Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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Lake Wales Charter School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Rodolfich has announced the appointment of April Barnhardt to become the new principal of Edward Bok Academy South. The appointment was confirmed by the Charter School board. Barnhardt has for the past two years served as the assistant principal of Hillcrest Elementary School, one of several local schools she attended as a child. She will take over the role from Dr. Julio Acevedo, who has served on a temporary basis the...
After causing a scare in the east Polk region by approaching Florida from the southwest, Hurricane Idalia behaved much as the computer models had predicted, staying well offshore of Florida's west coast before slamming into the Big Bend Area of the state as a Category Four hurricane. That course left the Lake Wales area and surrounding communities undamaged due to winds. Three times during the overnight hours tornado warnings caused alarms to sound on phones and tablets in...
Teaching children to read is one of the most important steps in the life-long project of learning. Getting them started early is critical, many educators believe. Among those who created reading material that draws children into the learning process was the beloved Dr. Seuss. As a way to mark Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2, Lake Wales Charter Schools Superintendent Dr. Wayne Rodolfich, accompanied by Bilingual Specialist Dr. Julio Acevedo and PD Coordinator Stacie Padgett,...
Student athletes from four local elementary schools will meet on the gridiron in an afternoon ideal for family fun. Students from Janie Howard Wilson, Hillcrest, Polk Avenue, and Babson Park elementary schools look forward to the highlight of both the autumn of the school calendars and the spring of their football careers. The annual "Elementary Turkey Bowl" takes place on Tuesday, November 15, beginning at 10:00 am. on the storied grounds of Legion Field in Lake Wales....
Janet Crichfield Ward, 74, of Lake Wales passed away on August 7, 2022, after a long illness. She was born October 17, 1947, in Belle Glade, Florida, to Charles and Bertha Crichfield. She graduated from Belle Glade High School in 1965. After relocating to Lake Wales, she graduated from USF in 1970 where she was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. She went on to attain her master's degree in 1981. Janet became an educator for the Polk County School System where she...
A new traffic pattern for Janie Howard Wilson Elementary is hoped to relieve problematic congestion along North Scenic Highway during the coming school year. A plan developed by Lake Wales Police Department in coordination with school officials will see the temporary closing of Florida Avenue at Scenic Highway during the hours of school pick-up and drop-off. Drivers will be directed instead to approach the school from the south, using Lincoln Avenue and C Street. According to...
Stephen Cornelius had big plans to grow the Lake Wales High School Highlander Band, and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Now starting his second year as director, Cornelius is trying to remain optimistic about the band's future. Cornelius had to cancel marching band camp this summer, but he said marching is still part of the curriculum. Cornelius will be teaching only at Lake Wales High and Janie Howard Wilson Elementary this year, as his recent intern from Warner University,...
Lake Wales Charter Schools has announced an amendment to its policy for serving meals to students under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs for the 2020-2021 school year. All students will be served lunch and breakfast at no charge at the following sites: Dale R. Fair Babson Park Elementary, Hillcrest Elementary, Janie Howard Wilson Elementary, Polk Avenue Elementary and Victory Ridge Academy. In addition applications for free and reduced price lunches at...
Meg Smith calls herself "the luckiest girl in the world." She says she's filled 10 bucket lists by being blessed to play her violin with the likes of famous musicians Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman and for noted composer John Williams. For nearly a decade she's played in the orchestra on tour with opera singer Andrea Bocelli, whose voice is considered one of the finest in the world. Smith's newest endeavor is directing an adult stringed orchestra sponsored by the Lake Wales Arts...
Enrollment is under way for the Lake Wales Arts Council Spring Semester of youth and adult fine arts classes, which start Monday, Feb. 3. Regular classes are eight weeks in length. New workshop classes will run monthly on a select Tuesday & Thursday from February to May. Enrollment fees are for the entire semester and include ALL supplies (excluding band/orchestral instruments and self-guided visual arts classes). Multi-enrollment discounts are available. Scholarship...
What's better than hiring a good young teacher? How about finding a good, young, homegrown teacher? That's the goal of a new affiliation between the University of Central Florida and the Lake Wales Charter Schools aimed at creating a steady pipeline of local teaching talent available for hire at any of the system's seven schools. "It's a win-win situation for our students who are interested in pursing a career in education, and the charter system to have a readily available...
