HIRING RELATIVES: The Florida Commission on Ethics finds that school while superintendents face a conflict of interest in hiring family members, it’s okay for them to recommend relatives’ employment in their districts. Why? The school boards must approve the decision.
CAREER EDUCATION: The Pasco County school district prepares to bolster its career, technical and workforce education programs by hiring new high-level leadership to oversee the initiatives.
MENTAL HEALTH INSTRUCTION: Florida school districts continue to develop methods to meet a new state requirement that all middle and high school students receive five hours of mental health lessons annually, WUFT reports.
BOARD PAY: Brevard County School Board members take a pay cut to place their salaries in line with a first-year teacher in the district, Florida Today reports. Meanwhile, the board boosts its pay raise offer to veteran teachers, Space Coast Daily reports.
9/11 LESSONS: The Leon County school district is looking into a family’s complaint that a 9/11 memorial lesson at a local elementary school contained offensive anti-Muslim images, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.
GUNS ON CAMPUS: Two Florida lawmakers file legislation to ban guns from child care facilities, Florida Politics reports.
SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING: Florida education commissioner Richard Corcoran issues a final order in a dispute over which company should get a state contract to help scour social media for possible school threats, the News Service of Florida reports.
A CHARTER’S FUTURE: Manatee County school district officials wait to see whether anyone will step up to return Lincoln Memorial Academy to charter status, WWSB reports. The district recently took over the troubled school, and an administrative judge upheld the action.
SHARED SPACE: Several churches use Nassau County schools for worship when school is out, the Nassau County Record reports.
COMMUNITY SCHOOLS: Dodgertown Elementary in Indian River County wins a grant to help it convert to a community partnership school offering additional social services to students and others, TC Palm reports.
STUDENT SAFETY CONCERNS: A statewide survey finds many middle and high school girls don’t feel safe, the Miami Herald reports.
SPACE STUDIES: Some south Florida students partner with NASA to explore which vegetables can grow best in space, WLRN reports.
ICYMI: Yesterday’s Florida education news roundup
