The Foundation for Excellence in Education today named three Lee County teachers as recipients of the 2009 Excel Award, an honor bestowed on 81 Florida educators whose students made the most progress in reading or math on their standardized tests. Lee’s winners are:

- Andrea Garber, Tropic Isles Elementary: highest reading gains for students from low-income families
- Kathy Himes, Fort Myers High: highest reading gains for students from low-income families
- John J. Plesa, Cypress Lake High: highest math gains for students learning English

For teachers to qualify, their students must have learned at least 1.5 times, or 50 percent, more than the average student, based on Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores for the last three school years.

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Lab results have been completed on smelly turkey nearly served last week to thousands of Lee County students, showing the meat was not contaminated. It just stunk.

Louisville-based Culinary Standards sent out samples to Silliker Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio, which tested for Listeria, Samonella, E-coli and aerobic plate count. Tests all came back negative, but when Culinary Standards executives heated the turkey and gravy meal, they, too, noticed the stench.

Company President Rick Kriech, in a letter faxed Tuesday to multiple school districts, said chicken broth used in the gravy is to blame.

“The manufacturer was contacted and he revealed that during the rendering process for the broth, if the product is cooked too hot, it will create this strong odor,” Kniech wrote. “They assured us that they do micro-testing on their broth and it is not a ‘food safety issue.’”

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Greg Adkins, chief human resources officer for Lee County schools, has been named a semifinalist in Hernando County’s search for a superintendent. Adkins moved to district headquarters in 2002, leaving behind his position as principal at Dunbar Middle. He previously was an assistant principal and teacher at Gulf Middle, and also taught at Pine Island Middle.

“I love Lee County, but am looking for more challenges,” said Adkins, 44. “The superintendency is a natural progression for me. Hernando is a great place to land. You wouldn’t need to ever look elsewhere.”

If Adkins gets the job, he won’t be making the first Lee-Hernando switcheroo. Lee County stole Hernando County’s superintendent in 2001, luring John Sanders five counties south to head up the larger school district. In 2005, Hernando hired then-Lee staff attorney Paul Carland, who became Hernando’s general counsel/school board attorney.

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Public school students have missed fewer days of class in recent weeks, a possible sign that swine flu may be on the downturn in Lee County.

“I’m thinking it’s starting to level off a bit,” said Sharon Warnecke, health services coordinator for Lee schools. “On the last conference call with the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), they were saying the same thing.”

In response to a public records request from Chalkboard, the school district provided daily absentee rates for the 2009-10 school year. On average, 95.2 percent of children are present during roll call, a rate that’s about average compared to previous years. Week 4 had the highest absentee rate, with an average of 5,005 students missing each day. Last week, Week 12, saw 3,678 children absent per day.

Below are the daily absentee numbers:

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