Ask students how often they’re bullied at school and you’re likely to get a different answer than if you look at official Florida statistics.
Florida schools reported one bullying case for every 423 students during the 2010-2011 school year — or less than one-quarter of one percent of students — according to Florida Department of Education data.
Florida schools have several criteria that harassment must meet before it qualifies as bullying. For schools to consider harassment bullying there must:
1) Be an imbalance of power in the relationship or a perceived imbalance of power.
Florida continues its summer training to prepare teachers and administrators for Common Core, the next generation of curriculum standards and testing. Here’s what else is happening in Florida education this week:
Monday: The University of South Florida Board of Trustees has called an emergency conference call at 3:30. Last week the Florida Board of Governors granted USF’s requested 11 percent tuition increase.
The Common Core Summer Institutes continue, this time in Ft. Lauderdale. Monday through Thursday teachers and administrators will learn about the Common Core requirements and how they will change curriculum and testing in Florida schools.
Thursday: The Florida Charter School Appeal Commission begins two days of hearings on charter school applications denied by local school boards. All six appeals on the agenda are in Palm Beach County.
Florida has tested students for decades, but since its inception 14 years ago the FCAT has evolved from a simple measure of student learning to an all-encompassing arbiter of student, teacher and school performance. The test factors into third-grade promotion, high school graduation, class placement, teacher pay and evaluations, even whether a school stays open.
Even though one teacher tries to downplay the FCAT to her students by calling it the F-Kitty, the story includes lots of examples of little kids experiencing insomnia and, let’s just say, intestinal distress because of test anxiety.
There’s a growing drumbeat from parents and county school board to de-emphasize the test.
The actual FCAT appears to be on its way out, replaced by new tests based on the national Common Curriculum.
But even though the names may change, the desire to test remains the same.
A sidebar story in the Times profiles Tampa lawyer John G. Brady, who failed an early precursor to the FCAT in the 1970s.
His father fought that test in court and lost, establishing the state’s right to develop high-stakes tests.
But Brady went on to have success at St. Leo University and Stetson College of Law.
The lesson, according to Brady: “I know you can’t always trust standardized tests to give an accurate picture of a student’s abilities.”
Shayne Ijames, 13, committed suicide in Port St. Lucie on May 2, 2012. The family suspects he was bullied after a text message came in on his phone that said, "happy funeral."
Parents said they had pulled their children from school because of a threat or fear of bullying. Adults said the story took them right back to school hallways where they were treated similarly to Austin Beaucage.
Former Student said, in his or her experience, bullying was not taken seriously in Florida’s rural schools:
Growing up as the only Indian kid in a small Florida town (Class of 2000), I’m really sad to see that nothing has changed. I will never forget the first (and only) time I went for help to school administrator because two kids were bullying me.
His response “Are you sure it was those two boys? I know their parents!”.
Editor’s note: This post was written by WUSF’s Mark Schreiner.
Sam DuPont and Audrey Buttice were once mild-mannered USF Ph.D. students.
As part of a National Science Foundation-funded fellowship program, they’d visit elementary schools around the Tampa area and do science demonstrations. But they thought that they could reach more students by videotaping their work—they just needed a hook.
DuPont says they found their answer while waiting in line at Disney World.
“At first we’re like, ‘Pirates!’ and we’re like, ‘Nah, that’s not good.’ Then we’re like, ‘Clowns!’ and we’re like, ‘Ah, that’s a little too juvenile,’ and then we were like, ‘Ah, I got it, superheroes!’ and from there, that’s history!”
So, along with classmate Robert Bair, they came up with new alter egos and a back story–a lab accident that transformed them from normal scientists to super-powered members of The Scientific League of Superheroes.
The U.S. Department of Education unveiled the FAFSA Completion Tool website a few months ago to track information about applicants around the country.
Reasons for not applying include confusion over eligibility, fear of more debt and lack of information about the application process according to Florida C.A.N.
The University of Central Florida asked for a 15 percent increase — the board said no. Florida Gulf Coast asked for a 15 percent increase, but wound up with 12 percent. New College of Florida got a 15 percent raise.
The board proposed a 15 percent increase for Florida State University — it failed. Then they tried a 14 percent hike — spiked again.
The board then proposed a 13 percent increase, which failed without a majority on an 8-8 vote.
That’s when Florida State University president Eric Barron put his foot down.
The board set up 857 empty school desks on the National Mall in Washington D.C., representing the 857 students that drop out of school every hour, according to the College Board.
Its an effort to urge presidential candidates to make education reform a priority on the campaign trail.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan posted a picture of the display on Facebook.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan posted a picture on Facebook of himself on the National Mall during the College Board's display.
The College Board asked passersby to sign its petition.
It said: “If you want my support, I need to hear more from you about how you plan to fix the problems with education. And not just the same old platitudes. I want to know that you have real, tangible solutions, and that once in office, you’re ready to take serious action. I’ll be watching your acceptance speech at your party’s convention.” Continue Reading →
The study looked at school funding in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The researchers argue a good state education funding scheme does two things: Spends more money on education relative to the state’s wealth, and is “progressive,” allocating more money to school districts with higher poverty rates.
Sheri Leitch with her son Austin Beaucage, 16, hold up a pictures of their son and brother Shayne Ijames, 13 who committed suicide on May 2, 2012.
When a sixth grader at Southport Middle School hung himself at his Port St. Lucie home, his school made the announcement to some students the next morning.
A crisis intervention team went to every class 13-year-old Shayne Ijames attended to tell sixth graders their classmate had committed suicide.
His mom, Sheri Leitch, is outraged.
“They should have waited a couple of days and really thought about how they were going to sit the children down and talk to them about it,” Leitch said.
“At least say he passed away. But to tell them that I think was awful. This was life-altering for all of these children.”
Janice Karst with Port St. Lucie schools says the district handles crisis situations differently depending on the ages of students, they type of incident and the time of day. Continue Reading →
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