When must Florida schools lock doors? Lawmakers rewrite the rules.
The measure includes several provisions, including an expansion of the school guardian program that lawmakers first created after the 2018 Parkland school shooting massacre.
One of the most keenly watched portions of the bill (SB 1470) aims to provide relief to school districts that struggled to implement strict rules related to when doors and gates must be closed and locked. School officials said the law requiring all access points to be either staffed or locked whenever students are on campus created situations that might place students on the wrong side of a locked door during emergencies.
Among other problems, the law also created access issues for students and families before and after classes, when fewer staff members were present yet activities continued.
The update would ease the door locking requirements before and after the school supervision time, and also allow schools to allow unlocked doors and gates in a school's interior and in areas such as parking lots, as long as all access points leading directly to student areas remain secure. They called this area a 'secure exclusive zone.'
Sponsor Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrills, called the changes 'common sense reforms,' noting they would 'help balance the need for safety against efficiencies.'
School districts including Pinellas County had made this subject a priority for this legislative session. The proposal now heads to the governor's desk for consideration. Read more from Florida Politics.
Today in Tallahassee ... It's the final day for lawmakers to bring any outstanding non-budget bills in for a landing. Several education-related items remain available for votes, including a handful of train bills that have gone back and forth between the chambers already. The Senate is scheduled to convene at 10 a.m. and the House is set to convene at 11 a.m.
Charter schools: The Florida House signed off on legislation allowing charter schools to have stricter codes of conduct than district schools, WTVJ reports. It heads to the governor's desk. • The Alachua County school board held an emergency meeting to shutter a charter school amid concerns of safety and leadership failures, the Gainesville Sun reports.
Preferred names: At least two additional Brevard County teachers have been reprimanded for using a students' preferred names without parental permission, Florida Today reports.
Rezoning: Parents whose children attend Venice High in Sarasota County don't like the school district's plans for redrawing attendance boundaries for a new high school opening in 2026, the Venice Gondolier reports.
School zones: Drivers in Palm Bay are complaining that cameras in school zones are inaccurately reporting violations, Spectrum 13 reports. Police officials said they are working to fix the problems.
Student health: Florida health officials seek to reduce youth smoking by working with schools, WUSF reports.
Trump agenda: A day before Pinellas County officials and civic leaders discussed extending plans to improve Black student achievement, the Trump administration announced a civil rights investigation into an Illinois school district for its Black Students Success Plan, The Guardian reports.
Don't miss a story. Here's a link to yesterday's roundup.
Before you go ... New jazz from Jeff Goldblum, featuring Cynthia Erivo. Enjoy.
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