Around the state: Enrollment help is being offered to families in the wake of Hurricane Ian, a jury began deliberations in the Nikolas Cruz trial, a FHSAA form sparks controversy and leads to changes, ACT scores hit their lowest point in three decades and community leaders participated in National Walk to School Day events. Here are details about those stories and other developments from the state's districts, private schools and colleges and universities:
Broward: Jurors will continue deliberations today to decide whether to sentence Nikolas Cruz to life in prison or recommend he be put to death for the Valentine's Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. Deliberation began on Tuesday, but a decision was not reached. WPLG. WFOR. WFTS. Fox 13. WFLA.
Hillsborough: School officials here are enhancing mental health outreach efforts for students. The district on Wednesday announced two new measures, which include a centralized information source on Clever, a web platform students use for their classes, and brochures on key topics that will be displayed in all middle and high schools. District staff created the materials in consultation with a student advisory committee. Anxiety was an overriding issue, as well as peer and social conflicts, according to surveys and committee members. Tampa Bay Times.
Duval: Plans are underway to renovate Old Stanton High School, which had been closed to students for five decades. The goal is to preserve the past for the first high school built in Florida for African Americans. Action News Jax.
Volusia: This county's schools director of safety and security resigned one week after school started in August. Now, the school district plans to replace Michelle Newman with a captain from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Mike Chitwood visited the school board meeting this week to discuss the contract for his office to provide the district with a school safety specialist, which was approved by the board. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Lee: Help with school enrollment for families displaced by Hurricane Ian is on the way. Temporary satellite enrollment offices will be set up today and Friday that will allow families displaced or relocated due to the hurricane to re-enroll their students into a new school that better meets their current needs. Social workers, bilingual support and Exceptional Student Education will be available at each location. Ft. Myers News-Press. A workshop was held Wednesday where the superintendent and school board discussed reopening classrooms to learning. The preliminary plan is to start reopening schools on Monday, but officials must check for working fire alarms, announcement systems, safe water and air quality. WINK.
Seminole: Voters here will choose two new school board members on Nov. 8 in runoff races peppered by the state's controversial educations issues. Any registered voter can take part in the elections, regardless of where they live, to decide who will represent Districts 2 and 5 on the five-member school board. In both races, incumbents have chosen not to seek another term, and four candidates competed for their seats. No one won the primary outright, so the top two finishers are on the ballot. School board members in Seminole serve four-year terms, set district policy and earn $40,000 per year. Orlando Sentinel.
Leon: Sen. Loranne Ausley released her third radio ad of the week, which is an endorsement from Leon County School Board Chair Darryl Jones. In the 30-second ad, Jones calls Ausley a friend and a champion for children and asks for voter support as she hopes to fend off challenged Corey Simon in Senate District 3. Florida Politics. District officials here will join more than 1,000 other school districts in the fight against one of the most popular e-cigarette makers. The school board this week voted to join a class action lawsuit against Juul, alleging the manufacturer used unfair marketing practices to make youth addicted to vaping products. The school district will be represented by Kirton McConkie PC, a law firm based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Tallahassee Democrat.
FHSAA form: Questions about menstrual history on a Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) physical form for student-athletes will be reconsidered after a news story prompted backlash from athletes, parents and doctors. At a special board meeting held on Wednesday, school board members voiced outrage about the five optional questions that included inquiring when athletes last got their periods. "This is information that should be between a doctor and a patient," said board member Alexandria Ayala. Visiting FHSAA board member and former state Rep. Ralph Arza said at the meeting that he will add an agenda item on the Nov. 6 and 7 meeting of the association's board of directors to amend the form. Palm Beach Post. Florida Today.
Lawsuit filed: A wrongful death lawsuit was filed this week against a driver accused of killing two Royal Palm Beach High School students and injuring two others as they waited at a bus stop in March. The lawsuit against Angel Lopez is the first expected to be filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. Lopez — who faces charges in connection with the crash that killed Wazir Chand — was charged in the death of 15-year-old Tiana Johnson and for causing serious injury to Khio Phan, 17, and Rondell Lawrence, 16. Palm Beach Post.
ACT score slide: Scores on the ACT college admissions test by this year's high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years. The class of 2022's average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36, the first time since 1991 that the average fell below 20. In addition, an increasing number of high school students failed to meet subject-area benchmarks set by the ACT. NPR. Associated Press. The 74.
National Walk to School Day: In 1997, The Partnership for a Walkable America organized National Walk to School Day. The annual event attempts to build community awareness for walkable and bikeable communities. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor participated for the past three years. "Events like National Walk to School Day showcase the importance of walking to school, while also making drivers aware that they should be alert and slow down while students may be crossing the road," Castor said. Tampa Bay Times. WTSP.
