'Education is for the birds'

St. John's University, formerly of Springfield, La. – where Florida juvenile justice secretary Walt McNeil earned his master's degree (see Saturday's St. Petersburg Times  story here) – claims to be accredited by the Accrediting Commission International in Beebe, Ark. Okay. So what's that?

Well, it might be a lot of things, but it's not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. And according to diploma-mill experts, it has strong ties to the International Accrediting Commission, an outfit busted in 1989 in what may be the most hilarious sting ever.

You can read the full story here (and credit to author John Bear for pointing it out to us), but here's a taste: To snare the IAC, an assistant attorney general in Missouri created a fictional Eastern Missouri Business College with a faculty listing that included Lawrence Fine, Jerome Howard and M. Howard. Yep, that'd be the Three Stooges. Meanwhile, the college seal included the Latin phrase Solum pro Avibus Est Educatio. Translation: "Education is for the birds." No way a school like that could get accredited, right?

Lawmaker urges USF to improve security

Nothing like a little political pressure to move things along.

The same day USF President Judy Genshaft announced plans to hire unarmed private security guards for campus residence halls and other high-traffic areas,she got a letter from Rep. Rick Kriseman urging her to boost the pay and ranks of her campus police force.

"You oversee more than just a campus -- it is a community, and I do not believe a community can function well if they live, or learn, in fear," Kriseman wrote in the Oct. 26 letter, obtained by Gradebook this week. "Your tenure as president has been marked by numerous successes, yet as you are surely aware, all the good can be erased by a single horrific incident."

FEA: Opposed to the referendum

Florida Education Association president Andy Ford called a press conference today to make crystal clear that the teachers' union does not support the property tax plan that will go to voters on Jan. 29.

Educators back property tax reform, Ford said, but not at the expense of education. Which makes this proposal a non-starter.

"The plan passed earlier this week does not hold public education harmless," he said. "It cuts, depending upon various estimates, an amount ranging from $1.8 billion to $3 billion from our public schools over the next five years and we have no assurance that the amount won't continue to grow when looked at over a longer period of time."

To read his full remarks, read on.

Start date: Dec. 1

Once upon a time, the Florida Department of Education had high hopes that its new full-time, permanent commissioner would be in his Tallahassee office conducting business by October.

Like many stories that involve bureaucracy and negotiations, though, this one also has gotten dragged out. The State Board of Education picked Eric J. Smith (left) on Oct. 8, but to date, all he has in the state capitol is an e-mail address, eric.smith@fldoe.org. You get a link to it in his auto-reply when you send him an e-mail to his old job at the College Board.

Wondering when he'll finally show up, we contacted Dr. Smith and asked. Here's his brief e-mailed reply: "The transition is going well. I will officially start the 1st of December." Until then, Jeanine Blomberg remains in charge. Then we'll see how the rest of the story plays out.

Florida in national push to get more minorities through college

Florida is among 19 university systems across the country setting out to boost the number of minority, low-income students who attend college and earn degrees.

“Access to Success" is a joint effort of the National Association of System Heads and the Education Trust, a nonprofit education achievement advocate. The public college systems, Florida being among the largest, have vowed that by 2015 they will have cut in half the achievement gaps between white, more affluent students and low-income minorities. They will lay out the ambitious initiative during a noon conference call today.

Each university system will come up with its own plan for closing the achievement gap, and the university systems will provide regular data on the proportion of new freshmen and transfer students who receive Pell Grants and how many of those Pell Grant recipients graduate within four to six years.

FAMU law endowed chair is issue in Ky. fen-phen case

It's been five years since attorney Shirley Cunningham gave $1-million to FAMU's law school, on the condition he get a $100,000-a-year position at the Orlando college.

But that money is being scrutinized once again in a Kentucky wire fraud case against Cunningham and two other lawyers accused of bilking more than 400 clients out of some $42 million from a fen-phen drug settlement.

According to the Associated Press, federal prosecutors said they might use evidence that attorney Cunningham, a co-owner of Breeders' Cup Classic winner Curlin, used money taken from clients to endow the chair, which is the subject of a separate investigation.

Too much testing, too much dead weight

The overwhelming majority of rookie teachers in a nationwide sample of high-needs schools say too much testing is a drawback to teaching, according to a new survey released today. Probably not a surprise there.

But the vast majority also say that "making it easier to fire unmotivated or incompetent teachers would improve the profession." Surprised?

The survey was conducted by Public Agenda, commissioner by the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality and funded by the U.S. Department of Education. To see the results, click here and go to page 89.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

Today's news

PINELLAS PAY: The Pinellas School Board raises teacher pay to be the highest in the area, just after putting a referendum on the Jan. 29 ballot that would help boost their pay even higher.

NO WE'RE NOT: Area school officials denounce the "dropout factory" label, saying plenty of factors were ignored in the recent study showing about half of Florida's high schools don't graduate enough students. (Times photo, Scott Keeler)

PEACE AT HAND: Pasco county commissioners and school board members find common ground on all but one issue as they near a school concurrency plan.

STRUGGLING: The plan was to have two new law schools to improve minority students' access, one at Florida A&M and one at Florida International. FIU Law is thriving, but the FAMU program is another story. Speaking of the FAMU law school, one of its controversial endowed chairs is coming up as part of a Kentucky wire fraud case, the AP reports.

MISSING MONEY: Pasco school officials have asked the Dade City Police Department to investigate about $20,000 in missing gate receipts from Pasco High sporting events. The district's former internal auditor says that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to missing money in county schools.

