Records exemptions: A bill that would provide a public records exemption to shield information about candidates for college and university presidencies from being made public was approved Thursday by the Senate Rules Committee and is now ready for a full Senate vote. State Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, said the bill is necessary to attract the broadest pool of applicants. “While we have some great presidents of universities, it’s my contention that the way to get even better applicants is to ensure that their information is all private, and their current employer is not unnecessarily notified of their search, without (the candidate) initiating that,” he said. If it’s approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, it will go into effect immediately. Four of the state’s 12 universities are searching for presidents now, and a fifth will join them by the end of the year. News Service of Florida. Politico Florida.
Changes for charters: Bills that would change the way charter schools can be approved have been moving quickly through both the Senate and House. H.B. 865 and S.B. 758 would create a Charter School Review Commission within the Florida Department of Education that would have the same authority as local school boards to approve applications, and would eliminate from state law a provision allowing school districts to terminate or not renew a charter without good cause. Two other bills, S.B. 892 and H.B. 225, would require school districts to give charters at least 90 days’ notice if they intend to terminate their contracts, and would automatically renew the contracts if the notices aren’t given. Politico Florida.
Also in the Legislature: Speed detection cameras could be placed in school zones under a bill approved Thursday by a Senate committee. Tampa Bay Times. Florida Politics. The House Governmental Operations Committee approved a bill requiring employees of teacher and other public employee unions to sign a form to join a union and prohibit the union from deducting fees from employees’ paychecks. Florida Politics. News Service of Florida. A bill requiring school tax issues to be on general election ballots was approved by the Finance and Tax Committee. Florida Politics. Bills filed in the Senate and House would create a grant program through the state Department of Agriculture to help universities feed students and a process to help students qualify for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Tampa Bay Times.
DOE employee’s spending: A Florida Department of Education investigation has revealed that an employee spent $90,000 in grant funds on himself and friends instead of the intended purpose of supporting a statewide computer science training program. Program specialist Justin Feller bought MacBooks, iPads, a laser engraver, Visa gift cards, a digital camera and more for himself and three other members on the DOE’s innovation and implementation team, according to the report. Feller resigned in August, after the investigation began but before the report was completed in December. He now works for the Broward school district, which has been notified about the investigation. Florida Politics.
Around the state: One of the four finalists for the Broward school superintendent job has withdrawn his name from consideration, Florida State University has closed a building after a report said mold and radon found there could have contributed to the cancer deaths of three employees, Volusia school board members approve the agreement reached between the district and teachers, Lake teachers and the district reach a tentative contract deal that includes raises and bonuses, Polk’s school board approves changes to the district’s sex education curriculum, Alachua school officials announce the winner of the teacher of the year award, and the Miami-Dade district reveals the names of the four finalists for teacher of the year. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: Nominees for the school district’s teacher of the year were announced this week. They are: Renee O’Connor, who teaches global perspectives and African American history at Norland Senior High School; Unethia Fox, who teaches math at South Miami Senior High; Andres Cerrato, who teaches history at Southridge Senior High; and Derek Bostick, who teaches air conditioning repair at South Dade Technical College. The winner will be announced next week. WTVJ. A teacher at a private school in Miami Shores has resigned after he was arrested last week and accused of soliciting sex from an undercover police officer. David Benjamin was a humanities teacher at Miami Country Day School. Before becoming a teacher, Benjamin was a Miami-Dade assistant state attorney from 2005 to 2011, Miami Herald.
Broward: One of the four finalists for the school superintendent’s job has withdrawn his name from consideration. Peter Licata, a deputy superintendent for the Palm Beach County School District, did not say why he was dropping out. The remaining candidates are interim superintendent Vickie Cartwright; Keith Oswald, the chief of equity and wellness for Palm Beach schools; and Michael Gaal, former deputy chancellor in Washington, D.C. Board members meet again Tuesday. Sun Sentinel. Palm Beach Post. WPLG. WFOR.
Hillsborough: The principal at Dawson Elementary School in Riverview has been arrested and accused of sending sexually explicit text messages to an undercover police officer he thought was a 15-year-old boy. Derrick McLaughlin, 41, had been with the district since 2002, according to a district spokeswoman Erin Maloney. He’s been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. WFLA. Tampa Bay Times. WTVT.
Polk: Changes to the sex education curriculum were unanimously approved this week by the school board. Among them: Parents must be notified about lessons a week before they’re taught and can opt-out of them or parts of them; 4th-graders will no longer be taught about HIV and AIDS; some of the videos used in classes have been placed online so parents can see them; and students are now encouraged to talk with their parents if they believe they’ve contracted a sexually transmitted disease instead of their partner. Lakeland Ledger.
Pinellas: Getting children ready for kindergarten is the goal for an expanded preschool program that’s offering free, full-day instruction at 26 elementary schools. The district is using federal funds to take the program into areas of the county where many parents didn’t send their children to the existing half-day schools because of work or because they couldn’t afford to pay for services after classes ended. District officials hope to expand the program again next fall. Tampa Bay Times.
Lee: Three finalists for the school superintendent’s job will be in the county Sunday for two days of interviews with board members and meetings with the community. The finalists are Christopher Bernier, superintendent of schools in Clark County, Nev.; Randy Mahlerwein, assistant superintendent in Mesa, Ariz.; and Michael Ramirez, a former Broward County teacher and administrator who is deputy superintendent of schools in Denver. The school board is expected to take a final vote next week. Fort Myers News-Press.
