Southeast
How teacher autonomy helps students and staff succeed at this top Florida school
When teachers at A.D. Henderson School, one of the top-performing schools in Florida, are asked how they succeed, one answer is universal: They have autonomy.
Nationally, most teachers report feeling stressed and overwhelmed at work, according to a Pew Research Center survey of teachers last fall. Waning job satisfaction over the last two decades has accompanied a decline in teachers’ sense of autonomy in the classroom, according to a recent study out of Brown University and the University of Albany.
But at this South Florida school, administrators allow their staff high levels of classroom creativity — and it works.
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A public school of 636 kindergartners to eighth graders on the campus of Florida Atlantic University, Henderson scored in the top 1% to 3% in every subject and grade level on the state’s latest standardized tests, with the exception of sixth grade math, where students scored in the top 7%. In almost every subject, 60% or more of Henderson students score significantly above the state average.
“There is a lot of our own individual input allowed in doing the activities that we want to do in the classroom,” said Vanessa Stevenson, a middle school science teacher finishing her third year at the school. She plans to start an equine medicine class next fall even though the school has no stables — she believes she will find a way.
“It’s a bit of trial and error because there’s nothing being handed to you saying, ‘Do it this way.’ You just have to figure it out,” she said.
Math interventionist Jessica Foreman, center, works with a small group of first graders at A.D. Henderson School in Boca Raton, Florida, on April 16, 2024. Teachers at the K-8 public school, one of the top-performing schools in Florida, say their autonomy helps them succeed. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Joel Herbst, superintendent of Henderson and its sibling FAU High School, calls the faculty his “secret sauce” and argues the school’s success can be duplicated anywhere — if administrators cede some control.
When that happens, he said, teachers create hands-on programs that help students “not only show their understanding, but gain more depth.”
“Give (teachers) the freedom to do what they do best, which is to impart knowledge, to teach beyond the textbook,” he said.
Portland State University education professor Madhu Narayanan, who studies teacher autonomy, said independence has a high correlation to faculty morale and success. But autonomy must be paired with administrative support.
“It can’t be, ‘Here is the classroom, here is the textbook, we’ll see you in six months.’ Those teachers have tremendous autonomy, but feel lost,” he said.
‘THAT LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA’
Henderson emphasizes science, technology and math, using arts and humanities to help with those lessons. About 2,700 families enter a lottery each year for the 60 spots in Henderson’s kindergarten class and openings in other grades. There is no screening — some children entering Henderson are prodigies, most are average learners and some have learning disabilities like dyslexia.
The only tweaking is to comply with a Florida law requiring the student population at university-run “laboratory” schools match state demographics for race, gender and income. Because families apply to attend, parental involvement is high — an advantage Herbst and his staff concede.
Selected kindergartners are tested months before arrival so any needs can be immediately addressed.
“Some of them come in reading and some know five letters — and it is not just reading, but all subjects,” said Lauren Robinson, the elementary program’s vice principal. “We are going to provide every opportunity to close those gaps before those gaps grow and grow, instead of waiting until a certain grade level and saying, ‘Now we’ll try to close them.’ It’s Day One.”
In Jenny O’Sullivan’s art and technology classroom, kindergartners learn computer coding basics by steering a robot through a maze. Fourth and fifth graders make videos celebrating Earth Day. Students learn design by building cardboard arcade games like Skee-Ball for their classmates. Legos teach engineering.
While her new classroom has the latest technology, she insists such classes can be taught anywhere if the teacher is allowed creativity.
“My grandmother is from Louisiana and there’s a (Cajun) saying: ‘Lagniappe,’ that little something extra,” O’Sullivan said. “I get to be the lagniappe in (the student’s) education. Could you do without it? Yes. But would you want to? No.”
Working in small groups while dressed in white lab coats and goggles, the sixth graders in Amy Miramontes’ Medical Detectives class solve a mystery daily. They have examined strands of rabbit muscle under a microscope, using safe chemicals to determine what neurological disease each animal had. They have tested fake neurotoxins to determine which ailments afflicted their imaginary patients.
Miramontes hopes the class not only piques the students’ interest in medicine, but implants knowledge needed in two years when they take the state’s eighth-grade science test.
“They’re always learning by having their hands on something,” Miramontes said. “If they mess up, it’s OK — we start over. But then we learn a great life lesson that we have to be very diligent.”
Marisha Valbrun, 12, took Medical Detectives because she might want to be a doctor. She’s learned that while science is challenging, by seeking assistance she can overcome obstacles.
“I feel like if I just ask any person in this room for help, they can give you that right answer,” she said.
USING ART TO TEACH SCIENCE
Even at a school where teachers exude enthusiasm, elementary art teacher Lindsey Wuest stands out — she can’t stand still while describing how her lessons center on science.
On this afternoon in her Science as Art class, Wuest and a visiting artist are showing third graders how to make clay bobblehead dolls of endangered species — while also teaching the chemistry of why glazes change color in the kiln.
“Hopefully those students who love art can also develop a love of science,” she said. “Project-based learning sticks with the kids for longer.”
