Around the state: A bill expanding services for autistic students was unanimously approved by the Florida Senate on Wednesday, a bill is introduced to end the issuing of high school certifications of completion, Brevard’s school district will shutter alternative learning centers in favor of in-school diversion programs, an appeals court upholds a lower court ruling dismissing a lawsuit filed by parents who claimed a Leon middle school counselor helped socially transition their 13-year-old daughter without their permission, and an education advocacy group charges that Florida is deliberately obscuring dismal performances with a curved grading scale for school grades. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Broward: Florida’s Commission on Ethics has ruled that former school board member Torey Alston violated no laws when he encouraged the board to settle lawsuits from several charter schools that wanted a share of a referendum approved by voters in 2018 to improve teacher pay and security and mental health services. Some of those schools did business with Alston’s wife, but Alston recused himself from voting on the $120 million settlement. Alston lost his seat in last year’s election and is now president of Broward College. Sun Sentinel. WTVJ. A small plane made an emergency landing on an elementary school field in Miramar on Wednesday, clipping a playground fence and barely missing two portable buildings. Neither of the two people on the plane required medical assistance, and no one from Coconut Palm Elementary School was injured. Miami Herald. WPLG. WSVN. WFOR.
Orange: A teacher at Andover Elementary School in Orlando has been arrested on an out-of-state warrant for second-degree unlawful sexual contact. Christopher Crisona faces those charges in New Castle County, Delaware. WFTV. WESH.
Palm Beach: Hundreds of Binks Forest Elementary School students will be moved to Saddle View Elementary when it opens in August. School board members recently approved the rezoning to fill the new school. WPTV. District officials ignored repeated sexual abuse of a 16-year-old student by a Boynton Beach charter school teacher, the family of the girl alleges in a lawsuit. Jason Conti, 36, and SouthTech Academy are defendants in the suit. Conti was arrested in February 2024 and accused of unlawful sexual activity with a child and offense against students by an authority figure. His trial is scheduled next month. Palm Beach Post.
Lee: Superintendent Denise Carlin has instituted a hiring freeze in the administrative office, which includes such positions as principals, assistant principals, psychologist and speech pathologists. WINK.
Pasco: River Ridge High/Middle School was closed Wednesday when a controlled burn from the nearby Starkey Wilderness Park cloaked the campus in smoke. Classes resume today. Tampa Bay Times. WFTS. WTSP. WTVT.
Brevard: Alternative learning centers for expelled students will be shut down and replaced with an in-school diversion program next fall, school board members decided this week. The board also revised its rules governing public comments at meetings, opting to split commenting periods by agenda and non-agenda items. Florida Today. The effects of the pandemic are still being felt by the school district five years later. Virtual learning led to learning loss and an increase in student behavior problems, and teachers began leaving the profession, causing a teacher shortage that continues. “It was just a tremendously stressful time for everyone,” said teachers union president Anthony Colucci. “Parents were losing their jobs, and people were getting sick, and kids and everyone was at home, so there was a lot more to it than just the academic piece.” Florida Today.
Manatee: Even though the county commission ended the school zone speed camera program, drivers who received tickets before March 6 must still pay the fines or contest the citation, said county officials. School board members, meanwhile, are urging the commission to reconsider its decision. Bradenton Herald. WFTS. WWSB.
St. Johns: A new K-8 school opening in the RiverTown community in August will be called Hallowes Cove Academy, named after one of the earliest settlers in the area. It’s expected to accommodate 1,100 students. Jacksonville Today.
Sarasota: The school board’s decision to approve a new position of charter school program specialist was questioned by some members of the public at this week’s board meeting. Superintendent Terry Connor said the job is needed to facilitate state and federal mandates for charters and to raise the district’s grade. Some questioned the hiring at a time of tightening finances, also pointing out that the district acknowledged overspending state-mandated charter school expenditures by $400,000 last year. Venice Gondolier.
Leon: An appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling dismissing a lawsuit filed by parents who claimed a Deerlake Middle School school counselor helped socially transition their 13-year-old daughter into using a male name and neutral pronouns. Appeals Judge Robin Rosenbaum wrote that “the mere fact that the school officials acted contrary to (January and Jeffrey Littlejohn’s) wishes does not mean that their conduct ‘shocks the conscience’ in a constitutional sense.” News Service of Florida.
Alachua: School board members voted this week to appeal the state’s approval of the conversion of Newberry Elementary School into a charter school. It was approved two weeks ago by the Florida Charter School Review Commission. The board contends the state still has not ruled whether the conversion vote passed after it was initially announced to have lost, and there are problems with the school’s proposed budget. Mainstreet Daily News. WCJB.
Citrus: A special education teacher at Lecanto Middle School died in a traffic accident on her way to school Wednesday morning. Police said Crystal Hix Jackson and her three children, daughters 16 and 15 and a 12-year-old son, were in a minivan that was struck by a dump truck making a turn. The children were hospitalized. Citrus County Chronicle.
Wakulla: A former diesel mechanics teacher at Wakulla High School and Lively Technical College has been arrested and accused of hitting students with a bungee cord. Eric Kasheta, 37, no longer works at either school. Tallahassee Democrat. WJHG.
Senate approves autism bill: A bill expanding services for students with autism was unanimously approved by the Senate on Wednesday. SB 112 is improve early intervention, school readiness, and educational opportunities and workforce training for students who are autistic or have other developmental disabilities. The House version, HB 591, is awaiting assignment to the first of five committees it must clear. Politico Florida. News Service of Florida. Florida Phoenix.
Certificates of completion targeted: Calling high school certificates of completion nothing more than a “participation trophy,” state Rep. Susan Valdes, R-Tampa, whose bill would end the practice except for students with disabilities. She said she hopes the bill will encourage educators to provide the extra support needed for students to earn diplomas. It cleared the House Student Academic Success Committee on Wednesday. Florida Politics.
Also in the Legislature: Florida’s Board of Governors and Board of Education would be stripped of the power to approve the appointments of university presidents under HB 1321 and SB 1726, which would instead vest that authority in universities’ trustees. The bills also would prohibit BOG members from being on presidential search committees. Florida Phoenix. Universities could increase tuition rates for out-of-state students under a proposal being discussed in the Senate. Politico Florida. Several bills have been filed that would cut or even eliminate property taxes in Florida. WKMG. A report that incarcerated students are using state computers to access pornography is part of the “growing pains” of introducing a new education program and is being corrected, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice secretary Eric Hall told legislators this week. Florida Phoenix.
Around the nation: Among the 1,300 U.S. Department of Education employees laid off this week by the Trump administration were about 240 in the department’s Office for Civil Rights who were handling thousands of cases involving families of students with disabilities trying to get services, complaints about sexual assaults, allegations of discrimination based on race and religion, and more. Associated Press. Politico Florida. The 74. Florida Phoenix.
Opinions on schools: Every child in Florida, no matter where they were born, should have the opportunity to access an education, pursue their dreams, and contribute to their community. Making it harder for Dreamers to afford and attend college is self-defeating for Florida, moving our state in the wrong direction. Gaby Pecheco, Tallahassee Democrat. The proposed elimination of cities’ and counties’ ability to collect property taxes is an attack on home rule and the ability to control things that really matter, such as public safety, essential services and the overall quality of life in our own neighborhoods. Matt Carlucci, Florida Times-Union. A transcript of exchanges between a judge presiding over a challenge to the state’s law restricting social media use by students under 16 and the state’s attorneys perfectly illustrates why we should be deeply skeptical of laws based on unproven claims of harm to children. Mike Masnick, Techdirt.
