Board meeting highlights (May 14, 2024)
Posted on 05/14/2024
The School Board of Orange County held its regularly scheduled board meeting at 5 p.m. at the Ronald Blocker Educational Leadership Center. These are the highlights:
Strategic Plan Update – OCPS and Outcomes-Based Contracting
The Division of Strategy presented on outcome-based contracting. This plan provides framework to empower OCPS to contract for clear student outcomes while striving for mutual accountability between the vendor, school district, and schools, ensuring good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
Changes regarding administrative personnel
Superintendent Maria Vazquez introduced the following new administrators:
Danielle Anne Brancato, principal, Lake Gem Elementary
Takia Curt Tis Chiles, assistant principal, University High
Carmen Duvina Dottavio, principal, Lancaster Elementary
Teresa Robin King, principal, Rock Springs Elementary
Roberta Maria Montijo, assistant principal, University High
John Stiles Williams, principal, Wetherbee Elementary
Alexander Stubenbort, principal, Discovery Middle
Michelle Carralero, principal leader, Elementary Schools
Kimberly Hankerson, principal leader, Elementary Schools
School Board recognitions – View meeting photos
Freedom High senior and Super Scholar
Super Scholar Sharanya Chatterjee has numerous academic accomplishments, including; Perfect scores on both the SAT and ACT, National Merit Scholar, three-time recipient of the Gold Presidential Volunteer Award, and two-time National Gold Medal winner for the nation’s highest score on her Royal Conservatory of Music woodwind instrument exam. She earned a 5 on at least 15 AP exams and is one of only 161 high school seniors who have been named 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholars by President Biden. She’s been recognized by the College Board for perfect scores in AP Calculus BC, AP English Language and Composition, and AP Computer Science A Exam. Sharanya has been accepted to Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She plans to attend Columbia to study Computer Science and Applied Mathematics.
Timber Springs Middle School heroine
Timber Springs Middle Program Assistant Janira Arroyo assisted sixth-grader Calvin Obura, during lunch last month when piece of food was lodged in Calvin’s throat. Janira heroically cleared Calvin’s airway using first-aid techniques, which ultimately saved his life.
Leadership Orange’s Class 13 graduates - The Leadership Orange program, developed by the Public Relations department, has become a tremendous incubator for community involvement. In our communities and within multiple business circles, the program has created informed advocates on the important subject of public education in Central Florida.
Graduates in attendance: Kimberly Adamski - Francisco Alvarado - Cindy Barron - Ella Bouriak - Melissa Brooks - Francisco Cardoza - Sarah Carlson - Kelly Crumbaker - Michelle Foley - Sara Gonzalez - Diane Hubner - Patricia Martins Viana Teixeira - Sally McArthur - Chad McClellan - Jake Petroski - Stacey Rauso - Stefanie Steele - Jovanne Williams
Future Problem Solvers winners - Each of the individual and team champs found ways to make improvements or overcome challenges with autonomous vehicles. They all successfully identified challenges from a futuristic scenario and developed an action plan to solve problems.
Winners: Freedom High: senior Sharanya Chatterjee - freshmen Ava Gutierrez - Sakshi Tripathy - Hunter’s Creek Middle: eighth graders Senuth Amarasekera - Cooper Terrell -
Former Hunter’s Creek Middle student and NeoCity Academy: freshmen Derrick Tayler -
Windy Ridge K-8: sixth graders Annika Hsu - Gianna Pereira - fifth graders Natalie Salmon -Mera Alnawaiseh
Florida 4-H Public Speaking competition winners - Fourth through eighth-grade students select a topic that interests them during the competition.
Winners: Bay Meadows Elementary fifth-grader Shravya Cheripalli and Water Spring Middle seventh grader Samantha Hasty, won first place during the Florida 4-H Public Speaking competition in April.
Math Olympics winners - The three-part contest was aligned with fifth-grade math standards and provided students with an opportunity to learn and study various math concepts.
Winners: Orlando Gifted Academy: third grader Ben Kaplan - fourth grader Craig Walls - fifth graders Henry Ho - Khang Nguyen - Wyatt May - Dylan Ramlachan.
