Posts Tagged ‘Lee County School District’

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District volunteers

Friday, January 27th, 2012

Ask any principal, community volunteers make a difference at schools. On Friday, the Lee County School District honored three of its top volunteers.

The district’s 2011-12 Outstanding Volunteers: Gabriella Setaro, a youth volunteer at Skyline Elementary; Troy Miller, an adult volunteer at Spring Creek Elementary; and Patricia Breeding, a senior volunteer at J. Colin English Elementary.

The winners were picked based on their time and energy to volunteering, and on the activities they participate with students. The district picked a winner for each of the following categories: senior volunteer (62 years and older); adults (21-61) and youth (age 20 and younger). The trio will now be considered for regional recognition from the Florida Department of Education.

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We’re No. 11!!! We’re No. 11!!!

Friday, January 20th, 2012

In October’s education summit sponsored by The News-Press, one quote stood above the others.

Paul Woods, the CEO of Bonita Springs-based biofuel company Algenol, pointed out that Florida ranked 38th nationally in per-student K-12 spending, 47th on the SAT and 48th on the ACT.

“Florida is not mediocre,” Woods said. “Forty-eight out of 50 is not the median. It’s not the middle. It’s the bottom.”

Well, we may not be at the bottom after all. According to this month’s Education Week’s 2012 “Quality Counts,” Florida ranks No. 11 in the U.S. with an overall ranking of a C-plus. The national newspaper’s report card looks at six areas of educational policy and performance: chance for success, K-12 achievement, standards, assessments and accountability, the teaching profession, school finance and transitions and alignment.

You probably can’t put too much stock into rankings like this, but it’s interesting water cooler talk. South Dakota, by the way, got the distinction of being the nation’s worst state for education with a grade of D-plus. Gadzooks that’s a low grade! Maryland is ranked No. 1 with a rating of 87.8. Florida (79.4) is between Ohio (79.5) and Texas (79.4) in Education Week’s rankings.

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Cooking with no air conditioning

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

Lee County School Board chairwoman Mary Fischer was surprised to learn at Tuesday’s school board meeting that 11 of Lee’s 119 schools don’t have air conditioning in their school kitchens. It has to be hard to cook with no A/C especially in the Florida heat. Yowzer.

Dunbar High, J. Colin Elementary, San Carlos Park Elementary, Mirror Lakes Elementary, Varsity Lakes Middle School, Spring Creek Elementary School, Villas Elementary, Edgewood Elementary, LAMP, Royal Palm Exceptional and Pine Island Elementary don’t have air conditioning in their school kitchens.

Lee wants to spend $595,000 on installing air-conditioning in the 11 kitchens. The board would have to approve the project. The district says the projects could be completed for the start of the 2012-13 school year.

“Seven years ago, we had 20 kitchens that weren’t air conditioned,” said Sonny Stelmacki, the assistant director for the district’s food and nutrition department. “Many were completed with the use of food service funds. But in order to provide workers with a better area to work we intend to complete the final 11 kitchens. It’s a large investment but we feel it’s well worth it.”

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Growing future business leaders

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

One of the takeaways from The News-Press’ Market Watch Education Summit in October was that high school students needed more opportunities outside of the classroom to interact with real world jobs. The Future Business Leaders of America club is a non-profit district, state and national organization for all middle and high school students. FBLA provides students an opportunity to apply their classroom instruction in business practices, leadership development activities and competitive events.

Riverdale High School has one of Southwest Florida’s top FBLA programs. This year, five Riverdale High students earned the prestigious “Future” award. Just 20 Florida FBLA members have achieved that honor this year. The Riverdale High students honored are: Alexandria Amott, Jerrett Nelson, Alex Karicher, Tanner Mulling and Preeya Raghubar.

Riverdale High’s program has 118 members, who are involved in community service projects, fundraising and preparing for almost 60 competitions each year. Last year, 63 Riverdale High students won trophies in events with 11 members placing at state and one team winning second place in the nation for digital design.

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School board members make 92 percent of meetings

Thursday, December 8th, 2011

With 2011 coming to a close, I figured I should take a look at school board attendance. The school board’s six-page meeting policy does not stipulate any attendance requirements, expect for a clause stating at least three members must be present. But board members are expected to attend every public meeting unless they’re ill.

Board members, who earn a $38,742 salary set by Florida statute, also visit schools, partake in local civic groups and lobby legislators on non-meeting days.

I analyzed the board’s attendance at every public meeting since November 2010 when Mary Fischer, Tom Scott and Jane Kuckel were elected. The board has had 69 public meetings since then.

