Breaking with their counterparts at the state’s universities, presidents at a handful of Florida colleges urged lawmakers to be cautious about any moves that could push tuition upward again.
Schools
Florida Senate Approves School Prayer Bill, 31-8
The school prayer bill’s approval overrides objections of senators who said the measure will lead to prayers at school events that students can’t get out of, including possibly in classes, and that some students will have to listen to prayers or risk being ostracized because they come from a different religious tradition.
Shifting More Burden To Students, Lawmakers OK 15% Tuition Hike at Florida Universities
The Florida House approved an 8 percent increase and each state university is allowed to add an additional 7 percent, as universities have for the past several years. Gov. Rick Scott is opposed to the tuition hike.
U.S. Citizen, Floridian, But Denied In-State Tuition Over Parents’ Status: Senate Kills Fix
A measure that would grant in-state tuition to Florida high school students who are U.S. citizens but whose parents are in the country illegally was voted down Tuesday by a Senate committee.
Mediocre Results for Flagler Schools, Worse for Its Charters, in Controversial State Rankings
School-by-school rankings follow last week’s district rankings. Belle Terre Elementary and Indian Trails Middle ranked best, but still barely in the top quartile, while Flagler’s three charter schools scraped the bottom, in contrast with several top-performing charters elsewhere in the state.
Deaf District as Flagler Students Are Cheated Out of Dozens of Hours of Test Preparation
As high schools prepare students for the FCAT writing test in a few weeks and end-of course exams in May, Matanzas High School’s Jo Ann Nahirny explains how the district’s abbreviated schedule is hurting student preparation and will likely hurt results. Yet administrators seem deaf to alternatives.
House Releases $69.2 Billion Budget, Including 9.5% Increase in Pre-K-12 Funding
House budget builders on Friday released their $69.2 billion spending blueprint that includes more than $1 billion in additional funding for K-12 education and more than $2.5 billion in reserves.
Flagler County Education Foundation
9th Annual Mardi Gras & Casino Night
The Flagler County Education Foundation will host their annual fundraiser, Mardi Gras and Casino Night on February 21st at 6:30 pm to benefit programs such as Pack 4 Backs, STUFF Bus program and the Dell Trayer Teacher Grants.
Flip-Flops OK, Tuck-In Not Required: District’s Uniform Policy Will Be Relatively Permissive
The Flagler school board met this morning to iron out the wording of its new “uniform dress code” policy, which merely tightens existing standards rather than imposes a rigid uniform standard.
Full Text of Proposed Uniform Policy for Flagler County Schools
The full text of the proposed “uniform dress code” policy the Flagler County School board agreed to on Jan. 25, and is scheduled to vote on adopting, at its Jan. 31 meeting.
In Another Move To Charters, Florida Would Give Parents More Say Over Failing Schools
Parents of children in chronically failing schools would get greater power to force the schools to change, including the possibility they could make the school into a charter school or contract its management out, under a Jeb Bush-inspired bill that advanced Tuesday in the Florida House.
Maintaining Low A, Flagler School District Is 29th in New Florida Ranking; St. Johns Is 1st
The new rankings by the state Department of Education are a first step in what will lead to school-by-school rankings in the near future. But those rankings are entirely based on FCAT scores, limiting their validity.
Florida Virtual School Students’ AP Results Beat Brick and Mortar Peers’, at Less Cost
Online students at Florida Virtual School, the state’s virtual extension of the public school system, outperformed their traditional-school peers on Advanced Placement tests in 2011 for $2,159 less per student.
Flagler School Board Adopts Uniforms on 3-2 Vote But Only Vaguely Defines What It Means
The Flagler County School Board’s 3-2 decision to institute uniforms in all schools Tuesday evening was only vaguely defined beyond what may be only a somewhat more stringent dress code than the one in effect now.
As School Board Votes on Uniform Policy, a Reality Check From the Trenches
Drawing on arresting experiences, Jo Ann Nahirny, a veteran teacher at Matanzas High School, disputes assumptions on school uniforms in a letter to Flagler County School Board members.
A La Carte College Tuition: Florida’s Science-Tech Majors Could End Up Paying More
Florida’s quest for more science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees might eventually lead to a quest for higher tuition for students entering those programs, based on comments by higher education leaders.
Bunnell’s Barbara Korn and FPC’s Sarah Poppe Win School District’s Top Honors for 2012
The 2012 Teachers and Employees of the Year at the Flagler Auditorium Thursday evening featured every school’s nominees and a cheer-leading crowd with shrieking lung capacities.