TIME OUT ON TIMEOUTS: The Leon County's use of timeout rooms has prompted a formal complaint to the state, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

WHAT KIDS WEAR: Broward School Board members crack jokes about teen fashion, but don't show much inclination to change the student dress code, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

MORE BONUS BATTLES: At least 10 Brevard schools are having spats over how to spend their state school recognition funds, Florida Today reports.

NOT BUYING IT: The "don't Tase me, bro" guy might have apologized in exchange for probation, but many UF students don't believe his contrition, the Gainesville Sun reports.

CALLING INDIA: Need a tutor quick? The answer might be in Bangalore, the NY Times reports.

VOUCHER SPOTLIGHT: Utah is a week away from its landmark referendum on statewide school vouchers. Check out the Salt Lake Tribune's education page for all the latest news on the hot topic.

Questionable degrees, the big picture

Whatever his motivations, Florida Juvenile Justice Secretary Walt McNeil may have become the state's poster child for a higher education issue that never, ever goes away (see Saturday's St. Petersburg Times story here). The question of questionable degrees attracted Congressional attention in 2004, yet experts say there are still hundreds of institutions cranking out such degrees, and perhaps hundreds of thousands of people listing them on their resumes.

In Florida alone, a new story surfaces every few months. A few weeks ago, the Fort Myers News Press reported on a state House candidate with a questionable degree (click here), and last year the Naples Daily News wrote several stories about two police officers who were fired because of degree issues (click here and here). Closer to home, the St. Petersburg Times reported last year about bogus degrees at the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office (click here and here).

It's hard to beat a lead like this one: "The Hillsborough Sheriff's Office is on the hunt for false college degrees after an internal affairs investigation found that at least one employee obtained his diploma from the same school that once awarded a master's to a cat."

First tuition hike, now higher USF fees

Students, prepare to dig deeper into those pockets.

Gov. Charlie Crist already approved a 5 percent tuition hike for spring that will cost the typical full-time, Florida undergraduate an additional $55 per semester. And starting next year, USF can charge a "differential" tuition that is up to 30 percent more than the statewide tuition rate of $77.39 per credit hour.

Now comes this: A committee of the USF board of trustees next week is expected to recommend the full board approve a series of fee increases to take effect in fall 2008.

For Tampa students the activity and service fee would increase by 37 cents per credit hour, to $8.79. Health fees would stay the same, $7.91 per credit hour; but the athletic fee that helps support USF's growing football program would go up by 98 cents, to $11.50 per credit hour. Trustees also want to boost the transportation fee by 75 cents, to $3 per credit hour, for students on the Tampa campus.

For the typical student taking 15 credits, that amounts to $31.50 more per semester for fees.

USF officials say revenues from the higher fees will pay for the renovated Marshall Center's increased operating costs, better campus life programs, Sun Dome renovations, a hike in the number of student football tickets allotted each year, and more athletic scholarships.

The trustees committee meets Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in the Marshall Center. The full board meets Dec. 6.

Dirt poor, and getting poorer

For the first time in decades, poor kids are again a majority in Southern schools, with some of the highest concentrations showing up in yes, sunny, palmy, beachy-keen Florida, according to a report released today by the Southern Education Foundation in Atlanta. "The region is in the throes of a self-perpetuating, vicious cycle," foundation president Lynn Huntley said in a press release, "where poverty and low incomes are begetting a lack of education and, in turn, the lack of education is perpetuating and creating poverty and inequality."

Low-income students (defined as those eligible for free and reduced lunch) now make up 54 percent of public school enrollment in 15 Southern states, with the highest rates in Louisiana (84 percent), Mississippi (75 percent) and Florida (62 percent). The rate in the rest of the nation is 41 percent. The report says the percentage of poor kids in the South has grown steadily since 1989, when they were at 37 percent. To see more numbers – and get more depressed – click here.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

From 'Don't Tase Me, Bro' to 'Sorry, Bro'

He made national headlines last month when he tussled with campus cops and screamed, “Don’t Tase Me, Bro!” as one officer stunned him with her Taser and U.S. Sen. John Kerry looked on.

But now University of Florida student Andrew Meyer is singing a refrain of 'I’m Sorry, Bro' to the UF community and the police department.

In three separate letters sent to UF President Bernie Machen, to the “Gator Nation” and to the UF police department, Meyer apologizes for the Sept. 17 confrontation at Kerry’s campus speech.

“I never wished to cast a negative light upon our fair University,” Meyer writes to the UF community. “At the John Kerry forum, I stepped out of line. There were rules in place to ensure that the forum was run in an orderly fashion, and I did not follow them.”

Meyer goes on to praise Machen for his “calm and leadership,” specifically the creation of a task force of students and faculty who are reevaluating how UF polices campus events while maintaining free speech rights. He ends the letter by apologizing to “all concerned Americans.”

Read more in tomorrow's Times.

Convicted of DUI, teacher faces suspension

Among the items the Pinellas School Board is scheduled to consider when it meets tonight is a recommendation to suspend a teacher charged for the second time in five years with drunk driving.

Martin Moraniec, a teacher at John Hopkins Middle School in St. Petersburg, was found guilty Sept. 25 of driving under the influence of alcohol. Moraniec was convicted on the same charge in 2002.  Superintendent Clayton Wilcox has recommended a five-day suspension without pay for Moraniec, who began working for the district in 1998.

