Florida Bright Futures test deadline extended

Gov. Ron DeSantis has extended until Dec. 1 a deadline for recent high-school graduates to meet SAT or ACT test-score requirements to qualify for Bright Futures scholarships. The extension, announced late Tuesday, applies to students who graduated during the 2019-2020 academic year, which was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. More from the News Service of Florida, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Orlando Sentinel.

Florida’s COVID-19 cases in children have soared with schools reopening

In the past two-and-a-half weeks, as schools opened for in-person learning in some parts of Florida, Covid-19 cases in children jumped by more than 23% with about 9,200 new infections. Florida Department of Health data shows 48,928 confirmed cases among children through Aug. 26, compared with 39,735 confirmed cases on Aug. 9, with most of the infections occurring in teenagers between 14 and 17 years old. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

Florida’s teacher union shifts leaders, as president goes national

Fed Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association since October 2018, resigned his post Tuesday morning to accept nomination as secretary-treasurer of the 1.7 million member American Federation of Teachers — a group not known to look to the right-to-work South for its top brass. He becomes the second highest ranking officer in the Democratic-leaning union, which has been vocal in pressing for change in public education and several other policy areas. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Embry-Riddle business students partner with Space Florida to boost spaceport revenues

Graduate students in Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s David B. O’Maley College of Business are taking a hands-on role in the exciting but complicated process of transforming the Cape Canaveral Spaceport into a hub for the emerging commercial space industry. “This is a new world that we’re entering,” said Dr. Janet Tinoco, professor of Management and Marketing, who has led two graduate capstone projects in which students conducted strategic analyses for Space Florida, the state’s spaceport development authority. “The commercial space industry is very dynamic.” [Source: ERAU News]

Florida’s order to reopen schools stands — for now — after appeal court ruling

In a victory for state education leaders, an appeals court said Monday that Florida’s school reopening order did not force students back to campus, nor teachers back into classrooms, and should remain in effect while the lawsuits challenging its constitutionality move through the court system. The ruling by the First District Court of Appeal put on hold a decision issued last week by a circuit court judge in Tallahassee. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› UF researchers discover new type of black hole [UF News]
UF researchers who helped confirm Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves observed a new type of black hole that challenges prior understanding of how the mysterious cosmic objects are formed across the universe. The discovery, published today in Physical Review Letters, identifies an intermediate mass black hole.

› Central Florida districts need more substitute teachers during coronavirus pandemic [Click Orlando]
Central Florida school districts are actively hiring substitute teachers to help mitigate any changes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. As each district has reopened campuses for in-person learning in August, more than 350 people have been asked to quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure including in Osceola, Brevard, Seminole and Orange counties.

› Some cyberattacks on Miami’s virtual school system from outside U.S., Carvalho says [Miami Herald]
The Miami-Dade County school district has announced that it got hit with 12 cyberattacks Wednesday morning, some of which are from outside of the United States. Some of the attacks were local. The attacks, revealed at Wednesday’s School Board committee meeting, occurred from 8:19 a.m. to 10:59 a.m.

› FAMU's Robinson addresses COVID-19 testing, curfew, higher-than-expected enrollment [Tallahassee Democrat]
Florida A&M University President Larry Robinson said a curfew for on-campus students will remain in effect “for the foreseeable future” as the university continues to protect its students from COVID-19. So far, Robinson said, students are adhering to the restrictions, and no students have faced disciplinary charges for violating the measure.