Around the state: A charter company with schools in Miami and Texas is replacing teachers with artificial intelligence, Palm Beach County’s school board will consider putting metal detectors in middle and elementary schools, Orange County is getting a fifth community partnership school, Alachua’s school district and the union representing teachers and other workers reach a tentative contract agreement, and the St. Lucie district still has live-in security on 10 school campuses. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities (Note: The Florida Roundup is taking a break for the holidays, and will return Monday, Jan. 6):
Miami-Dade: A substitute teacher at Palm Springs Middle School has been arrested and accused of molesting multiple students between the ages of 12 and 16. District officials say Elmer Melendez, 42, won’t be permitted on any school campus. WFOR. WSVN.
Orange: Carver Middle School in Orlando will become the district’s fifth community partnership school and give some students the opportunity to be in a community school program from kindergarten through graduation. Districts partner with a health organization, a college and a nonprofit agency to offer free meals, health care, tutoring and other educational and social service programs to students from disadvantaged neighborhoods, and their families. Orlando Sentinel.
Palm Beach: Placing metal detectors in district elementary and middle schools will be discussed by the school board next month. Detectors are already in place in high schools. “If you all remember, I said we’re just somebody’s bad day away from having our own Stoneman Douglas-like event here in Palm Beach County, which is why we need to be more proactive,” said board member Edwin Ferguson. Palm Beach Post. WPBF. A 25-year math teacher at John I. Leonard High School has been fired for inappropriate comments he’s made to students. Robert Glatt, 66, has called a group of boys “hoes,” suggested that women rely on men to pay for their beauty services, told stories about thong underwear and more, according to investigations conducted by the school district. Palm Beach Post.
Polk: A district school employee has been arrested and charged with lewd conduct against a student by an authority figure. Deputies said Donald Mitchell, 36, had a sexual relationship with a senior at Kathleen Senior High School starting in October 2023. Mitchell, who was overseeing the in-school suspension program, left Kathleen High in November 2023 and has been working as a community outreach facilitator for the school board. He resigned when the student revealed the relationship this month, said Superintendent Frederick Heid. Lakeland Now. WFTV.
Lee: School officials are now offering $3,000 hiring bonuses for special education teachers, $5,000 for speech-language pathologists and school psychologists, and $3,000 relocation bonuses for those hired from an area outside Lee County. To qualify, hires must move to the county and commit to working in the district at least two years. Priority Marketing.
Seminole: A 7-year-old student at the Prodigy Academy Advance Learning Center, a K-8 school in Sanford, loves fractions so much that she wrote a book about them. Charisma Goes to School is the work of Charisma Lowery, who is now writing her second book that will feature a teenage Charisma protecting her classmates against bullies. NextSteps.
St. Lucie: The school district is one of the few in the state that has live-in security at 10 K-12 schools. Those officers own and maintain their modular homes on campuses, and are expected to patrol on a random but regular basis and inform school officials and law enforcement about any issues. The arrangement has been in place for about 40 years, but is being phased out as newer schools with more modern security replace older schools. TCPalm.
Okaloosa: Construction began Thursday on a K-8 school in Crestview that is projected to open in the fall of 2026. Pineview School K-8 will accommodate up to 1,200 students, district officials said. WEAR. Get the Coast.
Alachua: A tentative contract agreement has been reached between the school district and the union representing teachers and most other employees. It calls for a 1.6 percent salary increase in addition to the 1 percent received by most employees at the start of the school year. The 1.6 percent would also be retroactive to July 1 or when the employee began working. Employees and the school board have to approve the agreement. Gainesville Sun. Mainstreet Daily News. WCJB. Independent Florida Alligator.
Bay: The demolition of Everitt Middle School in Springfield is beginning. The school was heavily damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018 and never reopened. District officials said they don’t have plans for the property. WMBB.
Walton: The new Freeport Middle School in the Hammock Bay community has opened, though work continues to complete the baseball and softball fields. The $81 million school has 800 students in grades 5-8, but room for another 500. WMBB.
Hardee: Contract negotiations have begun between the Hardee Education Association/United and the school district. The union has asked for a $1,000 increase in base pay and $50 for each year of experience for teachers, plus an extra $1 an hour for noninstructional employees and a step increase. That cost would be $349,411.49. The district is offering about $319,000. The Herald-Advocate.
Colleges and universities: An appeals court has rejected an Atlantic Coast Conference request for a rehearing of a decision that allowed Florida State University to continue its lawsuit against the ACC for media rights. News Service of Florida. John Evans, the president of a consulting firm, has been appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis as a University of Central Florida trustee. Florida Politics. A University of Florida’s senior project is fighting a 2023 state law prohibiting K-12 schools in the state from carrying books and other materials deemed “inappropriate” for certain grade levels and age groups. WUFT.
Education bills: Florida’s Department of Education would be required to develop and implement a workforce credential program for students with an autism spectrum disorder, and file annual reports on the program results under a bill filed this week by state Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Pensacola. The 60-day legislative session begins March 4. Florida Senate. Another bill proposed this week, filed by state Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, would require all public schools to develop a cardiac emergency response plan and integrate it into the community’s emergency responder protocols. Florida Senate.
Around the nation: A Texas-based charter school company, Alpha School, is replacing teachers with artificial intelligence at its schools in Austin, Texas, and Miami. “Imagine starting a school and declaring, ‘We won’t have any academic teachers.’ We did exactly that!” reads a portion of the company’s white paper about the model called 2 Hour Learning. Popular Science. Fifty-six percent of Americans who responded to a survey say they are unhappy with their education options, reports the right-leaning education advocacy group Yes. Every Kid. Foundation. A majority also favors ending assigned school zones based on a student’s home address. The 74. From Christianity in schools to artificial intelligence, these are 24 of the biggest education stories of 2024. The 74.
Opinions on schools: The advancement of school choice has proven successful in Florida, and it will serve as a model for the rest of the country. Pedro Rodriguez Aparicio, Florida Politics. The best and worst of education news in 2024. Larry Ferlazzo, Education Week.