Third grader Maximus Mallow said that by working on his leopard bobblehead, he learned how the animal’s camouflage works.
“We have fun while we create stuff about science,” the 9-year-old said.
Henderson’s success leads to grants — and nowhere shows that better than the middle school’s drone program, which recently won a national competition in San Diego.
Henderson’s drone teams have a room to practice flying the 3-inch-by-3-inch, four-rotor devices through an obstacle course, plus flight simulators donated by the local power company.
The drone program is a chance to compete while using the physics and aeronautics learned in the classroom, teacher James Nance said. While expensive equipment is a benefit, Nance said, drone classes can be taught on a shoestring. At a previous school, he made a flying course out of PVC pipe and balloons.
Eighth grader Anik Sahai pulls out his cell phone in Stevenson’s science classroom, an act at Henderson that usually means a trip to the office. But he is demonstrating an app he created that uses the camera to diagnose diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. It took first place in the state’s middle school science fair and is being considered for commercial use.
The 14-year-old credits his success to his years at Henderson, beginning in the preschool program.
“The teachers here, they’re amazing,” he said. “They’ve been trained on how to get us to the next level.”
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South Carolina’s attorney general is leading a legal battle over gender pronoun rules in the U.S.’s public school districts.
AG Alan Wilson appeared on “The Faulkner Focus” on Friday to explain how some gender pronoun rules in school districts threaten free speech.
The case started with a school district outside Columbus, Ohio, that adopted policies requiring everyone to use a student’s preferred pronouns, which parental rights groups challenged and lost in both the district and appeals courts. Now, Ohio and South Carolina are leading 23 states in a legal battle, claiming the action “reflects the unusually egregious government action here” and, “The First Amendment forbids school officials from coercing students to express messages inconsistent with the student’s values.”
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Wilson, who is co-leading the legal fight, said local school districts across the country, like the one in Ohio, are compelling students “to lie to violate their own personal viewpoints.”
“That is something that we cannot abide in Ohio, South Carolina or any state in this country,” he said. “Yes, the lawsuit has gotten struck down, or we have lost at the district court and the court of appeals level, but this is one of those cases that I think is best served by going to the US Supreme Court.”
Wilson pointed out that in 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that teachers and students don’t shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate, but argues that the school district in Ohio is trying to force all students to say things that many might not believe in.
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“Parental rights groups are doing what I think groups around the country are all doing, and it’s trying to protect their children from being compelled to not only violate their First Amendment rights inside the schoolhouse, but this policy, the one in Ohio in particular, would do the same thing outside of school,” he said.
“If you were at a mall on a Saturday or you were texting a friend or putting something on X or Twitter or whatever, you could be penalized when you showed up at school on Monday morning for using the wrong pronoun that someone found offensive,” he added.
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Southeast
Sylvester Stallone axes $35 million mansion sea barrier plans after angering Palm Beach neighbors
Sylvester Stallone is standing down on his initial plan to build an underwater barrier near his Palm Beach home.
After he angered several neighbors in his affluent, waterfront community, Stallone made a plea during the Town Council meeting in Palm Beach on Thursday.
Stallone previously addressed concerns about marine life and water quality on the Palm Beach shore near his $35 million mansion.
SYLVESTER STALLONE ANGERS PALM BEACH NEIGHBORS WITH UNIQUE REQUEST TO PROTECT $35 MILLION MANSION
“Rocky” star Sylvester Stallone abandoned his initial plan to build an underwater barrier near his Palm Beach home. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“We wanted to bring back this, it’s almost a sanctuary,” Stallone, 78, pleaded, according to The Palm Beach Post.
“You’re great neighbors and you’ve been here a long time… we respect your work and the way you see this,” Stallone said, adding that his plan for the barrier “was not just a vanity thing.”
While the “Rocky” star attended the Town Council meeting with his wife Jennifer Flavin Stallone, neighbors continued to be angered by his message and dismissed his plea.
Stallone made a plea during a Palm Beach Town Council meeting with his wife, Jennifer Flavin. (Getty Images)
“If you’re out there in the channel … and a big boat comes, you have to get out of the way quickly,” a former U.S. Army major general argued to the council and explained how the barrier would create a safety issue.
“A barrier like this would merely trap the trash and push it farther down the line,” a lifelong resident echoed.
Council President Bobbie Lindsay joked and told Stallone, “It’s tough being so famous.”
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“I think today we’re being asked by our residents, and you can see where this is heading, to not support this particular application,” she said. “And I would hope that when we do that … that we also at the same time invite you to please work with us to go after some of these injustices that are happening in our waterway.”
The meeting concluded with Stallone agreeing to withdraw his application.
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Reps for Stallone did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Stallone’s plans to build the underwater barrier in the Intracostal Waterway near his massive Palm Beach home stemmed from an application he previously submitted that neighbors were reportedly blindsided by, according to the outlet.
The “Tulsa King” star’s application also included a request for a lease of state land due to the positioning of the barrier which is owned by the state, according to records. (Getty Images)
What appears to be billed as an environmental project needed to keep out debris and seaweed from the waterway, “the overall project purpose is to exclude boaters” from being near the property, a public notice from the Army Corps stated. Seaweed is listed as a secondary concern.
