Online choices remain, as schools encourage struggling students to return - Tampa Bay Times

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Florida school districts have begun reevaluating how they’ll provide classes in the second semester, after the release of the state’s emergency order allowing all options to remain on the table. One key consideration will be focusing on helping the children who have fallen far behind. Keep reading for the latest on this story as it’s playing out statewide. • Plus, if you think your child’s school data shouldn’t be handed over to law enforcement for profiling purposes, you’re not alone. A coalition of liberal and conservative civil rights organizations have taken a strong stance against the Pasco County school district’s sharing of information with the local sheriff’s office, and have started to look at legal action to make it stop. • Read on for the latest on that and other Florida education news.

The state requires school districts to create dashboards to determine which students are at risk of failure. The Pasco Sheriff’s Office using the information for its intelligence-based policing program has drawn the ire of rights activists.

Concerns are mounting that children in online education are struggling more than their in-person counterparts. Broward County schools are seeing evidence of the ‘COVID slide’ in a rising number of F grades, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

Districts are taking steps to ensure that students with problems learning at home have a path back into classrooms. Tampa Bay area school districts made it easier for families to change their school choices for the second semester. • The Leon County school district is making plans to let families know when their children might need to switch, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. About 3,000 Leon children are missing from classroom rolls, the Democrat reports. • The Lee County school district announced it will maintain all its online learning models for second semester, WINK reports. • Some Polk County parents expressed relief that options will remain for their children, the Ledger reports. • Bay County school district officials have not yet decided whether to keep all their virtual choices in place, the Panama City News Herald reports.

Prekindergarten will continue to provide online options in the spring, too. The state had proposed ending the e-learning model, but relented, WPTV reports.

Some might want to alter their plans based on the arc of the coronavirus. There’s been rapid growth in positive cases since Thanksgiving. • The St. Johns County school district recently started reporting school by school virus cases, the St. Augustine Record reports.

The CDC has suggested that quarantines might be shorter than 14 days. Manatee and Sarasota county school districts won’t make the change, though, until they get a directive from local health officials, the Herald-Tribune reports. • The Volusia County school district immediately changed its rules to meet the federal guideline, WKMG reports.

Test, or else. Florida Gulf Coast University planned to charge students and staff who request a COVID-19 test and then don’t use it, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

Questions continue about how schools are using CARES Act funds. Education commissioner Richard Corcoran repeated concerns from the fall that districts aren’t spending the money quickly enough on coronavirus response needs, WFTS reports.

Many in the Class of 2020 felt robbed of their senior events when schools closed in the spring. The Collier County school district will hold events for the recent graduates in December, to help them reconnect, the Naples Daily News reports.

Pinellas County graduates line up to take the field during one of several outdoor graduation ceremonies in July 2020. [ MARTHA ASENCIO RHINE | Times ]

Hillsborough County’s top management is seeing some changes. Its chief finance officer and top charter school supervisor are departing.

The Alachua County school district has a new interim superintendent. It’s a public schools activist who has never been a teacher or administrator, the Gainesville Sun reports.

Don’t know much about civic engagement. Sen. Jeff Brandes has refiled legislation to encourage high schools to include a civic literacy project in their U.S. government courses, Florida Politics reports.

Some Manatee County residents had suspicions that the old Bayshore High site contributed to a cancer cluster in the area. New state findings say that wasn’t the case, the Bradenton Herald reports.

From the court docket ... A former south Florida charter school operator was charged with embezzling about $400,000 in federal funds from the school, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

That’s one DUI too many. A Lee County assistant principal resigned her post after her third arrest, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

So much for that view. The Duval County school district is considering getting rid of its riverfront administrative offices, the Florida Times-Union reports.

Before you go ... It’s December, and the weather is at least a little cooler. You know you want some holiday cheer, and some people are way ahead of you in bringing out those decorations. WJXT went out a few days ago and found some of the best displays in the Jacksonville area. Maybe they will inspire you.

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Online choices remain, as schools encourage struggling students to return - Tampa Bay Times
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