First it was their airport, now the Avon Park City Council is looking to turn over managament of the city’s community center. Council members last night voted to let the Heartland Cultural Aliance take over management of the facility.
Now to be known as the Community & Cultural Center, HCA members will operate the building, taking care of rental and maintenence of the facility. Spokeswoman Gaylin Thomas said the action will cemement the "Cultural Hub" of The City of Charm – pointing to the nearby Depot Museum and the Avon Park branch of the countywide library system as part of a complex.
The HCA already operates the Peter Paul Roberts Museum of Art on the top floor of the center.
The Florida Department of Education has released its school grades for the past school year. Highlands county overall got a straight "C" under the current standards – a grade that has not changed for years. Hardee and Polk also scored "C" grades.
Under the standards, a grade of "C" is between 33 and 49-percent out of 100.
Locally, only Woodlawn, Cracker Trail, and Sun ‘N Lake elementary had "B" scores.
The numbers represent Florida’s first-in-the-nation transition to using progress monitoring instead of traditional high stakes testing.