District records show that in addition to being disciplined for the first DUI, Moraniec has been reprimanded twice, once in 1999 for misconduct and again in 2001 for inappropriate remarks to a student. Additionally, his annual evaluations from 1999 through 2003 include the phrase "growth expected" in areas such as judgment and professional ethics, management of student conduct, and routine duties and responsibilities.

A staff attorney for the district concluded that a five-day suspension without pay, which in Moraniec's case will be a loss of $974.60, is consistent with past practice for a second DUI conviction. A narrative of the investigation states that Moraniec has been made aware of the district's Employee Assistance Program.

- Donna Winchester, Pinellas education reporter

Our product? Dropouts

A new report from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Social Organization of Schools gives Florida a dubious distinction: It's one of two states where about half of all public high schools meet its definition of a "dropout factory."

"If you're born in a neighborhood or town where the only high school is one where graduation is not the norm, how is this living in the land of equal opportunity?" researcher Bob Balfanz says to the Associated Press.

Nationally, about one in 12 high schools fits that definition. That's about the same as a decade ago. But here in Florida, as well as in South Carolina, it's a much higher percentage. Utah is the only state without a dropout factory.

What about here locally? Check out this list:

• Pinellas: Boca Ciega, Clearwater, Dixie Hollins, Dunedin, Gibbs, Lakewood, Osceola, Pinellas Park, Seminole and St. Petersburg high schools.
• Hernando: Central and Frank W. Springstead high schools.
• Hillsborough: Bloomingdale, Chamberlain, East Bay, Hillsborough, Jefferson, King, Leto, Plant City, Robinson, Tampa Bay Technical and Wharton high schools.
• Pasco: Gulf, Hudson, James W. Mitchell, Pasco, Ridgewood, River Ridge and Zephyrhills high schools.

To read a localized version of the AP story, click here. For the full version, click here.

Today's news

PROPERTY TAX PLAN: The House reluctantly accepts the Senate's proposal, to get the concept before voters in January. The Florida Education Association already has said it will fight the plan.

SCRUB DOWN: The Hernando school district disinfects Deltona Elementary over the weekend, after learning one of its students might have the staph infection that's scaring the nation.

WORK IT OUT: The Pasco School Board and County Commission need a workable concurrency plan  - not inflammatory memos - to figure out how developers should contribute to new schools, the Times editorializes.

ONLY A START: Gov. Crist's signature on the bill raising university tuition is a good first step. Now he needs to press ahead with his pledge to develop a long-term plan to improve higher ed in Florida, the Times editorializes.

NO MORE INTERIM: The Duval School Board picks long-time administrator Ed Pratt-Dannals to be its full-time superintendent, the Florida Times-Union reports. Black leaders call for a national search instead.

MAJORITY ARE POOR: For the first time in more than 40 years, the majority of public school students throughout the South, including Florida, are poor, the McClatchy News Service reports.

A PLAYGROUND, PLEASE: A low-income Lakeland elementary school had its kindergartners write letters to corporations requesting donations for a playground. It worked. The new playground just opened, the Lakeland Ledger reports.

DEAL: Palm Beach school bus drivers and attendants reach a $1.3-million settlement over unpaid overtime, the Palm Beach Post reports.

MISSING MONEY: The Indian River school district has called the police to report that about $10,000 is missing from the Vero Beach High cafeteria, the Stuart News reports.

WHAT'S A SUPERINTENDENT WORTH? About $190,000 a year, if he or she is the next appointed CEO of Lake County, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

SEEKING A COMPROMISE: U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) presses ahead to find the winning formula for reauthorizing No Child Left Behind, even as detractors fight the effort, the LA Times reports.

Superior leadership

A Pinellas principal is one of three finalists for a $10,000 award that recognizes superior school leadership.

The Council for Educational Change has singled out Peggy Pearson (left) of Mount Vernon Elementary in St. Petersburg for the Leonard Miller Principal Leadership Award. The award recognizes principals for empowering faculty, helping students to achieve, and encouraging parent and community involvement.

Pearson came to Mount Vernon as an assistant principal seven years ago and became principal in 2004. The school earned its first A from the state during the 2003-04 school year and has maintained an A for the past three years.

Award nominations came this year from a pool of more than 300 principals statewide who have participated in CEC programs and activities. Pearson, along with finalists Jean Ellis Teal of Miami Edison Senior High and Randall Jud Strickland of S.A. Hull Elementary in Jacksonville, will participate in an on-site interview conducted by education and corporate leaders.

The award will be presented Nov. 14, in Miami.

- Donna Winchester, Pinellas education reporter

Look who's coming to visit FAMU Law

Today the seven-person accreditation review team from the American Bar Association arrives in Orlando to examine the state of affairs at FAMU's five-year-old law school, which is seeking the ABA's full seal of approval.

The team will be there through Wednesday. They bring with them wide-ranging credentials, from Duke and Yale law degrees to jobs leading the Virginia state bar and D.C. law firm posts.

Click here to find out more.

Press 2 for St. John's University

Anyone who wants to find out more about St. John's University – no, not the one in New York, but the obscure one near Springfield, La., where Florida juvenile justice secretary Walt McNeil (left) got his master's degree in 2002 (see Saturday's St. Petersburg Times story here) – will easily find a phone number through Google, but not much more. And if you call, you’ll get a voice mail message that directs you to press 1 for Dr. Winkler, 2 for St. John's University and 3 for the Congregational Church.

The Gradebook pressed 2 a few weeks ago, and left a message.

