Soon, more than half of Florida's adjunct professors could belong to a union

| 12/20/2018

Soon, more than half of Florida’s adjunct professors could belong to a union

Adjunct professors at seven institutions in Florida filed to unionize last week, joining many others across the state in fighting for better working conditions and pay. Now, more than half — about 9,000 — of the state's adjunct instructors are either already represented by a union or organizing toward that. More from the Tampa Bay Times and the Florida Phoenix.

With Richard Corcoran in charge, can Florida’s education leaders find compromise?

After years of often bitter debate over the future of Florida schools, this week’s selection of a new education commissioner, however controversial, left leaders on both sides hoping for more collaboration. Even leaders of the Florida Education Association, which has battled Corcoran over his most prominent education policy initiatives and lobbied hard against his appointment, sounded a note of optimism. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

As U.S. law schools nationwide see increased enrollment, Florida schools report mixed results

Nationally, J.D. enrollment is up 3 percent — the first measurable increase in the size of the first-year class since 2010. But among the 11 Florida law schools accredited by the American Bar Association, a few saw modest gains in enrollment, while others saw drops. On average, first-year class sized dropped 3.34 percent in Florida. [Source: Daily Business Review ]

T.K. Wetherell was a lion for higher education in Florida

The weekend death of former Florida legislative leader and longtime educator T-K Wetherell is being mourned throughout the state; especially by those Floridians involved in any way with the state's institutions of higher learning. [Source: WUSF ]

Momentum growing for arming Florida teachers

Support for arming Florida teachers in the classroom is growing among key education officials. A recent recommendation to expand the Guardian Program by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission has the blessing of the newly-chosen Commissioner of Education. [Source: WJHG]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Is Florida evaluating teachers effectively? [WTSP]
Districts all over the state have had to remove teachers over VAM scores, and some teacher representatives say it’s a terrible way to evaluate teacher performance.

› Florida Southern breaks ground for new Weinstein Computer Sciences Center [FSC News]

FSC Computer Building

FSC this week marked a major expansion of its computer science program with a groundbreaking for the Carole and Marcus Weinstein Computer Sciences Center, which will provide a state-of-the-art computing environment for the growing department.

› Valencia College's program inspires minority students to seek higher education [Spectrum News 13]
With 56 percent of students enrolled being Hispanic and 17 percent black, Kathleen Plinske, the executive vice president and provost for Valencia College, said the Poinciana campus has the largest percentage of students of color out of any of Valencia's campuses.

› University of West Florida confers 100,000th degree during Saturday's fall commencements [Pensacola News Journal]
The University of West Florida awarded its 100,000th degree on Saturday, a major milestone for an institution that first opened as an upper-division school for juniors and seniors in 1967. "When you think that our first graduation we conferred 58 degrees, you know, we've come a long way," said UWF President Martha Saunders.

Tags: Education eNews

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