Education Archive

Santa Rosa County District Schools is continuing its partnership with SmartSocial for the 2026-27 school year.

The new principal of Pea Ridge Elementary School has set a clear goal for her first year: Move the school from a “B” to an “A.”

(By Ana Goñi-Lessan) Pensacola State College is poised to tap Alex Kelly, Secretary of the Florida Department of Commerce, as the school’s next president.

The school’s board of trustees made its recommendation Friday for Kelly to be the sole finalist after a national search.

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office says the removal of a school resource officer from T.R. Jackson Pre-K Center had nothing to do with the opening of Soundside High School, disputing the account given by Milton’s police chief.

Benny Russell is a name many in the community may be familiar with. Football stadiums, sports fields, a park, an elementary school and a section of highway bear his name.

Pace High School opened the new school year with Santa Rosa County’s largest student population with 2,351 students enrolled for the year and school officials saying they added portables to keep up with demand.

Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Shane Forsman starts his day with coffee and a walk of the fence line.

He checks the gates. He looks for anyone who shouldn’t be there. Then the buses pull in at Bennett C. Russell Elementary School, the doors open, and for the next several minutes he is handing out high-fives and good mornings to a share of the school’s roughly 900 students.

“They trust me with their lives day in and day out, so I take that very seriously,” he said.

Santa Rosa County District Schools is awaiting a judge’s order to see if it can fire a suspended employee accused of inappropriate communication with Central School students in 2024 and 2025.

The Florida Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) is hearing a case between the school district and Keith Elliott, an IT professional who was suspended by the district last September.

Santa Rosa County students will return to class Aug. 10 under a revised code of student conduct that gives the district more say over how misbehavior is punished and creates a section on mandatory reporting.

Families in Santa Rosa County can begin applying for free and reduced-price school meals for the upcoming school year when the district opens its online portal Friday, July 31.