A woman called back, but declined to give her name and refused to say which organization accredited St. John's. She did say, though, that a 1989 Florida law which attempted to criminalize the claiming of degrees from schools like St. John's (which isn't accredited by any entity recognized by the U.S. Department of Education) was "punitive." "I don't know anybody in your state who is happy with that legislation. I don’t know an employer. I don’t know a university," she said. "It implies if you don't have a certain type of accreditation, your accreditation is fraudulent, which is obviously lacking in thought as to what accreditation really means."

Did Ammons look the other way?

FAMU President James Ammons got an unflattering mention in a story this weekend in the Raleigh News & Observer. The North Carolina newspaper reported Saturday that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently found that a female police officer at North Carolina Central University, where Ammons was chancellor before he got the top job at FAMU, was "a victim of retaliation and a sexually hostile work environment" – a finding that opens the door for a lawsuit.

The story  says the woman, who worked at the police department in 2005, complained to her superiors that a male co-worker was touching her inappropriately and making "comments of a sexual nature." It also says she kept complaining up the university chain of command, going as high as Ammons, but that top officials "kept sending her back to the police department to try to work out her problems."

She eventually quit. Her lawyer says her complaints were part of a "systemic problem" at NCCU. "It's a difficult issue for an institution with a reputation and commitment to civil rights to allow this kind of pattern to tarnish their reputation," said Durham attorney Scott Holmes. "It's hypocritical."

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

Crist makes it official: Tuition, tech fee are law

Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a 5 percent tuition hike in-state undergrads this past summer, but he has had a change of heart.

Late Friday (long after we Gradebook-ers headed home for the weekend), Crist signed into law a 5 percent hike to take effect in January, plus a technology fee of up to 5 percent of tuition. For the typical full-time student, the tuition hike amounts to $55 more, and the tech fee will be as much as $55 per semester.

The higher tuition will generate about $9-million in the spring for the state's 11 universities, and community colleges also will hike up tuition by 5 percent, according to the law. Universities already had planned to raise tuition by 5 percent come spring semester, because the board that oversees them voted for the increase last month.

Meanwhile, the lawsuit between the Board of Governors and Legislature continues.

A-B-C, 1-2-3

Parents lately have been getting their kids' first-quarter report cards, giving them a glimpse into how well (or, we hope not, poorly) their children are performing in class. If you're like most of us, you look for the A's to praise and the D's and F's to, well, improve. (Not punish, right?)

Well, what would you do if you saw a bunch of numbers instead of the expected letters?

Denver parents are in that position. Their children received marks of 1 to 4 as part of a new grading system. And, as the Rocky Mountain News reports, they're none too pleased.

The parents say the new system is too vague. They gripe that the 4, which means "far ahead of where they are expected to be at that point in time, relative to the standards," will be given too infrequently. "It's like they're using a rubber band instead of a yardstick," Barbara Hahn, an attorney and mother of Ted, 12, told the paper.

So they're talking about grading the system themselves. With a lawsuit, of course.

Today's news

NO TICKETS, NO PROBLEMS: For 32 years, Annie D. Hobson has driven kids around in the big yellow banana. She gives some insights into how she survived three decades as a Pinellas bus driver in this Q&A. Hillsborough driver Jon Cluff offers some safety tips, too. (Photo courtesy of the Pinellas School Board)

LATEST TAX PLAN: The Florida Senate releases its take-it-or-leave-it property tax reform plan. The Legislature must reach an accord today if it is to get a proposal on the Jan. 29 ballot.

NO JEANS, NO TONGUE STUDS: The principal of Stewart Middle in Zephyrhills takes enforcement of the school district's revised professional appearance policy seriously. Teachers don't appreciate his zeal, though, and file a grievance against him.

WHERE'S WARFORD? The former Florida K-12 chancellor is speaking to Kentucky reporters, playing up his Kentucky roots as he seeks to become that state's education commissioner. The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that Jim Warford is one of five finalists for the job.

MORE ABOUT THOSE FEES: Florida's colleges and universities soon could charge higher fees for technology upgrades. Students seem to support the idea, the Sun-Sentinel reports. Wonder who pays their bills, though.

DEALING WITH IT: Schools in South Florida, where voters pushed through the class-size reduction amendment, now are finding it difficult to meet the mark. So they're getting "creative" with their space, the Miami Herald reports.

STILL NO DEAL: Martin County teachers still don't have a contract for this year, the Stuart News reports. A federal mediator says the teachers and administration don't trust each other.

ENROLLMENT WOES: Leon School Board members worry they might have to close some schools as enrollment falls, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

JUST WEAR NORMAL CLOTHES: First, Manatee High banned students from painting themselves team colors for football games, after two girls did it. Now, a high school in New York has banned Halloween costumes after three girls dressed as Captain Underpants, the AP reports. The principal said the girls looked nude.

Coming up

Tuesday: Pasco County Commission-School Board joint meeting, 10 a.m.; Pinellas School Board, 5 p.m.

Friday: Governor's Office of Policy and Budget, review of the Department of Education legislative budget request, 2 p.m.

Nov. 6: Hernando School Board, 1 p.m. workshop, 7 p.m. meeting; Pasco School Board, 9:30 a.m.; Hillsborough School Board, 2 p.m.

Nov. 7: Department of Education, public hearing on Carl Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, Hillsborough Community College-Dale Mabry campus, 6 p.m.

Nov. 8: Department of Education, public hearing on Carl Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, Hillsborough Community College-Dale Mabry campus, 9 a.m.;  Council on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, subcommittee on improving educational outcomes, 11 a.m. conference call

Nov. 7-9: State Advisory Committee for the Education of Exceptional Students, Tallahassee

Nov. 13: Pinellas School Board, 10 a.m.

