Around the state: Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo cited an increase in marijuana use among children in calling for pediatricians to begin incorporating routine drug screening for children as young as 12, Attorney General Ashley Moody is asking the Florida Supreme Court to decide if the state or local governments agencies such as school boards have jurisdiction over opioid-epidemic lawsuits, Collier deputies are investigating the death of a student at an elementary school last week after an apparent choking incident, a Gulf County school board candidate is declared the winner after her opponent withdraws, and more school districts rearrange their calendars to make up classroom instruction time lost to this fall’s two hurricanes. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: A school resource officer at Pine View Elementary School in Miami is being credited with saving the life of a teacher who recently passed out in her classroom. When Tangelo McBride collapsed, 5-year-old Alijah Terry quickly notified another teacher, who called for help. SRO Nicholas Diaz began CPR and resuscitated McBride, who is expected to make a full recovery and return to her classroom next month. WFOR.
Broward: School calendars were the focus of Tuesday’s school board meeting. Students will return from winter break one day early, Jan. 6, to ensure that they have enough instructional hours in the first semester. Board members also began discussing the 2025-2026 calendar, asking school staff to present options that include days off for the Hindu holiday Diwali, since the district already is off for Christian, Jewish and Muslim holidays, and to build in time for makeup days. Those options are due for the Dec. 17 board meeting. Sun Sentinel. WFOR. WTVJ.
Hillsborough: Voters are being asked Nov. 5 to approve two tax measures to benefit the school district. One would increase property taxes by a mill to support higher salaries for teachers and other school employees, and if approved will last four years. The other is part of the county’s community investment tax for capital projects, though only 5 percent of the proceeds would go to the school district. “I think that in a perfect world, you probably wouldn’t have both of them on the ballot at the same time, but they were put on the ballot separately, and they really each deserve consideration on their own merits,” said Hillsborough County Commissioner Harry Cohen. WUSF. Axios.
Lee: Damage from flooding during Hurricane Milton has meant the relocation of Fort Myers Beach Elementary School students to San Carlos Park Elementary, 15 miles away. Just a year ago, the school’s students had to attend San Carlos Park after Hurricane Ian severely damaged the school. In a Q&A, principal Traci Kohler talks about the “deja vu” move, how the students at both schools have adjusted, and more. District officials said no timeline has been established in getting Fort Myers Beach students, and those from the Sanibel School who were also moved to another school, back home. Fort Myers News-Press.
Pinellas: A plan to make up some of the classroom instruction time lost to hurricanes Helene and Milton was tentatively approved Tuesday by school board members. Students will attend school Jan. 6; Feb. 17, which had been set as a teacher planning day; and May 29, which was to be a half day on the final day of the 2024-2025 academic year. Middle and high school students will have all first semester exams waived, and graduations will also be pushed to the end of May to help students meet all state requirements. A final board vote is scheduled Oct. 29. Tampa Bay Times. For the first time in 14 years, the school district is proposing to rezone a school’s boundaries to accommodate enrollment growth. A new affordable apartment complex scheduled to open in early 2026 in Largo could add more students to Southern Oak Elementary School than it can comfortably handle after it merges next year with Walsingham Elementary to become a K-8 campus. District officials are recommending that students from two neighborhoods be rezoned to attend Fuguitt Elementary, which is about half-empty. A final school board vote is scheduled in January. Tampa Bay Times.
Volusia: Thirteen classrooms at Sugar Mill Elementary School in Port Orange are closed indefinitely due to flooding damage caused by Hurricane Milton. About a foot of water flooded the rooms, and the district has not set a time when students and teachers can return. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Collier: Sheriff’s deputies are investigating the death of a student last Thursday at Laurel Oak Elementary School in Naples. Paramedics said they responded to a “child choking incident” at the school around noon. In a letter to students’ families, district officials said members of the crisis team and school counselors are available to talk with students and staff. WINK. WFTX. WBBH.
St. Lucie: A 5th-grade teacher at Allapattah Flatts K-8 School in Port St. Lucie, was arrested Monday and accused of false imprisonment, sexual battery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and child abuse. Police said Ryan Zakrajsek, 41, struck the victim, choked her, committed sexual battery and threatened to shoot her to death if she tried to leave. Zakrajsek has been removed from the school and placed on temporary duty assignment. WPTV.