The proposal request from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection stated Stallone’s surrounding neighbors have until 5 p.m. on Christmas Day to comment on the actor’s project, according to the outlet.
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The “Tulsa King” star’s application also included a request for a lease of state land due to the positioning of the barrier which is owned by the state, according to records.
Records indicated the barrier application was submitted in January 2023, with plans received by the Army Corps in August. A month-long public comment period began on Oct. 24, where one question was submitted regarding manatees becoming entangled, and the proposed project’s effects on seagrasses.
In 2021, Stallone was confirmed as the buyer of a sprawling $35 million home, which sits on approximately 1.5 lakefront acres, facing over 250 feet of beach with a dock. (Amy Sussman)
“He bought a beautiful property,” Stallone’s neighbor Bradford Gary told the outlet, calling the home “one of the nicest West Indies houses” in the North End. “I can see why you’d want to protect it. But you can’t just kind of stake your claim and think you own the water.”
In 2021, Stallone was confirmed as the buyer of a sprawling $35 million home, which sits on approximately 1.5 lakefront acres, facing over 250 feet of beach with a dock.
The total living space – including a main house, a guest house and a pool pavilion near the keyhole-shaped pool in the backyard – is over 13,000 square feet. Between the main and guest spaces, the property has seven bedrooms and 12 baths.
Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Former porn star calls on government to enforce 'mandatory' age verification for adult websites
Former porn star turned pastor Brittni De La Mora is calling on age verification laws to become “mandatory” to “protect children” as Florida is set to effectuate legislation on the matter in January.
Pornhub will soon no longer be available to Florida users after the Sunshine State instituted a new age verification rule for access to adult sites. Taking effect Jan. 1, 2025, the age verification rule is tied to the state’s HB 3, a measure that aims to protect minors online.
Pornhub’s parent company, Aylo, emphasized to Fox News Digital that it favors implementing effective age verification, just not specifically in the way Florida’s law was designed, saying other outlets have incorrectly reported it doesn’t support age verification at all.
“They’re deflecting accountability by saying that they don’t want to follow a simple law, which is age verification for pornography,” De La Mora said on “The Ingraham Angle.” “I don’t know exactly what they’re doing with their money, but I do believe that they are not out to protect young children.”
“Fifty-eight percent of minors that have watched pornography for their very first time — they watched it by stumbling upon it through a pop-up ad and so forth. And they weren’t looking for porn — porn was looking for them,” De La Mora said.
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Per the bill, a website or application that “contains a substantial portion of material that is harmful to minors” will be required to verify the age of the user. Through an “anonymous or standard age verification method,” it must confirm the user is 18 or older to proceed with engagement.
In response to the specifications of the measure, Aylo elected to halt access to the adult site in Florida, saying in a statement that collecting “highly sensitive personal information” puts “user safety in jeopardy.”
“First, to be clear, Aylo has publicly supported age verification of users for years, but we believe that any law to this effect must preserve user safety and privacy, and must effectively protect children from accessing content intended for adults. Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions worldwide, including Florida, have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous. Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy. Moreover, as experience has demonstrated, unless properly enforced, users will simply access non-compliant sites or find other methods of evading these laws,” Aylo told Fox News Digital in a statement.
The statement later continued: “The best solution to make the internet safer, preserve user privacy, and prevent children from accessing adult content is performing age verification at the source: on the device. The technology to accomplish this exists today. What is required is the political and social will to make it happen. We are eager to be part of this solution and are happy to collaborate with government, civil society and tech partners to arrive at an effective device-based age verification solution. In addition, many devices already offer free and easy-to-use parental control features that can prevent children from accessing adult content without risking the disclosure of sensitive user data.”
Florida residents still using the app ahead of the deadline are met with a countdown pop-up of how many more days they have access to the site.
“Did you know that your government wants you to give your driver’s license before you can access PORNHUB?” the pop-up reads. “As crazy as that sounds, it’s true. You’ll be required to prove you are 18 years or older such as by uploading your government ID for every adult content website you’d like to access.”
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The pop-up also addressed how it supports minors not having access to the site, and said that preventing use is a “good thing.” It directed readers to alternative methods of blocking minor access, such as “Device-Based Age Verification.”
In this photo illustration, a PornHub logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen in Athens, Greece on March 16, 2022. (Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
De La Mora continued: “I was in the porn industry for seven years, and I would be paid extra money to do aggressive, abusive scenes.”
She expanded on how the “pulling hair, spitting and choking” acts often used in porn clips have become “sexual education” for young people.
After speaking with some young girls, De La Mora said many expressed not wanting to have sex again after their first sexual experience.
“I don’t blame the young boys. They are watching pornography, and this is what’s filling their minds, and this is what’s teaching them how to have sex,” she said.
“Protecting children is not a violation of your First Amendment rights in any way. I believe that our government has an obligation to protect children,” De La Mora said, arguing that adult content is “not created with children in mind.” “It is created for adults, and yet there has been no accountability for porn companies.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ communications office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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