Nov. 16: Charter School Appeal Commission, 9 a.m., Tallahassee

Nov. 20: Pinellas School Board, 9 a.m.; Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m.; Pasco School Board, 6 p.m.

Tuesday: Pasco County Commission-School Board joint meeting, 10 a.m.; Pinellas School Board, 5 p.m.

Friday: Governor's Office of Policy and Budget, review of the Department of Education legislative budget request, 2 p.m.

Nov. 6: Hernando School Board, 1 p.m. workshop, 7 p.m. meeting; Pasco School Board, 9:30 a.m.; Hillsborough School Board, 2 p.m.

Nov. 7: Department of Education, public hearing on Carl Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, Hillsborough Community College-Dale Mabry campus, 6 p.m.

Nov. 8: Department of Education, public hearing on Carl Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, Hillsborough Community College-Dale Mabry campus, 9 a.m.;  Council on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, subcommittee on improving educational outcomes, 11 a.m. conference call

Nov. 7-9: State Advisory Committee for the Education of Exceptional Students, Tallahassee

Nov. 13: Pinellas School Board, 10 a.m.

Nov. 16: Charter School Appeal Commission, 9 a.m., Tallahassee

Nov. 20: Pinellas School Board, 9 a.m.; Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m.; Pasco School Board, 6 p.m.

Today's news

BULLY-FREE CLUB: As the campaign against school bullying (including the cyber kind) intensifies, groups of Pinellas children are joining Students Against Violence Everywhere. The group even has a national web site, if you want more info. (Times photo, Jim Damaske)

HERE COMES THE MILLENI-BOOM: Hillsborough school planners are calling for 21 new elementary schools between 2017 and 2028, as they prepare for the grandchildren of the baby boom.

FIND A BETTER WAY: Gov. Crist tells lawmakers that Florida needs a more comprehensive approach to operating its higher ed system.

SCHOOL CHOICE AFFECTS HOME CHOICE: Lee County real estate agents complain that the school district's choice program makes it harder for them to market homes, the Naples Daily News reports.

CUT SCORES TOO HIGH? Manatee school officials join the growing chorus in calling upon the state to reset the high school FCAT passing score, the Bradenton Herald reports.

NO MORE FEES: Osceola school officials are tired of paying development-related fees to government agencies and want to stop, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

WHAT'S HER POINT? Martin School Board members question the motives of one of their colleagues' complaints about construction costs, the Palm Beach Post reports. Could it be because her husband didn't get the district's building official job?

LEARNING ABOUT COMPUTERS: Some of the Fort Lauderdale middle schoolers have rarely used computers. Now they're taking classes about what's inside, and when they're done refurbishing the machines, they'll get to take them home, the Miami Herald reports.

LOOMING CRISIS: Too many parents don't save for their kids' college education, and end up with what amounts to a second mortgage to cover tuition, writes Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary, who also offers a few tips.

A REAL CURRICULUM BATTLE: Spain's leftist government and the Catholic Church are feuding over a civics curriculum that the church sees as an attack on faith, the LA Times reports.

A weekend interview with ...

... Joe Wolf, president of Florida Citizens for Science. Wolf, who lives in Polk County, is a retired researcher who served 14 years on a school board in Ohio before moving to Florida. He spoke with reporter Jeff Solochek about the state's newly proposed science education standards.

Your group is called Florida Citizens for Science. What does it mean to be "for science"?

It means that we believe that science is very very important for our state, and it's very important for our kids to learn good science, what science is, and to learn various major concepts within science. We're a group of citizens. We pulled ourselves together from all around the state. And that's what we want to do because we feel in a lot of cases it's under challenge.

So we've kind of gotten together. You ask the question, Why focus on the standards? Because these new standards are what is going to be taught in Florida classrooms in public schools for the next 10-15 years.

So tell me, are these proposed standards then "for science" in the way you have ...

Oh, very much so. They're good science. ... Obviously it depends on what grade level you're looking at. If you take the high school level, where the more complex stuff is, that section on understanding science, what science is, how science works, is really pretty good. It's rather excellent.

I've looked at the ideas, they call them the big ideas. I'm wondering what you think are the biggest ideas that are in there.

Today's news

PERMANENT PORTABLES? The Pasco County attorney's office says portable classrooms should be counted as school capacity, as the county government and school district negotiate concurrency standards. School officials call the idea misguided.

JUSTIFIED? Questions emerge about whether deputies' use of pepper spray foam was appropriate to end a fight at Dunedin High. Says Pinellas board member Janet Clark: "I don't have a lot of sympathy for the crowd of kids who crowd around a fight. The collateral damage, I think, is sometimes earned."

SEX SCANDAL SUIT: A Middleton High teacher has been arrested for having sex with a mentally disabled student. Now the boy and his friend, a girl who got suspended after reporting the teacher, have hired a lawyer and announced they will sue the Hillsborough school district.  "The school bears absolute responsibility," said attorney Darryl E. Rouson.

RENT-A-COPS ON PATROL: The University of South Florida hires unarmed security guards to help the campus police.

IMPACT ON EDUCATION: Florida senators return to the Capitol on Monday to see if they can salvage a property tax relief plan. But leaders worry that the House version will hurt education too much.

CRIST ENDORSES TUITION HIKE: Reversing an earlier stance, the governor signs a bill allowing universities and community colleges to raise tuition and fees, the Lakeland Ledger reports.

