STATE NEWS

Florida will require 'moment of silence' in schools

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law Monday that would require public schools in the state to set aside at least one minute of silence each morning for children to meditate or pray. “It’s something that’s important to be able to provide each student the ability, every day, to be able to reflect and to be able to pray as they see fit," DeSantis said. “The idea that you can just push God out of every institution, and be successful — I'm sorry, our founding fathers did not believe that.” The move makes Florida one of at least 15 states that mandate public schools to hold moments of silence.

Click Orlando  Fox 35 Orlando  Tampa Bay Times  WPTV 

NATIONAL NEWS

Educators under severe pressure, survey indicates

Teachers are almost twice as likely to experience frequent job-related stress and nearly three times as likely to experience symptoms of depression than the general adult population, according to a new RAND Corp. report. The results are based on a nationally representative survey of teachers in late January and early February, and a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults in early March. An overwhelming 78% of teachers questioned said they experience frequent job-related stress, the survey found, while one in five said they were not coping well with that stress. Half of teachers reported feeling burned out and 27% said they experience symptoms of depression. Nearly a quarter of teachers said they were likely to leave their current teaching jobs by the end of this school year. “It’s concerning,” said Elizabeth Steiner, a policy researcher at RAND Corp. and the co-author of the report. “People who are experiencing symptoms of depression and burnout can be less engaged in their work, they may be absent more often. … Those behaviors can impact students unfavorably, not to mention the impact depression has on teachers themselves and their well-being and their relationships.”

Education Week 

Latest U.S. Department Of Education appointees revealed

The U.S. Department of Education has announced a raft of political appointees to lead various parts of the agency. They include Alice Abrokwa, Senior Counsel, Office for Civil Rights, who most recently served as a Senior Staff Attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, where she engaged in impact litigation on behalf of children and youth across the country. The appointees also include Gypsy Moore, Senior Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, who was most recently in-house legal counsel for the Center for American Progress educational think tank. Previously, Moore completed a civil rights law fellowship with the National Education Association.

Ed.gov 

DISTRICTS

Lee schools appoints interim leader

The Lee County School District has tapped Kenneth Savage as its new superintendent to serve while the district searches nationwide for a permanent leader. Savage led as school principal and assistant principal at all three levels for several different Lee schools and was also named Florida's Principal of the Year in 2018. Savage has also served at the state level in the Office of the Chancellor K-12 Public Schools, where he worked in the executive leadership cabinet. He worked for Alachua and Duval counties prior to his time at Lee, serving as a teacher, department director and athletic director. Savage's annual salary will be $209,000 not including benefits, according to his contract.

News-Press.com 

Districts to continue free summer food distribution

Miami-Dade and Broward County Public Schools are amongst Florida districts that will continue their free food distribution service through the summer. Citing food insecurity issues, Miami-Dade County Public Schools says it "stands firm in its commitment to support students and their families." Distributions will take place at various locations.

Patch 

Districts looking for summer staff to man catch up programs

School districts across Southwest Florida need teachers for summer programs and drivers for school buses, with administrators expecting classes to be full, especially at the kindergarten level, because many children missed out on class time amid the pandemic. The Lee County and Collier County school districts are among those hiring. Lee has a recruitment event July 7 and the starting salary for summer school teachers is $47,000.

WINK News 

HIGHER EDUCATION

Education Dept. delays FAFSA simplifications

The U.S. Education Department on Friday said it will need another year to implement provisions to streamline the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA, that Congress included in the $1.4tn spending package in December. House and Senate leaders agreed to reduce the number of questions on the aid application from 108 to 36 and limit requirements for students experiencing homelessness and those formerly in foster care to receive financial assistance. The spending bill also ensures that more families with substantial financial need receive more aid. It's hoped that those changes will enable an additional 1.7m students to qualify for the maximum award each year and make an additional 555,000 newly eligible, according to lawmakers.

Washington Post 

WORKFORCE

Santa Rosa losing substitute teachers at alarming rates

The Santa Rosa County School District and its contractor for substitute teachers have launched a heavy recruitment campaign for the upcoming school year after operating throughout the past year with almost half of the number of substitutes as normal. The district's contractor, Staff EZ, typically has almost 600 substitute teachers employed in a normal year but lost 331 substitutes this school year and currently has just 347 active. At the end of May, the district had 28,970 absences needing subs, up by 2,200 from the year prior. A drop in the number of subs available caused the district's "fill rate" to drop from about 85% down to just less than 69%.

Pensacola News Journal 

OPERATIONS

Schools working hard to balance safety with familiar classroom experiences

As school leaders make plans to welcome students back for full-time, in-person learning in the fall, many are re-evaluating health protocols based on updated guidance from local, state and federal agencies, as well as taking into consideration what worked well and what did not from the 2020-21 school year. Some school districts, including Chicago Public Schools and the Los Angeles Unified School District, required students and staff to answer daily online questionnaires before the school day, while others, like Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, relied on the "honor system" for families to report when a student had a high temperature, traveled to a COVID-19 hotspot, or was in contact with someone who contracted COVID-19. Laurie Combe, president of the National Association of School Nurses, acknowledges that most are working hard to try and balance safety during the ongoing pandemic with creating a familiar school experience.

K12 Dive 

OTHER

Political leaders increasingly clashing with nonpartisan school board members

Jessica Bakeman examines how education policy making is becoming more political. "As culture wars over how to teach about race in public schools intensify across Florida and around the country, so has the pressure on school board members to fall in line with their political allies — despite that their elected positions are nonpartisan," she writes. Palm Beach County School Board member Barbara McQuinn claims she was recently pressured by Democratic state representative Omari Hardy to support an equity policy of his and responded by changing her political affiliation to independent. "I do not answer to the Democratic Party simply because there is a 'D' after my name," Barbieri wrote in an email. "School board races are nonpartisan for the simple reason that politics should play no part in deciding what is good and not good for children."

WLRN