School security: After Manatee County officials declined to provide more money to protect schools, the school district is now planning to hire 44 armed security guards to be stationed at county schools. Deputy superintendent Ron Ciranna says the district will tap into the state's fund for its guardian program to pay for the guards, and he expects to present the plan to the school board May 22. Bradenton Herald. Pinellas Park City Council members agree to provide money for resource officers at the five Pinellas County schools in the city, but only for the 2018-2019 school year. Gradebook. Cape Coral city officials vow to work with the Lee County School District to place resource officers in every city school. WBBH. The Citrus County School Board is offering the sheriff $954,500 to provide school resource officers at all 22 schools. If the sheriff declines, the board will consider creating its own police department. Citrus County Chronicle. More details on the Brevard County School District's plan to hire "security specialists," which came as a surprise to many residents because the possibility hadn't been mentioned previously. Florida Today. Eighty-three people have applied to run the Pasco County School District's security department. Gradebook.
Superintendent admits error: Hernando County School Superintendent Lori Romano signs a settlement agreement acknowledging that her decision to fire all 47 teachers at a troubled elementary school was a violation of the contract the district has with the teachers union. Romano was reprimanded by the school board, and three of the teachers wrongly dismissed were given their jobs back. Romano has maintained that she had to fire all the teachers to prevent Moton Elementary, which has received D grades from the state the last two years, from being taken over by the state. Tampa Bay Times. All but 10 of the Moton positions have already been filled, Romano says. Tampa Bay Times.
Unaffordable housing: A teacher making the $49,013 median salary in Miami-Dade County can afford to buy just 9 percent of the homes in the area, according to new data from the online residential real estate site Trulia. That's down 9.7 percentage points in just the past year. The median price for a home in the metro Miami area is now $450,000, up 12.8 percent in the past year. The numbers are better in Tampa, at 34 percent, and Orlando, at 20 percent. Affordability is defined as a monthly payment at or below 31 percent of monthly income. Miami Herald. (more…)
Principal kills fund-raiser: A Parent Teacher Student Association's idea to raise money by allowing students to skip the lunch line if their parents make a $100 donation has been killed by the principal after some parents protested. Brian Andrews, principal at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Lakeland, said in an email to parents that “I do not approve of any donation that is tied to any student advantage or privilege on campus. ... Nobody’s a second-class citizen here.” Jil Bevis, president of the PTSA, says "due to a clerical error, the form was inadvertently included in the orientation packets.” Lakeland Ledger. WFLA.
Back to school: Thursday was the first day of school for many Florida districts, and some others start next week. Florida Today. Orlando Sentinel. Tampa Bay Times. Fort Myers News-Press. Lehigh Acres Citizen. Ocala Star-Banner. Lakeland Ledger. Bradenton Herald. Gainesville Sun. Daytona Beach News-Journal. Northwest Florida Daily News. Daily Commercial. Keynoter. Citrus County Chronicle. Charlotte Sun. WFLA. Tampa Bay Times. Hillsborough County shows a slight decline in Day 1 attendance, 196,822 this year compared with 197,064 last year. Tampa Bay Times. More than 130 Manatee County students who opted to leave their low-performing school for a better option discover the buses they were supposed to get won't be running until Sept. 4. “Unfortunately, the state was late in informing our district as to the identity of those students,” deputy superintendent for operations Ron Ciranna told his staff. “Therefore, bus transportation will not be available for these students until transportation hubs can be established.” Bradenton Herald. Hundreds of Martin County students lost their bus privileges because they live within 2 miles of their school, but the school district has no plans to add crossing guards to help them get to school safely. School starts Tuesday. TCPalm.
School start times: The Palm Beach County School Board agrees to research school start times for next year to better accommodate the needs of students and parents. Board member Debra Robinson says the subject has come up before, but that “it’s a conversation worth having again. I’d like to see a smorgasbord of choices for parents to include a choice of start times.” Most high schools start at 7:30 a.m., elementary schools at 8 and most middle schools at 9:30. Sun-Sentinel.
Feds reject request: A state judge schedules a hearing today on the lawsuit against the Florida Department of Education's policy on retaining third-graders who do poorly on the state testing or opt out. The state asked a federal judge to take over the case, but the request was refused Friday. Fourteen parents are suing the state and six school districts, arguing that more factors should be considered if a student doesn't do well on the test, and that students who are doing well should not need a test score at all. Gradebook. Politico Florida. News Service of Florida. Associated Press. WFSU. Orlando Sentinel. Parents in Manatee County who think their child should be retained are told by school officials that there is no formal appeals process for that. Bradenton Herald.
Testing penalty: The company that administers the Florida Standards Assessments testing is refunding $4.8 million to the state for the problems with the testing in 2015. The American Institutes for Research has a $220-million, six-year contract with the state to run the annual language arts and math exams, which help determine school grades. Orlando Sentinel. Miami Herald.
Day 1: Schools open today in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Miami Herald. WSVN. Superintendent Lori White begins her final year when Sarasota County schools open today. White is retiring in February. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Teacher conduct: Administrators at St. Andrews School in Boca Raton are criticized in a report for doing nothing while a teacher had late-night meetings with students and even sleepovers. The report, commissioned by the Episcopal school, was released to parents. School officials have pledged to overhaul their policies. The teacher has not been charged with a crime, but is no longer employed by the school. Palm Beach Post. Sun-Sentinel. Associated Press. (more…)
