John O'Connor is the Miami-based education reporter for StateImpact Florida. John previously covered politics, the budget and taxes for The (Columbia, S.C) State. He is a graduate of Allegheny College and the University of Maryland.
The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act lays out how school districts should place students. The "strong preference" is in general education classrooms, according to a Florida Department of Education memo.
The school district wants Frost to attend a specialized program at another school, his family says, and are asking him to take tests and provide evidence he can handle life at his neighborhood school before enrolling him.
Privacy laws prevent Hillsborough County school officials from commenting on Frost’s case. The district says it follows all federal and state laws for placing students with disabilities.
The big highlight? There is a “strong preference” for placing students with disabilities in general education classrooms. And the burden is on the school district to prove the student is better served somewhere else — not on the student to prove they can handle the work or environment.
Miami-Dade school superintendent Alberto Carvalho speaks with Tell Me More host Michel Martin. Online the debate was happening at #NPRedchat.
Since early September, #NPRedchat has allowed us to take a deeper look at education and explore ways of engaging not only with our radio audience, but with the digital public on Twitter as well. Today, we are talking with educators, parents and students from Florida to California, on critical education issues facing the nation.
The conversations on #NPRedchat have informed our journalism in unexpected and exciting ways and today’s LIVE Twitter Education Forum was no different.
Miami-Dade College student Shakira Lockett and New York high school senior Nikhil Goyal talked to NPR’s Michel Martin about their schools.
Lockett was angry about her experience: She was forced to retake five courses because she couldn’t pass the Miami-Dade College entrance exams.That meant paying for courses for which she received no credit and extending the time it will take for her to earn a degree.
“I do feel angry about the cost and how it takes longer for you to graduate,” Lockett told Tell Me More host Michel Martin.
Tell us about your schools. What’s working? What doesn’t?
What issues are on your mind? Join the conversation at #NPRedchat.
Check local listings for when you can hear the Tell Me More broadcast, featuring U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, StudentsFirst founder Michelle Rhee and Miami-Dade schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
School boards in Orange and Seminole counties said no to Florida Virtual Academy, but Pinellas County's school board gave a tentative approval.
A network of online charter schools tied to a company under investigation by the Florida Department of Education won a split decision from Florida school districts Tuesday.
School boards in Orange and Seminole counties rejected Florida Virtual Academy for the second time. But the Pinellas County school board approved the application despite concerns the school’s curriculum is outdated.
The Florida Virtual Academy network will be run by K12 Inc, the nation’s largest online educator. The Florida Department of Education is investigating whether the company used teachers who were not properly certified to teach online courses and then asked teachers to cover it up.
Henry Miles Frost and his service dog, Denzel, protest outside a downtown Tampa building during the Republican National Convention. Since he posted the photo to Facebook, he's found global support in his effort to enroll in his South Tampa neighborhood school.
Sometimes a picture can be worth a thousand followers too.
That’s what happened to Henry Frost after he posted a photo to Facebook.
The photo shows 13-year-old Frost sitting on the steps outside a downtown Tampa building with his service dog Denzel. Not shown are the thousands of Republicans who had gathered nearby for the week-long Republican National Convention.
Frost holds a sign. It reads:
“The Civil Rights Act of 1964 granted equal rights to all people. I am a person. I want these rights.”
Frost has autism and a list of related physical problems which have so far eluded a tidy diagnosis. He communicates using an iPad app that speaks what he types.
The right Frost is seeking is the ability to attend Wilson Middle School in his South Tampa neighborhood. The Hillsborough County school district has told Frost they believe he is better off at a specialized program at Coleman Middle School, his family says.
Disabilities and special education experts say it’s a common dispute: A family and a school district disagree about what school is best for the student.
School officials say they work hard to give thousands of students with disabilities and their parents what they want. But sometimes parents don’t get the final decision and school officials do.
Five private Florida colleges are among the 25 schools with the lowest graduation rate.
Five Florida schools have landed on a list of private colleges with the lowest graduation rates.
Barry University in Miami Shores and Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens and Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach had the sixth-, seventh-, and eight-lowest graduation rates, according to an analysis of federal data by CBS MoneyWatch.
About one in three students graduate from those schools within six years.
Lynn University in Boca Raton also made the list. The school will be the site of the third and final presidential debate. Florida Southern University in Lakeland was the final Florida school to make the list.
Here’s why: The 2006 Florida Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Holmes.
We’ve annotated some significant portions of the opinion. That includes the portion where the majority explicitly says they are not basing their decision on the section of the state constitution which Amendment 8 would rewrite.
James G. Blaine, a former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representative. His proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution failed, but Florida was one of more than 30 states which approved a similar ban on public funding of religious groups.
Alachua County school board member Eileen Roy has called a proposed constitutional amendment coming before voters in November “the very death of public schools.”
The state’s largest teacher’s union is running ads against the change and mobilizing teachers to get out and vote against it.
Amendment 8 – dubbed the Religious Freedom Amendment – is likely to be one of the most contested ballot questions this fall.
The big question: Will it take taxpayer dollars away from public schools — to fund private, religious schools?
The answer: No, not directly…at least not yet. But passing the amendment could lay the groundwork for a future voucher campaign.
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