School Board Recognitions Include Four Area High Schools With Graduation Rates Above 90 Percent

Four high schools in Eastern Hillsborough County — Armwood, Bloomingdale, Durant and Newsome — will be recognized next week for achieving a graduation rate above 90 percent for the 2009-10 school year.  

The Hillsborough County School Board at its Feb. 15 meeting also is set to recognize the McLane Middle School STEM Academy, and more specifically its VIBOTS student robotics team, for clinching the VEX Robotics Challenge in Clermont, Fla., in January.

Thanks to that effort, the team qualifies for the 2011 VEX Robotics World Championship, the U.S National Robotics Championship (high school division), the U.S. National Robotics Championship (middle school division) and the 2011 VEX Robotics Middle School World Championship, according to a school board report.

Newsome High School tops the list of 11 high schools surpassing the 90-percent rate for high school graduation last year.

Newsome’s rate was 98.59 percent, followed by Durant, at 94.69 percent.

Also on the list from the Greater Brandon area: Armwood (92.6 pecent) and Bloomingdale (90.19 percent).

Rounding out the list: Sickles (94.59 percent), Plant (94.49 percent), Gaither (93.58 percent), Tampa Bay Tech (93.31 percent), Riverview (90.0 percent), East Bay (90.88 percent) and Alonso (90.03 percent).

Also at its Feb. 15 meeting, the School Board is set to pay heed to the Florida State Fair Authority, which provided a free ticket to the state fair to some 190,000 Hillsborough County public school students.

The authority will be recognized, too, for its support of the Hillsborough Education Foundation and for collecting school supplies for the Teaching Tools Supply Store. The authority also donated space for the Career and College Fest.

Additional recognitions include:

• The YMCA of Tampa, for help in developing an aquatic safety curriculum for students in kindergarten through grade 5. Also, for providing training for 225 elementary school physical education teachers. Steve Vanoer, Hillsborough’s supervisor of K-12 physical education, says the program benefited some 84,000 students.
• Rugby 4 Life, for working with school officials to develop and implement a non-contact flag rugby program. According to Vanoer, some 91,000 students benefited from the program, with visits to 25 elementary schools, 40 middle schools and 22 high schools. The U.S. Mariner Corps furnished rugby balls for distribution, he added.
• Bloomingdale High School cheerleaders, for clinching the FHSAA 2A Large Varsity Cheerleading State Championship title.

The School Board meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at 901 East Kennedy Blvd. in Tampa. The agenda is online.