Board holds public hearing on K–12 science instructional materials; teachers to vote next

The Bay District School Board held a public hearing to present recommended K–12 science instructional materials that teachers have vetted and narrowed to two vendor options per grade band.

District staff said teachers involved in the adoption process received multi-day training on the science benchmarks and on the rubric used to evaluate publishers. Staff said the publishers on the district list come from the Florida Department of Education short list and were further screened for compatibility with district single sign-on and network systems.

District staff outlined the next steps: teachers at each campus will vote on the finalists; if teacher votes are close, principals will review campus results and make a single-site recommendation to the superintendent; if teacher votes show an overwhelming majority, the superintendent will present a recommendation to the board in March. Funding and ordering timelines were explained: textbook funding is typically released July 1 and the district tries to place orders early to ensure materials are in teachers' hands before the new school year.

Board members emphasized this is just the public-review step and invited public comment; no board vote on adoption occurred at the hearing. Staff also said hard copies of the materials are available at the District Media Center and that the public may comment during the hearing period.