A Month of Successful Regional Meetings
By Katrina Figgett, FADSS Director of Training
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A big thank you to all who took part in our series of Regional Meetings and helped make them such a success, especially the staff and students of Bay, Volusia, and Polk County Schools, and of course all those who attended.
We hope that everyone who took part in one of the meetings benefited from the legislative updates. Of course, one of the topics of debate was HB 1; given that student mobility will most likely increase due to the passage of this bill, it was recommended that an additional designation could be given to those students using vouchers, as current entry and exit codes in Skyward and Focus are not designed to capture this information. This will enable districts to easily identify those students so that they can be most appropriately served. Discussion on this subject will certainly continue at our Summer and Fall Conferences.
Other discussion topics ranged widely from deregulation, teacher recruitment and retention, affordable housing, and property insurance, to technology funding. We hope that the sharing of ideas and hearing different district approaches to these challenges and opportunities was valuable for everyone.
As was stated at the regional meetings we are looking closely at our training offerings to make sure they are up-to-date and relevant to your needs. If you have any suggestions regarding training, whether for main conferences, our statutory trainings (Special Certification and CEOLDP), or ad hoc training opportunities, such as the regional meetings, please contact us - all ideas will be gratefully received!
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Words of Wisdom from Seasoned Superintendents |
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Bay County Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt:
- Always take the high road ... it is less traveled and the view and smell is usually much better!
- Your priorities have many levels: Take care of yourself and your family, stay grounded in your faith, realize that the students you are protecting and working for are worth it - you were!
- Let the truth speak for itself. Arguments with those who don't understand the truth (or don't care about it) are fruitless and too stressful, which is why I stay off of social media for the most part.
- Finally, pace yourself! There is actually a study that shows just because you work longer hours does not mean productivity increases, in fact, it decreases!!!!
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Osceola County School Superintendent Dr. Debra Pace:
The role of the Superintendent is both challenging and immensely rewarding, constant but also ever-changing, and at times, quite lonely. However, we can always lean on our friends and colleagues in FADSS, and we must never lose sight of what matters most: the students we serve, who truly are the answer to tomorrow's problems. When we do our jobs well, we strengthen our communities, we provide hope to those who may feel hopeless, and we represent stability and a safe haven when the rest of the world seems a little bit crazy.
To keep my focus, I lean on these words from Henry David Thoreau: "It is not enough to be busy. The question is, what are we busy about?" We must 'be busy' doing the right work for children, Every Child, Every Chance, Every Day.
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ICYMI - Two Superintendents Receive Awards |
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Superintendent Kurt Browning Recognized by Magnet Schools USA
Congrats to Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning on being named Supt of the Year by Magnet Schools USA. This national honor acknowledges Browning’s commitment to expanding school choice in Pasco.
Read the full press release HERE.
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Superintendent Mike Burke Receives 2023 Champion of Children Award
On Saturday, April 22, Superintendent Mike Burke was honored as the 2023 Champion of Children Award recipient by the Best Foot Forward (BFF) Foundation. Burke received the award at the annual “BFF Bash,” a nonprofit organization that provides support in academics for students in foster care throughout PBC
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State Board of Education Rules Update
By Brian Moore, FADSS General Counsel
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While most eyes have been on the Legislature as it works to complete the 2023 Legislative Session by May 5, 2023, there are often more changes to district operations that come from new State Board of Education (SBE) rules. By the time the SBE completes its next meeting on May 24, 2023, in Hialeah, it will have adopted nearly 100 new or amended rules just this school year.
However, every new rule does not always mean new regulatory burdens for school districts. With the enactment of HB 1, which primarily focuses on the expansion of the voucher system, the Legislature also enacted a few measures aimed at relieving school districts from some of its burdens. One of those measures addresses teacher certification and the difficulties many of our non-traditional teachers have faced getting professional certification. Most importantly, HB 1 changed the law regarding temporary certifications, making them good for five years instead of just three.
