TEMPLE TERRACE - Greco Middle students won't be coming back to class next school year with a uniform look, despite the wishes of many parents. School leaders wanted to implement a mandatory uniform policy at the middle school starting in August, but they didn't get enough parent support. The school recently surveyed families about the issue and found that 69 percent of respondents wanted a mandatory policy. But the school district requires that 75 percent of families approve the policy before it can go into effect. ...more

June 13, 2008

SEBRING — Area high school students will encounter a new set of classes when they go back to school in August. The set of 12 classes will not be on social studies and math but alcohol prevention. The new program is being funded through a grant totaling more than $432,000 to prevent alcohol abuse among high school students in the Florida Heartland, a top local education official said Wednesday. Frank Gibbs, the executive director of the Heartland Education Consortium based in Lake Placid, said it would be up to the Highlands County School Board to determine how the courses will be inserted into the high school curriculum. ...more

June 11, 2008

Plant High School students are collecting used SAT, PSAT, ACT and AP test-prep books for use during the next school year. ...more

June 11, 2008

Greco Middle School seventh-grader Jeremy Montez was known for finding trouble. ...more

May 31, 2008

SEBRING — Highlands County will save $41,000 on the new traffic signal at Memorial Drive and Valerie Boulevard by having county crews do the project in-house. County commissioners approved the county's Road and Bridge Department and traffic department doing the job, with supervision by the county engineer's staff. The total project will cost $140,000, county Engineer Ramon Gavarrete told the commissioners Tuesday. That is more than $41,000 less than the cost of $181,427 to have a private contractor do the job, Gavarrete said. ...more

May 27, 2008

TEMPLE TERRACE - Greco Middle School seventh-grader Jeremy Montez was known for finding trouble. The 14-year-old said he often blew off schoolwork and got into fights. That was until he became a man of vision. Greco started the Men of Vision and Promise group this year. It targets male students who have had discipline problems and struggled with their classwork. ...more

May 27, 2008

Nurses, nurse practitioners and educators at Mease Dunedin Hospital will provide about 15 middle school students with what the health care professionals hope will be an unforgettable summer camp. ...more

May 26, 2008

Families paying full price for school lunches in Hillsborough County will pay 50 cents more for each meal, a sign that the escalating costs of food nationwide have crept inside the schoolhouse door. ...more

May 21, 2008

Two area schools will open the next school year with new leaders. The Hillsborough County school board appointed principals Tuesday for Pizzo Elementary and Tampa Bay Technical High. ...more

May 10, 2008

AVON PARK — Michelle Caibio and Casey McKibben have kept each other up on their school work, studied together, gone to the same church and will both call the University of Florida their next school. They tried to earn the same grade point average to share Avon Park High School's valedictorian prize together, but that was one of the few math problems Michelle and Casey couldn't figure out. ...more

May 7, 2008