Here’s their attendance:

Don Armstrong: 92.7 percent

Tom Scott: 100 percent

Mary Fischer: 100 percent

Jeanne Dozier: 86.9 percent

Jane Kuckel: 82.6 percent

The board often schedules two or three meetings on the same day. In those cases, The News-Press analysis counted members as present or absent for each meeting. Members who arrived late or left early, or participated by telephone, were counted as attending.

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Lee wins environmental grant

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

The district received a $4,680 grant from the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program. This is going to help twice as many Lee fourth graders to study estuarine grass flats. Today, about 1,300 fourth graders study the field. With this grant, 2,600 students are going to get the opportunity next year.

The field studies provide first-hand observations of the effects of hydro logic changes, habitat degradation, and the loss and impact of water pollution and nutrient enrichment.

The district is making a push to increase its science, technology, engineering and math offerings and this one way it’s accomplishing the goal. STEM jobs will be in high demand in the future and the more science opportunities students have, the better.

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Do you stop for stopped school buses?

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

Bob Rushlow, president of the Support Personnel Association of Lee County, says fewer and fewer motorists are stopping for stopped school buses when they flash their red lights and have their STOP signs extended to drop off students.

“It’s a growing, growing problem,” Rushlow told the school board on Tuesday night. Rushlow fears more Lee County students are going to get injured. He said earlier this year two Cypress High students were injured in an accident.

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Rushlow wants the school board to work with the local police to create an education forum for the public. Florida law requires that motorists stop upon approaching any school bus, which displays its flashing red lights and has its stop signs extended.

According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, there are more than 8,900 illegal “pass-by’s” of Florida school buses each day.

Drivers who pass a stopped school bus on the left pick up a $165 moving violation. Drivers who pass a stopped school bus on the right side, where students enter and exit school buses, get a $265 moving violation.

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Gobble Gobble… Free turkeys for the kids!

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

Most of the families of the kids on her school bus can’t afford to buy turkeys for Thanksgiving Day. So Lee bus driver Kathleen Robinson asked if the school board could donate a turkey for her to raffle off.

Robinson’s going to get 47 free turkeys.

At last week’s school board meeting, each of the five school board members agreed to give five turkeys to the kids on Robinson’s bus. Lee Superintendent Joseph Burke, Burke’s cabinet, union leaders and Robinson also chipped in to buy turkeys, increasing the Free Turkeys for the Kids total to 47. That means each of the 47 kids on Robinson’s bus will receive a free Publix turkey certificate for Thanksgiving. The kids were slated to get the certificates this Friday.

Robinson seemed to be surprised at the board’s quick action. She just wanted one turkey to raffle off to the kids. Lee school board member Jeanne Dozier helped change that.

“I’ll buy five turkeys for you and I challenge my other school board members to do the same,” Dozier said.

“I’ll buy six,” Board member Jane Kuckel said with a smile.

The school board members said they would purchase the turkeys and deliver them to Robinson. Turkey, by the way, will cost more this year. According to a survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation, it will cost $21.57 for a 16-pound turkey this year. That’s up $1.35 from last year.

This isn’t the first time Robinson has done something for her kids. Last year, she got her kids to donate clothes to a battered women’s shelter and Tender Loving Care, a Cape Coral operated children’s home that provides families for children whose parents cannot provide for them. Below, is a 2010 picture of Robinson and her Mariner Middle School students. Robinson is pictured in the bottom right corner.

—The News-Press staff writer Chris Umpierre

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Who wears short shorts?

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

When younger children play on sports teams, they all receive trophies or medals when the season concludes. It doesn’t matter if you’re an all-star or haven’t scored a basket all year, the trophy is yours.

My son had a strange look on his face, though, after receiving has last basketball trophy. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first, either, but something definitely was wrong with the little gold man.

He was totally ’80s. His shorts, if worn by an adult, would hem out 10 inches above the knee. That would violate the Lee County School District’s dress code. His high-tops were so high that a human would need a rope to lace up those sneakers. Michigan’s Fab Five popularized baggy shorts in the early 1990s, but trophy-makers apparently haven’t gotten the message.

Trophy

(more…)

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Too many tests?

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

Parents, teachers and students have voiced concerns about the amount of testing in schools, and now principals are expressing the same concerns. At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, Lee County Superintendent Joseph Burke said several principals have told him there are too many standardized tests.

Eighth-grade students, for instance, will take about 27 state-mandated standardized tests this year.

“Principals are saying we do too much testing in schools,” Burke said. “It inhibits the amount of time teachers have to teach. So I have asked the elementary principals to establish a committee to come up with a recommendation with ways to reduce testing in schools. I’m anxious to see what they come up with.”

Fewer tests could also mean savings to the district. On Tuesday, the school board approved to spend up to $100,000 on emergency printing costs to purchase tests/assessments through January 2012.

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