Florida school districts are struggling to implement the new parental rights law

School districts across Florida are working to implement a new state law that bans classroom instruction of sexual identity and gender orientation in grades K-3 and potentially in other grades as well. But they’re facing a lack of clarity on how to put policies in place to comply with the new mandate. DOE has scheduled a workshop for later this month to develop a rule for how the special magistrate process will work. But school districts are mostly on their own for now in trying to implement the new law. [Source: WUSF]

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Florida's incoming and outgoing higher education leaders

Read profiles of four Florida university presidents that are leaving their jobs and four who are just starting as president: 

» Florida's outgoing higher education leaders

» Incoming presidents at Florida's institutions of higher learning
 

As Title IX turns 50, the backstory on how UM led women’s college sports revolution

In 1972, a total of 294,015 girls participated in high school sports in the United States, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. That number represented just 7 percent of the high school varsity athletes at that time. Today, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, more than 3.4 million girls play high school sports and make up 43 percent of all high school athletes. [Source: Miami Herald]

Florida prepares for heated school board election season

It’s officially school board election season. Candidates qualified for the Aug. 23 ballot through noon on Friday. Many of them had started campaigning months before, with interest high amid increased attention to the politics of issues such as library books, teacher pay and gender lessons. The philosophical direction of several school boards across Florida hangs in the balance. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

A Leon County judge has rejected efforts to make FSU pay students for pandemic shutdowns

In one of a series of similar cases across the state, a circuit judge tossed out a potential class-action lawsuit that argued Florida State University should refund money to students because of a campus shutdown early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Leon County Circuit Judge Layne Smith issued an 11-page ruling Friday dismissing the lawsuit filed by Harrison Broer, who was an FSU law student in spring 2020, when universities and colleges throughout Florida moved from in-person to remote instruction to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. [Source: News Service of Florida]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Mission One is a ‘go for launch’ for Florida schools [Citrus Counnty Chronicle]
On June 16, officials from select school districts around the state of Florida, including Citrus County, were joined by teachers and professionals in fields like aviation, construction, engineering, robotics and more at the Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center to collaborate in the Mission One STEAM Initiative summit.

› University of Miami Rosenstiel School selected for National ‘Reefense' initiative focusing on Florida and the Caribbean [University of Miami News]
Recognizing the value of coral reefs in reducing erosion, flooding, and storm damage, the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has selected the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science as a top recipient of funding for its nationwide Reefense research program. Through this program, a team of University faculty will help address security threats to U.S. military and civilian infrastructure that lie along the coastline.

› Tampa Bay schools ramp up efforts to ready children for kindergarten [Tampa Bay Times]
During the pandemic, school districts across the Tampa Bay area found fewer families placed their children in preschools. For some, that meant not being ready to learn in a classroom setting. At the same time, the importance of early learning came into focus as only about half of third-graders got at least a satisfactory score on the state’s reading test this year.

› FSU Panama City program gives kids a firsthand college experience on university's main campus [FSU News]
About 60 middle school and high school students from Bay, Holmes and Leon counties are getting a taste of life, summer-camp style, at Florida State University. They’re visiting classrooms, talking with FSU students and hearing from law enforcement and health officials about careers in public service. They’re even practicing yoga. The University Summer Experience, a pre-collegiate program of FSU Panama City, began over the weekend with an aim to give traditionally underrepresented sixth- through 12th-graders exposure to college and careers.