Today's news

FAMU - A FAMILY TRADITION:  Florida A&M University is more than a troubled institution in the state's black communities. It's a way of life, and families remain fiercely true to their school despite its woes. Speaking of which, new president James Ammons will investigate why 242 employees didn't get paid this week, the AP reports. As for the school's problems, former interim president Castell Bryant gives her perspective in a Q&A with Bill Maxwell.

TOO FAR TO WALK: School children who attend Wimauma Elementary are losing their bus route because they live closer than 2 miles from campus. District officials say it's a financial decision. Parents have other concerns, like the 22 sexual predators who live within 5 miles of the school, and the unkempt roadways, and speeding trucks.

YOU PROMISED: To get their children into Challenger K-8, a Brooksville-area magnet school, parents had to sign papers pledging to volunteer at least 8 hours a year. Some failed. Now their kids are getting kicked out.

GETTING IN IS HARD TO DO: Competition to attend the University of Florida is at an all-time high, three years after the school capped the size of its freshman class. This year, just 42 percent of applicants were accepted, the Herald-Tribune reports.

DID THEY REALLY DROP OUT? Nope. In many instances, students simply left high school to attend adult ed programs, the Stuart News reports. But whether they finish or not, they're not considered dropouts, raising concerns about whether the state calculates graduation rates appropriately.

TAKING A CHANCE: Even as several charter schools close, failed financially or academically, a larger number seek to open as parents seek something new for their kids and educators strive to provide it, the Miami Herald reports.

A TRIP TO STAPLES COULD HELP: A disheveled package headed for Eastern Illinois University's admission office prompted emergency officials to evacuate a building. It was, of course, an application, the AP reports. Yes, they kept it.

Comments

Too Far To Walk:

Why did the district pick a poor, heavily minority- migrant area to try this new program out?? Could be that these parents do not know how to fight the system and a fearful of being deported if they try.
Why not start in New Tampa, Temple Terrace, West Chase, Brandon, or Valrico with this plan. Most of those parents already drive their kids to school anyways and they have sidewalks and a lot fewer sexual predators along the path to school.
Can you imagine asking a 5 year old kid in New Tampa or West Chase to walk 2 miles to school along a busy road without sidewalks, with bums hanging around in the abandoned buildings, and sexual predators nearby- well since those neighborhoods don't have to deal with these hardships I guess we will never know the parents reactions. But I am sure they would be at the next school board meeting protesting loudly.
Too bad the parents in Wimauma don't have vocal advocates who can stop this plan before a child is killed or abused.
Again I ask- why start with this school and this neighborhood????

"Did They Really Graduate- Stuart News."
thanks for posting this great article.
To think when a student leaves HS for the GED program the district gets to count them as graduating even if they NEVER get their GED. This nonsense needs to stop. Look at the Edcuation Week report on graduation rates- why can't FLA use the same formula. Could it be because it shows less than 50% minoirty student graduate from HS, and the over all graduation rate for FLA is not much better. And they are not dropping out because of the FCAT- you see they can still walk with their collegues at grad ceremonies even if they fail the FCAT - they get a certificate of completion- which means nothing except you stayed enrolled in our school and we got funding for you even if you did not show up for classes and you did not pass a single test. What a crime this bogus game is!