Polk County Public Schools
Twenty-seven Polk schools have received the prestigious Five Star School designation from the Florida Department of Education. The Five Star Award is given to schools for community service and community involvement efforts by including family, volunteers, school advisory councils and business partners.
Schools compiled and submitted portfolios documenting and quantifying community service work and activities from the 2007-2008 school year for the Five Star Award.
The 27 schools are the most Polk schools named since the beginning of the Five Star Program in the 1997-1998 school year.
Four Polk schools, Inwood Elementary, Lake Gibson Middle, Lawton Chiles Middle and North Lakeland Elementary have been named Five Star for twelve consecutive years since the inception of the program. Frostproof Elementary, Jesse Keen Elementary (Lakeland) and Sikes Elementary (Lakeland) earned the distinction for the first time this year.
2008 Five Star Schools listed by community:
Auburndale: Caldwell Elementary, Lena Vista Elementary
Babson Park: Dale R. Fair Babson Park Elementary
Bartow: Bartow Elementary Academy, Bartow High, Bartow International Baccalaureate
Eagle Lake: Pinewood Elementary
Eloise: Snively Elementary
Frostproof: Frostproof Elementary
Lake Wales: Janie Howard Wilson Elementary, McLaughlin Middle, Spook Hill Elementary
Lakeland: Blake Academy, Dixieland Elementary, George Jenkins High, Lake Gibson Middle, Jesse Keen Elementary, Lawton Chiles Middle, Lincoln Avenue Academy, Medulla Elementary, North Lakeland Elementary, Padgett Elementary, Rochelle School of the Arts, Sikes Elementary, Wendell Watson Elementary
Winter Haven: Brigham Academy, Inwood Elementary
Polk Schools Five Star History
Number of Schools Named
2008 - 27
2007- 25
2006 - 22
2005 - 21
2004 - 24
2003 - 22
2002 - 23
2001 –19
2000 - 20
1999 - 19
1998 - 18
1997 – 13
Five Star Schools According to Number of Times Named from 1997 through 2008
TWELVE YEARS
Inwood Elementary, Lake Gibson Middle, Lawton Chiles Middle Academy, North Lakeland Elementary
ELEVEN YEARS
Dale R. Fair Babson Park Elementary, Janie Howard Wilson Elementary, Rochelle School of the Arts
TEN YEARS
Bartow Elementary Academy, Bartow High, Bartow IB, Brigham Academy, Caldwell Elementary
EIGHT YEARS
George Jenkins High, Hillcrest Elementary-Lake Wales, Lena Vista Elementary
SEVEN YEARS
Blake Academy, Lincoln Avenue Academy, Padgett Elementary, Pinewood Elementary, Wendell Watson Elementary, Snively Elementary
SIX YEARS
Floral Avenue Elementary-Bartow
FIVE YEARS
Highland City Elementary, Lakeland High, Padgett Elementary
FOUR YEARS
Lake Gibson High-Lakeland, Dixieland Elementary
THREE YEARS
Denison Middle-Winter Haven, McLaughlin Middle, Spook Hill Elementary
TWO YEARS
Auburndale High, Boswell Elementary-Auburndale, Gibbons Street Elementary-Bartow, Medulla Elementary, Southwest Elementary-Lakeland
ONE YEAR
Bethune Academy-Haines City, Eagle Lake Elementary, Frostproof Elementary, Jesse Keen Elementary, Karen M. Siegel Academy – Lake Alfred, Kathleen Elementary-Lakeland, Polk Avenue Elementary-Lake Wales, R. Bruce Wagner Elementary-Lakeland, Sikes Elementary, Socrum Elementary-Lakeland, Southwest Middle-Lakeland, Valleyview Elementary-Lakeland, Winston Elementary-Lakeland
Contact Margaret Ann Wheeler, senior coordinator of community involvement, at (863) 534-0636 for further information on the Five Star Awards.
