On April 10th to April 12th St. Lucie County Academic Team competed in the State Academic competition held at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. St. Lucie County’s team came in second place, just seven points shy of first. The team scored the highest of any team in one of the rounds of competition with 391 points. The students that represented St. Lucie County were Geoffrey Zeheng from Lincoln Park Academy, William Barr and Nicole Molner from Treasure Coast High, Jeremy Johnson and Lauren Herb from Westwood High and Stephanie Fisher from St. Lucie West Centennial high.

Lawnwood Elementary teacher of the year, Ashlay Parker , has been selected to attend the ExxonMobil Academy. The selection panel based their decision on Ms. Parker’s “qualifications, dedication to inspiring students, and overall commitment to enhancing the teaching profession.” This selection gives Ms. Parker an opportunity to network with other educators and help her discover innovative ways to teach math and science to her students. Ms. Parker is pictured  l to r with Anazia Lundia and Kayla Hildago-Agular.

The “Not so Haunted House”  team from Morningside Elementary took their show to Palms district competition and won first place.  On Saturday, April 12, 2014, the team competed against 18 other state winners and won first place launching them to World.  Our team will be participating in Odyssey of the Mind world competition from May 28-31, 2014.

Sixteen students representing Dan McCarty Middle School chorus recently joined their voices with other middle school singers to participate in Music in Our Schools Concert. The event was held at the Fenn Center. Each year, elementary middle and high school band and chorus students come together to rehearse, perform, and promote music advocacy in St. Lucie County. Dan McCarty students included Graceline Jean Baptiste, Latracia Washington, Jaquicia Green, Jahari Bethea, Daijah Greene, Shekinah Hyman, Britney Eliassaint, Alisha Aldona, Desire Creel, Laura Williams, Qudalupe Moreno, Christine Michaud, Francesca St. Tellien, Alana Jones, Janicia Larcher, and Krishnan Valdes. The Dan McCarty Middle … Read More

West Gate K8’s second annual Community Walk for Autism Speaks was a huge success! Over 1,500 community members came out to bring awareness to a condition that affects 1 in 62 children. The event featured West Gate’s former student Mozart Sobrinho performing his song, “Stay with You.” The family fun walk also included bounce houses, DJ Calvo, face painting, information on services for people with autism, and more. Five other schools formed teams to participate in the walk and West Gate alone collected over $1010.00.  Along with the St. Lucie County Firefighters, West Gate’s walk for Autism Speaks raised $18, … Read More

Southport Young Author finalists and their families celebrated their hard work with a get-together in the Media Center. Guest author, Jessica Warren, came by to talk about her book Prime Time Kid, and inspired Southport’s top writers with her advice on the writing process. The top winners, announced during the celebration, will go on to district competition on May 9th, and include Porcelain Beauty by Anastacia Kastis, I Think I Love You by Alina Fuentes,  and Operation Ransom by Jason Thomaselli. Good Luck Southport Students!!  Thank you to all the participants and their families who came out to support Southport’s … Read More

On Friday, April 11, students at Floresta Elementary participated in their annual Tunnel of Encouragement.  Students in grades K-2 formed the tunnel, and waved balloons, banners, and pompoms, while chanting “Do Your Best on The Test,” as students in grades 3-5 filed into the cafeteria.  Once in the cafeteria, students received insightful and inspiring words from Principal, Ms. Floyd and Assistant Principal, Mrs. Menikheim.  Third grade teachers performed a skit incorporating test taking tips and a motivational song.  Fourth grade teachers shared words of advice and encouragement, followed by a video collage of students hard at work taken over the … Read More

Northport K-8 School students in Shana Cicio, Melody Nieves, Nancy Yost, Tiffany Tredor and Kara McNair’s kindergarten classes have delved into a Community Helpers project recently. Students took an in-depth look at community members who affect their lives. After classroom discussions and questions, students interacted with guest speakers who work in the community. Students met as a group in the media center and welcomed Mrs. Rose Cash, Northport Maintenance Foreman, Sgt. Chris Cicio of the SLC Sheriff’s office and Paula Earll, client advisor from Chase bank. Students listened to the speakers intently in a series of scheduled visits and then … Read More

 Students in grades Pre-K-5 at Savanna Ridge Elementary participated in a learning and enjoyable presentation on Water Safety. Presenters Bill and Jamie Wagner along with their special assistant “Bobber the Water Safety Dog from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shared with the students the importance of these skills through cartoon videos, lecturing and interactive Q & A. They emphasized learning to swim, to always wear a life jacket while swimming and boating, to always swim with a Buddy, when and where it is safe to dive, how to help someone that is in danger of drowning without endangering yourself, … Read More

