Hamou Moussaoui and Anissa Zekkari came to the United States from Morocco on Wednesday, proud parents, eagerly anticipating their son's graduation from the University of South Florida with three degrees. ...more

December 15, 2007

SEBRING — An International Baccalaureate course carries weight with its admissions committee, a letter from Harvard College states. "Because we often do not know the quality of honors and dual-enrollment courses due to variation at different high schools and colleges, success in IB courses would be generally more meaningful to our Admissions Committee," Harvard Dean of Admissions William Fitzsimmons stated. For Highlands County parents seeking challenging academics for their children, success means getting an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma program started by August 2009. About 250 people attended Monday evening's IB parent information forum at Hill-Gustat Middle School where Ed Vetter, principal of the IB School at Bartow High School, presented an overview of the IB diploma program. ...more

December 12, 2007

My goals for my children's education include development of a lifelong love of learning, higher order thinking skills, and the gift to become good world citizens in the age of a global economy. The best classes are those that encourage my children to think and apply knowledge across disciplines, not merely to memorize and regurgitate facts in isolation. Our schools are evolving to meet the needs of today's student and must continue to do so. Computers in the classroom were an important step in this process and now Highlands County is ready for the next. ...more

December 6, 2007

LAKE PLACID — Every 16-year-old driver's education student is taught the basics, including stop for all active railroad crossings. But on the night of Tuesday, Nov. 13, several frustrated drivers ignored the red flashing lights and loud clanging, and skirted past the downed safety arms while crossing the tracks on Interlake Boulevard, just east of DeVane Park. Fortunately on that evening, and at least 10 times during the past four months, the CSX-controlled signals malfunctioned, and no train rolled through the Interlake Boulevard intersection. Several public officials and council members were caught at the false alarm following the evening's special town council meeting, including Arlene Tuck, town clerk. ...more

November 20, 2007

SEBRING — Beckie Townsend cuts a cardboard letter "N" that will have a noodle attached to it to help students at the Kindergarten Learning Center learn the alphabet. Next, she cuts a "B" that will be accompanied by a bean to also be used for a letter recognition exercise. One day a week Townsend volunteers in her 5-year-old daughter's class and reads stories and sings songs. She also makes copies and prepares materials in the teacher work area. As vice president of the school's parent teacher organization (PTO) and co-chair of the school advisory council (SAC) and volunteer, Townsend is a very involved school parent. But despite various efforts by school administrators to reach out to parents, many don't become actively involved in school events and functions. ...more

November 19, 2007

Getting parents involved in their children's education is often considered the key to a student's success. At least three Highlands County schools are helping parents do that, and we hope many more do. In the last few weeks, one school has held a Better Readers workshop to guide parents on how to help their children's reading at home. The Kindergarten Learning Center had a curriculum night to familiarize parents with what is expected of their children in school while another middle school had something similar. ...more

November 19, 2007