Autherene Opal Leighvard, Assistant Principal at Pinewood Elementary and Kenya Nelson-Warren, Assistant Principal at Evans High School, alongside Tabitha Brown from Wheatly Elementary were named finalists for the Stellar Awards in January 2022! Congratulations to you all for your outstanding leadership!

Howard Middle: Our first concert of the 2021-22 school year was a success. It was wonderful having Howard families in the building to enjoy the chorus performance.

Lake Como K-8: A big thank you to President Hugh Pinto and his group at the National Sales Network of Orlando for their generous donation to our school. They donated bookbags and essentials to help our students out! We are so grateful for their partnership with Lake Como!

Killarney Elementary: Teachers and students worked on the memorial garden and some of our younger students had the opportunity to plant colorful flowers in the beds that were previously worked on. We are adding a weed mat, so that we can put the mulch down. Then, we can start purchasing vegetables to begin the vegetable portion of our garden.

Thank you to Home Depot on Lee Road and Lowes of Casselberry for your generous donations. Our Memorial Garden looks great! We appreciate all of your support!

Lake Silver Elementary: Our primary students enjoyed a live concert from Jack Hartman {last month}. A few of our teachers even got to get on stage and show off some of their dance moves!

Schools across the district, including our very own Princeton Elementary celebrated Start with Hello week and International Day of Peace last month!

COVID-19 BY THE NUMBERS

As of Wednesday, October 13, 2021, the Florida Department of Health is reporting that Orange County’s 14-day rolling positivity rate is 5.37 percent. Additional County statistics include:

Eligible residents (12+) who have one vaccine dose: 74 percent

Eligible residents (12+) who have completed their vaccination series: 65 percent

Total positive cases for Orange County residents: 230,300

Total deaths in Orange County: 2,126

COVID-19 VACCINE UPDATES: VACCINES MOVE TO BARNETT PARK

Beginning, Saturday, October 9, 2021, Orange County Health Services will move its free drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination site from Camping World Stadium to Barnett Park. Staff at Barnett Park will administer the following vaccines:

Vaccinations will take place seven days a week at Barnett Park unless otherwise noted. To date, Orange County Government has administered more than 1.7 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine throughout the community. For more COVID-19 vaccine information, visit ocfl.net/Vaccines

On Sunday, October 10, 2021, at 5:00 PM, Orange County Health Services permanently closed its free drive-thru COVID-19 testing site at the former Clarcona Elementary.

It is important to know that Orange County Health Services will continue providing free drive-thru testing at Barnett Park and Econ Soccer Complex. Testing will take place seven days a week at both sites unless otherwise noted.

Open daily from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM, or until capacity is reached

No walk-ups, only four (4) persons per vehicle

Open daily from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, or until capacity is reached

No walk-ups, only four (4) persons per vehicle

For additional COVID-19 testing locations, please visit ocfl.net/Testing.

The U.S. Supreme Court ended the CDC Eviction Moratorium on Thursday, August 26, 2021.

If the COVID-19 pandemic has caused your family to struggle with rent, or if you are facing eviction, you are not alone. If your household is behind on rent payments, Orange County’s Emergency Rental Assistance program may be able to help. Eligible residents can receive up to 12 months of past-due rent, and up to one month of future rent, up to a total of $20,000. As of today, $8.5 million have been distributed to keep 1,508 families in their homes.

Residents can visit ocfl.net/RentalAssistance to review program details, required documents, frequently asked questions and to check if their address is eligible.

After each decennial Census, the Legislature redraws the districts from which Florida voters elect their state representatives, state senators, and members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Redistricting” is the redrawing of congressional and state legislative districts to adjust for uneven growth rates in different parts of the state. Districts determine which voters participate in which elections.

“Reapportionment” is the redistribution of seats in the United States House of Representatives among the fifty (50) states, based on the decennial census. Each state gets at least one (1) seat. Effective with elections in 2022, Florida gets twenty-eight (28) representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives, an increase of one (1) from the last decade. Two (2) U.S. Senators represent the entire state.

To learn more about OCPS’ reapportionment process, please navigate to the following links.

Join me and share your input virtually or in-person at our upcoming community meeting for District 6 on Wednesday, November 3 at 6:30 PM at the cafeteria at Edgewater High, located at 310 Edgewater Drive, Orlando, FL 32804.

To learn more about Orange County’s Redistricting process, go to ocfl.net/redistricting.

To view the upcoming construction and maintenance update for this school year, click the image above.