School Board seeking members of Citizens Advisory Committees

The School Board of Lee County is actively searching for members to join their Citizens Advisory Committees. These committees meet on a regular basis to provide input, support and advice to the board.

There are six committees on which members of the public may serve:

* Construction Advisory Committee

* Continuous Systemic Improvement Advisory Committee

* Curriculum Advisory Committee

* Equity and Diversity Advisory Committee

* Finance Advisory Committee

* District Advisory Council

Anyone interested in serving on one of these committees can fill out an online application at www.leeschools.net/ leadership/school_board/advisory_committee_information by the end of business on Friday, Aug. 14. School Board members will choose and approve new members at one of their following meetings.

Members serve for two years, except for those appointed to the District Advisory Council, whose members serve one-year terms. Members may be appointed to serve additional terms on the same committee.

In appointing members to the Advisory Committees, the School Board shall make every effort to reflect the diversity of the community population whenever possible. In addition, board members will seek to appoint citizens with knowledge and skills that are beneficial to specific committees. All advisory committee meetings are open to the public and will be videotaped and uploaded to the District’s YouTube channel. Each committee shall be subject to the Sunshine Law.

Online applications will be taken continually to be considered for appointments made when vacancies occur throughout the appointment year(s) on each of the committees.

2020 JROTC grads earn $5.4 million in scholarships

Graduating JROTC cadets in the class of 2020 earned $5.4 million in scholarships to continue their education after graduation. The School District of Lee County’s JROTC program is one of the largest in the country, consisting of 15 Army JROTC Programs, more than 7,500 cadets and 80 instructors.

Scholarships were provided by several veteran groups:

The Lee Coast Chapter (Fort Myers / Sanibel) of the Military Officer’s Association of America provided five scholarships to the following cadets:

* Suzette Brito, Lehigh Senior High School

* Tommie McBride, Lehigh Senior High School

* Alec Koontz, Fort Myers High School

* Kelli Ahlquist, North Fort Myers High School

* Kelsi Grigas, Mariner High School

The Cape Coral chapter of the MOAA provided three scholarships to the following cadets:

* Isabel Basillis, Cape Coral High school

* Christian Lumadue, Oasis High School

* Garrett Palow, North Fort Myers High School

The local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart provided one scholarship to Cadet Stephanie Trejo, Mariner High School.

The Combat Infantryman’s Association provided one scholarship to Cadet Pablo Gomez, Ida Baker High School.

Don Radke from the Perry Campbell Fund Raising organization provided one scholarship to Howie Aviles, Lehigh Senior High School.

The West Point Society of Southwest Florida provided $1,500 to support County-wide JROTC Activities.

This year the JROTC Cadets contributed over 52,000 hours toward Community Service. Projects included but were not limited to blood drives, food drives, assisting the homeless, clothing and toy collections for battered women’s shelter, visiting veteran’s retirement home, environmental cleanup, Habitat for Humanity and making “Blessing Bags” for first responders to distribute in emergency situations. JROTC Cadets also completed a month-long Food Drive resulting in donation of more than 17,000 food items to Community Cooperative Inc.

The JROTC Programs’ Mission is to Motivate Young People to be Better Citizens.