Stetson’s School of Business Graduate Programs Named “Top Online” By U.S. News & World Report
Stetson University School of Business Administration online master’s degree programs have been named among the nation’s “Top Online Graduate Business Programs” in U.S. News & World Report’s Top Online Education Programs 2012 rankings.
Crediting FPC, 2 Manfres Develop Energy-Saving Product With Broad Applications
FPC graduate Alec Manfre is the COO of Bractlet, a start-up company that received $40,000 from the Chilean government to develop an energy-saving device he and colleagues invented at Georgia Tech. Manfre’s sister Catherine, also an FPC graduate, heads the company’s marketing.
School Uniforms at Osceola Public Schools? You Be the Judge: An Image Gallery
The Osceola policy is actually a dress code, and a rather lenient one at that: the photos lay bare the Osceola school district’s uniform policy as the Flagler school board prepares to decide whether to implement such a policy locally on Jan. 17.
Flagler Delegation Discovers Varieties of School Uniform Experiences in Osceola Visit
As the Flagler County School Board prepares for a vote on school uniforms next week, a dozen Flagler school officials visiting Osceola schools Tuesday found out that even there, uniforms are are merely dressed up dress code rather than the strict regulations usually associated with uniforms.
Superintendent Valentine Seeking to Close Failing Heritage Charter School By June
After two successive F’s from the state, Valentine informed Heritage Academy Principal Nicole Richards by letter that she’ll recommend the school board close the school, which has about 180 students, by year’s end. Heritage is likely to appeal.
FPC and Matanzas, Penalized By Lower At-Risk Graduation Numbers, Maintain B Rating
FPC and Matanzas had the numbers for an A, but were docked a letter grade because they graduated fewer at-risk students than the state requires.
What Rick Scott Can Learn from Anthropology
Rick Scott should lay off behavior modification and let people study everything from art to zoology, argues Cary McMullen. Don’t worry. We’ll figure out what we want to be when we grow up.
Ammons Stays at FAMU, Defying Gov. Scott’s Muscling Into Hazing Homicide Controversy
The Florida A&M University Board of Trustees will meet by phone Monday to decide the fate of President James Ammons in the wake of the hazing death of a drum major on Nov. 19 and the hazing-related brutalization of another student in the band two weeks earlier.
Testing Industrial Complex Descends on Florida To Fight Over $35 Million Contract
McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are in a battle over the right to provide testing items to the Florida Department of Education under a Race to the Top contract worth tens of millions of dollars.
Matanzas Graduation Rate at 90%, FPC at 83% As Charter School Drags Flagler’s Down
When the numbers from heritage Academy, a charter school, are excluded, the Flagler school district’s graduation rate improves to 84.4 percent. The district’s single-year drop-out rate was 1.7 percent.
Florida Charter Schools: A Go-Go Industry Awash in Tax Money and Little Oversight
Florida lawmakers have been more concerned about promoting rather than regulating charter schools, so bad charter schools operate with impunity. A Miami Herald investigation uncovers the charter school bandwagon.
Educators Deride Scott’s “Smiley Face” Budget, Hospitals Call It “Tax on the Sick”
Despite Scott’s proposed boost, the state would still spend about $210 million less on education under Scott’s plan than it did five years ago, with overall education funding down about $1.6 billion. Hospital advocates call proposed cuts to Medicaid a “tax on the sick.”
Uniform Fashion Show Punctuates School District’s Last Forum Before Final Policy Vote
The show, during a forum meant to be more even-handed than shilling, was designed to give an audience of about 45 some idea of what the uniforms might look like, if the school board–currently favoring the policy 3-2–finally ratifies the initiative on Jan. 17.
An Uneasy Flagler School Board Delays District Advertising Initiative as Questions Mount
The school board will devote a workshop to the initiative to decide, among other things, whether an ad consultant would take over and centralize all advertising in the district, including booster clubs and school-based initiatives.
Strings, Arts Openings, Christmas Parade and More Uniform Follies: This Week in Flagler
A busy week of fun and follies all around. The fun: the Flagler Youth Orchestra’s Christmas concert, Palm Coast’s Christmas parade and new arts show openings. The follies: Another uniform forum, and the Florida House releases its redistricting maps.
Dinner with Santa at FPC
Have dinner with Santa at Flagler-Palm Coast High School on Thursday, December 15 from 6-8 pm in the campus cafeteria. Photos, crafts, and a $3 meal, with proceeds to benefit Flagler families.
School Bus Ruled Out in Alex Taylor’s Fatal Hit-and-Run; Finding Culprit Unlikely
A surveillance video on the grounds of the Flagler County Courthouse helped authorities rule out Flagler school buses and detect a large rig that passed by the scene two minutes before the buses did.
