Suit targets guardian program: Arming school safety assistants will make Duval County elementary schools more dangerous, according to a lawsuit filed this week that aims to stop the program. Three parents and four students, backed by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the Southern Poverty Law Center and two law firms, claim the assistants are inadequately trained and arming them puts students at risk. Duval and several other counties hired safety guardians to comply with state law because they say they couldn't afford sworn law enforcement officers for every school. Florida Times-Union. WJXT. WJAX. Gradebook. Florida Phoenix. WJCT. Associated Press. Politico Florida. Education Week. Southern Poverty Law Center.

Bill aims at lead in schools: A bill is filed in the Florida Senate that would require Florida schools built before 1986 to install water filters to reduce lead in drinking water. S.B. 66 was filed by Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation. Several Florida districts have installed filters after reports of lead contamination in drinking water in schools, but most districts do not even test for lead. WFTS. (more…)

School change: A working group discussing the future of Duval County's Northwestern Middle School votes unanimously to reject the district's plans to turn it into a magnet or vocational school. Area residents want it to remain a neighborhood school, which is becoming a common theme against Superintendent Nikolai Vitti's plan for changes. Florida Times-Union.

School bills: State Sen. John Legg, R-Lutz, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, predicts no major education bills for the legislative session that begins next month. Gradebook.

Future discussions: Brevard School Superintendent Desmond Blackburn presents his plan for the future of the system and its schools at a meeting tonight. Florida Today. Manatee School Board members invite members of the community to a discussion Wednesday about the future of Manatee schools. Bradenton Herald.

System assessment: An independent oversight committee appointed after Marion County voters approved a 1-mill tax levy in November 2014 reports that the school district is doing a good job spending that money. Ocala Star Banner.

Black history course: An online African-American history course for hundreds of Florida schools is being developed by the Department of Education's African-American History Task Force. THE Journal.

Student incentives: Students who perform well academically go to the front of the line in the Woodrow Wilson Middle School cafeteria, a school incentive program that is drawing complaints from some parents. Fox 13. (more…)