Two Florida private schools were named National Blue Ribbon schools by the U.S. Department of Education.
Two Florida private school have been named National Blue Ribbon school by the U.S. Department of Education.
Holy Family Catholic School in Jacksonville and Westlake Christian School in Palm Harbor were among 219 public and 50 private schools given the award nationally. Florida public school winners will be named later.
The program recognizes high-performing schools, or those with a higher percentage of disadvantaged students who have boosted student test scores. It’s the first time the two Florida private schools have won the award.
Education advocates and community groups sent a letter to Gov. Rick Scott today asking him to consider search criteria offered by people other than state board members.
The coalition, led by Fund Education Now, says the Board of Education has adopted none of the suggestions offered by groups and individuals over the last month.
After adding $1 billion to education funding this year, Florida has moved to the middle of the pack for state cuts to education since the start of the Great Recession in 2008.
However, Florida still spends $296 less per student — adjusted for inflation — than before the Great Recession began in 2008.
Florida lawmakers are not expected to face a budget shortfall this year, according to a new revenue projection, which means schools could avoid further cuts in the next state budget.
A dance team at Florida A&M University (FAMU) in Tallahassee has been suspended because of an alleged hazing incident off campus last weekend.
FAMU Interim President Larry Robinson is putting the “zero tolerance” policy for hazing into practice.
“The University takes very seriously any allegation of hazing and has moved quickly to shut the organization down pending the outcome of an investigation,” said Robinson.
“It is unconscionable that a student organization would participate in any hazing activity considering what has transpired in the past year.”
Students at DeSoto County High School started the year without their permanent leadership, Spanish or French teachers. In the meantime, Ronnie Padilla -- typically a math tutor -- is filling in as the substitute. Only he doesn't speak any French or Spanish.
Schools have been open for a couple of weeks across much of Florida, but not all of the students know who their teachers are yet.
There’s typically a lot of teacher turnover during the summer break, and schools can’t always get vacant teaching positions filled by the time school starts.
At DeSoto County High School in Southern Florida, Ronnie Padilla, a math tutor, is filling in as the French teacher. There’s only one problem: He doesn’t speak any French. Across from his classroom, Alma Cendejas — the school’s front desk receptionist — is filling in as the Spanish teacher until the school can find one.
Principals across Florida say the summer break just isn’t enough time to fill every open teaching position. Some numbers bear that out.
In Broward County, 119 teachers weren’t hired by the first day of school.
In Hillsborough County, about 150 teaching slots were vacant.
Miami-Dade schools started about 100 teachers short.
Orange County schools started with 36 vacancies
In Duval County, 33 teachers weren’t hired on time.
School officials say that’s not unusual for large school districts with tens of thousands of teachers — Miami-Dade has 22,000.
Still, the vacancies mean thousands of students are starting the school year without permanent teachers. In a school year that is only 180-days long and filled with high-stakes tests, these students are getting a late start.
Students and immigrant rights activists wore graduation caps during a sit-in at Rep. Carlos Lopez Cantera's office in Tallahassee back in February 2012. They were asking the House Majority Leader to push forward a bill in the Florida legislature that would have granted college tuition equity. But the bill died in a committee.
Today marks a big win for U.S. born college students with undocumented parents.
A federal judge in Miami ruled Florida students will not have to pay out-of-state tuition rates at state Universities just because their parents aren’t citizens.
The decision overturns a state Department of Education policy to charge students higher, non-resident tuition rates when the citizenship of their parents can’t be determined.
It could be worth thousands of dollars a year to some students who have been paying double or triple the cost of the resident tuition rates.
The plaintiffs in this case were five U.S. citizens whose parents could not prove their own American citizenship.
Jerri Katzerman is a lawyer from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which filed and won the case in Miami federal court. Continue Reading →
A federal judge in Miami has ruled Florida colleges and universities cannot charge U.S. citizen students — who are Florida residents — higher, out-of-state tuition rates simply because they have undocumented parents.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said that violates the Constitution.
In Florida, tuition rates are determined by where the parent lives — not the student, unless they are over age 24 or they claim themselves as independent.
Under the policy, U.S. citizen students in Florida have been forced to pay the higher, out-of-state tuition rates if they cannot prove the legal residency of their undocumented parents.
We’ll bring you more updates here on StateImpact Florida.
Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal star in "Won't Back Down," Hollywood's take on parent trigger legislation.
A Hollywood drama focused on education made its way to Tampa and Charlotte in the last week.
“Won’t Back Down” is a fictional movie about two moms who set out to transform a failing inner city school.
Of course, this is no easy task as they must convince bureaucrats to look beyond traditional thinking.
The film was screened for panels at the Republican and Democratic conventions.
The movie is a dramatization of what the use of parent trigger legislation would look like. The idea is that parents should be able to take over a perpetually failing school and determine the best course of action to fix it.
A majority of parents at chronically low-performing schools could choose to fire staff or administration, convert the school to a charter school or close the school.
For supporters, a parent trigger law makes perfect sense. But critics see it as a way of turning over public dollars to for-profit companies, like charter school operators.
From our investigation: Tres Whitlock types on the DynaVox tablet that serves as his voice. Whitlock, 17, has cerebral palsy and can’t speak on his own. He tried to enroll in a Hillsborough County charter school, but the school had concerns about the therapy and services he needs.
Our investigation revealed 86 percent of Florida charter schools don’t enroll any students with severe disabilities — like autism and cerebral palsy — compared to 50 percent of traditional public schools.
Florida is a big producer, and receiver, of Teach for America candidates.
The number of Teach for America teachers working in Florida schools is going up.
Teach for America recruits, trains and places candidates — often recent college graduates — in low-income schools.
The program currently places teachers in just two Florida school districts: Miami-Dade and Duval.
This year, 300 TFA teachers are on Miami-Dade school rosters.
In 2010, there were 150 TFA teachers working in Miami-Dade schools. And 250 the year before.
Jacksonville area schools have 160 TFA teachers in its teaching corps this year. That’s up from 110 in 2011 and 100 the year before. Continue Reading →
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