DECEMBER 14 -17, 2012
'Nutcracker' gets great grades from students
Hours before opening night of The Nutcracker, Miami City Ballet
 held its final dress rehearsal for a sea of young– but tough – critics:
 about 1,800 students. "I give them an A-," said fifth-grader Jindry 
Hernandez, a student at Bennett Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale.
 Hernandez, 12, is a dancer herself, and said she was looking for how 
well the ballerinas maintained their balance and posture. She joined 
students from around the county who packed the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale Friday to watch a special presentation of George Balanchine's The
Nutcracker.
Middle School to be flushed out Saturday
Parents
 are concerned after someone at a South Florida middle school contracted
 a case of the potentially deadly Legionnaires' disease. Broward County 
Public School has not provided any information regarding the 
Legionnaires' disease outbreak. The only information that has been 
provided is from the parents of students at Olsen Middle School, who 
have spoken to the administration at the Broward County School Board, 
Wednesday.
S. Fla. community leaders react to Conn. school shooting
Telling your children about what happened in Conn.
S. Fla. schools to have counselors available onMonday
Miami-Dade, Broward School Chiefs React To Conn. Shooting
Local
 school officials reacted to the horrific massacre of nearly two dozen 
young kids with the same sadness shared by the rest of the nation.
South Florida School Districts to Review Safety Procedures Following Connecticut Elementary School Shooting
South Florida school officials plan to review safety procedures
School
 violence has been a reality for years in South Florida, but the 
magnitude of Friday's massacre in Connecticut has astounded educators 
and local officials. Following the shootings at Newtown elementary 
school, South Florida officials say they plan to review their security 
procedures.
Sandy Hook school massacre an assault on all of us
At South Florida elementary school, parents and teachers hit hard by heinous shooting
Miami-Dade schools chief on Conn. school massacre: need ‘mental detection rather than metal detection’
Experts urge parents to talk to their children in an age-appropriate way about the tragedy.
School Board studies redistrict plans
After
 just a month into her new job, Broward school board member Rosalind 
Osgood has learned she will lose part of the district that 
overwhelmingly elected her.
DECEMBER 19, 2012
Miami-Area Schools Hold Moment Of Silence For Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting Victims (VIDEO) 
Flags
 at South Florida public schools flew at half-mast Monday as the state's
 two largest school districts remembered the victims of the schoolshooting at Sandy Hook Elementary….In
 Broward County, Superintendent Robert Runcie reflected on tightening 
security procedures at area public schools, while recognizing the need 
to help students in coping with the tragedy.
Broward Schools briefing on school security measures
The
 Broward Public Schools Superintendent and School District Police 
Chief, held a briefing this morning to address issues of concern to the 
publicabout school safety. 
Broward School Board says safety procedures need work
TheBrowardCounty
 School Board took a close look at its security procedures Tuesday and 
identified three areas for improvement: the need for more school-based 
police officers, single-point entries for schools and evacuation 
procedures for special-needs children. It also strongly criticized a 
2011-12 state report that claimed the district had met all 30 best 
practices recommended by the Florida Department of Education.
Broward schools examine security gaps
In
 the wake of the Connecticut school shooting, Broward school district 
leaders acknowledged their own security measures have room for 
improvement. Two of the most important student-safety measures used in 
Broward County —on-campus police officers and visitor access that is 
limited to one entrance —aren’t in place at every school, district 
leaders acknowledged Tuesday. 
Mike Ryan: Expand full-time School Resource Officer program
For years, the School Resource Officer program in Broward County has
 demonstrated success, at least in those cities having SROs. However, 
the School Board reimburses cities only about one-third of the total 
cost to staff a qualified, full-time SRO. As a result, some cities do 
not have any SROs in their elementary schools. Others cities split SROs 
among multiple elementary schools, dramatically reducing the SRO 
presence.
Parents start pressure for more school police
Parents
 that have begun lobbying the School Board for full-time police officers
 at their children’s’ schools. The question, of course, is who will pay?
  The School Board?  Individual cities?
Broward School Board rejects safety plan
Staff asked to reconsider safety measures at schools
Allowing Principals and Teachers To Have Guns Not the Answer: Miami-Dade and Broward Superintendents
An author of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law made the suggestion Monday
A
 Florida lawmaker has suggested that schools would be safer if 
principals and teachers were allowed to bring guns to school. South 
Florida school superintendents and parents said Tuesday they don’t think
 that’s a good move.
Broward schools' embattled transportation director resigns
The
 Broward school district's director of transportation is resigning after
 he faced mounting pressure from the school board and bus drivers who 
claimed he mismanaged the department. Chester Tindall will retain title 
of director and continue collecting his $125,000 salary until his 
resignation takes effect March 1, 2013.
Broward school transportation chief resigns
Transportation
 Director Chester Tindall arrived about a year ago, tasked with turning 
around along-troubled department that had been criticized for nepotism 
and routinely ran tens of millions of dollars over budget. Roughly four 
months after Broward’s start to the school year was disrupted by 
widespread school bus problems, the man who once led Broward’s bus 
drivers has announced his resignation
Schools transportation director resigns
Chester Tindall's resignation effective March 1
The
 director of the Broward County Public Schools Transportation 
Department, who drew the ire of parents and bus drivers as problems 
plagued the department earlier in the year, is resigning. Chester 
Tindall's resignation is effective March 1st. Until then,he will 
continue to collect his $125,000 salary.
Hollywood teacher accused of strapping autistic child
A Hollywood teacher could lose her job after being accused of locking an autisticchild
 in a chair for two hours, and improperly managing several other 
special-needs children. The School Board moved Tuesday to suspend 
without pay Vivia Bromfield, an elementary school teacher at Stirling 
Elementary. It's at least the fourth time in 2012 that a teacher or aide in Broward County has faced discipline for allegedly mistreating an autistic child.
