OKEECHOBEE — Superintendent Dylan Tedders opened the Okeechobee County School Board meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10, by honoring those who helped make the Employee of the Year banquet, held on Friday, Nov. 8, such a successful event. The employee of the year banquet is normally held in February and Tedders wanted to give a special thank you to everyone for working so hard under the pressure of having to organize such a big event in a lot less time than they had in previous years. Superintendent Tedders also explained that the reason they decided to host the event earlier this year is so that the district winners would have time to get all of their information ready for state competitions.

OKEECHOBEE — The OHS JROTC students who presented the flag at the Employee of the Year banquet were honored at the Nov. 10 meeting of the …

The first honored at the meeting were the platinum sponsors of the banquet and they are: The Gilbert Family of Companies and Florida Credit Union. Others honored at the meeting include the other sponsors such as the gold, silver, and bronze levels; as well as the companies who donated the door prizes for the event; the students from the OHS Honor Society and OHS Beta Club who worked at the event doing things such as waiting tables and serving drinks; the students from OHS Journalism who photographed the event; More 2 Life Ministries for allowing the use of their building for the event; the OHS JROTC students for the presentation of the United States flag; the FFA students and their sponsors who served the meal; the school board staff; and the OHS student who sang the national anthem.

OKEECHOBEE — The OHS FFA students who worked the Employee of the Year Banquet were honored at the Okeechobee County School Board meeting on Dec. …

The next order of business was recognizing the students who placed in the Art in the Capital competition as well as their teacher Angela Jones. Superintendent said of  Jones, “The truest thing about a teacher is whenever you’re able to see the talent they pull out of their kids and she has shown every year that she has been able to have students produce beautiful work and some of them even end being displayed in the senate.”

OKEECHOBEE — The first-third place winners of the of the Art in the Capitol competition were honored at the Okeechobee County School Board meeting …

This year’s theme was explained as to imagine you are looking at a small piece of Okeechobee zoomed in, as though through a microscope. The first place winner was eighth grader Alana Padgett who drew a picture of a cow. The second place winner was eighth grader Leah Bourque who drew a small portion of the lake depicting it’s different levels. The third place winner was eighth grader Aleyah Rodriguez who drew a portion of an alligator.

Angela Jones spoke very highly of her students stating, “We’ve got some really awesome talent in Okeechobee and I’m so blessed to have them show up in my classroom every year. Their creative level is not something you teach, a lot of is ingrained, you just have to coax it out of them.”

The winner of each district will be submitted to a state representative and then taken to Tallahassee where the artwork will hang in the capitol for a year. A copy of the artwork of the first, second and third place winners of Okeechobee will also be on display in the Okeechobee County School Board building.

After the honors and recognitions the board moved on to more serious matters such as the expulsion of an eighth grade student at Yearling Middle School for a minimum of 180 school days. The student in question violated a level two offense of the Okeechobee Student Code of Conduct - weapons possession. This is the student believed responsible for the handgun found in a bathroom stall on Nov. 14 by another student at Yearling Middle School. The board approved the expulsion of this student for a minimum of 180 school days. The students parents have been advised of their options of alternative education going forward.

Superintendent Tedders gave some special shoutouts to all of the schools in the district for collecting food items for the community. Across the district over 20,000 pounds of non-perishable food items were collected for the community! He also acknowledged that nine out of 10 schools in the district were awarded mini-grants from the Okeechobee Education Foundation earlier in the day.

District offices and schools will close on Monday, Dec. 23 and will reopen on Monday, Jan 6, 2025.