PICKING A COLLEGE? The Florida Times-Union offers helpful hints on applying, plus some facts and figures on Florida's major public universities.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST? The Miami-Dade School Board calls for an investigation of a software contract with a vendor that employs the superintendent's son, the Miami Herald reports.

COSTLY SPECIAL EDUCATION: Parents and school districts frequently fight over whether families must put their learning-disabled children in a public school program before sending the youngsters to a private school and charging the district for tuition, the NY Times reports.

Visit the Gradebook at noon for an interview about the state's proposed science education standards with Joe Wolf, president of Florida Citizens for Science.

Choice meetings scheduled

Hillsborough parents interested in school choice options can get information, and answers to questions, at public meetings starting Monday. Want to attend? Here's where to go:

• Monday: 3 to 5 p.m., Jan Kimminis Platt Library
• November 5    4 to 6 p.m., Upper Tampa Bay Library; 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Riverview High School
• November 19: 4 to 6 p.m., Jimmie B. Keel Library
• November 26: 4 to 6 p.m., Brandon Library
• November 29: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Jefferson High
• December 3: 3 to 5 p.m., Temple Terrace Library
• Dec. 10: 3 to 5 p.m., Bloomingdale Library; 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Sickles High
• January 10: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Robinson High
• January 14: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Wharton High

The application period begins in December. For more information, visit the district's choice web site here.

Rep. Proctor to lead FSU athletics - for now

Former House Speaker T.K. Wetherell just named Republican Rep. William "Bill" Proctor (left) of St. Augustine to be his temporary administrator overseeing athletics at Florida State University

The official, just-created title is "Special Assistant to the President for Athletics." Proctor steps in Nov. 5 for ousted athletic director Dave Hart Jr., who signed a separation agreement with FSU Thursday and officially leaves Dec. 31.

Proctor, 74, will not be considered a candidate for the permanent athletics director position. The longtime Flagler College president served on the Florida Education Standards Commission from 1995 to 2000 and on the state's Board of Education from 2001 to 2004. He's also a member of FSU's Athletic Hall of Fame.

"It has often been said that if you want something done right, give it to the busiest person in town," Wetherell said. "Bill's experience as a coach, teacher, administrator and longtime leader within higher education is just what we need now. His strong connection to this university and its continuing quest for the very best in athletics will ensure a professional and successful transition to a new athletics director."

Fence me in

Some people don't like the idea of fences around schools. The public, they say, should have access to the playgrounds and fields when classes aren't in session.

A story coming out of Seminole County reminds about the importance of fences. And it has nothing to do with child snatching.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Seminole school officials will be taking a closer look at their elementary school playground fencing after an autistic student walked away from campus during recess . Luckily, the boy wound up at a nearby house, where a passing county fire crew found him.

But the fact that the boy could just slip away has superintendent Bill Vogel concerned, beyond the poor oversight by an aide who faces discipline. He wants to make sure that all the schools have proper fencing that keep kids in, as well as others out.

Today's news

ONE WAY TO BREAK IT UP: Deputies use pepper spray to end a fourth-period fracas at Dunedin High. Paramedics then come out to treat all the kids who were overcome by the chemical. The Sheriff's Office says the deputies handled things properly. (Times photo, Douglas Clifford)

HE GETS HOW MUCH? Officers on the USF-St. Petersburg police force file a discrimination complaint after learning the chief paid a new hire nearly $7,000 above the advertised pay rate, and well above the amount his supervisor makes.

THANKS FOR THE TIP: A girl who reported the Middleton High teacher who's now been arrested for having sex with a teenage student got suspended for her effort. District officials defend the school's action, but the girl's mom, and a county commissioner, are demanding an investigation.

LOCKED OUT: Florida Atlantic University is installing locks on classroom doors so students and professors can keep threats outside, the Palm Beach Post reports.

ON THE LOOKOUT: Schools in Brevard County, as around the state and country, remain vigilant in preventing the latest virulent strain of staph, Florida Today reports. A Duval County school, meanwhile, is dealing with one case of the disease already, the Florida Times-Union reports.

AGREE, OR THE STATE WILL DO IT FOR YOU: Schools that received recognition money in Florida's A-Plus program have until Nov. 1 to decide how to spend the cash. It's not been easy for some Martin County schools, the Stuart News reports.

SO THEY'RE CLEARED: Many at the University of Florida take little comfort in the fact that the state said UF officers acted properly in stunning a student with a Taser last month, the Gainesville Sun reports.

SCIENCE? WHAT'S THAT? A California study reveals that elementary schools have cut back science education so much that it hardly could be called a core subject, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Zero tolerance? Depends on district size

Once upon a time, many of the infractions that now get kids expelled from school used to get handled in the principal's office. The advent of zero-tolerance policies after the 1994 Gun-Free Schools Act changed all that, perhaps with unintended consequences, University of Florida doctoral candidate Brian Schoonover finds.

Now, the law that was meant to keep guns away from schools has turned into wide-ranging policies that might find 5-year-olds tossed out for bringing toy weapons to campus. What's interesting, Schoonover discovers, is that students are more likely to face zero-tolerance punishments in large Florida school districts than in small ones.

He attributes that disparity to the fact that big districts have alternative programs, while smaller districts do not.

To read more about his research, which he will present Tuesday at the National Conference for Safe Schools and Communities, click here.

Tough to get a date

Hillsborough settled its teacher contract before anyone knew how the state's budget shortfall would break. Pinellas reached an agreement just days after learning that lawmakers wouldn't be cutting education funding by as many millions as once feared.

