Florida School Boards Association
The idea of arming teachers—or loosening state restrictions to allow concealed-carry permit holders to bring guns into schools—is often circulated after school attacks. It gained attention after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012 and was revived in the wake of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High…
Nine months after a mass school shooting in Parkland left 17 dead, an I-Team investigation found Florida still failing kids with serious mental illness – a broken system that top law enforcement bosses say is a threat to public safety. Read More
Florida’s Supreme Court justices gave just a few hints Thursday of how they’re thinking about a 9-year-old case that contends, essentially, that the Legislature has shortchanged some students in the state’s public education system. The case, Citizens for Strong Schools vs. Florida Board of Education, focuses on the Florida constitution’s mandate that the state has a “paramount…
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…
Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio are not happy with FEMA, saying the agency needs to do a better job helping Florida residents displaced by Hurricane Irma find rental housing. They say people are also waiting up to four hours on the phone to speak with someone at FEMA. Read More
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
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…
Within the first eight days of school this year, three students in a suburban district East of Los Angeles killed themselves. None of the deaths were related—the students had been from different schools, in different grades, and didn’t appear to know one another. But the quick succession of suicides left the community reeling. Read More
Hurricane Michael left behind a path of major destruction and death when it slammed into the Florida Panhandle near Mexico Beach just over a week ago. The Category 4 hurricane wiped out communities and disrupted the lives of residents in the Florida Panhandle. With the November election less than three weeks away, the storm has…
Florida Panhandle officials are trying to figure out how to resume classes after Hurricane Michael damaged or destroyed many schools last week. Schools in at least eight counties — Washington, Liberty, Jackson, Gulf, Gadsden, Franklin, Calhoun and Bay — will remain closed until further notice, the office of Gov. Rick Scott said Monday in a…