University and college news: Students at Edward Waters University will have a chance to earn nursing degrees from the University of Florida under an agreement between the schools. Finalized on Wednesday, the deal is limited to only five students per year. The agreement "will equally benefit both universities and our community," said A. Zachary Faison Jr., Edward Waters president and CEO. Florida Times-Union. The Dr. Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Family Foundation provided $100 million to the University of Florida Scripps biomedical-research program in Palm Beach County in what UF says is the largest gift from an individual donor. In a news release, UF officials said the donation will held continue development of more than 100 acres at the campus. News Service Florida. A program at Florida State University Panama City received a grant worth more than $100,000 from the St. Joe Community Foundation. FSU's Advancing Science and Career Education in New Technologies Program accepted a $135,490 grant saying it will enhance efforts to increase interest in technology, information security and cybersecurity among middle and high school students. Panama City News Herald. The University of Florida's hunt for a new president violates the intent of a new state law that governs the process, according to state Sen. Jeff Brandes, who also co-sponsored the measure in the Legislature this year. The law keeps the early part of a presidential search secret, but also requires universities to lift that confidentiality when a final group of applicants emerges. Instead, UF officials announced one finalist, U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, and refused to release the names of a dozen people they interviewed after reaching out to hundreds of candidates. Tampa Bay Times.
Sen. Jeff Brandes (R- St. Petersburg)
If you ask Florida Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg) what he thinks the education world will look like in the year 2040, he’ll tell you it will be going back to the past.
“I see us moving back to the one-room schoolhouse where we have students of different capabilities working with each other to help everyone rise,” Brandes says.
The Pinellas County lawmaker pushes innovative education policies every year in the Florida Legislature, but new leadership more focused on education choice appear to be giving his ideas more traction.
His signature education bill this session, SB 226, would expand a mastery-based education pilot program from the three Florida counties currently testing the concept to any district in the state that wishes to participate. The bill wasn’t heard in committee last session but is on track to pass this year with wide bipartisan support. A similar bill is currently awaiting passage in the House.
Brandes firmly believes that the flexibility of mastery-based education and the wide array of options it provides will expand opportunities for students.
“Our goalposts cannot simply be you got an education or degree,” Brandes said. “A job is the goalpost. How do we focus everything that we're doing to line up to professions that are out there for people who complete their education?”
SB 226 is not a mandate. Districts would have to opt in to participate, and there are unanswered questions about implementation, funding and state-mandated testing. But testing certainly would change under a mastery-based education system.
Brandes says this is a good thing.
“The upside is that we get to take the temperature of each individual student in real time … Why do we need to take the temperature once a year if we’re taking it every day?”
Listen to the full interview below or on iTunes.
Sen. Jeff Brandes
A bill that would allow teachers and students to focus on mastery of grade-level skills rather than grades unanimously cleared the Senate Education Committee Tuesday.
Filed by Sen. Jeff Brandes (R- St. Petersburg), SB 226 would expand an existing “competency-based” pilot program to any school district that wants to participate. The program allows students to earn credits based on mastery of content and skills regardless of how much time they spend in the classroom.
A similar bill already has cleared one subcommittee in the House chamber.
Pinellas, Palm Beach and Seminole County school districts, as well as the University of Florida’s P.K. Yonge Development Research School, have been participating in competency-based learning since 2016, when the Florida Legislature permitted them to apply to the Florida Department of Education for waivers from state testing regulations.
Testifying Tuesday in support of the bill, P.K. Yonge director Lynda Hayes spoke about the school’s success, stressing that removing time requirements is a necessary step for schools in preparing students for graduation.
“If we are to really personalize and customize for our students, we need flexibility of time during the school day,” Hayes said. “Some students need more time in some classes and less time in others.”
Hayes pointed to P.K. Yonge’s more than 98 percent graduation rate and the fact that 96 percent of its students pursue postsecondary opportunities as proof of the program’s success.
The bill would allow participating schools to develop an alternative grading system in grades 6 through 12 as long as they continue to utilize a 4-point scale to determine grade point averages for college and scholarship applications.
Brandes filed a similar bill during the 2018 legislative session, which failed to get a hearing in the Senate Education Committee.
Committee chair Manny Diaz (R-Hialeah), an ardent supporter of educational choice, praised Brandes for re-introducing the bill this year.
“Thank you for helping bring us out of this agrarian calendar we seem to be stuck in,” Diaz said.
The bill received support at the committee hearing from both the left-leaning League of Women Voters and right-leaning Americans For Prosperity.
“Anytime you have the League of Women Voters and Americans For Prosperity on the same side of a bill, it may be a sign of the apocalypse,” Brandes said.
There will be at least one more committee stop for the bill before it is heard on the Senate floor. With full legislative approval, the expansion would go into effect for the 2019-20 school year.
Bills expanding a state initiative to help students learn at their own pace fell by the wayside late in Florida's legislative session.
