He also said the School Board has not listened to the recommendations from top state officials, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran, and Florida Department of Health State Surgeon General Dr. Scott A. Rivkees, instead opting to listen to doctors recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.
State government officials have recommended removing masks, and the governor has ordered county and city lawmakers not to institute any more emergency orders. Doctors with the CDC and WHO have recommended continued mask use.
The school district, however, is not ignoring anyone.
Its last meeting was April 27, nearly a week before the governor rescinded emergency orders put in place last year at the start of the worldwide pandemic. The board that night listened to more than a dozen speakers, who urged them to halt mask use. The School Board has planned to discuss the issue at Tue
BARTOW The Polk County School Board is facing a showdown Tuesday, when more parents and students plan to demand a mask-free option on campuses across the district beginning immediately, with one Facebook group calling for a day of protest with less than three weeks of school left.
“The student code of conduct face covering policy requirement implemented by the PCSB should be brought to a vote and rescinded at the May 11 regular meeting,” the group No More Mask Mandate for Children stated on its private Facebook page last week.
The School Board voted unanimously last summer to add the mask mandate to the student code of conduct after listening to a panel of doctors from Nemours Children s Hospital, Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center and the Florida Department of Health’s Polk County office. No one from the public spoke for or against it or emailed the board about it before the vote, held via Zoom.
Polk County is second-fastest growing area in U.S.
Ken Suarez reports
LAKELAND, Fla. - It is not just your perception anymore. If you live in the Tampa Bay area, you probably have an idea that Polk County is growing in leaps and bounds.
It just became official.
According to new U.S. Census data, over a two-year period, Polk County is one of the fastest growing areas in the entire country.
It tied with Boise City, Idaho for second place. Austin, Texas came in first.
So what’s the draw to Polk? Like the rest of Florida, people who live there don’t pay income tax, and enjoy the state’s beautiful weather.
Jack R. Jordan/The Moultrie Observer
Jack R. Jordan/The Moultrie Observer
MOULTRIE, Ga. â The National Alliance on Mental Illness presented its Recovery Happens speaker series Friday to celebrate the beginning of Mental Health Month.
As part of Mental Health Month, NAMI along with other mental health awareness groups, presented three speakers as well as a proclamation from Moultrie Mayor William McIntosh. NAMI President Lynn Wilson opened the program by thanking all those in attendance and announcing that NAMI will resume in-person meetings starting in June.Â
âTodayâs event is not only about spreading awareness of mental illness but the recovery that happens after seeking assistance,â said Wilson in her opening speech.
American Aquarium didn t just surprise fans with a new album on Friday (May 7) they surprised them with 10 90s country classics.
Slappers, Bangers & Certified Twangers, Vol. 1 is chock full of covers of songs from Toby Keith, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Sawyer Brown and others.
A tweet from the BJ Barham-fronted band calls the new covers album a 10-song collection of some of our favorite 90s country hits and we hope y’all enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it. Jamie Lin Wilson offers guest vocals, while Byron Berline assists on fiddle.
Sammy Kershaw s Queen of My Double Wide Trailer and Keith s Should ve Been a Cowboy bookend the new record. Also included are Trisha Yearwood s She s in Love With the Boy, Joe Diffie s John Deere Green and Faith Hill s Wild One, among others.