From the way the students at Cotee Elementary School stampeded out onto the playground last Friday, you'd think it was the first time they'd had recess in years. They'd had recess, all right, but for more than 18 months, they've been having it in an open grassy area while a playground full of broken down, unusable equipment stood tantalizingly nearby. Student Council President Nico Buonsanto and another student, Gabe Coronado, cut the ribbon and led the way up the ramp of the playground's new centerpiece, a multistation jungle gym that comes with a slide, monkey bars and several other playground staples. ...more

February 25, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - When school officials accused Philip Copeland's son of tossing a bottle out a school bus window on U.S. 41, Copeland asked to see the bus surveillance video that supposedly shows what the teenager did. ...more

February 21, 2009

Highlands County government and school officials are hoping to obtain federal stimulus dollars, but are still uncertain over how much funding will be available and what it can be used for. ...more

February 19, 2009

Diana O'Neill was acquitted last week of abusing four developmentally disabled students, but there is one question that remains: Will she teach again? ...more

February 18, 2009

On a recent sunny afternoon, a dozen youngsters played in a circle with a rainbow-colored parachute in the playground outside Witter Elementary school in Tampa. A few yards away stood a new 200-foot cell phone tower. ...more

February 17, 2009

Across Hillsborough County, school principals are lining up to put cell phone towers on their campuses to produce badly needed cash for teacher salaries and classroom supplies, even shoes for children who lack them. By summer, 14 new towers could be up at local schools. Some school officials are ready to jump at the new revenue, but they might be jumping into a hornet's nest. ...more

February 17, 2009

Every year, the Hillsborough County School District sends Tampa, Plant City, Hillsborough County and the Florida Department of Transportation a laundry list of areas deemed hazardous for children who don't qualify for busing and have to walk to school. ...more

February 16, 2009

Every year, the Hillsborough County School District sends Tampa, Plant City, Hillsborough County and the Florida Department of Transportation a laundry list of areas deemed hazardous for kids who don't qualify for busing and have to walk to school. The hazards include streets where there are no sidewalks, busy intersections and traffic chocked roads that school officials want the DOT and local governments to improve. ...more

February 15, 2009

The West Hernando Middle School student who contracted meningitis is out of the hospital. ...more

February 11, 2009

No other confirmed cases found, health department spokeswoman says. ...more

February 10, 2009