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Gov. Rick Scott

Florida schools roundup: Tax votes, school schedule, AP courses and more

Compiled by redefinED staff November 5, 2018

Tax initiatives: About a third of Florida residents face increased taxes if voters in seven counties approve initiatives Tuesday to raise money for their school districts. Officials in those districts say the state put them in the position of asking for voter help by underfunding mandates for school security. “The legislative mandates were substantially unfunded,” says Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Miami-Dade County School District. “It has put significant fiscal pressure on the district.” Bloomberg. In Miami-Dade, a four-year property tax hike would generate an extra $232 million a year, and 88 percent of the money generated would go for teacher raises. In Palm Beach County, a four-year increase in property taxes would bring in about $150 million more a year, and the district has pledged 50 percent of it to improve teacher pay. Miami Herald. Palm Beach Post.

Post-hurricane schedule: The Bay County School District’s plan to make up the three-plus weeks of class time students lost to Hurricane Michael is approved by the Florida Department of Education. The district’s schools will be 10 to 14 minutes longer every day and schools will be in session on four days that had been set aside as holidays or teacher work days. Already scheduled time off over Thanksgiving, Christmas and spring break will not change. Half the district’s schools reopen today, and the district’s goal is to have the rest open by Nov. 13. Panama City News Herald. New bus stop schedules are issued for Bay County students, many of whom may be attending a different school starting today. The district is also handing out reflective items for students who will now be going home in the dark. WMBB. Panama City News Herald. School officials in Calhoun and Jackson counties had to get creative to reopen schools last week. WFSU. Eighty Florida students displaced by the hurricane are attending southeastern Alabama schools. Associated Press. Gov. Rick Scott is asking the Florida Department of Education to send additional funds to districts so schools damaged by the hurricane can be rebuilt to withstand storms. Gradebook.

November 5, 2018 0 comment

Florida Schools Roundup

Florida schools roundup: Teacher bonuses, trauma training and more

Compiled by redefinED staff November 2, 2018

Compiled by redefinED staff

Teacher bonuses lawsuit: Forty-three Florida school districts have been dropped from the legal challenge to the state’s teacher bonuses program known as the Best & Brightest scholarships. Those districts successfully argued that the bonuses program wasn’t their idea and that they shouldn’t be held responsible for simply following the law. The state’s largest school districts and the Florida Department of Education remain defendants. The suit was brought by the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, which contends the program discriminates against veteran and minority teachers because college entry exam results are used to qualify. The U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida is handling the case. Gradebook.

After the storm: Bay County teachers get trauma training to help students who were devastated by Hurricane Michael, as schools prepare to reopen next week. “Our teachers, you guys are going to be on the front line of helping students,” says Jinks Middle School principal Britt Smith, who arranged training to prepare teachers to reassure students and help them talk about the effect of the hurricane on their lives. “How we act is going to affect how they react as well,” says Lori Allen, executive director of the Child Advocacy Center. Panama City News Herald. The Bay County School District has found emergency housing for 10 families of district employees left homeless by the storm, but is still looking on behalf of 86 more. “We’re just making these connections, one by one,” says Sharon Michalik, district director of communications. “We’re going to do this one home at a time. That’s how we’re going to solve this.” Panama City News Herald.

Governor’s race: At an event at St. Peter Claver Catholic School in Tampa yesterday, Casey DeSantis, wife of Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis, characterized Democrat Andrew Gillum’s opposition to school choice “shameful & wrong.” Gillum has sent mixed messages about his position on school choice on the campaign trail, calling in September to bring choice scholarships “to a conclusion” and most recently at the final gubernatorial debate saying he proposes no change to the current status quo. Florida Politics.

November 2, 2018 0 comment

Florida Schools Roundup

Florida schools roundup: Stewart’s term extended, Schools of Hope and more

Compiled by redefinED staff October 26, 2018

Compiled by redefinED staff

Another year for Stewart: The Florida Board of Education extends the contract of Education Commissioner Pam Stewart by a year to “help ensure Florida remains on this positive trajectory” of rising high school graduation rates, improved school grades and gains on national math and reading tests. She had been scheduled to leave the office she’s held since 2013 on Jan. 7, Rick Scott’s final day as governor. “Serving as education commissioner has been a highlight of my career, and I am honored to accept the state Board of Education’s invitation,” Stewart said. News Service of Florida. Gradebook. Politico Florida. Capital Soup. The board selects 14 struggling schools as “Schools of Hope.” Each receives an extra $2,000 per student to help improve student performance. Gradebook. Gary Chartrand concludes an eight-term term on the Florida Board of Education by praising the state’s emphasis on parental choice of schools. “Choice is important,” he said. “The more choice we have, the more freedom we have.” redefinED.

