Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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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...
Polk County Public Schools broke ground Dec. 4 on a new high school in fast-growing Davenport. The new school, located adjacent to Davenport School of the Arts, is scheduled to open in August 2021 and will accommodate 2,500 students, providing enrollment relief to nearby Ridge Community and Haines City high schools. It will offer programs in the fine arts, hospitality and hotel management, technology, computer modeling and gaming. At the groundbreaking ceremony,...
More than 550 students with Polk State College's 121st graduating class will walk the stage Thursday, Dec. 12, at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland to receive their diplomas. The commencement ceremony, which is a free ticketed event, will start at 6:30 p.m. at 701 W. Lime St. The ceremony will feature remarks from Polk State President Angela Garcia Falconetti and December 2019 Distinguished Alumna Susan Copeland. "Commencement marks a significant milestone of perseverance and...
Polk State College and the Polk State College Foundation were collectively named the Philanthropic Corporation of the Year during the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Greater Polk County's National Philanthropy Day Celebration, where student Makenna Hansel was also honored with the Youth in Philanthropy Award. Polk State joins corporations recognized in previous years including Allen & Company, Citizens Bank & Trust, Mosaic Company, Regal Lakeland, and Publix...
Library cards are still a thing. And now, every single student in the Lake Wales Charter Schools and Polk County School system has one. The Polk County Library Cooperative has partnered with Lake Wales Charter Schools and the Polk County School System to provide free access to public library materials and online resources. Tina Peak, Director of the Lake Wales Library, said the new program is beneficial on many fronts. "This is a wonderful partnership. We often see students...
For the second consecutive year, Polk State College received a Chancellor's Best Practice Award from the Florida College System – this time for its First Year Experience and Guided Pathways programs focused on ensuring students persist on their paths to degrees and careers. College representatives accepted the award Thursday in Palm Harbor alongside colleagues from State College of Florida, Eastern Florida State College, and Florida SouthWestern Sate College who were also r...
Reading, writing, math and other academic subjects are important, but Principal Gail Quam wants to make sure students also leave Polk Avenue Elementary with leadership skills. That's why the school for 10 years has been participating in the Leader in Me program, patterned after Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Polk Avenue is a Leader in Me Lighthouse School, incorporating a schoolwide process that develops staff and students as leaders, transforming...
Polk County Public Schools and the Polk Education Association have reached tentative salary and contract agreements for the 2019-20 school year. "I am grateful that the district and union were able to work together to stabilize our 2020 calendar year health plan," said Superintendent Jacqueline Byrd. "This year, a major focus was making sure employee costs for the plan did not rise. We were able to accomplish this. There are no increases to premiums, co-pays or deductibles...
Enrollment is open at Polk State College for the spring 2020 semester that starts January 6. Currently enrolled students may register for classes through PASSPORT. Prospective students must submit a free online application at www.polk.edu/admission-aid. Information on how to complete online orientation and register for classes is included in email communication after the application process, as well as online at www.polk.edu/admission-aid/admissionsteps. Students will also...
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...
It's a new school year at McLaughlin Middle & Fine Arts Academy - and it's also shaping up to be a year like no other. From the school's administrative structure to team-building activities for staff members, from strategies designed to cultivate students' school pride to an outpouring of support from the community, it's clear that positive change is taking place at McLaughlin. "It's a new era," said Principal Sharon Chipman. "We're building a team, a culture, and the...
Four Florida Polytechnic University bachelor's degrees have been accredited by the Computing and Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, the global accreditor of college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology. The degree programs are Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. ABET accreditation assures that programs meet standards to produce graduates...
Michael Sargent is the only member of his family to graduate from college, so he knows a four-year degree is not the only way to build a successful career. He's literally bustling with energy and enthusiasm as he prepares to share engineering principles and high paying career options with students at Lake Wales High School. Sargent will be creating the school's new Applied Engineering Technology Academy, and he's clearly up to the challenge. He was recognized in July by...
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...
Employees at Lake Wales Medical Center donated three carloads of backpacks and school supplies to help area children go back to school with all the tools they'll need for success. Departments were challenged to use a Dr. Seuss theme to create a display of school supplies donated by employees. Community judges viewed each entry and selected the Laboratory as winner of the contest. Lab employees receive a pizza / ice cream party. The hospital also gave a $100 gift card to an...
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC, the University's regional accreditor) approved Webber International University's applications to offer the Bachelor of Arts in Health Services Administration and the Bachelor of Science in Sports Performance, Health, and Fitness degrees. "We've been around for 92 years," said Dr. H. Keith Wade, the University's President and CEO. "Some of the secret to that longevity has been being very...
When you have a middle school science classroom full of about 30 incoming sixth graders, most people would not expect much productivity. However, I recently saw these soon-to-be Edward W. Bok Academy students fully immerse themselves in the project brought to them by Keith Young, a scientist from Illinois. Mr. Young works with an organization called EcoTek, which is focused on bringing real-world issues to students interested in science. He taught the students not only about...
When I met Roberta "Bobbie" Halfacre, director of The Vanguard School Summer Camp program, she explained it is named "Beyond..." because students, faculty, indeed anyone associated with this school for gifted and lifted young people with individual challenges definitely do not think inside the proverbial box. This philosophy starts from the top down and everyone works to make life better for those who need it most. Teaching and learning take on a whole new meaning here, and...
Polk County Public Schools is opening a call center to handle school bus inquiries and issues for the beginning of the 2019-20 school year. Parents and guardians can dial 863-534-7300 for assistance from Monday, July 29 through Friday, Aug. 23. The temporary call center will be staffed on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.* Staff will be able to provide help with all manner of transportation questions, including student bus numbers; stop times and locations; transportation...
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...