The House approved its version of the "mastery-based learning" bill. But Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, was stymied in multiple attempts to advance the proposal in the Senate.
In a last-ditch effort, Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, R-Fort Myers, attached a version of the proposal to SB 88 — a bill creating a high school financial literacy course. The amendment also would have made the financial literacy course optional, watering down a longtime priority of Senate Education Chairman Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange. (more…)
Rep. Jennifer Sullivan
Two Republican lawmakers have filed legislation that would expand a state initiative intended to help students learn at their own pace.
A 2016 law created a pilot program for school districts in Pinellas, Palm Beach, Lake Seminole counties, as well as P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School to experiment with "competency-based learning."
The pilot program offered flexibility to schools that wanted to let students advance to higher levels of learning based on their mastery of a topic, rather than the amount of time they spend in class. (more…)
Sen. Brandes
Four school districts and a laboratory school at the University of Florida would have more freedom to explore competency-based education — in which students progress based on what they know rather than the amount of time spent in class — under a bill now headed Gov. Rick Scott's desk.
The Florida Senate approved HB 1365 this morning on a 31-6 vote.
The Lake, Palm Beach, Pinellas and Seminole County school districts, as well as P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, would be able to apply to the state Department of Education for greater freedom to experiment with competency-based programs. In some districts and the lab school, those experiments have already begun.
Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said Wednesday that the idea isn't exactly new. Florida Virtual School students, for example, move through material at their own pace, and the school only gets funded once they finish a course. Brandes said the state needs to prepare for a future in which all students advance from one unit to the next, or one grade to the next, once they've mastered the material.
"I think the best way for us to understand that is to do pilot programs to study it," he said. "I think the future of education is a student moving through a rubric at their own pace, not sitting in a seat as we've done for the last 100 years." (more…)
Students in two Florida school districts and one university-based lab school could advance through coursework at their own pace, based on "mastery of concepts and skills" rather than time spent in class, under legislation introduced today in both chambers of the state Legislature.
Sen. Brandes
The bills, filed by Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg and Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, would create pilot programs at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School at the University of Florida, and in Lake and Pinellas County school districts.
Schools participating in the programs would have more flexibility to let students progress between units, courses, and grades based on whether they meet academic standards — a key principle of customized learning.
The two districts have both launched personalized-learning programs with backing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which offered funding to half a dozen school systems around the country.
Politico Florida reported on the districts' efforts last month.
Lake County Schools won a $3.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to implement the program, which the district launched this academic year in some grades within two elementary schools, one middle school and two high schools. Administrators hope to implement the program in all grades in those schools in four years.
Most of the grant dollars are funding professional development for teachers, said Kathy Halbig, the district’s coordinator for personalized learning.
“The big thing that we need help from the Legislature on is pacing,” Halbig said. “What that means is, if a student is really gifted in math, there should be opportunities for that student to deepen or enrich or move forward in that content area. Our goal isn’t to have second graders graduate, but if students really are gifted, we want them to be able to move as deeply into the material as they are able. We don’t want them to be held back by ‘teacher pace.’
Florida cities would be able to sponsor charter schools under a Senate bill filed today.
Sen. Brandes
Right now, school districts have almost exclusive authority to authorize charter schools in the state, though a handful are overseen by state universities.
Cities like Cape Coral, Lake Wales and Pembroke Pines run municipal charter systems, but they need the blessing of local school boards.
SB 808 by Sen. Jeff Brandes would let cities serve as charter school sponsors — meaning they would have the authority to allow schools to open, and to negotiate charter contracts. The bill would also eliminate restrictions on the expansion of academically high-performing charters. (more…)
Florida school districts would no longer be defined exclusively by county lines, under a constitutional amendment proposed by two state lawmakers.
If passed by the Legislature and approved by voters, the amendments would allow the state or local governments to create new school districts — a concept analogous, in some ways, to the Recovery School District that helped transform the school system in New Orleans, or the Achievement School District in Tennessee.
Cities would be able to run their own school districts under the proposal. Local governments, like city or county commissions, could take the place of existing school boards. And the Legislature would have the power to abolish school districts by law.
The amendment, proposed in resolutions filed Tuesday by state Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg and Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-Fort Myers, would shake up Florida's current constitutional regime, which states that "each county shall constitute a school district" with the power to "operate, control and supervise all free public schools" within its boundaries. (more…)
Update, 6:30 p.m.: The Senate Education Committee on Tuesday approved the legislation on a 7-4, party-line vote.
Out-of-state charter school networks could be able to gain a greater foothold in Florida, and charter school boards would have to show their members are "independent of any management company" under a proposed rewrite of school choice legislation a state Senate panel is set to take up later today.
The measure would merge many of the charter school and parental rights provisions proposed this legislative session into a single bill, SB 1552 by Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers.
Among other things, the proposed rewrite would:
