Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
Sorted by date Results 1 - 16 of 16
The Lake Wales Charter Schools Foundation has kicked off it's 2019-20 giving campaign, committed to improving the educational opportunities for all students in the community, according to campaign chairman and Foundation chair James Tully. With the opening of Bok Academy North two years ago, the charter system now operates seven schools, serving a total of approximately 4,750 students. For the fiscal year that ended June 30, the system realized overall revenues of $39.5 millio...
What's better than hiring a good young teacher? How about finding a good, young, homegrown teacher? That's the goal of a new affiliation between the University of Central Florida and the Lake Wales Charter Schools aimed at creating a steady pipeline of local teaching talent available for hire at any of the system's seven schools. "It's a win-win situation for our students who are interested in pursing a career in education, and the charter system to have a readily available...
The new Little Silver Streak Academy at Janie Howard Wilson Elementary is giving 20 young students an early leg up on their educational journey this fall at Janie Howard Wilson Elementary School in Lake Wales. The full day pre-K program includes traditional components like outside play time, work on social skills, and breakfast and lunch every school day. But it adds a hefty classroom component as well, with a computer and listening station, and small group instruction in scie...
The start of any new year brings changes – large and small – not only in the schools and classrooms, but to every aspect of the operation of a charter system, including the transportation department. Some of the smaller changes are already in place, like retooled bus stop schedules. New this year is the concept of "pocket stops", combing what used to previously be multiple stops into one central location. Becoming more efficient with its all routes serving – making sure thous...
Leadership has long been a trait Lake Wales Charter Schools have stressed for their students. Now, a new program is aiming to help more quickly develop future leaders among teachers at the system's seven schools. The idea is to to help identify and train a new group to become assistant principals and beyond. Teachers must have spent at least three years in the classroom to be considered for the new initiative. "The Aspiring Leaders program is a monthly professional...
You don't have to be the smartest kid in the school to be part of Polk Avenue Elementary School's "Genius Club." Of course, there are plenty of smart youngsters already there – as PAE's improvement to a "B" grade for the 2018-19 school year showed. And they all get a chance to be part of Polk's "genius club" program which completed its first full-year last year, and will be very much part of the 2019-20 school year plan as well. The idea was actually born near the end of t...
New Bok North Academy Principal Donna Drisdom learned at an early age, from two teachers at Mulberry High School, a philosophy that continues to serve her well even today. "It's looking at the smaller things to understand the larger things is how they would put it," meaning, look deeper than the surface to find the root cause, Drisdom said of the influential instructors, Carolyn Williams and Kathy Langford. "I just kind of took that with me." Drisdom was named to her Lake...
Over the past six years, the graduation rate at Lake Wales High School has soared, from just over 70 percent for the 2013-14 school year to over 90 percent last school year. While a vast majority of grads decide to head off to college, there are many who also want to pursue a different path, which was the genesis of the Highlander Guild, a new organization at the school this past year designed to introduce students to potential vocational careers to become plumbers,...
A new partnership between the Lake Wales Charter Schools system and other community stakeholders including Lake Wales Medical Center could truly be life changing for local students. Along with Victory Ridge Academy, the Center for Independent Living in Central Florida, Inc., and Florida Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the entities are combining to launch Project SEARCH, a nine month immersive internship program for students with disabilities ages 18-22 years old. This...
As Lake Wales area schools are preparing for summer, we are reminded that not all education takes place in the classroom. Here is a story about students participating in experience training programs. Just like every other student at Lake Wales High School, Ellis Allanson boards a bus and heads to Highlander Hill ready to take on his daily assignments. But unlike most who spend their days in classrooms, the cafeteria and media center, Ellis spends most of his day at Sweet...
Lake Wales Charter Schools System Superintendent Dr. Jesse L. Jackson has announced the appointment of Donna Drisdom as the new Principal of Edward W. Bok Academy North. For the past two years Drisdom has served as principal of McLaughlin Middle School Fine Arts Academy in Lake Wales. "I cannot imagine a better outcome for Edward W. Bok Academy North.," Dr. Jackson noted. "I am very much looking forward to having Mrs. Drisdom on board as the principal." Drisdom received her...
Bok Academy students recently put a new twist on an old idea. The Lake Wales Charter school's "Renaissance Knight" didn't look back at history but instead provided parents and friends a chance to hear and see the talents and skills of hundreds of middle school students who sang, played and even showed off their television production skills. Beginner and advanced orchestras from both Bok North and South performed on the outdoor stage at Bok South, along with school choirs and...
Three former professional athletes, a coach who won two state titles, and one of the program's most ardent supporters make up the inaugural class for the newly-created Highlander Hall of Fame. Pro football players Lorenzo Hampton and Buford Long, along with pro baseball player Pat Borders, softball coach Nancy Denton, and "The Voice of the Highlanders" Richard "Dick" Howell will be inducted May 4 during a dinner ceremony at Lake Wales Country Club. "The Highlander Booster...
Many people are aware of Steven Covey's "7 Habit's of Highly Effective People" impact in the business world. But one Lake Wales Charter school has been using it for eight years now as one of the foundations of its educational approach. Recently, Polk Avenue Elementary was honored as a prestigious Leader in Me "Lighthouse School". While thousands of schools across the United States use the program, only a few hundred schools have earned the Lighthouse designation. Leader in Me...
You might say that Samantha Havens is the Dale R. Fair Babson Park Elementary School Teacher of the Year because she hits all the right notes. Now in her ninth year at the Lake Wales Charter System, the school's music teacher earned a bachelor's in music education from Warner University in 2010, where she was inspired by Dr. Steven Darr. "Dr. Darr taught me that if you want something to be spectacular, then you need to put in the time and effort," Havens noted. "He is...
Bok Academy North teacher Margaret Thomas has a daily tradition with her sixth grade students. Every day, she likes to greet them with a question, something that simultaneously can entertain and educate her youngsters at the same time. It's part of the reason she has been named as the school's first-ever Teacher of the Year. Bok North opened its doors this past August. "It is the highlight of my day," she said of her routine, which sets the tone for entering a classroom that...
