Parent trigger. Supporters of parent trigger, including Patricia Levesque, executive director of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, hold a press conference in an attempt to debunk myths. Sunshine State News, The Buzz, Gradebook, StateImpact Florida, Pensacola News Journal, Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Charter schools. Lawmakers appear lukewarm to Gov. Rick Scott's call to let charter schools expand at will, reports the Palm Beach Post. Pinellas school board members oppose the parent trigger bill and legislation that could turn unused district buildings over to charters, reports the Tampa Tribune. Parents at a middle magnet in Lake Wales worry their kids might not be able to attend the city's charter high school, reports the Winter Haven News Chief.

School closings. The Brevard school board should accept help from the Canaveral Port Authority to rescue three schools slated for closing, writes Florida Today's Matt Reed. Pasco Superintendent Kurt Browning backs off plans to shutter an aging school in the wake of opposition, but the building has serious problems, reports Gradebook.

School security. A consultant recommends armed officers at every Hillsborough elementary school. Tampa Bay Times. More from the Tampa Tribune. The Sarasota County sheriff tells district officials he's going to remove deputies from Sarasota city schools, reports the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

School spending. New Manatee Superintendent Rick Mills is proposing to eliminate 188 positions. Bradenton Herald. (more…)

The community takeover of Lake Wales public schools feels so much like an educational Camelot that it is easy to forget this romance was spawned by Florida’s charter school conversion law. It’s also easy to forget that its local benefactor was a powerfully connected Democrat.

The account of these schools and their champion, Robin Gibson, so ably reported this week by redefinED associate editor Sherri Ackerman, is a poignant reminder that school reform and school choice can indeed start in the homes of parents who think children are not getting what they deserve. Gibson, an attorney who helped run campaigns for former Democratic governors Lawton Chiles and Bob Graham, and was once chairman of the state university Board of Regents, thought his own children and the tiny city of Lake Wales were being hampered by public schools that were treated like stepchildren. So he began an effort, in 2002, to convert them to charters.

“I don’t think there’s anything partisan about it, if you’re for a first-class education system, ’’ Gibson says today. “I think everyone’s for that. I’m an advocate for what works, and I’m an advocate for educating the entire demographic.’’

Unsurprisingly, there was resistance. But Gibson and his friends brought sophistication and enterprise to the effort, taking over five schools in 2004 and starting a sixth from scratch. The charter campuses of Lake Wales now enroll 3,800 students – ranking them ahead of 15 of the state’s school districts in size – and the academic success has put the schools on track to be designated "high performing" under charter law.

The Lake Wales conversions provide educational as well as political lessons. (more…)

Editor's note: This is the second of two parts about Lake Wales Charter Schools. Part one here.

Robin Gibson counts one legendary Democratic governor as a close friend, and helped run the U.S. Senate campaign of another. So it may be surprising to some, given the misperceptions about school choice, that the prominent Democrat is a leading figure behind the creation of a city-wide charter school system in Central Florida.

When Gibson, an attorney, led the charge back in 2002 to turn around struggling schools in Lake Wales, he knew it would be a labor of love. Public education is at the heart of what the former Florida Board of Regents chairman believes makes communities successful.

“If there are great schools, the rest of it will take care of itself,” he told redefinED in a recent interview.

It was that belief that guided Gibson to search for a way to improve education in Lake Wales, long after his children had moved away, and to convince others to support the cause. The effort resulted in a new system, Lake Wales Charter Schools, with six schools and nearly 4,000 students.

None of it would have happened, say many in the community, without the drive and dedication of their adopted native son.

“He is kind of seen as our local statesman,’’ said Betty Wojcik, executive director of the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce and a trustee for the Lake Wales charter system.

The Miami native and University of Florida graduate came to this picturesque stretch of Polk County in 1966, ready to work for a new law firm and start a family with his wife, Jean. “I’d had enough saltwater and palm trees,’’ he told a reporter in 2006. “I was looking for a small town, rolling hills, lakes and oak trees.’’

Gibson’s four children attended Lake Wales public schools – but not for long. Dissatisfied with their quality, he and Jean sent their kids to private schools outside of town. But it didn’t sit well with Gibson that his beloved city’s schools weren’t up to snuff. (more…)

Five hundred students sat cross-legged on the floor inside Bok Academy Middle School’s cafeteria, where Principal Damien Moses, a gentle giant with a booming voice, greeted them. “Great moments don’t happen by accident,’’ he told them.

They happen, he said, because someone had a vision.

Then he asked all the teachers at the A-rated Lake Wales, Fla., charter school to stand as he announced that Bok Academy was one of 43 schools in the nation to be designated an Apple School of Distinction. The morning celebration focused on the award, which recognized the school’s commitment to providing every student with an iPad, Nook and laptop in the classroom.

But it also marked just how far the Lake Wales Charter Schools system has come.

In 2004, it took over five district schools. Now the system has six schools, a $30 million operating budget, 400 employees and 3,800 students. It’s on the fast-track to becoming a state-designated “high-performing” charter system, meaning its schools are top performers academically and financially.

