Around the state: The University of South Florida is considering a student activities policy that would restrict protests and ban such events as bake sales, a Columbia County deputy has been named the state’s school resource officer of the year, the math team from Buchholz High School in Gainesville overwhelmingly won the national championship last weekend for the 16th time in the past 17 years, and school board candidates from several districts around the state talk about their qualifications and plans if elected. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Broward: School board candidates in districts 1, 2, 3, 5 and 9 talk about their qualifications, why they are running and what their top priorities will be if elected. Candidates who completed questionnaires were District 1’s John Canter and Maura Bulman, District 2’s Torey Alston and Rebecca Thompson, District 3’s Sarah Leonardi, District 5’s Jeff Holness and Windsor Ferguson Jr., and District 9’s Debbi Hixon and Tom Vasquez. Sun Sentinel.
Hillsborough: School Superintendent Van Ayres discusses declining enrollment, budget pressures, the need to improve school grades from the state, the emphasis on getting absentee students to school, the property tax voters are being asked to approve in November to boost teacher pay, and more. Tampa Bay Times.
Orange: District 4 school board candidates Anne Douglas, Kyle Goudy and Jake Petroski present their qualifications, why they are running and what their top priorities will be if elected. If no candidate gets at least 50 percent of the votes in the Aug. 20 primary, the top two vote-getters advance to the Nov. 5 runoff. The Observer.
Duval, northeast Florida: Students return to the classroom Aug. 12 in Duval, St. Johns, Nassau and Baker counties, and the following day in Clay. School start and close times vary by district and schools. The state’s back-to-school sales tax holiday is July 29 through Aug. 11 for clothing, footware, backpacks, school supplies and personal computers and accessories. Florida Times-Union.
Pinellas: A nonprofit established to help vulnerable students cope with life’s challenges hopes to start an educational center in Oldsmar for at-risk middle and high school students. The next step for Operation Jack’s Village’s dream to open the IRL Prep Academy requires the city council to approve an amendment to the town center code allowing educational facilities. Suncoast News.
Pasco: Jeff Larsen, the new president of the United School Employees of Pasco, talks about the political environment unions find themselves in these days, what the union can do to keep teachers in the profession, improving wages and working conditions, and the drive for the union to keep its certification. Tampa Bay Times.
Alachua: Buchholz High School’s math team overwhelmingly won the national championship last weekend in Las Vegas. It was the 16th title in the past 17 years for the school, and the 613-point margin of victory was the second-highest in the Gainesville school’s history. Mainstreet Daily News.
Bay: New principals have been appointed for three elementary and three middle schools and for the Margaret K. Lewis School for special-needs students between the ages of 3 and 22. Lewis School assistant principal Crystal Hudson was promoted to lead the school. Classes begin Aug. 12. Panama City News Herald.
Flagler: HNTB Corp. executive Derek Barrs and Janie Ruddy, an executive for an educational software company, are the candidates in the Aug. 20 primary for the District 3 seat on the school board. They talk about their backgrounds, why they’re running and their top priorities if elected. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Columbia: A resource officer at Melrose Elementary School in Lake City has been named the state’s school resource officer of the year by the Attorney General’s Office. Scott Ceckanowicz has been a deputy with the county sheriff’s office for 13 years and has been the SRO at Melrose for the past six years. WCJB. Attorney General’s Office.
Monroe: State assessment test scores by district students showed improvement over last year, Superintendent Theresa Axford said. “Our concerns going forward are to examine practices in grade 8 math, algebra 1 and geometry to help students be more successful in these areas,” said Axford. “It is interesting to note that we are having difficulty recruiting and retaining math and science teachers, and these are the areas that demonstrate a need to do work. Having the same strong teachers year after year improves student performance.” Key West Citizen.
Colleges and universities: A proposed student activities policy at the University of South Florida would ban bake sales, unapproved banners and amplified sound, and require all planned activities to be preapproved by school officials. It would also prohibit protests and demonstrations during the last two weeks of a semester “to allow students and staff to provide an environment conducive to preparation of final exams.” School officials are soliciting online feedback from the community until Aug. 11. Tampa Bay Times.
Around the nation: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s choice for vice president, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has been an advocate against student loan forgiveness, and for killing affirmative action admissions policies at colleges and universities, forcing schools to clear campus encampments, blocking federal funding for colleges and universities that hire undocumented workers, and more. Politico. U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds of Naples touted the benefits of school choice in his speech Monday at the GOP convention. Palm Beach Post. Politico Florida. The Daily Signal.
Opinions on schools: Banning and censoring information that doesn’t conform to a particular social or political view doesn’t stop that information from being factual, informative and true. What is does do is try and prevent that information from being available because it can lead to questioning the biases of those doing the censoring, particularly in school students but even in the general public. Justin M. Napolitano, Orlando Sentinel. In China, students take physics because they want to be admitted to highly selective universities. In the U.S. (or at least in Florida), students avoid physics because they want to be admitted to highly selective universities. And that’s how American (and Floridian) high school graduates can be both scientifically literate and woefully underprepared for success in STEM bachelor’s degree programs. Paul Cottle, Bridge to Tomorrow. If the public schools do nothing to teach religion or act openly hostile toward it, they are tearing down what is being built up in the home while painting a warped picture of the world. Gregory J. Rummo, Sun Sentinel.