Marion: School board members have approved a $1.7 million contract with an Atlanta company to provide five school bus drivers to transport students assigned to Marion Technical Institute’s alternative learning program. The contract runs through July 30, 2025. WCJB. A physical education teacher at First Assembly Christian School in Ocala has been arrested for allegedly sending explicit photos to a 16-year-old student. Isaiah Paige, 25, has been charged with possession of child pornography, promoting a sexual performance by a child, and more. WFTV. WCJB.
Okaloosa: The county’s first school for black children is expected to get a second life as a private religious school that focuses on STEM subjects. Beulah First Baptist Church senior pastor Felix Cole said the Brooks School buildings can’t be saved and will be demolished soon, but a new K-8 school will rise in its place and retain the name of the Fort Walton Beach school that opened during segregation in the 1950s. “We want to maintain the history and build it back up,” Cole said. WJHG.
Leon: A student at Godby High School in Tallahassee was arrested Tuesday and accused of have a gun on campus. School police said they received a tip and found the gun when they searched the student’s backpack. Tallahassee Democrat. WCTV.
Alachua: An additional 1-mill property tax that raises about $23 million a year for the school district is up for renewal on the Nov. 5 ballot. The money is used to support the arts, classroom technology, career tech and magnet programs, and to hire media specialists, counselors and school nurses. The tax was first approved in 2008, and was favored in 2020 by 78 percent of voters. An oversight committee reviews all spending from the tax. WCJB.
Bay: Superintendent Mark McQueen has turned down Springfield Mayor Ralph Hammond’s request to rebuild Everitt Middle School and Springfield Elementary School, both seriously damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018. McQueen pointed to the decline in student population in the city and the ability of existing schools to absorb the displaced students. One of Hammond’s complaints is that Everitt students are housed at Rutherford High School. WMBB. School board members have approved changes in the student dress code. It now calls for collared shirts for both boys and girls to have no more than two buttons unfastened and be in their school’s designated colors, and permits leggings if they’re covered by a dress, skirt, jumper or T-shirt that comes down to mid-thigh. WMBB. Southport Elementary School 5th-grade teacher Melanie Keesler has been suspended without pay after being arrested earlier this month for possession of a controlled substance on a school campus. She had THC inhalers and a vape with a THC cartridge, according to district records. WJHG.
Charlotte: A $1.4 million state grant has been awarded to the school district to support “advanced manufacturing programs” at Charlotte Technical College and Port Charlotte High School. “These programs will equip our students with the skills needed for high-paying careers right here in southwest Florida, ensuring they are prepared for the workforce and ready to succeed,” said Superintendent Mark Vianello. Charlotte Sun.
Columbia: Retiring school Superintendent Lex Carswell attended his final school board meeting Tuesday after 17 years on the job. He is being replaced next month by longtime Fort White principal Keith Couey, who was unopposed for the job in this year’s election. WCJB.
Gulf: Equillar “Gal” Gainer will be the District 4 school board winner because her opponent in the Nov. 5 runoff, Heather Jones, withdrew after Gainer’s son Chance died on the Liberty High School football field during a game Sept. 6. Jones “believed that Gal could use this circumstance to help be the voice of the community and help our students in Chance’s memory,” wrote a Gainer supporter on Facebook. Port St. Joe Star.
Colleges and universities: A proposal for Palm Beach County to donate a 5-acre, $46 million parcel near downtown West Palm Beach where a Vanderbilt University satellite graduate school campus will be built was approved Tuesday by county commissioners. Palm Beach Post. WLRN. WPEC. WPTV. Tallahassee State College faculty will receive 4 percent pay raises after its union and school trustees approved a collective bargaining agreement. Faculty received a 5 percent increase in 2022 and 6 percent in 2023. Tallahassee Democrat. A $26.3 million expansion of the University of North Florida’s Coggin School of Business began Tuesday. The work will add new labs and classrooms in a 21,660-square-foot addition that’s expected to open in the fall of 2026. Jacksonville Today.
Opioid cash fight: Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is asking the state Supreme Court to step into a case about the authority of school boards pursuing opioid-epidemic lawsuits after the state reached settlements with the pharmaceutical industry. In August, an appeals court panel rejected Moody’s argument that the state’s settlements trump any entered into by school boards and other local government agencies. News Service of Florida.
Drug-testing students: Citing an increase in marijuana use among children, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is recommending that pediatricians begin incorporating routine drug screening for children as young as 12. The Department of Health issued the guidance just ahead of a Nov. 5 vote on a constitutional amendment to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults 21 and older. Gov. Ron DeSantis opposes the amendment, which needs the approval of more than 60 percent of voters to pass. Politico Florida.
