already know that the results of such policies result in better grades and fewer absences. That’s why they passed the 2023 law requiring later start times in the first place. Yet here we are debating the same old topic once again. Scott Maxwell, Orlando Sentinel. I knew the ongoing dismantling of public education in Florida had accelerated to new levels of audacity but I failed to notice that it included using taxpayer dollars to pay for theme park visits for kids who opt out of public schools. Frank Cerabino, Palm Beach Post.