The new Little Silver Streak Academy at Janie Howard Wilson Elementary is giving 20 young students an early leg up on their educational journey this fall at Janie Howard Wilson Elementary School in Lake Wales. The full day pre-K program includes traditional components like outside play time, work on social skills, and breakfast and lunch every school day. But it adds a hefty classroom component as well, with a computer and listening station, and small group instruction in scie...
Terry Schulze grew up in a "blue home" where he watched his father head out daily to protect and serve the community. Becoming a police officer was a natural choice for the 19-year-old, whose father Troy is the Lake Wales Police Department's deputy chief, now approaching 25 years on the job. Terry entered the profession with open eyes, having served nearly three years as a volunteer patrol cadet before completing 770 hours of training at the police academy at Polk State...
Patricia Harvey is creating a Haven for Success, an after-school program that helps children reach their greatest potential. Harvey's new program will serve 20-25 elementary age children three hours a day beginning Aug. 19 at the B Street Community Center at 230 B Street in Lake Wales. "I want these children to know and understand life is what you make it," Harvey said. "Life is not standing on the street corner. Life is not walking around with your pants below your behind....
Linda Elaine Law, 95 of Lake Wales, passed Monday, Aug. 19, 2019 at Brandywyne Healthcare in Winter Haven. She was born Feb. 12, 1924 in Caimanera, Cuba to the late George Percival and Lydia (Joseph) Tennant. Early on in life she taught business at Bennett College in Jamaica, then moved to New York and worked at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She was a Paralegal Assistant for Bristol-Myers for over 20 years, retired from there and became a substitute teacher for Janie Howard Wilson in Lake Wales. After teaching, she...
Leadership has long been a trait Lake Wales Charter Schools have stressed for their students. Now, a new program is aiming to help more quickly develop future leaders among teachers at the system's seven schools. The idea is to to help identify and train a new group to become assistant principals and beyond. Teachers must have spent at least three years in the classroom to be considered for the new initiative. "The Aspiring Leaders program is a monthly professional...
Linda Elaine Law, 95 of Lake Wales passed Monday, August 19, 2019 at Brandywyne Healthcare in Winter Haven. She was born February 12, 1924 in Caimanera, Cuba to the late George Percival and Lydia (Joseph) Tennant. Early on in life she taught business at Bennett College in Jamaica, then moved to New York and worked at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She was a Paralegal Assistant for Bristol-Myers for over 20 years, retired from there and became a substitute teacher for Janie Howard Wilson in Lake Wales. After teaching,...
Overcoming significant challenges of language and poverty, the Lake Wales Charter Schools maintained or improved their 2019 school grades released July 11 by the Florida Department of Education. "We are very, very proud of their improvement and success, of the work that's being done," said charter schools Superintendent Jesse Jackson. "What we have done over the years is try to build a system for success. . . create a structure. Personalities come and go, but we're building a...
The Lake Wales NAACP Branch 5109 recognized Eddye Jean Rivers with its Community Leader Award. NAACP Board Member Nicara Daniels presented the award at the branch's 46th Annual Freedom Fund Banquet June 15 at the James P. Austin Community Center. Rivers was born in Lake Wales, he daughter of the late Edward and Belle Sumlin. She is one of seven children. She graduated from Roosevelt High School in the Class of 1956 and married David Rivers. They have one son, David Rivers Jr....
Stephen Cornelius recognizes that the proud tradition of the Lake Wales Marching Highlanders is still embedded deeply in the community. He understands what he faces as the new band director for Lake Wales High School, and says he's ready for the challenge. Reflecting on his new position, Cornelius wrote: "It was Theodore Roosevelt that said 'far better it is to dare mighty things...even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy...
Genifer Redmon didn't start her career as a school teacher, but from the sounds of it, it's likely she might finish it as one. Redmon, a graduate of Webber International University, spent six years working as the office manager at a property management firm, but for a time as the university's cheerleading coach as well. It was that part of her work on Crooked Lake that inspired her to a new profession, and the title of Janie Howard Wilson Elementary School of Environmental...
Principal Donna Dunson may or may not have shed a few tears when she was interviewing Lillian Anderson a while back. But what is clear is Dunson was convinced Anderson needed to teach at Lake Wales High School, and that she was going to do whatever it took to get her there. Seven years later, Anderson has been named Teacher of the Year for the Lake Wales Charter System, honored recently along with teachers and support staff from each of its seven schools during the system's...
