School Board

Reading rainbow
The Library Foundation of Sarasota County honored Booker High School ninth-grader Elena Ayala at its annual author luncheon March 18. Elena won the Library Foundation’s essay contest for her essay titled “What a Carl Hiaasen Book Meant to Me” about the novel “Hoot.” Elena and her English teacher, Joe Brunetti, attended the luncheon, and Booker High School received $500 for its reading resources. Elena also received $100.

Problem solvers
Teams from six Sarasota County public schools will represent the county in the Odyssey of the Mind state finals Saturday, April 12, in Orlando. The competition is a creative problem-solving program for students in grades kindergarten through 12 and college. Teams from Bay Haven School of Basics Plus, Brentwood, Lakeview and Tatum Ridge elementary schools and McIntosh Middle School and Sarasota School of Arts and Sciences all qualified after competing in the Sun Region competition this month in Fort Myers.

Author achievement
Ashton Elementary second-grade students in Leah Hutchinson’s class celebrated the publishing of their book March 21. The book is about animals native to Florida and is full of facts, pictures and illustrations students gathered and created. For the unveiling of the finished product to their families, students created a PowerPoint presentation to go along with the book.

“The camaraderie and collaboration exhibited by the entire class was astounding,” says Hutchinson.