Students from Puerto Rico: The Hillsborough County School District is throwing out the welcome mat for students displaced from Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. While school officials do not know how many students will arrive, or when, where they will live and where they will attend school, the district is well-equipped to handle the influx. There are 27,000 empty seats in the county's schools, and about 35 percent of the district's students are Hispanic. "We know these students have been through a tragedy and we want these students to feel welcome and safe in our schools," Superintendent Jeff Eakins wrote in a memo to all principals. Tampa Bay Times. Puerto Rican refugees have begun enrolling in some state schools. WUSF.
Testing changes request: Lee and Collier county school districts are asking the state to delay the standardized testing schedule, to suspend assigning letter grades to schools, and to not automatically retain 3rd-graders who fail the state's ready test. Both districts missed 11 days before and after Hurricane Irma moved through the state. Fort Myers News-Press.
H.B. 7069 lawsuit: The Martin County School Board decides not to join 14 other school districts in a lawsuit against the state's new education law, H.B. 7069. The vote was 3-2, and board members say the suit would be counterproductive and waste money. They say they hope to find another way to influence legislators. The districts saying the state say the bill is unconstitutional because it favors charter schools and strips power from local school boards. TCPalm.