Evaluating evaluations: School principals say changes in teacher evaluations have overburdened them with work and hurt their relationships with teachers, according to a new study that focused on Hillsborough County and five other large U.S. school districts that underwent significant changes in the evaluation process. The biggest concern of principals is the time required for the evaluations. “I mean, honest to God. I just can’t do it by myself,” said one principal. “If I’m running my school, something’s going to lose out, either academics or your school because you’re just one person.” Another principal said just walking in a teacher’s room creates tension. “I feel like every time I walk in, a teacher’s like automatically on pins and needles thinking I’m there in an evaluative capacity,” said the principal. Chalkbeat.

October 26, 2018 0 comment

Florida Schools Roundup

Florida schools roundup: Some districts still closed, FEA vote, drills and more

Compiled by redefinED staff October 15, 2018

Compiled by redefinED staff

Schools and the storm: School officials across north Florida are scrambling to get students back in school, but the devastation of Hurricane Michael is posing problems most of them have never faced before. Five school districts – Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Jackson – are closed until further notice because of widespread power outages, closed and unsafe roadways, damaged schools and the need to continue using schools that aren’t too damaged as emergency shelters, according to the governor’s office. School administrators in Bay County, which was hardest hit by the storm, say it could be months before schools are reopened. Several other districts remain closed today but hope to open tomorrow. CNN. Washington Post. USA Today. Associated Press. WJHG. Panama City News Herald. Pensacola News Journal. Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa school officials say they can take in students whose schools aren’t open. WKRG. Though Gadsden schools are closed, all teachers and staff are required to report to work today, according to a tweet from the district. Gadsden County School District. All Leon County schools reopen today and will have power. Tallahassee Democrat. WTXL. Experts say students need as much normalcy as possible and a sense of security after the trauma of an event such as Hurricane Michael. Naples Daily News.

New leaders at FEA: Joanne McCall is ousted after one term as president of the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. She lost a weekend election to Fed Ingram, a Miami-Dade County union official and FEA vice president. Also elected were Andrew Spar of Volusia County as vice president and Carole Gauronskas of St. Johns County as treasurer. “This organization, especially for the last three years in the legislative session, has been reactive instead of proactive,” says Pasco teachers union official Don Peace. “You can’t get big wins when you always arrive to the game late.” Gradebook. Florida Politics.

October 15, 2018 0 comment

Florida Schools Roundup

Florida schools roundup: Hurricane, teacher pay, A/C problems and more

Compiled by redefinED staff October 12, 2018

Compiled by redefinED staff

Hurricane Michael: Hurricane Michael has claimed at least seven lives in the United States, and the first daylight look at areas hit show “unimaginable destruction,” according to Gov. Rick Scott. Mexico Beach and Panama City in Bay County were among the hardest hit. “So many lives have been changed forever,” says Scott. “So many families have lost everything.” Schools in at least nine Florida counties are closed again today. Bay County School Superintendent Bill Husfelt tweeted that he had little access to communications, but that “we will assess the damage & come up with a plan for reopening school soon.” Associated Press. News Service of Florida. Reuters. Florida Department of Education. Tallahassee Democrat. USA Today. Panama City News Herald. Associated Press. Tampa Bay Times. Miami Herald. Palm Beach Post. WFSU. WLRN. Education Week. Past disasters offer lessons for schools to get back online quickly. Education Week.

Contract impasse: The Volusia County School District declares an impasse in contract negotiations with the teachers union. It’s the third time in the past four years that an impasse has been declared. The two biggest issues are pay and the length of the elementary school day. The district was willing to offer 2.5 percent raises for each of the next three years, and the union agreed to extend the school day next year. But the raises depend on state funding, and approval of the length of the day hinges on the pay raises. A resolution now falls to the school board. Daytona Beach News-Journal.