The 5th GRADE FLAG LEADERSHIP INIATIVE was started based on the administration’s vision to create a system in which a daily ceremony occurs of raising and lowering the American and FL State flag daily. Identifying 5th grade as the chosen grade for this initative would build leadership capacity with our older elementary age students. Students were taught the proper procedures for folding and caring for the flags. We are very thankful to have our very own Veteran Mr. Jeffrey Johnson, teacher at SGA teach our 5th grade student leaders important facts about our American flag.  5th grade teachers chose the … Read More

Northport K-8 School students in Shana Cicio, Melody Nieves, Nancy Yost, Tiffany Tredor and Kara McNair’s kindergarten classes have delved into a Community Helpers project recently. Students took an indepth look at community members who affect their lives. After classroom discussions and questions, students interacted with guest speakers who work in the community. Students met as a group in the media center and welcomed Mrs. Rose Cash, Northport Maintenance Foreman, Sgt. Chris Cicio of the SLC Sheriff’s office and Paula Earll, client advisor from Chase bank. Students listened to the speakers intently in a series of scheduled visits and then … Read More

Northport K-8 middle grades science instructor, Dr. Laura Woodworth from the Northstar team celebrated a major victory for students recently. Dr. Woodworth rewarded forty students who achieved an 80% or above on the science Progress Monitoring Predictive test with a very special hand made lunch. Woodworth prepared the luncheon of Pirate’s pork, Black Gold and Jewels on rice at home and served her students and fellow instructors with the assistance of her father and husband. The celebratory luncheon not only promoted positive interactions with colleagues and students but also promoted success, hard work and the thrill of achievement. Dr. Woodworth … Read More

Northport K-8 School is celebrating National Library Week along with schools and public libraries across the country! This year the observance is April 13 -19. The theme this year is “Lives Change @ your library!” National Library Week was first sponsored in 1958 by the American Library Association or ALA. The week was started as a response to concerns that Americans were spending too much time listening to radio, television and music and were reading much less. More and more, libraries are at the forefront of the community as family budgets perhaps become smaller. The library offers a world of … Read More

Faculty and Staff of Sam Gaines Academy are proud to announce that  58 middle school students met eligibility qualifications for the National Junior Honor Society.   These students have maintained a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, exemplary conduct, manners and behavior as well as leadership qualities.  Dr. Donna Mills challenged and encouraged the students as the guest speaker at the Induction Ceremony this past March 20th.   We are proud of our 58 colts in our middle school National Junior Honor Society, and we are excited for what the future holds for each one.

Lawnwood Elementary students are practicing “Metric Math Activities” by walking the campus and measuring everything in sight. This measuring exercise will culminate with a play starring several K-2nd grade students as the planets who compare and contrast their celestial bodies’ distance from the sun and the Earth. Pictured from left:  Alexis Nieves, Madison Talley, and Raul Pozniak.

The kindergarteners of Frances K Sweet have yet again proved that they can truly perform the Greatest Show on Earth. Students were everything from clowns, lions, elephants, jugglers, to tightrope walkers. Students entertained their families and members of the community. Pictured in the Incredible Growing Machine is Lennon Paquette, assisted by clowns Skye Graham (left) and Tylarith Limear.

Child hunger is not just a health problem; it is an education problem as well. When a child is hungry they cannot focus on their studies because they do not know where their next meal is coming from, this is called food insecurity. In a recent Feeding America study, St. Lucie County has a food insecurity rate at 26.7%. Grace Packs is a weekly weekend backpack program that provides necessary food items to students in need. Dan McCarty will be starting this program for its students in need this Friday, April 11.

Over spring break, a group of seventeen French Club students and three teacher chaperones from Fort Pierce Central High School departed from Miami International en route to Paris, France. Each day the group sampled a variety of cuisines at various restaurants that ranged from traditional French fare to the food of the French Caribbean, West Africa, and others. The trip included stops at the Louvre and Orsay Museums to admire Leonardo DaVinci’s famous “Mona Lisa” and the works of Vincent Van Gogh. Visits to famous landmarks included the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Champs Elysées, the Versailles Palace, the Arc of … Read More

2014 Statistics:  37 regional fairs held throughout the state representing 67 counties 890 students participated in the State Fair at Lakeland St Lucie County Results:  12 of the 14 students representing St Lucie Public Schools won awards. (Pictured) Robert M. Bacchus  (BIOCHEMISTRY) LPA High School Senior Division 1st  Place Senior Division Biochemistry ($300 cash award) 1 of 8 senior students chosen as BEST IN FAIR-GRAND AWARD YING SCHOLARS to represent St. Lucie Public Schools and the State Of Florida at the International Science Fair ($1,000 cash award) Stephanie B. Fisher (BOTANY)  SLW Centennial High School Senior Division National Youth Science … Read More