Today marks the first day of school for Treasure Coast public schools.

Commuters might want to get an early start to work because the start of a new school year means school zones, yellow buses and crossing guards will be back.

(more…)

Raquel Wright

About 6:30 p.m. Friday, Wright sold 70 oxycodone pills to an undercover police officer for $1,000, the arrest report states.

Records showed Wright employed as a middle school language arts teacher at Oslo Middle School.

By Will Greenlee

FORT PIERCE — Two people were arrested after being found late Saturday night in the Fort Pierce Magnet School of the Arts where they apparently had planned an amorous encounter, according to recently released records and a jail official.

Robenson Forest, 21, of the 800 block of 19th Street, Vero Beach, and Yva Ingram, 20, of the 7400 block of Juan Ortiz Avenue in Fort Pierce, each face a misdemeanor trespassing on school grounds charge and were booked into the St. Lucie County Jail early Sunday morning.

(more…)

Cove Road crash

By Tyler Treadway

STUART — Information released Tuesday by the State Attorney’s Office paints a tragic and dramatic picture of events leading up to the Aug. 4 crash on Cove Road in which three teenage boys were killed.

The Florida Highway Patrol reports, interviews with witnesses and photos provide evidence that Nicholas Coady and Christopher Briglio, both 18, and Connor Graver, 16, had been drinking before they arrived at a party at the Palm City home of assistant South Fork High School baseball coach David Wayne “Bubba” Harper, 28, and Craig D. Frick, 24. (more…)

By Will Greenlee

PORT ST. LUCIE — Police arrested two cousins Tuesday accused of burglarizing Northport K-8 School and absconding with as much as $3,000 in electronics and other items, a spokesman said.

Investigators went to the learning facility in the 200 block of Northwest Floresta Drive about 4 a.m. Tuesday following an alarm, said Officer Tom Nichols, police spokesman. (more…)

By Tyler Francischine

Some St. Lucie County parents are hot about a school district decision to turn off the air conditioning chiller in schools at around 3 p.m. each day.

Genevieve Gonzalez, whose daughter attends Floresta Elementary in Port St. Lucie, said the decision is inconsiderate to students and parents who pay for their children to attend after-school programs. She said her daughter attends a program by the Boys and Girls Club of St. Lucie County until 6 p.m. each day.

“They don’t want you to leave your kid in the car with no air for five minutes,” she said. “This is three hours.” (more…)

By Colleen Wixon

A delay in student Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores is causing problems in scheduling classes and staff for the next school year, and adding to teen angst among high school sophomores wondering if they’ve passed the high-stakes test.

“I think this debacle is the Florida DOE’s equivalent of BP’s oil disaster,” St. Lucie Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon said Tuesday.

Schools throughout the state use scores from the FCAT to determine student placement in advanced or remedial classes as well as teacher staffing for those classes. Scores traditionally are released well before students leave for the summer, but now officials are estimating scores won’t be released until the end of June. (more…)

By Elliott Jones

Heightened security following two St. Lucie County school vandalism incidents in the last five days led to five people being arrested on the campus of St. Lucie West Centennial High School shortly after midnight Tuesday, sheriff’s officials said Wednesday.

Two were juveniles and three 18-year-olds: Payton Corbo, Andrew Emig and Malaki Craft. Names of the juveniles were withheld.

Further details are pending, including the charges they face. (more…)

By Ray McNulty

FORT PIERCE — The investigation into allegations of wrongdoing against Fort Pierce Westwood High School football coach and interim athletic director Waides Ashmon stem from an incident that occurred during a December playoff game at Florida International University, campus police confirmed Wednesday.

According to Lt. Rick Torres, who heads the FIU Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Unit, it’s “way early” in the investigation, which he said began when he received a telephone call from a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s detective two weeks ago.

“We just got it,” Torres said. “We’re still trying to contact witnesses to find out the who, when, what and where. All we have to go on is the report that was filed with the sheriff’s office up there. (more…)

VERO BEACH — A former Vero Beach High School student accused of making multiple false bomb threats to the school in early 2009 has entered a plea of no contest to criminal charges in the case, court officials said.

Taren Stage, 18, of the 1100 block of 39th Avenue Southwest, is charged with making six false bomb threats by phone that repeatedly forced the evacuation of the school on 16th Street. (more…)