Tampa native Eric Darius is a rising star on the smooth jazz scene. He promises that his CD release party will be a "Hollywood-style event with a red carpet." ...more

June 19, 2008

The Kiwanis Club of Sun City Center recently hosted an awards luncheon to present six college scholarships to local students. The recipients were: ...more

June 14, 2008

AVON PARK — The sagging pants fashion fad, that is big with some youngsters and young men, is not welcome in Highlands County District Schools. Avon Park Middle School administrators toughened the school dress code this school year because of the big problem with baggy pants. "Before if their pants were falling down we'd give them string or we'd give them a belt and it got to be ridiculous," because it was such a common occurrence, Dean of Students Shane Wirries said Thursday. "We have kids coming with a size 36 waist [pants] and they are a 28." Now students cannot wear pants that are more than one size too big. If they do show up at school with droopy pants they must have a parent come to school with a proper size trouser or the student spends the day at in-school suspension. ...more

January 12, 2008

AVON PARK — The new year will bring a new safety procedure for dismissal time at Park Elementary School. Beginning in January, each vehicle will be required to have a card in the dashboard imprinted with the names of the children who will be picked up in that vehicle. "We just want to make sure that the children are as safe as we can possibly have them be," said Park Elementary Principal Brenda Longshore. Usually by this time of the year many schools take the approach that they know the parents by now, "but, we just wanted to implement it and give it a try and see if we just can't up our safety just a little bit." Paraprofessionals who work during dismissal suggested the dashboard cards, which could also speed up the dismissal process, she said. ...more

December 24, 2007

SEBRING — Florida ranked second in the nation with 51.1 percent of its public high schools showing excessive dropout rates, but no schools in Highlands or surrounding counties made the list of "Dropout Factories." The state's public high schools have some of the worst student retention rates in the country, with half qualifying as "Dropout Factories," four times the national average, according to a new analysis of U.S. Education Department data conducted by Johns Hopkins University. The term dropout factory, coined by Hopkins researcher Bob Balfanz, describes schools where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year. ...more

November 3, 2007

TAMPA - After being called a gossip-monger and then suspended from school for repeating a rumor, Shatavia Kendricks feels vindicated. ...more

October 26, 2007

It wasn't the crisp autumn morning pupils and their parents from Carrollwood Elementary School may have wished for during International Walk to School Day. ...more

October 10, 2007