Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett is announcing his resignation today a year to the day after his predecessor, Gerard Robinson, resigned amid another controversy over school grades. The two resignations underscore the flammability of school grades resulting from high-stakes testing–a flammability opponents of such testing say belie the credibility of the testing and system.
All Else
We’re the Most Educated Young Adults in American History, Yet Many of Us Can’t Find Work
What happens when we can’t find work and can’t pay our loans, asks Colleen Teubner. We invest about four years of our lives and up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in our education, and then spend the next decade trying to get out of ever-increasing debt.
Ethics Commission Clears Palm Coast’s Tony Capela of Corruption or Favoritism in City Work
Ex-employee Terry Geigert had made six allegations against Tony Capella, Palm Coast’s public works superintendent, charging he favored RoadTek, a friend’s company, in no-bid contracts, sold his house for cash to the company owner, and fired Geigert in retaliation for whistleblowing.
Meanwhile, Back in the Trenches: Flagler Beach Firefighter Saves Kitten From Deep In a 300-Foot Drain
Tuesday evening, Morgan Walden—one of three firefighters who answered a distress call, for a kitten, at the Flagler Beach Publix on State Road 100—crawled half-way into a narrow, suffocating stormwater drain and rescued an 8-week-old kitten that had been howling in there loud enough for a Publix customer to hear it.
Palm Coast’s Bike and Poetry Shows Slam Their Way Back On Gargiulo Foundation’s Wheels
The second and ongoing annual “Art of the Bicycle” livening up Palm Coast’s City Marketplace this month is all spokes: the Gargiulo Art Foundation, the Flagler County Art League, Hollingsworth Gallery and City Repertory Theatre are all in on it, minus last year’s training wheels, and adding momentum to the evolving cohesiveness of the small town art scene.
Again in Flagler, Gov. Scott Headlines Aveo Co.’s 300-Jobs Groundbreaking at Airport
If the 300 promised jobs are produced, landing Aveo Engineering in Flagler County will prove to be the largest single gain of private-employer jobs in memory, and an unqualified success for the county administration’s new economic development department under Helga van Eckert. But the company is getting generous incentives beyond the $150,000 in cash for jobs retained.
NBC’s Olympic Blinders to Russia’s Gay-Bashing, Florida’s School-Voucher Crock, Spike Lee’s Essentials
NBC plays coy over Russia’s gay bashing as it prepares for the Sochi Olympics, Florida’s corporate-voucher-school scheme keeps growing, Malcolm X invents peanut butter, Spike Lee shows off his list of best films, and Finnegans Wake goes through the spell-checker.
Florida Education Commissioner Bennett Changed School Grading System in Indiana to Benefit a Donor
Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett and his then-Indiana employees “frantically overhauled” Indiana’s school-grading system last year (just as Florida’s was last year and this year) when it looked like one of his political contributors’ schools might get a “C,” the Associated Press reported.
Nielsen’s Aveo Engineering Taxies to Take Off at Flagler Airport in County’s Latest Jobs Coup
It’s been billed as a secret, jobs-producing company the county administration’s economic development team will unveil at the Flagler County Airport Tuesday morning, but there’s little secret about it: Aveo Engineering, a maker of LED light products in the aeronautic industry, is bringing some 300 jobs to the airport.
Massive Fire Demolishes a House on Palm Coast’s Woodhaven Dr., But 3 Dogs Are Saved
A massive fire engulfed a single-family house at 121 Woodhaven Drive, off of Pine Lakes Parkway, in Palm Coast at around 11:50 this morning. There were no occupants in the house at the time, but two dogs were rescued after the fire started.