Public Education

The School District of Lee County and the Support Personnel Association of Lee County have reached a comprehensive tentative agreement on contract modifications and compensation updates after negotiations.

A U.S. district judge Wednesday said a 2023 Florida law restricting pronouns that transgender teachers can use to identify themselves violates a federal civil-rights law — but the outcome of the issue might ultimately hinge on an appeals-court ruling in a Georgia case.U.S. District Judge Mark Walker sided with Hillsborough County teacher Katie Wood and a Lee County teacher, identified as Jane Doe, in finding that the state law discriminates in violation of what is known as Section VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That section bars employment discrimination because of a person’s “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”

A federal judge last week approved ending a Hendry County school-desegregation lawsuit that started in 1970, after the U.S. Department of Justice and the district agreed that “vestiges of the prior de jure segregation” had been eliminated.

District officials said every classroom will begin the new school year with a certified teacher at the helm.

The Florida Department of Education has released grades for county school districts for the 2024-2025 year. Lee County maintains its B rating. Other counties listed.

A divided federal appeals court Wednesday backed a 2023 Florida law that requires teachers to use pronouns that align with their sex assigned at birth, rejecting arguments that the law violated First Amendment rights of a transgender teacher in Hillsborough County.A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, overturned a preliminary injunction that U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued last year to block enforcement of the law against high-school teacher Katie Wood.

On June 3 Collier County Public Schools broke ground on the site of Ave Maria Elementary School, which is expected to open in August 2026.

Southwest Florida’s contender in the 100th Scripps National Spelling Bee semifinals bowed out in semifinal competition Wednesday afternoon, stumbling during a vocabulary round.

One of two Southwest Florida youths advanced Wednesday to semifinal competition being held Wednesday night in the 100th Scripps National Spelling Bee.