Segregation and graduation: The resegregation of Florida schools, reported in a recent study, is likely to have a negative impact on graduation rates in the state. The authors of another study say dropout rates rise a percentage point for black students and 3 percentage points for Hispanics in U.S. school districts that don't require integration of schools. Education Week.
Board term limits: Erika Donalds, a member of the Collier County School Board and the Florida Constitution Revision Commission, is proposing an amendment to the state constitution that would impose term limits on school board members. She suggests no board member be allowed to serve more than eight consecutive years. If it's approved for the ballot by the commission, it would need the support of 60 percent of voters to go into effect. Gradebook.
Libre in Florida: The billionaire Koch brothers are financing a campaign called the Libre Initiative in Florida and several other states to convince Hispanic families of the merits of school choice. Included are bilingual mailings that back the law providing financial incentives for charter schools to move into areas with persistently struggling schools. The president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Mike Petrilli, says the Kochs' selection of school choice as a core issue is "telling us they have good reason to believe this is an issue that’s resonating with Latino families.” Politico.
Board member investigated: An anonymous complaint prompts the Florida Department of Education to order an investigation of a Hillsborough County School Board member's actions. According to a tip, Susan Valdes used her influence to have a district department dissolved so the staff couldn't detect problems with construction work done by her friends and campaign donors. Tampa Bay Times.
School resegregation: Florida's public schools are resegregating, according to a study by the LeRoy Collins Institute. “Student enrollment trends in Florida over the past decades show growing racial isolation for Hispanic and black students on some measures, with signs of continuous segregation on others,” the study says. About 35 percent of black students and 32 percent of Hispanic students attend "intensely segregated" schools, defined as schools with a nonwhite population at 90 percent or higher. About 20 percent of the state's schools were intensely segregated in the 2014-2015 school year, double the number in the 1994-1995 school year. News Service of Florida. WFSU. WLRN. Politico Florida.
Storm aftermath: Florida schools are bracing for an influx of new students arriving from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria battered the island. Expecting to get the most students are Miami-Dade, Orange and Hillsborough counties, all of which have a substantial number of residents of Puerto Rican descent. Tampa Bay Times. Gradebook. WOFL. NPR. Florida Politics. Several Florida colleges are offering in-state tuition to new students from Puerto Rico. Orlando Sentinel. Miami Herald. Setting up and cleaning up hurricane shelters cost the Duval County School District about $300,000, school officials estimate. They're asking state legislators for the money. WJXT. Monroe County students are beginning to return to schools in the Florida Keys. WLRN. Miami Herald.
Makeup days: Collier County students will make up four of the days lost to Hurricane Irma by attending school on previously scheduled vacation days. In Manatee County, students also have four days to make up. Two early release days will be converted into full days, two days during the Thanksgiving holiday break will now be full days, and 10 minutes will be added to several other days. Students in Palm Beach and Indian River counties will lose three vacation days, and Broward County students will likely have two vacation days converted into school days. Naples Daily News. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Palm Beach Post. Sun-Sentinel. TCPalm.
High school protests: A 6-year-old Pasco County 1st-grader took a knee during the pledge of allegiance Monday at Wiregrass Elementary School. His teacher instructed him to stand, angering the boy's mother. "She told him right away, based on what he told me, to stand up and to stop it... That's not her right," says Eugenia McDowell. Wednesday, assistant superintendent Kevin Shibley issued a memo that said, in part: "Kneeling or other non-disruptive forms of non-participation should generally be considered as permissible alternatives” to reciting the pledge. WFTS. Gradebook. Palm Beach County school officials announce that students who kneel during the playing of the national anthem won't be punished. Palm Beach Post.