October 12, 2018 0 comment

Florida Schools Roundup

Florida schools roundup: Huge raises, A/C crisis, retaliation report and more

Compiled by redefinED staff October 1, 2018

Compiled by redefinED staff

Big raises for administrators: Eleven Broward County School District administrators received pay raises during the 2017-2018 school year ranging from 7 percent to 21 percent — far above the average 2.2 percent that most of the district’s 27,000 employees received. Six of the 11 raises were given after the massacre of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, when the district was complaining it didn’t have enough money for resource officers and teachers. Superintendent Robert Runcie defends the raises as correcting pay inequities, though he has adjusted one downward. Sun-Sentinel.

Creation of a crisis: The crisis of escalating problems with school air-conditioners in Hillsborough County is a creation of declining funding from the state and school officials’ decisions to emphasize teaching positions over maintenance during the recession and years of devoting fewer of their funds toward maintenance than any other large district in the state. In the past decade, Hillsborough spent about $122 per student on maintenance, compared to neighboring Pinellas County’s $217 and Orange County’s $179. Now, the district is asking voters to approve adding a half-cent to the sales tax to raise $1.31 billion over the next 10 years to fix the A/C problems and tend to other deferred repair projects. Tampa Bay Times.

October 1, 2018 0 comment

Florida Schools Roundup

Florida schools roundup: False alarms, grading concerns, bullying and more

Compiled by redefinED staff September 26, 2018

Compiled by redefinED staff

Fixing fire alarms: Broward County school officials are asking the state for an exemption to fire alarm tests at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for the rest of the school year as a way avoid false alarms that students say are causing trauma to students. At least 10 alarms have gone off at Stoneman Douglas since school started, and only three were planned. “In the case of Stoneman Douglas, you’re causing trauma every time you have an alarm, and we don’t want to do that,” says Superintendent Robert Runcie. The district also wants to upgrade the alarm systems, with some incorporating a delay mechanism that would allow school officials to decide if a fire alarm is valid before triggering a schoolwide alarm. Sun-Sentinel.

No-zero grading policy: A St. Lucie County teacher says she was fired for handing out zeroes to students who didn’t turn in their assignments. Diane Tirado, an 8th-grade history teacher at West Gate K-8 School in Port St. Lucie, says she refused to follow the school handbook that states “No zeroes – lowest possible grade is 50%” and was let go. Tirado was still in her probationary period, and no cause for her dismissal was listed in the letter from the principal. Tirado left a message on the classroom whiteboard when she left that read: “Bye Kids, Mrs. Tirado loves you and wishes you the best in life! I have been fired for refusing to give you a 50% for not handing anything in. ???? Mrs. Tirado.” District officials say there is no policy prohibiting teachers from giving a grade of zero. Associated Press. WPTV.

September 26, 2018 0 comment

Florida Schools Roundup

Florida schools roundup: Teacher bonuses suit, school security and more

Compiled by redefinED staff September 25, 2018

Compiled by redefinED staff

Teacher bonuses: A legal challenge to the state’s Best & Brightest teacher bonuses program is scheduled for a mediation session Nov. 13 in Tallahassee. Teachers and a teachers union sued the Florida Department of Education over the program, claiming it discriminates against teachers by age and race in part because it relies on college entry exam scores, which many teachers don’t have. If no settlement can be reached after mediation, the case could go to trial in early February. Gradebook.

School security: Schools in Florida are bolstering security with a mixture of new technology and old-school personal relationships. School resource officers chat with students and give fist bumps, rattle door handles to make sure they’re locked and mentor struggling students, but also use apps to follow leads about threats and monitor social media. Orlando Sentinel. Charlotte Sun. Alan Hall, a charter high school principal in Jacksonville, is one of the first school employees to graduate from the Duval County sheriff’s guardian training program and is now carrying a gun in the halls of San Jose Academy & Preparatory High School. “I’ve always worried, ‘Oh my gosh, what would happen?’ How am I going to put myself in those principals’ shoes that have actually had to live this? And I say, now, I at least have a chance to do something about it,” Hall says. WJAX.

September 25, 2018 0 comment