[lg policy] Florida: School district adjusts weapons language

[Harold Schiffman]

School district adjusts weapons language
October 11, 2011
By MEGHAN McCOY (mmccoy at breezenewspapers.com) , Cape Coral Daily Breeze


Verbiage has been changed to a Lee County School District policy
regarding campus disorders and trespassing, which touches upon
firearms.
The new wording states: "Employees are prohibited from carrying
firearms and ammunition during and in the course of performing
official duties, unless authorized by the superintendent. The
possession of any other weapon, as defined in the Code of Conduct for
Students, on a school campus or other school district facility, at any
school sponsored event, or in a school district vehicle, is prohibited
unless authorized by the superintendent."

Board Attorney Keith Martin said the statute adopted by the
legislature prohibits the school district from having a rule
addressing firearms, so verbiage had to be changed to the policy.

A presentation was also given during the meeting Tuesday regarding the
AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, program that began in
the district in 2007 at Lehigh Senior High School. The program is now
offered at 16 schools in the Lee County School District to help
students reach their potential and attend college after graduation.

Lehigh Senior High School and Lehigh Middle School are working towards
becoming the first National Demonstration School in the state of
Florida and the second in the nation for the AVID program.

In other business, the school board approved the proposed high school
graduation schedule for the 2011-2012 school year. That schedule for
Cape Coral schools is as follows, Ida Baker High School at Germain
Arena at 10 a.m. on May 19; Island Coast High School at the Civic
Center at 2:30 p.m. on May 19; Mariner High School at Harborside at 7
p.m. on May 19 and Cape Coral High School at Harborside at 7 p.m. on
May 20.

Board member Jeanne Dozier thanked everyone who put time into the
graduation schedule Tuesday night. She said she appreciates the fact
that duplicate schools received different times on the same day, so
the board could attend their school graduations.

"Whoever put this together, thank you very much," she said.

The school board also approved the Energy and Natural Consumption
policy, which will help facilitate an increased awareness and more
efficient use of energy and other natural resources in the Lee County
School District.

The rule will go into effect on Oct. 12.

The district currently pays approximately $1.71 for electricity per
square foot at each facility.

The policy, school officials' hope will reduce the energy and natural
resource consumption by a minimum of 10 percent, along with reducing
more than $21 million the first year.

The reduction in cost will be implemented by educating personnel at
all the facilities about energy conservation, identify simple
behavioral spaces, along with sharing energy saving tips with the
schools.

The board also approved the purchase of the Hampton-Brown EDGE reading
intervention program in the amount of $251,000. The approval will
allow the program to be implemented at Island Coast High School, South
Fort Myers High School and Riverdale High School. There are now a
total of six pilot schools in the district.

The program will motivate and engage students with systematic and
focused instruction that will help in developing their reading skills
for academic success and real world experiences.

Superintendent Dr. Joseph Burke was absent from the board meetings
Tuesday due to his travels to Columbus, Ohio with other key personnel
from the district and teachers union, along with Marshall Bower,
president and CEO of The Foundation for Lee County Public Schools.

Chief Academic Officer Dr. Constance Jones, who was the acting
superintendent during the meeting, said the district was invited to
apply for a national grant with the National Education Association due
to their collaborative relationship with business partners and the
teachers unions.

"The grant is for the achievement gap," she said. "Hopefully they will
come back with good news."

Only two grants will be provided.

http://www.cape-coral-daily-breeze.com/page/content.detail/id/527102/School-district-adjusts-weapons-language.html?nav=5011

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents.
Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal,
and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message.
 A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman,
Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************

_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list