Manatee School Board member Scott Hopes applies to be county administrator heraldtribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from heraldtribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Funds will also support the economic recovery of local arts organizations.
“Addressing the systemic issues that impact generations of families requires sustained focus and effort,” Teri A Hansen, president and CEO of the Barancik Foundation, said in a news release. “We are optimistic that the investment of these resources will lead to a brighter, more resilient community.”
The earlier the investment, the greater the return is the Barancik Foundation’s philosophy on the life-changing importance of investing in early childhood development and education.
Grants approved by the foundation board at a recent meeting totaling just over $1 million have been awarded to boost efforts to support infant and early childhood services.
Sarasota Schools anti-mask lawsuit dropped
A group of parents opposed to the Sarasota County School District’s COVID-19 mask policy has dropped a lawsuit opposing the mandate for face coverings for most students that they filed against the district last fall.
Patrick Leduc, an attorney in Tampa, filed the lawsuit in October on behalf of Sarasota parents Amy Cook, Gustavo Collazo, Nicholas Eastman and Catherine Gonzales.
Leduc said it became evident that judges were rejecting claims that mask mandates violated students’ rights to an education. Leduc had lost three similar cases in Brevard, Indian River and Hillsborough counties and decided that the suit did not stand a chance, so on Tuesday he voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice.
Correction: The meeting for parents of children in Access Points was run by the Department of Education, not the Sarasota County School District, and the DOE capped registration and set sign-up deadlines. School district employees were responsible for distributing invitations. A previous version of the story stated that the district ran the meeting.
As the Sarasota County School District begins a state-mandated process of improving outreach to the families of students with the most severe disabilities, school officials may have to get creative in connecting with the small, at-risk population.
Late last year, the Department of Education issued a scathing rebuke of Sarasota’s Exceptional Student Education department, ordering the district to step up its communication to parents of children with severe cognitive disabilities. Part of the order was intended to ensure that parents understand their child’s options and the consequences of taking an alternative curriculum.
Florida Department of Health
State health officials reported 11,423 new COVID-19 cases, Thursday, for a total of 1,687,594 infections.
The Florida Department of Health reported 202 coronavirus-related deaths, Jan. 28, increasing the statewide death toll to 26,456 fatalities.
The latest single-day positivity rate reported by the Florida Division of Emergency Management stood at 9.58% on Wednesday. Over the past two weeks the single-day positivity rate has ranged between 8.37% and 15.84%.
The Agency for Health Care Administration reports that as of this morning 6,512 patients are admitted to hospitals throughout the state with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, including 465 patients in hospitals in Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hendry, Lee, Manatee and Sarasota counties combined.