Latest news with #MikeBurke
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
When is the last day of school for students in Palm Beach County public schools?
That was fast, wasn't it? One minute Palm Beach County School Superintendent Mike Burke is opening the school year, and the next minute ... it's today. The 2024-25 school year is quickly drawing to a close. High school seniors are graduating and turning their thoughts to what's next in their lives. Juniors are embracing the reality that, sooner than they might have imagined, they'll be the next group ordering caps and gowns. And some pre-school parents are excited about the fall, knowing their child's K-12 journey is about to begin with the new school year. First, though, it's the Memorial Day weekend then the end of this school year and then summer. Let's look at some key dates on the school calendar for the rest of this year and on through the 2025-26 school year. Congrats Class of 2025! See photos from high school graduations across Palm Beach County Memorial Day is May 26. It's the last day off from school this academic year before it ends with the last bell on May 30. Let the family vacations and summer jobs begin. The nearly 2½-month summer break ends on Aug. 11, with the start of the 2025-26 school year. Talk of backpacks, bus stops and early get-ups fill households as some families fall back into the school routine and others embrace it for the first time. The Thanksgiving break begins on Nov. 24 and runs through the week, with students returning to school on Dec. 1. It's a three-week push until the next big break for the winter holiday, which begins on Dec. 22 and runs through Jan. 5, 2026, with school beginning the next day on Jan. 6. Spring break begins on March 16. School resumes on March 24. From there, it's on to the Memorial Day holiday, which is on May 25. The 2025-26 school year ends on May 29. There are random days off throughout the school year beyond the big breaks for Thanksgiving, the winter holidays and spring break. It's all on the Palm Beach County School District calendar. Wayne Washington is a journalist covering education for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@ Help support our work; subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: When is the last day of school for Palm Beach County students?
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Schools could end DEI programs for business, staff, students to avoid potential $300M loss
The Palm Beach County School Board is considering a broad series of rule changes that would end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in a bid to avoid losing $300 million in federal funding. If the changes are approved during the board's meeting on Wednesday, the Palm Beach County School District would end its women -and minority-business enterprise program, which was created to give businesses owned by women and minorities a better chance to get district contract work. The district would repeal its majority-to-minority transfer rule, which gives students who are in the racial or ethnic majority in their current school first priority in transferring to a school where they would be in the racial or ethnic minority. That rule was put in place to encourage more racial and ethnic balance in schools. More: Education Department cuts: Loss of money could affect 100,000 Palm Beach County students District rules would still bar discrimination, but they would no longer require efforts to provide racial, ethnic or gender diversity in hiring or retaining staff. Principals would no longer be required to select faculty advisers, directors, coaches, sponsors and staff "who are diverse in racial, ethnic, and gender composition." A staff-generated justification for the rule changes noted that they are being proposed "due to the imminent danger to the health, safety, and welfare posed to the public" if the district continued to administer DEI programs in defiance of the Trump administration, which has repeatedly threatened to pull federal funding from school districts, colleges and universities that do not end those programs. Republicans have ripped DEI programs as a form of reverse discrimination against whites that put minorities in positions of authority without merit. They also argue that the programs violate federal laws against discrimination. Democrats counter that the programs are a necessary tool to ensure that women and minorities are included in job candidate pools and that the views of people in marginalized communities are taken into account as policy is crafted. Much of the Trump administration's anti-DEI efforts have been focused on higher education, with elite institutions like Harvard, Columbia and Penn coming into the administration's crosshairs. The anti-DEI push has now come to K-12 education. On March 14, Superintendent Mike Burke said the district was reviewing its DEI policies to "ensure compliance with evolving state and federal guidelines." The U.S. Department of Education sent state education leaders an order on April 3 demanding that they have school districts in their state sign a "reminder of legal obligations" acknowledging that some diversity, equity and inclusion programs could — in the view of Trump administration officials — violate anti-discrimination laws and subject a district to the loss of tens of millions in federal funding. Craig Trainor, the department's acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement that federal financial assistance is a "privilege, not a right." He added that, "when state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal antidiscrimination