“We are now at a point where we can see the benefits,’’ said Betty Wojcik, executive director of the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce, a city commissioner and one of the charter system’s trustees.

Lake Wales is a worthy stop on the school choice map, even in a state that now boasts 579 charters. It's a story as much about small-town pride as it is about alternative ways to govern schools. Community leaders who launched the effort were motivated by a common fear: that if their schools continued to decline, so would their idyllic city of 14,000 in the rolling hills and orange groves of Central Florida.

Striking out on their own has meant embracing a do-it-yourself attitude from everything to serving hot lunches, to fixing school buses, to lobbying Tallahassee for money. It still presents big challenges. The number of low-income kids in Lake Wales’ schools ranges from 50 percent to 90 percent. But if anybody regrets bushwhacking a path on education’s new frontier, they’re few and far between.

“Having choice and that little bit of competition has made everyone more effective,’’ Wojcik said. (more…)

More on school security in Newtown aftermath. Miami Herald. South Florida Sun Sentinel. Orlando Sentinel. Florida Times Union. Florida Today. Pensacola News Journal. In Pinellas, rumors of coming violence prompt Superintendent Mike Grego to email principals, and in Hillsborough, bullets on buses, reports Tampa Bay Times here and here.

School district image. A review by an outside agency suggests the Palm Beach County school district needs to a better job communicating and marketing itself, according to the Palm Beach Post. (As far as I know, no response yet from either the district or the Post to this EAG report last week on questionable district spending.)

More school district image. The Clay County School Board approves the hiring of a second public relations officer – a family friend and supporter of new Superintendent Charlie Van Zant Jr., reports the Florida Times Union.

Superintendent search. In Polk. Lakeland Ledger.

STEM. It’ll take guts and resources for state education leaders to finally make science education a priority, writes FSU physics professor Paul Cottle in this op-ed for the Orlando Sentinel.

Charter teacher pay. Trustees for Lake Wales Charter Schools want better pay and benefits to retain teachers, reports the News Chief.

Can’t fire her. The Sarasota school district loses its third bid to fire a teacher found not guilty of abusing developmentally disabled students, reports the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Teacher evals. Alachua County teachers raise their concerns at a forum with three lawmakers, reports the Gainesville Sun.

Hillsborough school district must fix its problems with special education students in the wake of a student’s death, editorializes the Tampa Bay Times. It suggests an outside inquiry would be more appropriate and says of Superintendent MaryEllen Elia, “If there are larger problems with the special needs program, Elia needs to address those too. The review board she empaneled is full of insiders who hardly have an interest in exposing training or operational policies as deficient. Both clearly are.”

Podesta to headline Jeb conference. John Podesta, former chief of staff under President Clinton, will be the keynote speaker Nov. 27 at the fifth annual national conference put on by Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education. He chairs the Center for American Progress, widely considered to be a progressive think tank.

Charter school performance. University of Central Florida professor Stanley Smith says his analysis shows charter performance as a whole isn’t so hot compared to district schools, reports StateImpact Florida.

Much anticipated charter in Palm Beach County. After parents clamored for it, construction is set to begin, reports the Palm Beach Post.

Charter dispute in Polk County. The school district and the charter schools in Lake Wales are tussling over student records and recruitment for IB, reports The Ledger.

Florida DOE makes changes to contracting procedures after problems surface in the Division of Blind Services. Tampa Bay Times.

Big payout to charter school principal. The principal of a failed charter school gets a $519,453 check from the school’s board, reports the Orlando Sentinel, prompting outrage from Orange County school district officials and a call for an investigation from state Sen. David Simmons: “There's no room for abuse by charter or traditional schools," Simmons, a strong supporter of school choice, told the paper. "All it does is hurt children."

Lax oversight of charter school funding. An audit finds the U.S. Department of Education did not properly monitor how states were spending hundreds of millions of federal dollars for charter schools, reports the Associated Press. The audit also looked at charter funding oversight in Florida, California and Arizona. In Florida, according to the story, “state officials had no records of which schools received federal grant money nor which schools received on-site monitoring and audits.”

Charters, IB and a level playing field. The charter school system in Lake Wales complains the Polk County school district isn’t playing fair in recruiting students to the district’s IB programs, reports The Ledger.

Tax credit scholarships helping private schools. Growth in Florida’s tax credit scholarship program is giving private schools a boost, reports the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Teacher who likes Mitt Romney. StateImpact Florida interview here.

Lesson from Miami-Dade. In winning the Broad Prize, the Miami-Dade school district showed “poverty does not have to be an obstacle to success,” editorializes the Miami Herald.

Pick up the pace. Florida needs to put even more focus on education and accelerate improvement, editorializes the Fort Myers News Press.

A closer look. Pinellas Superintendent Mike Grego says the district’s state-directed teacher evaluation system, which has caused widespread frustration, needs a review, reports the Tampa Bay Times.