Sanibel teen gearing up to reopen popular food truckMan arrested for prowling and enticing a child in Fort Myers
SANIBEL Sanibel teen gearing up to reopen popular food truck The Sanibel Sprout, a beloved local spot, is gearing up for a hopeful reopening in mid-March after two years of rebuilding.
FORT MYERS Man arrested for prowling and enticing a child in Fort Myers A concerned citizen flagged down Florida Highway Patrol state troopers in Fort Myers to report an adult man was harassing his daughter, according to authorities.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte Girl Scout earns Gold Award for pet care project A Port Charlotte teenager has earned the prestigious Gold Girl Scout Award.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers couple’s love grows stronger despite Alzheimer’s diagnosis Jeff and Bunny Edwards of Fort Myers celebrated their 41st anniversary, showcasing a love that has grown stronger over the years.
BONITA SPRINGS Harry Chapin Food Bank volunteers deliver food and a smile Food distributions seem so simple but go a long way in changing people’s lives. In Southwest Florida, the need for food is everywhere.
NAPLES Naples man arrested for cocaine trafficking A Naples man is facing a narcotics trafficking charge after deputies say he pitched cocaine out of his vehicle while trying to elude deputies.
SANIBEL Sanibel’s new rangers educate cyclists on path rules and e-bike limits Sanibel is a popular destination for biking enthusiasts, especially during the busy winter season. With over 26 miles of paved paths, the island offers stunning scenery for cyclists.
Cape Coral residents voice concerns over rental noise and rule-breaking Cape Coral is once again buzzing with discussions on short-term rentals.
Exclusive: Collier County Sheriff’s Office using tech to fight traffic congestion Naples is turning to technology to tackle traffic troubles.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers charity loses donation pod after complaint from local realtor Doug Miller and Amy Eldridge watched as their storage pod was towed away, marking the end of an era for their charitable efforts.
dunbar Dunbar’s Southward Village set for affordable housing transformation Southward Village is set to become a new hub for affordable housing as companies prepare to build on the now-empty site.
BABCOCK RANCH Babcock Ranch showcases cutting-edge robot in home construction Neighbors, friends, and students gathered Wednesday morning to witness a groundbreaking event in their community.
FORT MYERS Lee County schools expand garden program to 14 schools The Lee County School District is expanding its farm-to-school garden program to 14 schools, providing fresh ingredients for cafeteria meals.
SANIBEL Gulf dredging raises questions about red tide and beach conditions The beaches of Southwest Florida are a major attraction and a key reason why many visit or move to the area. However, a recent look at the Gulf waters shows a concerning change.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Most Wanted Wednesday: Southwest Florida’s most wanted suspects for February 12, 2025 Here are some of Southwest Florida’s most wanted suspects for Wednesday, February 12, 2025.
SANIBEL Sanibel teen gearing up to reopen popular food truck The Sanibel Sprout, a beloved local spot, is gearing up for a hopeful reopening in mid-March after two years of rebuilding.
FORT MYERS Man arrested for prowling and enticing a child in Fort Myers A concerned citizen flagged down Florida Highway Patrol state troopers in Fort Myers to report an adult man was harassing his daughter, according to authorities.
PORT CHARLOTTE Port Charlotte Girl Scout earns Gold Award for pet care project A Port Charlotte teenager has earned the prestigious Gold Girl Scout Award.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers couple’s love grows stronger despite Alzheimer’s diagnosis Jeff and Bunny Edwards of Fort Myers celebrated their 41st anniversary, showcasing a love that has grown stronger over the years.
BONITA SPRINGS Harry Chapin Food Bank volunteers deliver food and a smile Food distributions seem so simple but go a long way in changing people’s lives. In Southwest Florida, the need for food is everywhere.
NAPLES Naples man arrested for cocaine trafficking A Naples man is facing a narcotics trafficking charge after deputies say he pitched cocaine out of his vehicle while trying to elude deputies.
SANIBEL Sanibel’s new rangers educate cyclists on path rules and e-bike limits Sanibel is a popular destination for biking enthusiasts, especially during the busy winter season. With over 26 miles of paved paths, the island offers stunning scenery for cyclists.
Cape Coral residents voice concerns over rental noise and rule-breaking Cape Coral is once again buzzing with discussions on short-term rentals.
Exclusive: Collier County Sheriff’s Office using tech to fight traffic congestion Naples is turning to technology to tackle traffic troubles.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers charity loses donation pod after complaint from local realtor Doug Miller and Amy Eldridge watched as their storage pod was towed away, marking the end of an era for their charitable efforts.
dunbar Dunbar’s Southward Village set for affordable housing transformation Southward Village is set to become a new hub for affordable housing as companies prepare to build on the now-empty site.