Florida Universities Respond to Rick Scott’s Inquisition With a Massive Document Dump
Public university leaders, through thousands of pages of answers that include backup academic studies and appendixes, have replied to Gov. Rick Scott’s request to outline what the schools are doing to ensure graduates meet the need of Florida employers.
Appeals Court Lets Lawsuit Over School Funding Proceed, Florida Supreme Court Next
An 8-7 ruling by the First District Court of Appeals overturned the state’s effort to stop the lawsuit and may lead to a momentous decision by the Florida Supreme Court interpreting the state’s responsibility to adequately pay for education under the Florida Constitution.
Feed Flagler: Community-Wide Celebration Wraps-Up With 3,000 Meals Served
We’re reporting live this afternoon from various Feed Flagler locations as the community-wide Thanksgiving celebration takes place from 3 to 6 p.m.
Flagler School District Reaffirms Wireless Ban On Buses Even As It Encourages iPad Fever
A proposal to let students use their smart phones to listen to music or text failed on a 2-2 vote, but the school board left silent the matter of tablets, such as iPads, which can also be used to read a book, do homework or write an essay on the bus–but are now banned as well.
Our School District’s Uniform Follies
The Flagler County School Board’s push for uniforms is out of touch with the county’s struggling families and plundered budgets and revealing of a board too prone to selling out to charter-school gimmickry.
FPC’s Frankie Garcia Picked to Join U.S. Army’s All-American Marching Band
Frankie Garcia’s honor is reserved for just 125 high school senior band musicians once a year, chosen from 1,234 nominations across the nation. He’ll perform at the the annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl’s half-time show before a national television audience.
Town Hall on School Uniforms Draws Out Big Opposition; Decision Set for Jan. 3
John Fischer, the school board member pushing for school uniforms, did not attend the meeting at the Flagler Auditorium, which drew some 150 people, a third of whom spoke–with a 5-to-1 margin opposing uniforms.
Françoise Pecqueur, Struck By School Board Member’s Wife, Dies 2 Days Short of 77
Françoise Pecqueur was walking her dog in Palm Coast’s C-section the evening of Nov. 10 when she was struck by a a car driven by Jamesine Fischer, wife of John Fischer, the Flagler County School Board member. The incident is now a homicide investigation.
Steve Knob, 5-Year Band Leader at Matanzas, Resigns After Downloading Porn at School
Steve Knob had brought a long and distinguished career to Flagler. Matanzas High School Principal Chris Pryor and others caught him in the act of downloading porn on Oct. 7, but Pryor attributed his resignation to “family medical issues.”
With Pomp and Yakety Yak, Flagler Auditorium Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary Tonight
The free concert by the Cornell Gunter’s Coasters of “Charlie Brown” and “YaketyYak” fame at 7 p.m. will follow an hour’s celebration and remembrances by local officials who lit the way of the Flagler Auditorium’s growth.
School Prayer Cloaked as Student-Led Making Another Contested Run at Legalization
The latest school-prayer proposal proposal before the Florida Legislature would let local school boards adopt prayer-enabling resolutions, letting students lead audiences in prayer at games or graduations or other non-compulsory events.
Small Crowd, Loud Responses as Awake the State Demonstration Occupies Palm Coast
Some 50 to 60 protesters grabbed drivers’ attention at Palm Coast Parkway and Belle Terre Tuesday afternoon, echoing in signs much of the outrage that the Occupy Wall Street movement is making familiar across the nation.
Unaccountability and Unproven Quality in Rush Toward Virtual Education in Florida
A new study, citing Florida and other virtual school pioneers, says for-profit companies are pushing states to offer full-time virtual instruction paid for by state tax dollars with little research on the quality of these programs.
Larry Shue’s “The Foreigner” at DeLand’s Athens Theatre Nov. 3-13
Larry Shue’s “The Foreigner” in a Stetson University and Sands Theater Company production at DeLand’s Athens Theatre November 3 through 13.
Happy 50th: Stetson Celebrates Its Beckerath Organ’s Half Century With 2 Days of Recitals
Stetson University will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its Beckerath Organ on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4 and 5, with a series of guest recitals, receptions and talks to be held on Stetson’s DeLand campus.
Transformers: Public Schools Want to Be More Like Charter Schools
Florida public schools, envious of the flexibility enjoyed by charter schools–and fearing a migration to charters–are launching a lobbying campaign in the legislature to relax some public school regulations like class size and school hours.