Florida education news: School leaders, parent involvement, performance funding and more

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: Six Pasco County elementary schools will get new principals. District leaders say they don't like mid-year transfers, but the shifts were prompted by a resignation and a retirement. • Kim Moore, principal of Hillsborough County's Middleton High, will become the district's director of administration.  The county's science and technology high school will seek a new principal.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT: Sheehy Elementary, one of Hillsborough County's most struggling schools, plans to help parents better understand how to participate in their children's education.

WATER TESTS: Many Florida school districts don't test their water supplies for lead, WFTS reports.

PERFORMANCE FUNDING: The Florida Board of Governors will consider adjustments to its university performance funding system, WFSU reports.

FINANCES: The Lake County school district plans a series of internal audits to ensure its finances are in order, the Daily Commercial reports.

SCHOOL DAYS: The Volusia County school district prepares to extend the elementary school day by 30 minutes next year, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.

AFTER MICHAEL: Some Bay County students head back to school for the first time after Hurricane Michael hit, the Panama City News Herald reports.

CAMPAIGN TRAIL: Questions arise over whether Miami-Dade County schools are inappropriately advocating for a school district property tax referendum, the Miami Herald reports.

CHARTER SCHOOLS: A Duval County charter school applicant hopes to convince the School Board to approve its plan despite a staff recommendation to deny the proposal, the Florida Times-Union reports.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS: An Orange County private school is removed from the Florida tax credit scholarship program by the state after a parent raises questions about its hiring of a convicted felon, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

GENDER ISSUES: The Sarasota County School Board prepares for a potentially heated debate over a new policy about transgender student rights, the Herald-Tribune reports.

SECURITY: The Tallahassee Police Department is looking into a complaint that a school resource officer might have been sleeping on the job, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

PORTABLE PLACEMENT: A Palm Beach County middle school might not lose its athletic fields to dozens of portable classrooms after parents criticize the plan, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

ICYMI: Yesterday's Florida education news roundup