The Alachua County School Board unanimously eliminated citizen input phone calls at a meeting Tuesday night.
Monica Benson, an Exceptional Student Education teacher at Sidney Lanier Center, won the 2025 Alachua County Teacher of the Year award.
Alachua County Education Association representatives addressed the Alachua County School Board Tuesday concerning a lack of negotiations on faculty contracts.
Following state education reforms allowing the removal of elementary through high school level books containing themes including race, sexuality and gender among others, new legislation aims to limit the number of citizen book objections to school district library materials. Local politicians, teachers and parents expressed differing opinions concerning the state of Alachua County book challenges.
The Alachua County Public Schools district office was packed with student athletes, coaches and speech language pathologists ahead of the May 7 school board meeting.
Newberry Elementary School will apply to become a public charter school under the Yes Newberry initiative. Of the three Newberry schools considered for conversion, Newberry Elementary was the only school to pass the parent vote.
Currently, the school is ranked 38 out of 1130 in the state. However, when removing schools using selective admission processes, such as magnet schools, P.K. Yonge ranks number three for public Florida high schools.Schwinn proposed P.K. Yonge high school move to a selective admissions process, so the school’s ranking can be reflective of UF.
The Alachua County supervisor of elections Kim Barton counted parent and teacher votes for the Yes Newberry initiative at Mentholee Northflee Municipal building Wednesday afternoon.
Set to help students withstand indoctrination in colleges, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill requiring the education of “dangers and evils of communism” in Florida public schools Wednesday.
About 100 people packed into the Archer Community Center Thursday night at the Newberry Education First community meeting to learn about the initiative to turn Newberry schools into public charters.
Newberry Education First initiative wants to convert the three Newberry schools into public charters under the guidance of community leaders. The initiative wants to ensure “excellent education, increased teacher pay and the same great sports and activities we all love,” according to its website.
Newberry Education First initiative wants to convert Newberry public schools into charter schools beginning in the 2025-2026 school year. The three Newberry schools, Newberry Elementary, Oak View Middle and Newberry High, would operate under unified leadership addressing pertinent issues relevant to Newberry.
After over two hours of deliberation, amendments and rants from school board members, the Alachua County School Board approved a new contract for Superintendent Shane Andrew in a 3-2 vote.
Florida’s graduation rates for the 2022-2023 school year soared with a record high of 88%. Alachua County’s rates, which include both public and charter high schools, fell to 84.2%, lower than its rates the last five years. Educators, students and parents wonder what contributes to underperformance and what is being done to address it.
On Tuesday, Gov. Ron Desantis announced the allocation of $25 million to protect the safety of Florida’s 134 Jewish Day Schools, which includes one Gainesville school.
Trask, a parent to two children at Meadowbrook Elementary School and a co-chair of the District Advisory Council, worries about the lack of transparency from the district when books are being discussed to be taken off shelves in school libraries.
The IB PYP magnet is a school-wide curriculum designed to foster a love for learning through student inquiry.
The Alachua County School Board voted against rezoning the existing school boundaries for the 2025-2026 school year in a special hearing Thursday night.
As the first semester of the 2023-2024 school year comes to an end, Alachua County Public School District employees prepare for the break and a potential increase in salaries.
In a continuation of its comprehensive rezoning plan, the Alachua County School Board heard community concerns and postponed the next hearing of the plan to January during a nearly two-hour meeting Tuesday night.
Solutions by The State News
