TEACH OTHER THEORIES: A majority of the Pinellas School Board say that schools should teach alternatives alongside evolution and let the students decide. (To participate in a lively commentary on this story, visit yesterday's Gradebook post. Check the Gradebook later this morning for more detailed comments from the board members.)

LIABLE, BUT NOT FOR SO MUCH: A judge finds the Hillel School of Tampa is responsible for allowing a bullying incident to get out of hand, but lowers the amount it must pay from $4-million to $600,000.

CAREER ACADEMIES IN HERNANDO: The district is poised to pump up existing vocational programs at each high school into career academies and then offer students choices where to attend.

TOO RACY FOR PRIME TIME: The Broward school district cancels a
high school band's fund raiser after learning the draw was autographs
from a local competitor in an MTV reality show about a bisexual woman
looking for love, the Miami Herald reports.

CHARTER REFORM: Rep. Joe Pickens, chairman of the House Schools and Learning Council, says he will support the Florida Senate's effort to make charter schools more accountable, the Orlando Sentinel reports. No details are available yet.

TOUGH TIMES: Brevard middle school students committed more serious offenses, more frequently, than their high school counterparts over seven years, Florida Today reports. Still, students are safest in schools, the paper reports in a sidebar.

BREAKFAST SHOULD BE GOOD FOR YOU: An audit reveals that Broward County's school breakfasts are too high in saturated fat and too low in calories and nutrients, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

SAVE OUR SCHOOL: Some Boynton Beach parents are fighting the Palm Beach school district's push to close their neighborhood elementary school, the Palm Beach Post reports. Many complain they only learned of the plan in the paper.

BALANCING BUDGET IN MIAMI: Miami-Dade superintendent Rudy Crew proposes scaling back summer classes and "repurposing" 10 under-enrolled elementary and middle schools as a way to deal with shrinking revenue, the Miami Herald reports.

NEW FAMU PROVOST: Cynthia Hughes Harris, dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences, gets the nod to be the university's second-in-command as president James Ammons continues his overhaul, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

NOT ENOUGH ROOM: More than 26,000 applicants vie for just 6,600 seats at the University of Florida, the Gainesville Sun reports.