School security: While the Brevard County school superintendent and sheriff now agree that the school district should reject the state's guardian program, a majority of school board members say they want to move forward with the program to arm select employees. The district needs $5 million it doesn't have to put a resource officer in every school, and board members say the guardian program can help bridge the gap. Florida Today. Clay County school officials say meeting the state mandates on school security will cost the district at least $15 million, and the district won't get nearly that much from the state. Florida Times-Union. Clay Today. Collier County school officials say they'll improve school security by locking school doors, adding access control systems and requiring photo IDs from every visitor. “We didn’t get any additional (state) funds for hardening schools or for safety equipment,” says Superintendent Kamela Patton. “We think this new layer of security across the district is a really good value for what we’re doing.” Naples Daily News. WGCU. Manatee County commissioners want the school district to foot the bill for putting a resource officer in every school. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The Leon County School District begins negotiations with law enforcement officials to determine how to put a resource officer into 21 elementary schools that don't have one. Tallahassee Democrat. Monroe County School Board members agree to ask voters in August to increase their taxes to raise money for school security. Key West Citizen. Lee County school officials say Bonita Springs High School, which opens in August, has special security measures built in and will be a model of safety for future schools. Fort Myers News-Press.
School shooting developments: A Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School teacher who says he'd be willing to carry a gun in school to protect students is arrested and charged with failing to safely store a firearm. Broward sheriff's deputies say Sean Simpson forgot his handgun in the public bathroom at the Deerfield Beach Pier. A drunken homeless man found it and fired a bullet into a wall before Simpson was able to disarm him. Sun-Sentinel. Miami Herald. WPLG. Confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz wants to donate whatever inheritance he's due to a charity that will help his victims, his lawyer says. Sun-Sentinel.
Arming teachers: Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, says he supports the idea of arming teachers. His endorsement likely means it will be included in the package of proposed gun-related bills being announced today by the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott. Tampa Bay Times. Sun-Sentinel. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. News Service of Florida. The idea of teachers with guns has some support among politicians, but most educators don't like it. Tampa Bay Times. Palm Beach Post. Florida Times-Union. Associated Press. WEAR. The National Association of School Resource Officers also opposes the idea of arming teachers, noting in a statement that it "strongly recommends that no firearms be on a school campus except those carried by carefully selected, specially trained school resource officers." Gradebook. President Donald Trump, who likes the idea of arming select teachers and school staff, slams Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart for suggesting more active shooter drills should be considered. Tampa Bay Times. Politico Florida. New York Times.
School cop resigns: The school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School never entered the building last week to confront the shooter, says Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. The officer, Scot Peterson, rushed to the building when he heard the gunfire but waited outside for four minutes. Israel says Peterson should have “went in. Addressed the killer. Killed the killer.” Peterson, 54, resigned Thursday after he was suspended without pay. Four years ago, Peterson was named school resource officer of the year in Parkland. Sun-Sentinel. Miami Herald. USA Today. Associated Press. Law enforcement officials were warned repeatedly that alleged shooter Nikolas Cruz was dangerous and a possible school shooter. Miami Herald. Palm Beach Post. House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes, says a special investigative committee will look into the botched response to the shooting, and it could be chaired by a parent of one of the slain students. Politico Florida.
House tax package: The Florida House is expected to introduce a $332.7 million tax relief package today. About 46 percent of the total - $154 million - would come in the form of credits for companies that contribute to the tax credit and Gardiner scholarship programs. Another $74.5 million would be for a 10-day sales tax holiday for back-to-school purchases of clothes, school supplies and technology, and three separate seven-day periods for buying hurricane supplies. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer the tax credit and Gardiner programs. News Service of Florida.
Medical marijuana: The Broward County School District is working on a policy to deal with students who are approved to use medical marijuana. Students would not be allowed to carry the drug or store it at school, but parents or a caregiver could come to campus to administer it as long as they have medical clearance. School staff would not be permitted to handle the drug. Palm Beach County allows the drug to be administered by nurses, who are supplied by the county health department, while Miami-Dade prohibits medical marijuana on campus, citing the conflicts in state and federal laws. Sun-Sentinel.
