Polk School Board member-elect Rick Nolte’s $5,200 cash donation to his own campaign violates Florida law, according to a legal scholar with expertise in Florida election laws; Nolte declined to answer questions about the contribution on Thursday.
Category: Schools
Posted inSchools
Southwest Middle School’s $55 Million Rebuild Getting Started
Southwest Middle School is undergoing a $55.2 million reboot, with a completely new, two-story, 183,000-square-foot enclosed structure to be built in the next two years, with most of the old school scheduled for the wrecking ball once construction is finished.
Posted inRecreation, Schools
Read It in the Morning Paper: Se7en Wetlands, Pickleball Courts
STATE GRANTS: Thirteen projects in Polk County will benefit from $6.2 million in federally funded grants that were approved by the Florida Legislative Budget Committee. The biggest Lakeland projects are $950,000 for the first phase of an education center at the city’s Se7en Wetlands Park and $457,500 for a life skills house at Southeastern University’s […]
Posted inSchools
CCDF Appeals Polk Schools’ Policy on Checking Out 16 Contested Library Books
County Citizens Defending Freedom has filed an appeal to Superintendent Frederick Heid’s decision to provide parents with only an opt-out process regarding 16 library books group members have complained are obscene, pornographic, age-inappropriate, or indoctrinate students.
Posted inSchools
All Polk Public School Students Are Getting a Laptop or iPad
All 116,000 Polk County Public Schools students are getting their own electronic device, thanks to a $28 million grant from the federal government, along with other state funding, Superintendent Frederick Heid announced during a Thursday morning press conference.
Posted inSchools
School District Working to Improve Student Attendance
Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Frederick Heid is working to stem the district’s truancy issue by creating seven “community outreach facilitators” – what were once known as truancy officers.
Posted inPolitics, Schools
Former School Board Member Files Elections Complaint Against Nolte
Former Polk School Board member Billy Townsend, who writes a newsletter about education and local politics, has filed a campaign finance complaint against Rick Nolte, who last week defeated incumbent Sarah Fortney for a School Board seat.
Posted inSchools
CCDF Takes Its Complaints About 16 School Library Books to Police Departments
County Citizens Defending Freedom is lodging complaints with local law enforcement agencies throughout Polk County about 16 books its group members deem obscene, pornographic or age inappropriate after their complaints in January failed to get any of the books removed from public school library shelves.
Posted inPolitics, Schools
School Board: Nolte Unseats Fortney; Fields Returns; Sharpless Wins; Miller Faces Sessions in Runoff
Rick Nolte, who received the backing of Gov. Ron DeSantis and conservative activist organizations, unseated one-term incumbent Sarah Fortney from the Polk County School Board today in an election that saw the return of 20-year School Board veteran Kay Fields and the victory of newcomer Justin Sharpless. Incumbent Lisa Miller faces a Nov. 8 runoff […]
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New Florida Poly Building Doubles University’s Research Space
Florida Polytechnic University today debuted its $47 million Applied Research Center, a modern, 90,000-square-foot structure that more than doubles the lab and research space at the northeast Lakeland campus.