Education News

This month is named for the two-headed Roman god Janus who guarded the entry to many homes in those days, looking inward and out. Full story »

The Collier County School Board approved a contract that allows academically ineligible students to continue participating in sports and extracurricular activities if they commit to improve their grades. The board voted unanimously to make freshmen and sophomores eligible for the program. Students whose cumulative grade point average falls below a 2.0 at the conclusion of a semester become academically ineligible to participate in sports and extracurricular activities. Full story »

Sunshine could help lower the cost to power Palmetto Ridge High School. It could help the Manatee and Marco Island schools, too. The Collier County School District is ready to take its exploration of solar power to the next level. “The idea is to utilize capital dollars while bringing down operational costs,” said Superintendent Dennis Thompson. The idea is viable now, Thompson said, because the state has extended the solar tax credits to 2016. While the school district cannot take advantage of those tax credits, businesses who want to partner with the district can, Thompson said. Full story »

Parents of students at Marco Island Charter Middle School elected three new board members on the eight-member Charter school board Wednesday evening. Full story »

Collier County School District Superintendent Dennis Thompson and the Marco Island based company United Energy Technology (UET), whose president is Gary Elliott, has developed a plan to build a solar demonstration on Tract K on Marco Island. The 11.6 acre parcel of land commonly known as Tract K is located adjacent to Tigertail Court., and is owned by the Collier County School Board. Full story »

Lely High School will host the Pepsi Shootout this weekend. Eight teams from south Florida will compete at the school, 1 Lely High School Blvd. Full story »

Students and teachers at Marco Island Charter Middle School found creative ways to be generous this Thanksgiving. Full story »

Marco Island and Lely teachers make the short list of the best teachers in Collier County, according to the Education Foundation. The Foundation named 40 Teachers of Distinction Tuesday, including Jonathon Mundorf and Lisa Braren of Tommie Barfield Elementary and Jacqueline Williams and Gregory Foote of Lely High. Full story »

Marco Island is serving up a canned food drive and a team tennis match for Thanksgiving this year. Full story »

Pat Carroll has been named the new chair of the Collier County School Board. Full story »

Whether stuffing shoeboxes for children in need or designing ornaments for the community’s holiday celebration, Island youth seem to be in the Christmas spirit. Full story »

Fifty is the new zero — if you are a Collier County elementary school student, that is. That’s because the Collier County School District is taking a different approach to help kids succeed. In an attempt to help students learn while making it easier for them to succeed, district teachers will issue a score no lower than 50. The district’s executive director for elementary school programs said zeros are rarely an adequate reflection of what a student is able to do. Instead, they are used as punishment for not doing what they are capable of. Full story »

They may not mean a whole lot, but they add up on paper. Estero High School and South Fort Myers High School both offer significantly more majors to their students than the average number of majors offered at Lee County high schools. The average is 41 majors. South High offers 66 majors and Estero offers 68 majors, which makes it the school with more available majors than any other in the county. Full story »

Tuesday night was bittersweet for Julie Sprague. After months of hard work, the Gulf Coast High School teacher became the newest member of the Collier County School Board. But, as a School Board member, she will have to leave behind her teaching career, which has spanned 30 years, 20 of them in Collier County. Sprague said she used the word “bittersweet” twice Tuesday night, but said she hasn’t fully processed what it will mean. Full story »

High School students looking ahead to their college years need to explore all possible avenues of financial assistant to help offset the cost of attending college. Full story »