Education

The Duval County School Board is set to discuss the contract for hiring its new superintendent pick, Christopher Bernier, Tuesday.Days before he abruptly resigned as Lee Schools superintendent in April, Bernier was the subject of a previously unreported whistleblower complaint that accused him of “bullying” and “racial profiling” of an employee, according to public records reviewed by Jacksonville Today and interviews with Lee County district employees and community stakeholders.

Several students from Lee and Sarasota county schools were among those scored winning entries in the annual Florida History Day contest administered by the Museum of Florida History. This year’s state contest was held at Tallahassee Community College on May 6 with the top student entries from the 32 Florida counties participating. Winners were announced today.

The Curriculum Advisory Committee for Lee County public schools had their final meeting of this school year last evening, to vote on a contentious issue.

Flanked by veterans who served in the Bay of Pigs invasion, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed a measure that will lead to the history of communism being taught in grades as low as kindergarten.The governor, standing behind a placard that read “anti-communism education,” touted lessons that will be required under the bill.

Christopher S. Bernier has lead the 9th largest school district in the state since May 2022. Ken Savage is expected to take over as interim superintendent — again.

A behind-the-scenes look of the new Mote Science Education Aquarium was provided recently as construction continues and the facility gets closer to its anticipated 2025 opening date. Mote SEA differs from other aquariums and attractions since science and education is in its name and is the focal point for all guest experiences.The new facility will embody Mote’s vision of Oceans for All, doubling the number of visitors exposed to marine science each year and providing no-cost opportunities for schools to utilize specialized STEM teaching labs to ensure that every child has hands-on marine science and technology experiential learning opportunities.

A federal judge on Friday heard arguments in a court battle over a law restricting educators’ use of personal pronouns and titles in schools, in one of a series of challenges to Florida policies targeting LGBTQ people.Plaintiffs Katie Wood, a transgender Hillsborough County teacher, and AV Schwandes, a nonbinary teacher fired last year by Florida Virtual School, are seeking preliminary injunctions as part of a lawsuit challenging the 2023 law, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The University of Florida is eliminating its chief diversity officer position, scrapping the program's staff jobs because of a new law passed last year that was pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The School District of Lee County will receive $1.2 million as part of it's share of a $25 million state Workforce Development grant announced last week. The grant will allow the District to add or expand career programs that provide students the essential skills required for success in high-demand occupations.

In a stunning turn of events, strict policy changes that would have banned a classroom banner with a "HATE HAS NO HOME HERE" message failed to pass by the school board.

A second rent-free house, the Malthouse-Pilot Scholarship House, has been formally dedicated in FGCU’s North Lake Village.The house stands alongside the Gresham-Kite Pilot Scholarship House, which opened in 2003. Both have the capacity to house 17 students each, and were built by the Southern Scholarship Foundation, an organization devoted to providing rent-free housing for Florida students.

At least five people in the United States have applied to Florida universities through Gov. Ron DeSantis’ emergency order to encourage transfer students across the country who feel they experienced religious persecution on campus after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.The governor’s order announced last month waives application fees and, in some instances, grants in-state tuition to transfer applicants.