AP Psych, new metal detectors: 6 things to know as Palm Beach County goes back to school

When Palm Beach County students go back to school Thursday, some will face rapidly changing information on Advanced Placement Psychology courses, record-breaking heat outside and, in some cases, staffing shortages.

On Wednesday, Superintendent Mike Burke announced students will be able to take AP Psychology after all, just six days after pulling the course due to conflicting guidance from the state Department of Education and the College Board.

Burke also shared positive updates at a back-to-school news conference Wednesday: All Palm Beach County students will get free breakfast and lunch this year, he's confident in a pilot program for new metal detectors at four different high schools, and all 475 bus routes in the county will have an assigned bus driver to pick up students.

Here are six things to know:

1. AP Psychology classes will be offered after week of flip flopping

After six days of back-and-forth, Burke announced Wednesday that the entire AP Psychology course will be taught to Palm Beach County high school students — including a portion that covers gender identity and sexuality as part of its content on developmental psychology.

He said teachers will be "careful" to teach that part of the curriculum in an age-appropriate way for the 1,400 juniors and seniors taking the class in order to comply with Florida's Parental Rights in Education law.

Burke said AP Psych teachers will be provided with a lesson plan written by teachers and several school district employees from around the state, including Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. He added he is confident that students who take the class will be able to take the end-of-year AP exam offered by the College Board.

More: BREAKING: Palm Beach County Schools reverse course, will offer AP Psych this year

2. All students need ID badges to ride the bus, come to school

This school year, all students and staff will be required to have their photo ID badges with them at all times.

Students will be required to have their ID to ride the bus, Burke said. High school students will also scan their badge to enter campus in the morning.

3. Free breakfast and lunch for all in 2023-24 school year

All Palm Beach County students will be able to get free breakfast and lunch this school year, regardless of income, thanks to federal grant money.

Students do not need to fill out an application to get the free meals.

4. Superintendent warns of extreme heat

Amid Palm Beach County's first-ever excessive heat warning, Burke encouraged parents to make sure their kids stay hydrated, and keep them out of the sun as much as possible in the first weeks of school.

Excessive heat warnings are triggered when the heat-index or “feels-like” temperatures are predicted to reach 113 degrees or higher for at least two hours.

Burke said athletic teams will monitor the temperatures before practicing and keep water and electrolytes on-hand for athletes.

He suggested that parents drive students to and from school instead of having them walk until the heat subsides.

More on the heat: Palm Beach County under excessive heat warning. When will the misery end?

5. Staff shortages continue in schools

Burke shared Wednesday that the district has a higher vacancy rate of teachers than it has in the past. In a normal year, the district needs to hire about 200 more teachers at the start of classes.

This year, it needs to hire about 500 teachers to be fully staffed. Burke said the district's teacher vacancy rate is around 3.9% of its nearly 13,000 teachers.

The district is short about 100 bus drivers going into this school year, Burke said.

He said families can help by registering their students for the bus ride online so the district can plan accordingly.

6. Metal detectors at some high schools

Four high schools, John I. Leonard, Palm Beach Lakes, Seminole Ridge, and Palm Beach Gardens, will have freestanding metal detectors at the entrances this year as part of a $250,000 pilot program.

The school board will see if scanning up to 3,000 students each morning causes delays to the start of the school day. Burke hoped to run the pilot program this spring, but supply-chain issues have pushed back delivery of the equipment.

If the pilot program goes well, the school board has approved a $2.25 million contract for metal detectors at entrances to all county high schools.

Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work. Subscribe today!

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: AP psych, metal detectors: 6 things to know as PBC goes back to school