Spring 2024 Sports Champions
2024 Florida Dairy Farmers Academic All-State Team - Apopka High: senior Ethan Krokes - Olympia High: senior Madden Bourst
Apopka High Girls Tennis Team - FHSAA Class 4A State academic champions team GPA 4.0: freshman Amariah Wonder Covington - sophomores Carlota Alvarez-Cascos Roig - Sophia Taylor - juniors Olivia Kohnen - Isabel Lash-Diaz - senior Gracey Burchfield
Boone High Boys Tennis Team - FHSAA Class 4A State academic champions team GPA 3.9: freshmen Randy Ariko - Landon Maier - sophomores Oliver Bittakis - William Jacobson - Rodrigo Sanchez - Jonathan Solik - Austin Ursic - Sen Yang - senior Rexford Ursic
Basketball: Dr. Phillips High School Girls Team 2024 Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Basketball FHSAA Class 7A - senior Trinity Turner
2024 Florida Dairy Farmers Overall Basketball Coach of the Year FHSAA Class 7A
Dr. Phillips High Girls Basketball - Coach Anthony Jones
Tennis: Lake Buena Vista High Boys FHSAA Class 3A Singles and Doubles Tennis state champion - senior Pete Tran - FHSAA Class 3A Doubles Tennis state champion - sophomore Wil Nguyen - Lake Nona High Girls FHSAA Class 4A Double Tennis state champion - senior Eli Said - FHSAA Class 4A Double Tennis state champion - junior Gabi Alamanza
Esports Champions: Dr. Phillips High School Boys Florida High School ESports FASA PlayVS state champions - juniors Addison Stoetzer - Cameron Weeks - Isiah Bien-Aime - Isa Rivera - senior Tommy Lazzaro - Windermere High School Boys ESports team: Florida High School ESports FASA PlayVS state champions - juniors John Bueno - Jhonny Alonso Guajardo Olivos - senior Brandon Gaston Lope
Chess Tournament winners - Nearly 700 students from more than 70 schools throughout the district participated in the tournament this year.
Individual winners: Stone Lakes Elementary: First-place individual winner in the K-2 division - second-grader Nehal Misir - John Young Elementary: First-place tied individual winner in the 3-5 division - fifth-grader Minh Do - Summerlake Elementary: First-place tied individual winner in the 3-5 division - third-grader Devin He - Orlando Science Academy: First-place individual winner in the middle school division - sixth-grader Aashish Jagan - Lake Nona High: First-place individual winner in the high school division - sophomore Sritej Sattaru
K-2 division team winners: Dommerich Elementary: First-place K-2 division team winners - first-graders Callie Wurtzel - Calvin Sanders - second-graders Isaac Agudelo - Reid Layden - Dylan Dawkins - Arjun Shinde - Isaac LeBoeuf
3-5 division team winners: Orlando Gifted Academy: First-place 3-5 division team winners - third-graders Zakariya Khan - David Jocelyn - fourth-graders Craig Walls - Hieu Nguyen - Sofia Orlyanskaya - fifth-graders Joshua Bentley - Weslay Lai - Khang Nguyen - Malcom Suh
Middle School division team winners: South Creek Middle: First-place Middle School division winners - sixth-graders Vahin Patel - Dev Sivaganesh Nagavalli - seventh-graders Dhruvik Patel - Mithrran Sai Prakash - Dragen Bolt - Robert Redgate - Ryan Simendi - Jayson Escalante - eighth-graders Antonio Pell - Hoang Nguyen
High School division team winners: Lake Nona High: First-place High School division winners - freshmen Anikait Gollakoti - Jayden Araujo - sophomores Sritej Sattaru - Aaron Starcher - Fernando Bornia Tabarelli - William Biesnecker - juniors Srijan Ganta - Filipe DaSilva -Kenneth Wu - seniors Ivan Gaponenleo - Christian Carneiro - John P. Carbajal - Ramkumar Navneet - Bhageysh Jethwani
Battle of the Books winners - Media specialists around the state selected 15 books, featuring multiple genres and diversity for kindergarten through twelfth-grade students. This year, student teams from Sunrise Elementary, Windy Ridge K-8 and Edgewater High won the contest.
Elementary winners: Sunrise Elementary: First-place winner - third-graders Hazel Hausaman - Kayleigh Zeller - fourth-grader Meena Persaud - fifth-graders Walker Ethridge - Isabella Liu - Samantha Rivera
Middle/K-8 winners: Windy Ridge K-8: First-place winner - sixth-graders Annika Hsu - seventh-graders Finn Lievi-Goodwin - Luke George - Drew Hollis - Ayan Haider - eighth-grader Khang Cao
High school winners: Edgewater High: First-place winner - sophomore Heidi Cusic - juniors Ally Schlesman - Benjamin Drake - Wildjina Jolteus - seniors Elliana Kirby - Jaxon Reyes
Wyland National Art and Classroom Mural Challenge: Dr. Phillips High sophomore Alisa Andrievskaya represented OCPS with her artwork on the national level. Her gorgeous, colored-pencil drawing of sea life was selected as one of the 2023 winners of the Wyland National Art and Classroom Mural Challenge. Her artwork is titled “Save the Wild,” captures the importance of preserving our planet.