Florida School Boards Association
As the Senate race between Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Bill Nelson appears headed to a statewide recount, both candidates are mobilizing teams of lawyers and legal skirmishes are well underway. Thursday dawned with Scott leading Nelson by just more than one-fourth of a percentage point. The candidates for agriculture commissioner are much closer, divided…
Florida’s chief legal officer, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, told county election supervisors Thursday to plan for statewide recounts and for extraordinary public and media scrutiny in the state with the singular status of unusually close elections. Read More
The key to solving the wide array of policy challenges facing Florida starts with one thing: education. That was the takeaway from the final 2018 survey of the Florida Influencers, a group of 50 leaders from across the state. Asked to rank five issues by order of importance to Florida’s future — education, the environment,…
A new app designed to keep students safe in school by letting them submit anonymous tips about suspicious activity is already getting results in Northeast Florida. FortifyFL was created by Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of Education in response to the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman…
Jim Norton picked his way through the damp floor at Wewahitchka High School, where Hurricane Michael’s winds had spirited away part of the school’s roof, leaving behind exposed wires, a mushy mix of white ceiling tiles on the dark carpet, and a clear view of the sky above. Read More
When students look back on their most important teachers, the social aspects of their education are often what they recall. Learning to set goals, take risks and responsibility, or simply believe in oneself are often fodder for fond thanks—alongside mastering pre-calculus, becoming a critical reader, or remembering the capital of Turkmenistan. Read More
Getting back to normal after a devastating hurricane is long, arduous, and expensive for schools. In Florida’s Panhandle, education leaders have started the strenuous work of cleaning up and repairing schools ravaged by Hurricane Michael earlier this month, but they are also running into a longer-term problem: steep cost estimates that could lead to mounting…
The stark differences in their platforms are apparent in DeSantis’s and Gillum’s proposed education policies, particularly when it comes to their polar views on charter schools. Read More
Parents: Can’t make heads or tails of the Every Student Succeeds Act? The U.S. Department of Education has put together a cheat sheet for you. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos unveiled the “parents’ guide” at a roundtable in Mississippi, with parents, students, and educators, as part of her four-state “Rethink School” tour. Read More
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos today recognized 349 schools as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2018. The recognition is based on a school’s overall academic performance or progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. Read More