The Department of Education (DOE) and the SBE have wasted no time in their efforts to implement these new provisions of law. At its upcoming meeting, the SBE will be looking to amend Rules 6A-4.002 and 6A-4.004, which both address teacher certification. In Rule 6A-4.004, all references to a three-year temporary certificate will be changed to five years, and the SBE has proposed adding the following to Rule 6A-4.002:
(n) A three-year temporary certificate issued under 6A-4.004(1), F.A.C., which is valid as of March 27, 2023, is automatically modified to a five-year temporary certificate beginning from the date of issuance of the temporary certificate unless the temporary certificate has been extended for two (2) years under the provisions of Rule 6A-4.004(1)(c), F.A.C. The automatic extension of temporary certificates to five (5) years does not apply to specialized temporary certificates issued for military veterans, covering speech-language impaired, or covering educational leadership, or athletic coaching certificates, issued under the provision of Rule 6A-4.004(2), (4), (5), or (6), F.A.C., or a temporary certificate issued to exchange teachers under the provisions of Rule 6A-4.002(6)(c), F.A.C.
Thus, once this rule amendment takes effect (likely to be roughly one month after it is approved on May 24, 2023), all teachers with a current, three-year temporary certification as of March 27, 2023, will have their certification extended two years, excepted as outlined in the rule language above.
Hopefully, those additional two years, combined with some of the other changes from HB 1 designed to make it a little less burdensome to obtain professional certification, will breathe some new life into many of your newer teachers who were being forced out of the profession because of all the unnecessary obstacles placed before them in their first three years in the profession.
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Registration for the May 10, 2023 Information Session on
Your Place in Space
For those who joined us for the last Launch to Learning at Blue Origin, this opportunity was mentioned briefly. Here is the information for registration for this annual challenge directed at educators and high school students in Career and Technical Education.
About the Your Place in Space Challenge
The Your Place in Space Challenge is a CTE Momentum challenge to create new solutions for space. The U.S. Department of Education invites high schools to submit designs for a product or service that will contribute to space missions and exploration. Teams may pursue designs of their choice or find inspiration from one of four suggested areas of exploration — covering topics such as space debris, the International Space Station, space travel, and the environment.
The space industry is expected to triple in size over the next 30 years, employing over 1.5 million people and generating $780 billion in economic activity by 2050. By inspiring students to create new solutions for space, the Your Place in Space Challenge will connect the dots between the skills students are building in CTE programs and the fulfilling careers they can have in the space industry.
About CTE Momentum
CTE Momentum is a U.S. Department of Education annual challenge series to prepare high school students for rewarding careers and increase access to career and technical education. Each year, the U.S. Department of Education will invite educators and high school students to participate in a new challenge focused on a topic of national importance. This annual series will empower educators with resources and inspiration to help American schools become centers of innovation and possibility.
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FIT Summer STEM Institute for Teachers
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Florida Institute of Technology, (FIT) a nationally ranked, private university on the Space Coast in Melbourne, has launched the Summer STEM Institute for Teachers. This on-campus innovative initiative creates an opportunity for Florida districts and schools to provide their most promising high school STEM teachers with a unique and immersive two-week professional development experience in STEM curriculum development and pedagogy.
There are two sessions scheduled for the Summer of 2023, each with its own theme, and all instructional content has been aligned with the subjects and courses currently taught in Florida high schools. Sessions provide content and training to assist teachers in course, unit and lesson development that may be applied in Florida high schools. Session 1, Marine and Environmental Science, runs June 4 to June 17; Session 2, Mathematical Modeling with Applications to Science and Engineering, runs June 18 to July 1.
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Thank you to FADSS 2022 - 2023
Annual Business Partners
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Be sure to follow FADSS on Twitter [@PublicSchoolSup] and tag FADSS in your district tweets so we can share the great stories and happenings in Florida public schools across our state!
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Florida Association of District School Superintendents
208 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32301
850.577.5784
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