requirements." A Palm Beach County School District spokesman said that the district received the reminder of legal obligations notice from Education Commissioner Manny Diaz on April 10 and that Burke signed it a week later. The district is already facing state funding cuts in the upcoming fiscal year that could reach $47 million and threaten the availability of AP, IB and AICE classes. Possible federal funding cuts have added to district fears. "The potential loss of approximately $300 million in federal funding would have an immediate and detrimental impact to the school district's budget and its ability to support student education, operate schools, pay employee salaries, and maintain essential services," district staff noted in statement justifying the proposed DEI pullback. The district is the largest employer in Palm Beach County, and the end of its W/MBE program would likely rankle the women and minority business owners who have relied on it to give them a better shot at district contract work. These programs have often been viewed, like other DEI efforts, as a form of reverse discrimination. Still, the business programs have survived numerous legal challenges, with federal courts determining they are legal if they could survive "strict scrutiny," meaning they have a compelling government interest and were put in place to address specific, documented instances of discrimination. School districts and local governments must first undertake a market disparity study to determine whether discrimination is hampering opportunities for women and minority business owners before they can put a program in place to address the problem. One of the anti-DEI changes being proposed in Palm Beach County is the repeal of language authorizing the school board to hire a consultant to conduct a disparity study. It is not clear, however, that the district needs to end its W/MBE program to avoid the potential loss of federal funding. The "reminder of legal obligations" districts were required to sign included DEI programs among what the Trump administration views as impermissable racial classifications that "advantage one's race over another." But a footnote of that reminder states: "The only exception to this prohibition on the use of racial classifications is where their use satisfies 'strict scrutiny.'" An attorney for the school district signed off on the proposed elimination of its women and minority business program, noting that "the proposed revisions to this policy eliminate references to an advantage or disadvantage conferred on a group based on race, ethnicity, or national origin." The Palm Beach County School District is the 10th largest in the nation and got $150 million from the U.S. Department of Education in fiscal year 2025. The district used the money to recruit, train and retain teachers at schools with a high percentage of poor students. Some of the money also went to educate students whose first language is not English and to provide equipment, programming and instruction for disabled students. Beyond the $150 million in federal education money, the district got $120 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which was used to help cover the cost of student meals. It is not clear if that food money is also under threat if districts don't shut down DEI programs. The reminder of legal obligations only mentioned the potential loss of "federal funding" and did not specify what type of federal funding was at risk or if all of it was at risk. Critics of the Trump administration's anti-DEI push view its citing of federal anti-discrimination laws as a painful irony. Minorities fought hard for and in some instances were beaten or killed in the quest to have the federal government pass laws banning discrimination. Now, those laws are being used to threaten funding that, in many places, disproportionately help minority students. The NAACP has filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education and its top leaders to stop the department from following through on its threat to strip federal funding from school districts that have DEI programs. The organization said the department's order to state education officials advances "a misrepresentation" of anti-discrimination laws "to deny Black children equal opportunities." Wayne Washington is a journalist covering education for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@ Help support our work; subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County School District considers ending DEI programs, rules
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Palm Beach County schools reviewing DEI programs as DeSantis, Trump call to eliminate them
The Palm Beach County School District is reviewing its diversity, equity and inclusion policies to "ensure compliance with evolving state and federal guidelines," Superintendent Mike Burke said Friday. When that review began, what it will cover and when it will end isn't clear. But the review is a nod to the increasing hostility Republicans have expressed toward DEI policies, which they have castigated as a form of reverse racism against white people that puts unqualified minorities in positions of authority. