Steven Walker

1 day ago | orlandosentinel.com | Steven Walker |Leslie Postal |Scott Travis

Ivan Flores didn't love school before the pandemic hit, but his views soured more when he did ninth grade online and off campus. "I was just at home doing nothing, waking up late, missing assignments," he said. When he resumed in-person classes at Evans High School in the 2021-22 school year, that habit stuck. His attendance was spotty and his classwork often undone. In tenth grade he estimated he missed nearly 60 days of school, or a third of the academic year. He is part of an alarming trend.

2 weeks ago | orlandosentinel.com | Steven Walker

Orange County Public Schools will pause new school construction for four years in the face of declining enrollment, a "very rare" move for a school district that has been in a two-decade-long building boom. The district that opened 28 new campuses in the last 10 years alone will open one new school in August, two in 2026 but then plans no other new schools until 2031. "We don't want to open up empty schools," said Rory Salimbene, OCPS's chief facilities officer.

3 weeks ago | orlandosentinel.com | Steven Walker

Full Sail University laid off 120 faculty and staff members, representing about 5% of its workforce, the school confirmed this week. The private, for-profit college in Winter Park, which offers programs in the entertainment and media industry, said the job cuts were part of an effort to achieve "long-term sustainability" and won't impact course offerings. It's unclear how many of the 120 employees were instructional faculty or staff, but Full Sail said it was "primarily" staff that were cut.

1 month ago | orlandosentinel.com | Steven Walker

Florida would scrap plans for later high school start times and impose new restrictions on students' cell phone use under bills passed in the final days of the Florida Legislature's session last week. The approved education bills will now be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for approval. Several other proposed school laws never made it to a final vote and are now dead, and some education issues - tied to unresolved budget proposals - are still up in the air.

1 month ago | orlandosentinel.com | Steven Walker

Seminole County's public schools expect to lose about 1,500 students next year and are fighting that enrollment drop by advertising to parents who live in other counties that seats "in one of Florida's most highly coveted school systems" are still open. The Lake County school district also expects enrollment to fall by about 1,500 students while Orange County Public Schools - one of the state's largest school districts - has predicted a drop of about 3,100.