Osceola: A 17-year-old Osceola High School student was critically injured Thursday morning when he was hit by a car while trying to cross a street to get to his school bus. The accident happened in front of Kissimmee Middle School. WKMG. WESH. Orlando Sentinel.
Seminole: A 15-year-old Lake Mary High School student was arrested Thursday and accused of having a gun at school. Deputies said the boy’s mother told them her son mistakenly grabbed her backpack when he left. When she discovered the mixup, she went to the school to inform authorities and the gun was discovered. The boy said he didn’t know the gun was in the bag. WKMG. WFTV.
Volusia: School board members have approved a contract between the district and its teachers that will increase the starting pay rate from $44,335 to $47,500 a year, preserve teacher planning time and limit the number of meetings they have to attend. Veteran teachers will get small pay raises and bonuses. Union president Elizabeth Albert said there’s still work to be done in making pay equitable. “What we’re trying to do with salaries is we’re trying to reduce the compression that is occurring between our brand new folks or early career educators and … our veteran teachers,” she said. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Manatee: Members of the union representing transportation, food service, custodial, maintenance and other employees in the school have ratified a contract agreement that provides base salaries and $1,000 bonuses for anyone employed since Jan. 1. School board members are scheduled to vote Feb. 8 on the deal, which will cost the district $2.2 million. WWSB.
Lake: The district and its teachers have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract that includes raises ranging from $406 to $812 a year, bonuses of $2,000 now and another $1,000 in the fall, and an increase in the starting teacher pay from $44,750 to $45,725. The deal still has to be approved by the teachers and the school board. WKMG.
Clay: A parent is suing the school board, charging that a counselor at his daughter’s school held secret weekly meetings to discuss gender identity issues with the girl for months without his permission. Child & Parental Rights Campaign filed the suit on behalf of the father. School officials said they haven’t seen the paperwork and that they “performed an investigation into these allegations and believe the statements made by this out-of-state organization invalid.” WJAX. WJXT. WTLV.
Alachua: Todd Eckstein, a music teacher at Lincoln Middle School, has been chosen as the school district’s teacher of the year. WCJB. The district has a new online tool to communicate with parents and others in the community. “Lets Talk!” is on the district’s website and is also available as an app. It offers 24/7 access to ask questions, and district officials said the goal is to reply to every communication within two days. Gainesville Sun.
Bay: The directors of the PATHS Program for homeless school district students said there are about 1,300 through all grade levels, including 142 homeless high school students who are unaccompanied. “We focus primarily on our unaccompanied high school kids because they don’t have anybody,” said Sue Bowen, codirector of the program with David Welty. “They have no assistance from anybody in town. A lot of their parents are deceased, incarcerated, especially for the boys. They’ve just kind of gone.” The program tries to keep those students in schools or finding them alternative programs that let them work part-time and still attend school or find a technical program for them. Panama City News Herald.
Indian River: Two of the three school board seats up for election this year have drawn a single candidate so far. Bruce Green is the only announced candidate for the District 1 seat currently held by Mara Schiff. Incumbent Teri Barenborg is the only candidate in District 4. In District 2, incumbent Jacqueline Rosario is being challenged by LaDonna Corbin. TCPalm.
Charlotte: Kathleen Futch said this week she is withdrawing from the race for the District 1 seat on the school board because she and fellow candidate Lawrence Benjamin agree on the issues. Cara Reynolds is also a candidate for the seat. Charlotte Sun.
Colleges and universities: A Florida State University building that had “extremely high and unsafe” levels of radon and black mold that may have contributed to the cancer deaths of three employees since 2012 has been closed for air testing. Tallahassee Democrat. Florida International University provost Kenneth Furton has told interim president Kenneth Jessell that he is stepping down March 1. Miami Herald. St. Petersburg College has received a $1 million grant from Bank of America to help underserved students get jobs in information technology, business, finance and professional services. St. Pete Catalyst.
Around the nation: The U.S. Department of Education is proposing to more than double the amount of spending on Title 1 schools. In 2021, Title 1 received $16.5 billion. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona wants to increase that by $20 billion in the next budget. There are more than 2,100 schools in Florida that are considered Title 1, which are defined as schools with more than 40 percent of their students coming from low-income families. McClatchy and Miami Herald. A Pulitzer Price winning graphic novel about the Holocaust has been banned by a Tennessee school district because it has “inappropriate language” and a drawing of a nude woman. Maus, by Art Spiegelman, tells the story of his parents living in Poland in the 1940s, and surviving the Holocaust. Associated Press.
Opinions on schools: Teacher organizations can and should play an important role in creating and maintaining a public education system capable of delivering on the promise of equal opportunity, but that role requires abandoning a one-size-fits-all industrial unionism that requires teacher unions to put the desires of teachers above the needs of children and the greater public good. Doug Tuthill, reimaginED. Republican leaders have already succeeded by making school board pay another wedge issue, like masks, prayer, gender identity and teaching about race, that promise to entangle public education in the politics of the 2022 elections. If only the Legislature was as interested in what was happening in the classroom. Tampa Bay Times. The debate over how America’s history is taught has been going on for decades. Critical race theory is the new scapegoat in continuing to deny Americans the chance to come together in truth and reconciliation. Candice Jones, Orlando Sentinel. Given that universities receive billions of dollars of taxpayer funds, it is only appropriate that the person disbursing those funds is hired in public. To not do so only invites corruption and cronyism into the highest echelons of our laudable state universities. Vincenza Antonetta Berardo, Gainesville Sun.
