OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: Pasco senior Mike Larry survives all that life throws at him — including the murder of his mother, his father and brothers being jailed — to raise his grades at an alternative center, make a football team and win a college scholarship. (Times photo, Stephen Coddington)

LET THEM ANSWER: The Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association complains that some teachers were left out of the district's annual climate survey. 

FOUR-DAY WEEK: Pasco parents raise multiple concerns about a proposal to have students attend fewer, longer school days.

NO SUBSTITUTE: Online education isn't the same as a classroom experience with good teachers and classmates, Eckerd College president Donald Eastman writes in a column for the Times.

WHAT MATTERS MOST: Lake County teachers ask to be freed of extra duties so they can focus more on academics, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

UNFAIR: An Orange County principal says schools serving poor students won't get fair treatment in the state's merit pay system, WKMG-6 reports.

STRAIGHT TO STUDENTS: The Florida Department of Education studies the Lake Wales Charter Schools model of directing grant funds straight to schools, the Ledger reports.

COLLEGE CREDIT: A growing number of Miami-Dade and Broward high school students take dual enrollment college courses, the Miami Herald reports.

LIBRARY FINES: Palm Beach schools fail to collect about $2 million in lost book fees, the Palm Beach Post reports.  

FOLLOW THE RULES: A finalist for Palm Beach superintendent withdraws after the School Board allows the interim superintendent, who was contractually barred from applying, to be considered for the job, the Palm Beach Post reports.

SUE YOU: Two ousted Brevard maintenance workers file a lawsuit saying their were wrongfully terminated, Florida Today reports.

PAY UP: Former Monroe superintendent Randy Acevedo, ousted and found guilty of public corruption, has yet to pay his criminal fines, the Keynoter reports.

Visit the Gradebook at noon for an interview with Monica Verra-Tirado, newly appointed director of the state's Bureau of Exceptional Education.

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Florida education news: Success story, four-day school week, online education and more