An initiative to help Spanish-speaking parents get more involved in their children’s education took off Thursday at the Cassidy Community Center in Golden Gate

“Bienvenidos a los padres de los estudiantes de Martin County High School” (Welcome, parents of Martin County High School students) read a sign at the meeting, which was conducted entirely in Spanish as part of the school’s ongoing outreach program to Spanish-speaking families.

Martin County High School Spanish teacher Heldie Moore said she hopes the program will inspire Hispanic students at her school to achieve greater academic success. Since many Hispanic parents in the area don’t speak English, they are often reluctant to come to their children’s schools – but parental involvement is key, Moore said. (more…)

STUART — The image of a man’s arm wrapped around her front tire still haunts Jessica Leslie eight years later.

It was November 2001 when a 20-year old Leslie of Boca Raton was coming back from an evening of partying that she decided to drive home drunk. She told her story to a crowd of about four dozen at a Thursday community program at the Martin County Administrative Center on the dangers of drinking and driving.

Leslie never made it home but ran over Patrick McDonough, 41, killing him. (more…)

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — In one vote Tuesday night, the St. Lucie County School Board approved new job descriptions, service contracts and the demolition of Port St. Lucie Elementary’s main building.

No one spoke about the demolition, which was on the board’s consent agenda. Items on the consent agenda are considered to be routine. The demolition is not a new concept, as the board planned to demolish the school even before plans to close the school.

Port St. Lucie Elementary is one of two schools closing this year. Students and faculty have been reassigned for the 2009-2010 school year.

By staff report

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — School transportation officials saved almost $3 million last year by consolidating bus routes and changing school bell times.

Marty Sanders, executive director of growth management for the district, told board members Tuesday night the district hopes to continue saving money by trimming bus routes and eliminating additional buses.

During the 2008-2009 school year, about $2.77 million was reduced from the transportation budget over the previous school year, Sanders said.
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More Treasure Coast students soon will be able to ditch classes at bricks-and-mortar schools.

Instead, they’ll head to class without leaving the house.

Starting with the new school year in August, all Florida school districts are required to offer virtual schools because of a 2008 law created to give parents more choice over how their children are educated. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — A lock on the door was the only notice Jessica Rufo got that Hayes World Day Care & Learning Center had closed.

Rufo, a St. Lucie County School District employee, is keeping her 3-year-old daughter at home for the summer, but had left Hayes World about $500 to hold a spot for Elizabeth in the fall. Driving by the Darwin Boulevard center this weekend, Rufo noticed locks on the door.

A message on Hayes World’s phone service said the day-care center is “temporarily closed,” but offered no other information.
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FORT PIERCE — A 74-year-old man reportedly walked onto the campus of Dan McCarty School Tuesday evening and fatally shot himself near the school’s bus pick-up area.

The 1201 Mississippi Avenue campus was empty of students and faculty when the incident occurred, according to Dave Morris, director of security for St. Lucie County schools. The man’s identity was not immediately released, pending notification of next of kin.
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STUART — Signs of economic distress abound in Martin County and the outlook for next year doesn’t appear to be much better.

Martin County’s population dipped slightly since last year, school enrollment is expected to decline for two years, government revenues are down and new construction has dropped, several local and state officials said this week during government meetings.

The housing market is so bad two developers asked Martin County to rescind their hard won final site plan approvals for new subdivisions so they can delay paying impact fees and utility connection charges, said Growth Management Director Nicki van Vonno.

“That is a recent trend and it’s directly tied to the applicant’s ability to go forward or not,” van Vonno said. “Money is tight.”

The County Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to rescind the final site plan approval for the Pentalago subdivision, 42 ranchettes on Citrus Boulevard near Interstate 95 in Palm City Farms. (more…)

VERO BEACH — Schoolmates of one of two teenagers accused of making bomb threats to Vero Beach High School have been writing letters of support for the accused.

Taren Lee Stage, 17, of the 1100 block of 39th Avenue Southwest was arrested in late April on charges of making six false bomb reports to the high school. The threats repeatedly forced evacuation of hundreds of students and staff during school hours from March to April.

The investigation is continuing.
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Before incoming seventh-graders step into their first classes this fall, they must brave the sting of a newly required vaccine against whooping cough and two other diseases.

Local health departments are offering the Tdap vaccination against tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (whooping cough) this summer at health clinics or at residents’ request so students can be prepared for the start of school.

The new state requirement for students to take the vaccine before entering the seventh grade stems from concerns that adolescents and adults immunized against whooping cough in infancy are contracting the disease when they’re older. Before this year, the vaccine for adolescents, licensed in 2005, was suggested but not required. Counties have offered the vaccine every year.
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