The massive health effort behind getting kids back to school in an era of coronavirus

Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees told Florida pediatricians the new coronavirus inevitably will make its way into public schools this fall, but said he and his team are working on a plan to respond quickly when an outbreak occurs. The first look into the Florida Department of Health’s plan for safe schools re-opening shows health officials have a full-scale effort underway to prepare for COVID-19 within schools by creating areas to isolate sick children, hiring contact tracers to identify homes with sick parents, and forming response teams to identify exposed students and arrange testing. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

See also:
» ‘We want schools fully open,’ Florida’s education chief says. But South Florida districts may wait.
» Pinellas parents, staff and community are polled on school reopening
» Here’s how Florida’s large universities are planning to reopen

Florida Trend Exclusive
USF's new president Steve Currall

In 1997, Steven Currall read a Fortune magazine article about the role that Stanford University played in creating Silicon Valley. At the time, Currall was an assistant professor of management and psychology at Rice University in Houston. The article, which highlighted Stanford’s culture of risk-taking and industrial collaboration, ultimately inspired Currall to develop the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, a group focused on growing local startups. With Currall at the helm, the alliance helped launch 160 companies. [Source: Florida Trend]

Survey finds 42% of Floridians have changed college plans due to COVID-19

42% of Floridians who are currently enrolled in college or a postsecondary training program said they have changed their plans, including taking time off or transferring to another school. This is the case for recent and soon to be high school graduates as well: more than 1 in 4 reported changed plans such as postponing enrollment, attending a school closer to home, or switching to a more affordable option. [Source: FCAN]

Bright Futures plan doesn’t help all seniors. They want their SAT.

Tricia Sifford was ecstatic when she first heard the news that Florida’s graduating seniors would get more time to qualify for the Bright Futures scholarship. Then she read the details. The announcement extended the time to earn an eligible ACT or SAT score by a month, through the end of July. That was fine for students who intended to take the ACT, which had scheduled exams for both June and July. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody warns college students of work-from-home employment scam

The office of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said scammers are targeting Florida students via emails that appear to be sent from legitimate colleges or universities. Moody’s office said the scammers obtain personal information from the student while posing as a university representative. The students are then convinced to cash counterfeit checks and send them the money. [Source: CBS Miami]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Remote learning in Miami-Dade County [Florida Trend]
Miami-Dade County officials say they were able to quickly transition to remote learning largely because of a $1.2-billion bond referendum, approved in 2012, which allowed the school district to upgrade school infrastructure and technology.

› USF gets green light to consolidate, a ‘historic milestone’ [Tampa Bay Times]
A two-year process to consolidate the University of South Florida “system” into a single university has cleared its last major hurdle. The school announced Friday that its consolidation plan has been approved by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, an accrediting organization whose input was required under state law in order for the change to go through.

› South Florida universities plan to go remote after Thanksgiving [WLRN]
College students often go home for Thanksgiving and return to their campuses for finals. That won’t happen this year, at least not at the University of Miami and Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton. Both universities have decided to bring students back to campus in August but go remote after Thanksgiving break in an effort to limit possible transmission of the coronavirus.

› College athletes in Florida can get paid for use of name, image, and likeness starting next year [WPTV]
College athletes in Florida will be able to make money for the use of their name, image, and likeness starting next year. Speaking at the University of Miami in Coral Gables on Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said it's an "important thing" for college athletes to receive compensation. "I viewed it as something that was a matter of fairness," DeSantis said. The governor said athletes can begin getting paid for the use of their likeness starting in July of 2021.