School security key for Florida five years after Parkland

The big story: Five years after the Parkland school shooting massacre, Florida continues to seek school safety reforms in hopes of preventing another incident.

This week, the Hernando County school district held a summit for teachers and administrators to discuss initiatives aimed at bolstering security and making families feel comfortable sending their children. Among the speakers was Max Schachter, who lost a child at Parkland.

“If you don’t talk about it and teachers do not see the importance from administrators and they get complacent,” he said. “That’s where leadership comes into place and it certainly looks like they have it here.” Read more from Bay News 9.

Meanwhile, jury selection continues in the trial of a deputy accused of failing to confront the gunman who killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, WPLG reports. And the judge in the penalty phase for the shooter faces a reprimand for showing bias toward the prosecution, Associated Press reports.

Hot topics

Superintendents: The Sarasota County School Board rated Hillsborough schools deputy superintendent Terry Connor as its top finalist to lead the district, the Herald-Tribune reports. • The four finalists for Osceola County superintendent, including Connor, had time to meet with the public as the School Board considers its choices, Spectrum 13 reports. • The Broward County School Board selected three finalists for its superintendent job, leaving out the only internal candidate, the Miami Herald reports. • Members of the Hernando County legislative delegation continue to advocate for a return to an elected superintendent for the district, WUFT reports. Gov. Ron DeSantis has received HB 773 to have Hernando voters consider the change next year.

Student assignment: The Alachua County School Board is working on priorities for redrawing attendance zones as a way to ease crowding throughout the district, Main Street Daily News reports.

Turnaround schools: A lawmaker from Escambia County says he will try to find added state funding for a long-struggling middle school that has fallen into deplorable conditions, WEAR reports.

Book challenges: A Miami-Dade County School Board member is quoting from Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb” at high school graduations, amid a national frenzy over a local school that restricted access to the poem after a parent complained about the content, WLRN reports.

Black history: Amid state restrictions on school lessons, a community group is stepping up to teach Florida teens about Black history in the United States, Education Week reports.

New College: New College is without a U.S. history expert on faculty after the school did not renew the contract of visiting professor Erik Wallenberg, Miami New Times reports.

On the move: A senior chancellor for the Florida Department of Education has taken a new post with a consulting firm, Florida Politics reports.

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Before you go ... Have you ever run into a performance like this while on the subway in any city? Seems like it’s more usually one guy with a guitar, or some kids banging away on pails.

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