Brevard Public Schools (BPS) receive five of the state’s ten 2010 Florida Power-Library Schools (FPLS) Awards. The schools being recognized are Astronaut High School, Palm Bay High School, Roy Allen Elementary School, Saturn Elementary School and Sea Park Elementary School. This statewide recognition is awarded to schools that involve their school faculty members in developing and implementing outstanding library media programs, focused on student achievement. These five new FPLS awardees join the 11 Brevard schools who received the FPLS award in 2009; Apollo Elementary School, Atlantis Elementary School, Audubon Elementary School, Cocoa Beach Jr/Sr High School, Harbor City Elementary School, McNair Magnet, Meadowlane Primary, Ocean Breeze Elementary School, Ralph M. Williams Elementary School, Suntree Elementary School, and Viera HS.
The Florida Power-Library Program is based on the Colorado Power Libraries Program that highlights schools with a collaborative approach to improving student achievement. Their participating schools have libraries that meet specific guidelines for either Developing or High Performance library media programs. Developing libraries work toward High Performance status through a carefully planned year of training and mentoring. The High Performance librarians act as mentors to other schools. Based on the FPLS reviewers’ evaluations, the winning schools’ library media programs received excellent scores in the following components: Instruction, Curriculum/Assessment, Resource Management, Program Administration, Environment and Advocacy.
The schools will receive a banner, and the administrator and library media specialist(s) will receive lapel pins to recognize their success. The FPLS award is valid for a period of three years. During that time, the schools have agreed to mentor other schools from around the state in their quest to develop quality library media programs.
The formal presentation of the FPLS award will be made at the Opening General Session of the Florida Association of Supervisors of Media (FAME) Conference on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010.