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has led a campaign to root out DEI policies at public universities in the Sunshine State. President Donald Trump has amplified that opposition on the national level, signing a series of executive orders dismantling DEI programs at federal agencies and threatening to withhold federal funding from state and local groups that don't follow suit. Those executive orders are the subject of lawsuits challenging their validity. Many Democrats view DEI programs as necessary efforts to make sure women and minorities are included in job candidate pools and contracting and to make sure the views of marginalized community members are taken into account as policies are crafted. And Democrats see racism, misogyny and homophobia in the vociferous pushback against DEI programs, which became a theme for GOP political candidates across the country last fall. The school district gets hundreds of millions each year from the federal government to help it feed students, recruit, train and retain teachers and provide programming and learning for disabled students. Federal funding touches nearly every aspect of the district's work, and state legislators in Tallahassee have made no plans to account for its loss. Along with the shrinking and possible closure of the U.S. Department of Education — a Trump priority — DEI stands as another threat to the school district's funding. In a recent letter to the editor published in The Palm Beach Post, Angelique Contreras of Lake Worth Beach, an unsuccessful school board candidate in 2022, reminded district officials of a February 15 letter from the Department of Education that instructed institutions that get federal funding that "they must cease using race preferences and stereotypes as a factor in their admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, sanctions, discipline, and beyond." The department letter states that "institutions that fail to comply may, consistent with applicable law, face investigation and loss of federal funding. The Department will begin assessing compliance beginning no later than 14 days from issuance of the letter." Contreras noted in her letter that "the Palm Beach County School Board has demonstrated a commitment to DEI initiatives. It is up to parents to continue to hold them accountable and push for the reversal of policies, and adopt new mission and vision statements." The district doesn't just oversee education in Palm Beach County. With 23,000 employees, it is also the county's largest employer and a huge supplier of government contract work. Like other governments in the county, the district has a program aimed at helping small businesses and those owned by women and minorities get contract work. That program is overseen by the district's Office of Diversity in Business Practices. The district also has a Diversity and Equity Advisory Committee, which was set up to provide guidance on issues of diversity and equity in academic and operational programs. A series of business and social services group officials, including women as well as racial and ethnic minorities, serve on the committee. An item on the March 12 School Board meeting agenda called for the committee to get additional members. The item was on the consent portion of the agenda, a section typically reserved for non-controversial items that are quickly passed without discussion. But Board Member Matthew Jay Lane pulled the item from consent, saying he did so "for the specific purpose of informing the public that we are well aware of the president's executive orders, and we're in the process of reviewing our policies and procedures to ensure that they're in compliance with state and federal law so that we don't lose federal funding for our programs that serve our most impoverished and disabled students." The board then voted in favor of adding members to the committee. Board Chair Karen Brill announced that the vote was unanimous, but Lane had raised his hand when she called for those in opposition. Lane later told The Post that he had indeed voted against adding members to the committee, saying it would be "horrendous" to lose federal funding. "There's a lot of risk right now," Lane said. "To my knowledge, there's a lot to lose." DEI presents Burke and board members with a challenging set of choices. The district has employed DEI policies, which tend to be supported by women and minorities. But speaking up for those policies now, as they are in the crosshairs of DeSantis and Trump, carries risk. Want more education news? Sign up for ourExtra Credit weekly newsletter, delivered every Friday! Brill did not respond to calls asking for her views on DEI. Board Member Edwin Ferguson, one of two Black members of the board, said he had no comment when asked for his views on DEI programs. He directed questions to Burke and his staff. Burke told The Post: "The School District of Palm Beach County is committed to complying with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations. As part of our ongoing operations, we regularly review policies and practices to ensure compliance with legal requirements and the best interests of our students and staff. This includes an ongoing review of our policies to ensure compliance with evolving state and federal guidelines. Any proposed School District policy changes will be presented to the School Board for consideration." The superintendent added: "At this time, no specific policies have been suspended. Our focus remains on fostering a supportive learning environment where all students have access to high-quality educational opportunities. The School District remains dedicated to serving our entire student population and ensuring that all students — regardless of background — receive the support and resources they need to succeed." Wayne Washington is a journalist covering education for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@ Help support our work; subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump, DeSantis threats prompt School District review of DEI programs
