Florida school district abandons national superintendent search

The big story: Dozens of Florida school districts have seen shifts in their top leadership over the past year.

While some school boards have looked outside their ranks for new leadership, others have turned to insiders as they sought continuity in direction or, in some cases, a return to old times.

Put Hillsborough County — the nation’s seventh largest district — in that latter category. After a three-year run with its first outsider superintendent in 50 years, the Hillsborough board tapped veteran local educator Van Ayres to replace Addison Davis, who resigned to return to north Florida.

At first, Ayres won the job on a temporary basis. Now the board appears ready call off plans for a national search and hand him the reins permanently. Read more here.

Hot topics

Vouchers: Florida parents who receive school vouchers for their children with special needs say they love the program. They can’t say the same about the organization that manages it. • Gov. Ron DeSantis told a Nevada crowd that he wants to expand Florida’s universal school choice model to the nation, Florida Politics reports.

Substitute teachers: The majority of Florida school districts have rolled back their hiring criteria for substitute teachers as they struggle to fill classroom vacancies, the Pensacola News-Journal reports.

Start times: The Polk County school district is considering a “late start/early release” program for high school juniors and seniors, Lakeland Now reports.

Race relations: A Miami-Dade County teacher was removed from her post after allegedly making anti-Semitic statements to her Jewish students, WPLG reports.

Legal services: The Flagler County School Board stopped short of firing its lawyer amid warnings such a move might be unnecessarily costly, Flagler Live reports.

Language lessons: Hundreds of Alachua County families are asking the school district to provide important information in languages other than English, WCJB reports.

Freedom of speech: Legal experts suggest efforts to silence pro-Palestine groups on Florida university campuses are illegal, Fresh Take Florida reports. • Students and advocacy organizations also are speaking out against the move, WUSF reports. • Gov. Ron DeSantis argued the decision was not about canceling viewpoints, but rather about confronting support for terrorism, Yahoo News reports.

Campus safety: Some Palm Beach County school district leaders want lawmakers to provide flexibility for rules relating to non-lethal weapons brought to schools, the Palm Beach Post reports.

Other school news

Strike up the band: More than 2,700 Hillsborough County teens took part in the annual Marching Music Performance Assessment over the weekend.

Early learning: Thousands of Broward County four- and -five-year-olds took part in a district-wide early literacy initiative that had them all reading the same story, WLRN reports.

For the love of teaching: A Pinellas County teaching assistant celebrated 50 years in the classroom, WFTS reports.

From the police blotter ... A Flagler County middle school student was arrested on accusations of threatening other students with a knife, WOFL reports. • A former Duval County high school basketball coach was arrested on allegations of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, Jacksonville Today reports.

From the court docket ... A Palm Beach County high school assistant principal will fight in court to get charges dismissed that he failed to report accusations of sexual assault against a student, WPTV reports.

Don’t miss a story. Here’s a link to Friday’s roundup.

Before you go ... When Ed Sheeran played Tampa, he invited local high school band members to join him. When he played Detroit, he got Eminem to take the stage for two songs.

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