Back in 2000, the Pinellas County School Board and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund reached an agreement on a school-choice plan that signaled the end to a requirement that schools have a set ratio of black to white students. ...more

November 16, 2007

Some are educators who passed away after leaving their mark. Some are leaders making a difference. Some are just strange. ...more

November 3, 2007

Lisa Hawk patiently tries to corral son Aiden, 5, back to business, drawing clowns from geometric shapes at his home-school worktable. But there are people in the house — big, big excitement. His bare feet skitter across hardwood floors as he runs room to room, showing off his prized dominoes and Thomas the Tank Engine trains. Then he throws himself across the front door and pleads with grown-up visitors to stay and play. His mother knows he gets bored and lonely at home, even though she brings in playmates as often as she can. It breaks her heart to watch the carefree children at her St. Petersburg neighborhood school, knowing Aiden will never join them. "I would love for him to be able to go to school and play with the other kids," Hawk says. "But for someone with allergies, a peanut in the classroom is like a loaded gun." ...more

October 28, 2007