Around the state: Another teacher has been reassigned away from the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville for inappropriate communications with a student, the president of Lake-Sumter State College in Leesburg is taking a paid leave of absence, St. Johns county commissioners place two school taxes on the Nov. 5 election ballot, Pasco teachers reach a tentative agreement with the district on a 5 percent raise, Brevard school board members remove three more books from school libraries, and a Broward charter school tells parents that its air-conditioning failure can be a teachable moment for students about living in countries that don’t have the things they take for granted. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: In the two-plus weeks since schools reopened, more than 11,500 drivers have been caught by school bus cameras failing to stop for buses when the flashing stop arm is extended. Nearly 1,000 district school buses have the cameras, which take videos of violators and a photo of their license plates. Tickets for $225 are then mailed to those drivers. “The number of citations we have seen in Miami-Dade is stunning,” said Donny Wolfe of BusPatrol, the company that operates the cameras. Miami Herald. WTVJ.
Broward: An appeal from the state over the dismissal of perjury charges against former school superintendent Robert Runcie will be heard Tuesday by the 4th District Court of Appeals. Runcie was indicted by a statewide grand jury that investigated school safety issues after the 2018 shooting at a Parkland high school that killed 17 students and employees. A circuit judge ruled the jury didn’t have the jurisdiction to indict Runcie. News Service of Florida. An air-conditioning failure is being treated as a teachable moment at the Somerset Parkland Academy. “This would be an opportunity to teach students about countries that don’t have A/C, hot water, electricity, etc., and what it would be like to live under those conditions,” academy administrators said in a letter sent to parents last week. WPEC.
Palm Beach: The parent of a student at Whispering Pines Elementary School in Boca Raton has been banned from the campus after making threatening anti-Semitic comments to school staff during a campus visit Aug. 16 and on social media. What the man said was not detailed in documents of the incident obtained from the school district. Palm Beach Post.
Duval: Another teacher at the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville has been reassigned after allegations that he had inappropriate communications with a student during the 2022-2023 school year. No charges have been filed. He’s the sixth teacher to be reassigned from the school in the past two years over accusations of misconduct with students. One of them, Jeffrey Clayton, 40, was sentenced in June to 10 years in prison for sexual misconduct with a student. Florida Times-Union. WJXT. WJAX. WTLV.
Polk: A school district contract with a company that provides cameras on school buses will be rewritten after questions were raised about the legality of the payments. The cameras record drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses, and violators receive a $225 fine through the mail. Polk had agreed to pay Verra Mobility Corp. $200 a month for each camera, plus $49 each time a video, license plate image and other information is sent to the sheriff’s department for review. A recent report by The Capitolist, a Tallahassee-based news and politics site, suggested that the contract violated a part of the law that prohibits payments to vendors based on the volume of violations. Lakeland Ledger.
Lee: School district officials have denied a request from some parents in North Fort Myers to restore several bus stops that were eliminated this year because the families live less than 2 miles from their school, North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts. Those parents have the option of requesting a hearing before the district’s transportation review committee. WFTX.
Pasco: A tentative contract agreement between the district and the union representing teachers will provide raises averaging nearly 5 percent to the educators. Base pay will go up 3.5 percent, and the rest will come from the special local property tax referendum, which is in its second year. Teachers in critical shortage areas related to special education will get an additional $2,000, supplements for coaching or sponsor positions are going up 3 percent, and starting pay will be boosted to $50,000. Negotiations for support employees are scheduled today. Tampa Bay Times.
Brevard: School board members voted 3-2 this week to remove three books from school libraries. Damsel was recommended for removal by a book review committee because of its graphic depictions of rape and abuse, and the board agreed. But the board disagreed with the committee’s recommendation to retain Sasaki and Miyano Vol. 1, which features an LGBTQ+ relationship, and People Kill People, which discusses gun violence and white supremacy. Florida Today. WESH.
Seminole: A day-care school bus driver has been arrested after recently leaving a sleeping 6-year-old girl in a hot bus for more than an hour. Police said Barbra Ledbetter failed to check for any students remaining in their seats when she arrived at the All About Kidz center in Oviedo. When the girl awoke, she was having trouble breathing but knocked on windows to get the attention of an adult. Ledbetter was charged with child neglect and has been fired. WOFL. WFTV.
St. Johns: County commissioners have approved the placement of two school taxes on the Nov. 5 ballot. One would renew the half-cent sales tax to fund new school construction, improvements and repairs, and upgrades in safety and security, and the other is a 1-mill property tax to improve pay for teachers and other school employees. St. Augustine Record.
Sarasota: A new safety measure to detect guns in schools has been activated in the school district. The system uses artificial intelligence and intelligence gathered by district surveillance cameras to issue alerts when guns are detected inside or outside of campuses. District director of security Sean O’Keefe said the system speeds response times. Charlotte Sun.
Leon: A test of the district’s new rapid communications system didn’t go quite as planned this week. The text system will be used to send messages to parents in an emergency. About 20,000 parents did get the test text, but many parents said they didn’t even though their contact information is in the district’s portal. District officials are trying to investigating and will schedule a retest. Tallahassee Democrat.
Alachua: A school bus driver has been arrested and accused of inappropriately touching a teenage boy. Deputies said Wayne Lawrence, 58, is charged with lewd and lascivious behavior with a minor, using a computer to seduce a child, and using a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony. WCJB.
Hernando: A few Fox Chapel Middle School students who were frustrated with their school bus driver’s inability to find their stop walked off the bus Tuesday. District transportation officials are investigating. WFLA.
Martin: The swimming pool at Martin County High School in Stuart is closed indefinitely because of electrical issues, according to district officials. WPTV.
Colleges and universities: Heather Bigard, the president of Lake-Sumter State College in Leesburg, is taking a paid leave of absence for undisclosed reasons. Trustees meet Friday to discuss the situation. Daily Commercial. WFTV. Florida State students now have to pay a $300 fee for an overnight parking pass on campus. WCTV. Florida Atlantic University’s trustees have dropped 22 courses to comply with state law that eliminates or limits diversity, equity and inclusion programs and courses. WPBF. Forbes magazine has rated the University of Florida the fourth-best public university in the country, and Florida State as the 22nd. Gainesville Sun. The Capitolist. Correction: A University of South Florida trustees committee is recommending that President Rhea Law be given a raise of up to $282,500 a year in compensation to bring her up to a level comparable with other system presidents. Trustees will vote in September on the proposal. Tampa Bay Times.
Around the nation: The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a Biden administration request to put its latest plan for student loan debt relief back in place while a lawsuit against the program is working its way through lower courts. Associated Press. At least seven middle and high school football players have died unexpectedly this month during or after practice. Two were the result of head injuries, and the rest are believed to be heat-related. One was a player at Palatka High School in Putnam County, who complained of chest pains Aug. 12 but still went to practice, then died the next morning at his home. Robert James Gillon III was 15. NPR.
Opinions on schools: Teachers need to replace their old-school industrial unionism with a model that can serve teachers in diverse and decentralized settings. If they do not evolve, they will not survive. Doug Tuthill, NextSteps. The state’s Republican leaders often complain that we shouldn’t pay people to not work. Apparently that sentiment doesn’t apply to college presidents. Tampa Bay Times. The overwhelming science confirms that the extreme weather we have seen for years – increasing heat, more intense hurricanes, drought, etc. – is caused by us humans. Why are we so afraid to teach our children about it? Charles Dodson, Tallahassee Democrat.