And Pasco? Its teachers still are wondering when they will know their salary for this year. Union president Lynne Webb pleaded with the School Board last week to set a date for negotiations. As recently as yesterday, Webb wanted to know when the sides would meet. "Maybe it's just not a priority for them like it is for the teachers and school-related personnel who are living with it," she said.

The wait is almost over, Pasco school employees. District employee relations director Terry Rhum tells the Gradebook that contract talks will resume Nov. 5 - that's 11 days from now - and money is the main issue. Maybe they'll have a deal in time to buy holiday presents.

Rural education matters

The Rural School and Community Trust has evaluated the condition of rural education across the country, and ranked each state according to how dire the circumstances are there. Florida ranks 11th. (The worst, by the way, was Mississippi.)

One of the state's biggest problems is that it has a large number of rural students - about 340,000 - but they are concentrated in a relatively small area and don't make up a large percentage of the total number of students. As such, the state doesn't spend much time setting rural education policy. Providing appropriate services, then, becomes "doubly challenging," the group writes.

What else? The state ranks seventh worst when it comes to rural students who graduate from high school in four years, and 11th worst in per-student instructional funding.

To see the group's Florida evaluation, click here.

Bonus battle

You might think teachers, who regularly complain about their low pay, would smile at the thought of getting a bonus for a job well done.

The ongoing debate over performance pay has made clear that's not so, though. And now along comes a Martin County school where the teachers and non-instructional staff can't even find any pleasure in the decade-old recognition program - $100 per student - that the state gives to schools showing strong growth or continued high achievement.

The Palm Beach Post reports that Warfield Elementary, in Indiantown, got ugly as the staff battled over who should get what from the school's $60,000 award. It all boiled down to whether teachers deserve more than the rest of the school's employees.

The school's data entry clerk called the situation embarrassing, and told the Post she couldn't believe money would divide the school. One second-grade teacher, meanwhile, said she hoped she never had to go through this again.

Maybe she doesn't have to. The school always could just say no.

This story brings to memory the story of an A-rated Sarasota school that, in the first years of the recognition program, sent teacher and parent representatives to a Cabinet meeting in Tallahassee, check in hand, to tell Gov. Bush and the rest of the state's leaders to keep the cash. Wonder when teachers will stop liking their recognition award bonuses enough to stop taking them.

Today's news

READY FOR A VOTE: The Pinellas School Board has reworked its planned student assignment changes to a point where two votes will implement it. Here's a Q&A about what has happened up to now.

HERE WE GO AGAIN: Another Hillsborough teacher is arrested and charged with having sex with a student.

HAVE YOU HEARD? Rumors have already started about who will be uprooted as the Pasco school district draws attendance zones for two new schools. But the committee charged with doing the work doesn't even meet until next week.

NATIONAL SEARCH: Hernando superintendent Wayne Alexander breaks tradition as he decides to look outside the county for school principals, rather than stick with internal candidates.

SORORITY GONE WILD: A UF sorority trashes the Columbia restaurant in Ybor. The university and the sorority's national office are investigating. See what people are saying, and join the conversation, by clicking here.

TASE HIM, BRO: As the Gradebook reported yesterday, the FDLE cleared the UF cops who used a Taser to subdue a student at a John Kerry event. Here's the rest of the story, as promised.

SENATE STAYS HOME: Senators' refusal to return to Tallahassee puts property tax reform on hold.

SUPREME COURT ON THE CASE: Florida's high court agrees to consider the constitutionality of the Legislature's first property tax ballot initiative (the one with the super-homestead exemption), the Palm Beach Post reports.

HOW MUCH FOR COLLEGE? A bill awaiting Gov. Crist's signature includes tuition hikes, but also fee increases. The Orlando Sentinel provides a Q&A about what's in store for college costs.

DISTRICT BENDS: After claiming it, not the police department, should handle bomb threats, the Brevard school district allows police to sweep a school, Florida Today reports.

BEFORE YOU HIT THAT SEND BUTTON ... Think about what the e-mail says. A New York small district superintendent wishes she had. Now she's facing discipline, not to mention embarrassment, over her message to an assistant asking him to "Please go KILL these people," referring to some teachers, the NY Times reports.

Racking up stars

Hillsborough is bringing home the five-star bragging rights.

The state has recognized 109 Hillsborough schools as Five Star Schools for 2006-07. That's more than any other district in the state, and far surpasses neighboring districts. Pinellas counts 23 honorees; Pasco has 30; Hernando lists 2. Check out all the schools receiving Five Star honors.

The award recognizes schools seeing success with business partnerships, family involvement, volunteerism, student community service and decision-making under school advisory councils. The state Department of Education's requirements are listed here.

Brown suit negotiations

Settlement talks are underway between FAMU and Michael Brown, the former inspector general who was canned by then-interim President Castell Bryant last year. Brown, who filed suit in Leon County last December, was shown the door after he began investigating allegations that Bryant and other top FAMU officials were distorting the true picture of university finances.

Brown's removal helped fuel a backlash against Bryant, and is one of several decisions that seemed to turn the tide of public opinion against her interim presidency. Even Florida's Auditor General took issue with some of Bryant's claims in the Brown affair (see St. Petersburg Times  story here). FAMU trustees recently voted after a closed session to continue settlement talks, but it's unclear how close the parties are to a final deal. We'll keep you posted.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

FDLE: Tasering of UF student justified

The UF police officers involved in the controversial arrest and Tasering incident of student Andrew Meyer (left) last month are back on duty today, after an FDLE investigation found the officers' use of force against Meyer was justified.

