ANYTHING FOR BETTER PERFORMANCE: Osceola Middle principal Bob Vicari promised his students he'd eat bugs if more of them made the principal's list, honor roll and  "E-team." They did, and he did. (Times photos, Scott Keeler)

PINELLAS' TOP TEACHER: Malla Kolhoff, the IB program director at Palm Harbor University High, takes the county's teacher of the year honor.

ACCREDITATION GRANTED: Accreditors give UCF and FIU the preliminary nod to officially begin their medical schools.

OFFERING THE LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT: Hernando school leaders are reevaluating their method of clustering students with special needs into specific schools, looking instead at having some of the students attend neighborhood schools.

TOP OF THE CLASS HERNANDO: Event gives math a new flavor (Westside Elementary); Four legs, one keen nose, no name (Spring Hill Elementary)

IF THE PEOPLE DON'T GO THE BOARD ... The Sumter County School Board decides to meet once a month in a recreation center at the Villages, the massive development that's more convenient to voters living in the northern part of the county, the Villages Daily Sun reports.

BEEF BAN: South Florida schools join the move to stop serving beef to students amid concerns over treatment of cows at a slaughterhouse in California, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

CHARTER TEACHERS ORGANIZE: Teachers in the Pembroke Pines charter school system vote to join the Broward Teachers Union and win raises from the City Council, the Miami Herald reports.

'ETHICS IN EDUCATION' BILL: The Florida Senate considers a bill to exact harsher punishments against teachers who abuse students, the Herald-Tribune reports.

TAMING CHARTER SCHOOLS: The Senate also introduces a bill to make charter schools more accountable to the taxpayers who fund them, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

DANCE TO LEARN: Selected Lee County elementary schools launch the "Dancing Classrooms" program to teach social skills, music and geography, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.