Polk County Public Schools

Master Key Awards, Maps In Schools Project

July 8, 2010

Master Key Awards Honor ESE Teachers

Four Polk teachers were recipients of the school district’s 2009-2010 Master Key Awards for making significant contributions working with special needs and exceptional student education (ESE) students. They were honored at a school board meeting and received a pewter tray and $100 in gift certificates from local retailers. The Master Key Awards are sponsored by Tampa Electric.

Master Key Award winners are listed with their teaching locations and specializations:

• Carrie Frederick, Lakeland’s Socrum Elementary, speech and language therapist.
  
• Sandra M. Hester, works at schools in the northeast area of Polk, academic behavioral support teacher, working with students with behavioral problems.
  
• Cindy Holmes, works at schools in the southwest area of Polk, teacher to the deaf and hard of hearing.
  
• Lyndsey Williams, works at schools in the southeast area of Polk, academic behavioral support teacher, working with students with behavioral problems.

Presentation To Lakeland High Launches Maps In Schools Project

Five organizations partnered to present a map to Lakeland High this summer as part of the “Maps In Schools Project.” The project hopes to place geologic maps of time and terrain in local schools as ways of encouraging interest and curiosity in science and geology. The maps are placed in prominent places in schools. The Maps In Schools Project is a program of the Southeastern Geological Society, the Florida Geologic Survey, the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, the United States Geological Survey and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

The groups made the map presentation to Lakeland High principal Tracy Collins. In addition to the map, the presentation also included educational materials to be used by students. The map will be displayed in Lakeland High’s library media center. This is the first map to be donated in Polk County in the project. The groups hope to make more map donations in Polk schools in the fall. The groups also hope to immediately expand the project to schools in Hillsborough, Orange and Seminole counties and eventually expand the Maps In Schools Project to all of Florida’s 67 counties.

The map donated to Lakeland High is being relocated from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection office in Homeland, Fla. and is a U.S. map. The map is being donated to Lakeland High in memory of alumnus Thomas Earl Jackson, a 1967 Lakeland High graduate who died on December 26, 2009. Thomas was a renowned local geologist who worked on the restoration of the Kissengen Spring in the Peace River near Bartow. A brass plaque remembering Thomas will be affixed to the map being donated to Lakeland High, his alma mater.