Homeless students up 21% in state, homework will count again in Pasco, immigration news and more

Around the state: The number of homeless Florida students is up 21% over last year, Pasco schools will soon resume counting homework when calculating students’ grades, Lee schools will allow immigration officials to question students without a parent or school official present, attendance was down Monday in several districts as students were encouraged to stay home as part of a national Day Without Immigrants campaign, six challenged books will stay on St. Johns County school shelves but with restrictions, and a design has been selected for a memorial to the 17 people killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:

Broward: A design has been chosen for a public memorial to honor the 17 students and employees who were shot to death Feb. 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. A proposal from California artist Gordon Huether was selected by the Parkland 17 Memorial Foundation over five other finalists. Miami Herald. WFOR. WTVJ.

Lee: Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will be permitted to question students without their parents or a school employee present under the policy approved by the school board. That questioning could be conducted after the district’s legal counsel grants ICE agents access to students. Naples Daily News.

Pasco: Homework is on the way back to being counting toward a student’s grade, Superintendent John Legg said Tuesday. He’s asking the school board to rescind a 2022 decision that took homework out of the grading process. “I live in a world where there are real deadlines,” Legg said. “We’ve got to teach our children that things are hard and sometimes you have to put great effort into it.” School board members voiced support the change, and Legg said he hopes to have the new rules in place before the end of this school year. Tampa Bay Times. WTVT.

St. Johns: Six more challenged books will stay on school library shelves, but with restrictions by grade level, the school board decided. A book review committee had recommended continuing to display the books in libraries, but for high school use only. Twenty-nine other books have been restricted, and more than 60 have been removed. WJAX. Students’ personal data has been exposed by a data breach by hackers into the company PowerSchool, district officials said Tuesday. Parents have been warned to monitor their credit. Other Florida and U.S. school districts have also been hit with cyberattacks lately, though not all promptly warn the potential victims. WJAX. WTLV. The 74.

Marion: The district’s high school graduation rate improved from 77.9% in the 2022-2023 school year to 80.3% last year, according to a Florida Department of Education report. The statewide average is 89.7%. WUFT.

Sarasota: With no consensus on how to toughen the district policy on students’ use of cell phones during the school day, school board members agreed this week to continue current policies and research possible changes. Those policies are no phone use during school for elementary students, middle school use only under teacher instruction, and the same for high school students but with exceptions between classes and at lunch. WUSF. Charlotte Sun. WFTS.

Clay: Renovations are underway to modernize three Orange Park schools: Orange Park Elementary, Grove Park Elementary and Orange Park Junior High. All three partner with the University of North Florida to accept year-long student teaching interns. WJXT.

Leon: Unresolved problems were the focus of a recent school board retreat. Student absenteeism and homelessness are at record highs, the number of disciplinary actions are declining and significant budget cuts are expected.  Tallahassee Democrat. Attendance was light in many district schools Monday, when immigrants were encouraged not to go to work or school as part of a Day Without Immigrants campaign. In some schools with heavy Hispanic enrollment, more than half the students stayed home. Tallahassee Democrat.

Martin: With immigration enforcement in schools increasing, student attendance in many schools is trending downward, said district chief of staff Jennifer DeShazo. “We have noticed that our numbers are nowhere near where we would like them to be,” she said. Generally, daily attendance ranges from 90%-96% at the elementary level. A week ago, those numbers dropped 1 to 4 percentage points. WPTV. District officials are considering ending the insurance supplements they’ve paid for retirees who aren’t old enough to go on Medicare. That’s 117 people, and ending the payments would save the district $1.8 million over the next six years. TCPalm.

In the Legislature: School districts could buy and use opioid blockers under a bill filed for the 60-day legislative session that begins March 4. Naloxone, also known as Narcan, could be kept at K-12 schools and colleges and administered to counter the effects of an opioid overdose. Florida Politics. A bill that would allow private school students to play on public school teams was approved Tuesday by the Student Academic Success Subcommittee. WCTV.

Around the nation: About 1.4 million U.S. students were considered homeless during the 2022-2023 school year, according to the SchoolHouse Connection and Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan from U.S. Department of Education data. In Florida, 93,316 experienced homelessness, an increase of 21% from the previous year. About 74% of those students were staying with others, but 7.7% were unsheltered. K-12 Dive.

Opinions on schools: There’s a certain danger in allowing parents to be the sole purveyor of what is taught in schools. By allowing parents to opt out on topics of gender and sexuality, the floodgates will be opened for parents to restrict education in other areas as well, leaving their children ill-prepared to face the outside world that may have very different ideas and beliefs than those held by their family members. Randy Fair, Other Words. When corporations control education, there is no free market, only a monopoly. Sierra Bush Rester, Tallahassee Democrat.


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BY NextSteps staff