UF President Bernie Machen announced the reinstatement late this morning, when he also posted the 17-page FDLE summary on his Web site, www.president.ufl.edu

Meyer was arrested Sept. 17 during  during a town hall forum on campus for U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. Officers stunned Meyer with a Taser after he began yelling during the forum,  refused to sit down when officers asked him, and then flailed around as officers tried to handcuff him.

The full 300-page report  was delivered to UF officials Oct. 19 in two large binders. It also includes many hours of taped interviews.

A full review of the document to remove private information will take another week at least, but will be put online, Machen said in an open letter to students and faculty.

Read more in tomorrow's Times.

(Photo credit: Associated Press)

UF sorority's raucous night at The Columbia

Vomit. Bar fights. Broken toilets. Sloppy drunkenness. My, how feminine and charming.

It seems a visit by a UF sorority to the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City earlier this month turned into a scene that would appall Miss Manners, and now the chapter could face discipline.

About 250 UF students - Zeta Tau Alpha members and their dates - traveled from Gainesville to the historic restaurant the night of Oct. 11 for a semi-formal date night. By the time Columbia staff kicked them out, the group had vomited throughout the restaurant, engaged in fights, and stolen liquor from the bar, according to catering manager Caroline O'Connor.

She declined to comment further to the Gradebook, but said in an e-mail to UF President Bernie Machen:   "The group turned our 102 year old fine dining restaurant into a frat house."

O'Connor said 80 percent of the students, many of them underage, arrived drunk. Guys in the group broke a bathroom toilet and baby changing table and ripped a handle off the entrance door.

UF spokesman Steve Orlando said the national fraternity office is investigating the matter, as is UF's office of Greek affairs. The chapter has not yet been disciplined but could face sanctions, he said. In the meantime, UF administrators called the restaurant to apologize.

Read ahead for the Columbia e-mail to Machen:

USF: D-rated for conservation efforts

UF comes out on top, but USF lags behind, in the second annual report card on sustainability and other "green" conservation efforts at public and private universities across the United States.

The College Sustainability report from the Sustainable Endowments Institute gives UF a B minus overall, lauding President Bernie Machen's leadership in minimizing UF's impact on the environment. UF is drafting plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, and has several "green buildings" with plans for dozens more. Staff and students ride the bus, walk and carpool rather than drive alone, and UF offers low-emissions vehicles for hourly rental.

UF's B came mostly because its endowment and investments don't reflect its conservation priorities, according to the report.

USF got a D, with Fs in the green building, transportation, conservation and leadership categories. Food and recycling got a D because the dining services "does not offer any notable amount of local or organic food."

To read the report, click here.

There are plans to build a $9-million "green" science building on the USF St. Pete campus. It's a start.

Florida science standards evolving

We're betting that in the eyes of many scientists, Florida's much-maligned science standards have finally taken a quantum leap in the right direction. A draft of the proposed standards, unveiled by the Florida Department of Education last week, dubs Darwin's evolution theory one of several "big ideas" that will ground a student's understanding of science. That's in sharp contrast to the current standards, which were adopted in 1996 and don't mention the word "evolution." Creepers!

The current standards, of course, are chock-filled with other flaws, too, which is why the Fordham Institute gave Florida a big fat F two years ago. (See St. Petersburg Times story here. On the bright side, we weren't alone; 15 states got F's. On the dark side, two of them were Alabama and Mississippi.) Are the revised standards better? See for yourself here and then use that big cranium of yours to weigh in. The public has until Dec. 14 to comment.

No blog post on Florida, science instruction and evolution would be complete without a mention of Cheri Yecke, Florida's K-12 Chancellor. Critics feared Yecke would drag the standards back into the primordial ooze, given controversies over her position on the teaching of intelligent design at her former job in Minnesota (see stories here  and here). So, could it be that the revised standards – assuming they hold up to scrutiny in coming weeks - actually vindicate Yecke? (Go ahead. Start chucking. We armored ourselves like Gulf sturgeon before we asked.)

- Ron Matus, state education reporter; Photo of Charles Darwin from Times files

Today's news

ASSIGNMENT AGREEMENT: The Pinellas School Board compromises on student attendance zones, opting to move to neighborhood schools but letting families choose to stay where they are until they finish that school.

READING IS READING: Marla Spellman, like so many other reading teachers, often faces a rough crowd when she's trying to bring kids' reading skills up to grade level. The Pasco County teacher likes to lighten things up with comic strips and comic books.

ILL EFFECT ON SCHOOLS? The property tax plan moving through Florida's Legislature could hurt the state's schools so much that it might endanger its chances of passing, our sister politics blog the Buzz reports.

STRUGGLING FOR SPACE: Broward school officials decide to add 60 new classrooms to Weston-area schools, as they try to relieve Cypress Bay High, one of Florida's most crowded schools, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

NO NIGHT GAMES: Raines High in Jacksonville has seen so much violence outside the campus during football games that Duval officials have rescheduled all the school's night games for Friday afternoons, the Florida Times-Union reports.

HIGHEST IN THE STATE: Orange County imposes Florida's highest school impact fees, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Seminole County, meanwhile, nearly quadruples its fee but remains the one of the state's lowest.

RESTRUCTURING TEAMS: Palm Beach superintendent Art Johnson names a group of top former educators to help turn around 26 schools in need of improvement, the Palm Beach Post reports.

DEAL CLOSE: Leon County teachers would get raises on aver