by Steve Myers Published May 24, 2012 9:41 am A memo from Times-Picayune publisher Ashton Phelps confirms that the newspaper will cease daily publication, moving to three days a week: Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The memo also confirms staff cuts, though it doesn’t say how large they will be. Press reports have necessitated our giving you this news now. We realize it will make people anxious, but we do not know enough today to be able to announce how the changes will affect individual employees. We will move as quickly as possible in the coming weeks to make that determination and to inform each of you personally. The memo from Phelps: To all employees: We wanted to make you aware of a news story that ... Continue reading →
ST. PETERSBURG — A 12-year-old boy who crashed into a wall during a children's race last weekend at the Auburndale Speedway has died, authorities said. Tyler Morr, who lived in Arcadia, died at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday at All Children's Hospital, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.He was critically injured Saturday night during a race. The eight-lap contest was a "Kids Club" race, regularly scheduled events for youths between 10 and 16.Authorities said Tyler had been traveling about 40 mph along the oval in Winter Haven with four other young racers when he lost control of the car.Tyler's No. 17 black stock race car collided with another vehicle then slammed into a wall at about 7:45 p.m. Continue reading →
With the recent backlash against the FCAT, the state Department of Education has gone into overdrive trying to explain changes to Florida's accountability system. On Monday, it launched a call center, a designated email address and web sites, all for parents. As of about 1 p.m. today, 1,587 people have dialed into the call center. (Remember this isn't to find out your child's test results. You get those in the mail.) Parents have sent about 100 emails. And there have been about 2,800 "unique hits" on the web site, www.floridapathtosuccess.org. The department also starts tonight a series of public forums billed as "Conversations with the Commissioner." Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson is in Tampa tonight for the first forum. His next stop will be Friday in ... Continue reading →
Florida's education chief will be in Tampa today to host the first in a series of public forums, part of a blitz to quell frustrations about the state's testing system. Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson defended the FCAT after the dramatic decline in student writing scores released last week but conceded that the state could have done a better job of explaining changes to parents.Calling it "Conversations with the Commissioner," the state Department of Education on Tuesday billed the 7:30 p.m. forum at Hillsborough Community College as an opportunity for "parents, teachers and local communities to talk about education in Florida."He will be joined by Kathleen Shanahan, chairwoman of the State Board of Education, and MaryEllen Elia, superintendent of Hillsborough County Schools.The DOE also launched a ... Continue reading →
With Florida’s housing sector still stuck in the cellar, the building materials giant turns to infra... Continue reading →
Wayne Alexander, ousted nearly three years ago as superintendent of Hernando County Schools, has applied for the top job in Pinellas County. His tenure in Hernando ended about 10 months early and was, by many accounts, a difficult one. See an in-depth story about Alexander’s time in Hernando here. Alexander’s most recent position was as an assistant principal at a technical high school in Connecticut. His application includes several old letters of reference from his time in Hernando County Schools. There also appears to be lingering confusion about the job advertisement. My colleague, Rebecca Catalanello, wrote a story earlier this month that a few applications had arrived from the construction industry. A few of the recent applications are of the same variety. There’s Gary Caraballo, ... Continue reading →
Children are crying, parents are obsessing, and educators are sweating.Forgive me if I'm reading too much into this, but is it possible we've let standardized testing get out of control?Because what we witnessed in recent days did not look like education. It looked like big shots covering their butts while ordinary folks screamed "I told you so." It looked like policymakers justifying something that should be above the need for justification.It looked like politicians playing with people's lives.That's right: It's FCAT season again in Florida. The test that swallows an entire education system is back.Honestly, the details are not even that important anymore. The bigger issue is the power this test wields and the havoc it occasionally wreaks.From its admirable origin as a way to ... Continue reading →