Turnaround schools: Polk County school officials choose a Kentucky company to begin operating six persistently struggling schools this fall if they don't get a school grade of C or above from the state this year. Educational Directions would charge the district at least $387,500 per school for the first year, then $225,000 to $250,000 per school for each additional year. The school board will vote on the recommendation Feb. 27. Bartow Middle, Garner Elementary, Griffin Elementary, Kathleen Middle, Lake Alfred Polytech Academy and Lake Marion Creek Middle have each received grades of D or F for the past three years, prompting the state to require the district to close them, turn them into charter schools or hire an outside company to operate them. Lakeland Ledger.
Teacher evaluations: Local school boards would be given the power to set evaluation standards for teachers, if a bill filed in the House gets through the Legislature next year. H.B. 427, filed by Rep. Rene Plasencia, R-Orlando, would allow school districts to opt out of the state teacher evaluation and merit pay plan and give them the option of creating their own standards for evaluating teachers. “It would return the authority back to the local school board, which I think is very important,” says Orange County School Board member Linda Kobert. Florida Politics.
Graduation rates: The U.S. high school graduation rate hit an all-time high at 84.1 percent in 2016, according to data from the National Center for Education. In 2015 it was 83.2 percent. Florida's graduation rate was 80.7 percent. White students graduated at an 85.1 percent rate, blacks at 72.3 percent and Hispanics at 75.6 percent. Education Week.
Contract negotiations: The Hillsborough County teachers union calls the latest pay offer from the school district disappointing. The district is offering $1.8 million for bonuses to spread among the 20,000 employees represented by the union. The union has asked for the raises school officials promised years ago, which the district says could cost it as much as $17 million and which it says it cannot afford. "This is a pay cut," says Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins, the union’s executive director, who says the offer is $92 per person before taxes and won't cover the increase in health insurance premiums. "I can’t see that satisfying people." Tampa Bay Times. WTSP. Negotiations between Brevard teachers and the school district resume, but little progress over raises is made. The district is offering $876 to the highest-rated teachers and $600 to effective ones. Union officials countered with a $1,075 raise for highly effective teachers and $800 for effective ones. Florida Today. Space Coast Daily.
Workers comp: Florida lawmakers worry that a 14.5 percent increase in workers compensation rates will cost state school districts tens of millions of dollars in what is already looking to be a very tight budget year. “You could foresee some type of legislation filed this session, but the fact remains, as we are sitting here today, school districts are worried. And they should be,” says State Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, who is also CEO of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. WFSU.
Reading instruction: A bill is filed in the Florida House to improve reading lessons in schools. The bill, filed by Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, calls for training teachers in "explicit, systematic, and multisensory reading strategies," and encourages districts to step in earlier to help struggling readers. A similar bill passed the House in the last session, but died in the Senate. Gradebook.
Top-rated foundations: The Pinellas Education Foundation is rated the best in the country for the third straight year, according to a study by the Caruthers Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. Other Florida foundations in the nation's top 50 are Brevard Schools Foundation (8th), Foundation for Osceola Education (12th), Foundation for Seminole County Public Schools (14th), Education Foundation for Collier County (22nd), Broward Education Foundation (32nd), Educational Foundation of Lake County (40th), Polk Education Foundation & Business Partnership (41st), Public Education Foundation of Marion County (43rd), and the Education Foundation of Sarasota County (48th). Gradebook.
Charter capital funds: The Florida Department of Education now proposes denying state construction and maintenance money for charter schools that get an F grade from the state or two consecutive grades lower than a C. The rule was tweaked after an earlier version was challenged as discriminatory against charter schools in poor communities. Charter school advocates say they will continue to fight the rules through an administrative hearing. Politico Florida. (more…)
