Sarah Gonzalez was the Miami-based reporter for StateImpact Florida until March 2013. Previously, she worked at NPR in D.C. where she was a national desk reporter, web and show producer as an NPR Kroc Fellow. The San Diego native has worked as a reporter and producer for KPBS in San Diego and KALW in San Francisco, covering under-reported issues like youth violence, food insecurity and immigration. Her work has been awarded an SPJ Sigma Delta Chi and regional Edward R. Murrows. She graduated from Mills College in 2009 with a bachelorās degree in sociology and journalism.
That’s what happening toĀ Balere Language Academy in South Miami Heights, according to the Miami Herald.
The school with about 85 students is losing $79,000 overĀ suspicionsĀ about the school’s staff and finances. How much charters get is based on the number of students enrolled at the school.
Bangladesh native, Shamir Ali, now 25, was picked up in a workplace raid in Miami last week and now faces deportation. Ali arrived to Florida when he was seven years old and is DREAM Act eligible.
In August 2011, the Obama administrationĀ announcedĀ it would prioritize deporting people convicted of crimes.
That meant shifting resources away from low-priority casesāsuch as undocumented children who came to the U.S. at a young age, or DREAM Act kids, and others.
One idea behind the new policy was to protectĀ DREAM Act-eligible kidsĀ from deportation in case Congress were to soon approve the federal bill that would provide a path to citizenship to some undocumented immigrants.
But last Friday, 25-year-old Shamir Ali, a DREAM Act-eligibleĀ undocumented Florida resident, was denied deportation relief by the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office Director, Marc Moore (see the letter from Moore below). Continue Reading →
Gov. Rick Scott attends a governors' summit hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in June.
Florida Governor Rick Scott is still answering questions after he suggested Florida colleges and universities should get less funding for social science programs, and more funding for science, engineering, technology and math programs, orĀ STEM fields.
Scott told a Miami radio station that he’s related to the angriest anthropologist he’s heard from so far.
With Halloween approaching, the great anthropology debate is the Florida political story that won’t die (background here). But the question remains: Is anthropology a STEM field?
Back in August I profiled Caroline Roa,Ā a recent high school graduate ready to start school at Miami Dade College with what she thought would be a full-scholarship.
But weeks before the start of classes, Roa, who was born in Miami, learned her tuition would be three-times higher than she planned forābecause Roa’s dad is an undocumented immigrant.
That’s when I got a call from The Southern Poverty Law Center looking to get in touch with Roa and more students like her.
That group has now filed a federal class action lawsuit against the Florida education commissioner and university system chancellor on behalf of Roa and four other students in the same situation.
The Academy of Arts and Minds in Coconut Grove used to be a shopping mall. But no one was buying space. That's when the owner of the property started up a charter school and now rents the property to his school. The campus still looks like a shopping mall with wrap-around balconies. Classrooms have floor-to-ceiling windows, much like a store front.
This story is a collaborative investigation between The Miami Herald and StateImpact Florida. Read the Herald’s story.
People who want to start upĀ theirĀ own charter school must go through a rigorous application process. But after that initial hurdle, the school founders get a lot of freedom over how to run theirĀ publicly-funded schools and who to hire. And becauseĀ of loopholes in Florida statues, a lot of taxpayer dollars can end up in the hands of one person.
Progress reports in Miami-Dade county schools have already been issued. But students at the Academy of Arts and Minds in Coconut GroveĀ didn’t get a grade in biology, because they haven’t had a biology teacher for the first six weeks of school.
Sarah Gonzalez / StateImpact Florida
Academy of Arts & Minds students Darcy Morenza (10th), Toni Robotham (11th) with her little brother Brandon, and Darlene Valejjo (10th) on Open House night.
And on OpenĀ House night, parents want answers.
Parents introduce themselves as Janeysi’s mom and Hannah’s mom.
But Sharon Blate, the new biology teacher, doesn’t know who JaneysiĀ and Hannah are.
“I have no idea who is in my class. I have not even seen the list yet. At a quarter to six was the first time I walked in here,” said Blate.
So you think you want to make the switch and send your kid to a charter school, but you don’t know where to start.
As a part of our ongoing seriesĀ on charter schools, we’ve identified the best places you can turn to to help you decideĀ which Florida charter school is best for your child.
Find a Florida Charter
There are more than 500 charter schools in Florida today, and navigating the state Department of Education website isn’t always the quickest way to find what you’re looking for. Although theĀ FDOEĀ mapsĀ all of the charter schools throughout the state, it isn’t the best tool for locating schools near you.
We’ve found the Florida Consortium of Public Charters does a good job of finding the schools for you. ForĀ a list of charter schools located near your home or work zip code, you canĀ search here.
Where are the “A” and “F” Charters?
Maybe you want your kid to attend only the top performing Florida charters. Or maybe you just want to know which schools are the failing charters. To get the rundown on school report cards from 1999-2011,Ā you can click thisĀ FDOE page.
The sign says academy, but is it a charter school?
There are a lot of Florida schools that look and function like charters, but really aren’t.
And when we embarked on this series, we couldn’t always tell the difference between one public school with a focus on science and another public school with a focus on science.Ā But it turns out there can be quite a bit distinguishing the two.
To help ease confusion, weāve created a pop quiz for you.
1. A public school with a theme or academic focus is aā¦ (Choose all that apply):
A. Charter school
B. Private school
C. An Academy
D.Ā Magnet school
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks are the two most common civil right's figures K-12 students learn about.
When it comes to teaching K-12 students about the nation’s civil rights movement, more than half of U.S. states are failing,Ā according to a new study by theĀ Southern Poverty Law Center.
In the study, “Teaching the Movement: The State of Civil Rights Education 2011”,Ā SPLC’s Teaching ToleranceĀ arm looked at each state’s required education standards and curriculum, and compared that to what civil rights historians consider core information about the civil rights movement.
Florida is one of three states who scored an “A” letter grade in civil rights education, along with Alabama and New York. But authors say there is still room for improvement in every state.
āFor too many students, their civil rights education boils down to two people and four words: Rosa Parks, Dr. King and āI have a dream,āā said Maureen Costello, SPLCās Teaching Tolerance director. Costello said one of the most shocking findings is that educators make the movement “seem easy,” she said, because there is very little attention placed on opposition and racism. Continue Reading →
The Florida Department of Education kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month by announcing the 2011 Hispanic Heritage Month Recommended Reading List.
āFrom Pensacola to Key West, Florida is home to strong Hispanic roots that have helped to shape our state in many positive and unique ways,ā said Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson. He said the book list is meant to help students gain more understanding of Floridaās deep cultural connections.
Hispanic reading list by grade level:
Elementary Pre K-2 Nacho and Lolita by Pam Munoz Ryan Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale by Carmen Agra Deedy
A marine science class at South Broward High. Kevius Morgan, center, and Taylor Drake, right.
With budgets for classroom supplies shrinking, some teachers in a South Florida school are promising students an irresistible incentive if they help stock the classroom: better grades.
āThe teacher was like, āOkay, Iām running out of paper towels and I donāt know how youāre going to dry your hands after you clean them,” said South Broward High School senior Kevius Morgan.
“So if you bring in paper towels you get a letter grade up.”
Morgan ultimately got an A in art class for bringing them in.
At the same school, an Algebra II student said her teacher gave the class a list of supplies like rulers, markers and scrap paper to bring in. “She was like, ‘a letter grade up if you bring in whatever is on that list,” senior Taylor Drake said. She said her final grade went from a C to a B.
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