BABCOCK RANCH Babcock Ranch showcases cutting-edge robot in home construction Neighbors, friends, and students gathered Wednesday morning to witness a groundbreaking event in their community.
FORT MYERS Lee County schools expand garden program to 14 schools The Lee County School District is expanding its farm-to-school garden program to 14 schools, providing fresh ingredients for cafeteria meals.
SANIBEL Gulf dredging raises questions about red tide and beach conditions The beaches of Southwest Florida are a major attraction and a key reason why many visit or move to the area. However, a recent look at the Gulf waters shows a concerning change.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Most Wanted Wednesday: Southwest Florida’s most wanted suspects for February 12, 2025 Here are some of Southwest Florida’s most wanted suspects for Wednesday, February 12, 2025.
In this Wednesday, May 3, 2017 photo, students arrive at Walter Reed Middle School in Los Angeles. Parents were shocked earlier this year when they learned the school would no longer qualify for the additional staffing due to an uptick in its white student enrollment. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) LOS ANGELES (AP) After volunteering at her children’s Los Angeles middle school for nearly a decade, Carol Convey was told the number of teachers suddenly would be cut. The problem? The school now had too many white students. To Convey, the diverse, multiethnic community looked no different from before, so she began to wonder whether her neighbors had changed, or only how they identified on paper. The question has sparked a lively debate in the country’s second-largest school district, which under a decades-old court settlement aimed at desegregation provides additional staffing when more than 70 percent of students hailing from the surrounding neighborhood are not white. Across the country, school districts have long grappled with desegregation and pursued a range of policies including changing boundaries, opening magnet schools and focusing resources on campuses with nonwhite students. In Los Angeles, parents were shocked earlier this year when they learned Walter Reed Middle School – known for its honors program, specialized learning academies and diverse student body of 1,600 – would no longer qualify for the additional staffing due to an uptick in its white student enrollment. District officials could not pinpoint a reason for the demographic shift, which dates back two years. But some parents doubt there is much change, adding they have friends who didn’t put down their children’s heritage on school forms fearing they could be labeled English learners and subjected to additional testing. Now, these parents are being encouraged to change how they answered questions about their children’s race and ethnicity to more fully reflect their background – and Convey said more than a dozen people have voiced interest in doing so. “They have a perception that maybe I need to skirt it, hide it, not share it, because it may work against me in some way,” said Convey, founder of a parent group that supports the school. “We have had to educate and say, ‘No, no, no people. Our funding depends on us being so different, so let’s write it down. Let’s tell everyone. Let’s celebrate this.'” The discussion underscores the critical role race plays in education decisions even though the questionnaires used to determine identity often feel inadequate or confusing to those filling them out. It also suggests some parents may answer the forms based on what they think will most help their children, choosing to focus on or de-emphasize parts of their identity. Thomas A. Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said he does not know parents who deliberately skew their answers on enrollment forms, but the incentive to do so exists in the Los Angeles Unified School District since white students have a better shot at getting into some magnet schools aimed at desegregation. About three-quarters of Los Angeles Unified’s students are Latino, and fewer than 10 percent identify as white, according to district data. That’s a marked shift from 1978, the year the district proposed a court settlement to desegregate its schools, which at the time were 39 percent Latino and 30 percent white. As a result, the majority of Los Angeles Unified schools today – 88 percent – receive the additional staffing to keep classes smaller, district statistics show. Every year, a handful of schools lose or gain staffing when their demographics shift. District officials, however, said they don’t think parents lie about their children’s race or ethnicity, but rather the data taken over two years reflects changes in the surrounding neighborhood or in how many children attend local schools. “I think people are proud of their identity,” said Greg McNair, the district’s chief business and compliance counsel. “People like who they are, want to be who they are (and) don’t want to pretend they’re someone else.” In response to the parents’ uproar, the district has rejigged funding to save all but one of the teachers the school would have lost because of the data shift, he said. In the meantime, parents are planning to educate families at Reed about the enrollment forms and urge those who may have omitted information when they signed up their children for elementary school to make changes now. They hope the school’s demographic data will then shift back, renewing Reed’s eligibility for the desegregation program. So far, several parents have asked to review their enrollment paperwork at the school, said Barbara Jones, a district spokeswoman. Reed parent Veronica Gonzalez said she can see why parents might find the forms confusing. When asked if her child was Hispanic, she checked yes, but in a subsequent question about race, she didn’t know what to answer so she crossed out one of the other checkboxes and wrote in “Hispanic.” Parents inherently seek to do what they believe is best for their children but often lack information about how this data is used, said Lisa Garcia Bedolla, professor at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education. “We treat this like bureaucratic record keeping, but the reality is, what you are choosing matters,” she said.