Pictured from left to right, Mark Grossenbacher, Englewood Elementary; Steve Dragon, Southside Elementary; Jack Turgeon, Venice High; David Jones, McIntosh Middle; Wendy Katz, who will serve as acting principal at Tatum Ridge Elementary starting in November; Pamela Buchanan, Gocio Elementary; Kathy Wilks, Brookside Middle; and John Weida, Brentwood Elementary. Weida served as Brentwood’s acting principal last year.

Newly appointed principals at several schools, new start and end times at three schools and other changes awaited students when the 2010-11 school year got under way in Sarasota County public schools.

The principals will lead Englewood Elementary (Mark Grossenbacher, former assistant principal at Sarasota Middle), Gocio Elementary (Pam Buchanan, former principal of Englewood Elementary), Southside Elementary (Steve Dragon, former principal of Gocio Elementary), Brookside Middle (Kathy Wilks, former assistant principal at North Port High), McIntosh Middle (David Jones, former assistant principal at Sarasota High) and Venice High (Jack Turgeon, former principal of Brookside Middle).

John Weida, who served last year as acting principal of Brentwood Elementary, has been named that school’s principal. Wendy Katz, a former principal who currently leads the district’s Leadership Development Program to identify and train new administrators, will begin serving as acting principal of Tatum Ridge Elementary in November when current principal Sandra Russell retires.

The schools with new start and end times are Brookside Middle and Venice Middle/Oak Park South, which will now be in session from 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., and Gulf Gate Elementary, which will observe new student hours of 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Other changes around the school district include the following:

• Ashton Elementary in Sarasota has a new sign out front featuring the school’s astronaut mascot, Astro, symbolizing that Ashton students are, in the words of the school’s motto, “Reaching for the Stars.” The school also has new carpeting in the library and main hallway. New signage with character education messages is now located throughout the campus.  
• At Englewood Elementary, there are new welcome banners on the light poles outside the front office, new flooring in the cafeteria and new furniture in the media center.
• New roundabouts installed by Sarasota County Government on Honoré Avenue near Fruitville Elementary in Sarasota will change the traffic flow leading to the school, which is located between Fruitville Road and Bahia Vista streets. The roadwork is scheduled to be completed by the Friday morning before the first day of school, but motorists are urged to exercise caution with the new traffic pattern. More information about the roundabouts and a temporary detour, in place until Friday morning, is available at the school’s website at www.SarasotaCountySchools.net/Fruitville
• Families of Glenallen Elementary in North Port will see the completion of a four-year renovation, including the interior remodeling of all classrooms and computer labs and the removal of 12 portable classrooms from the campus.
• Toledo Blade Elementary students will see renovated classrooms throughout the campus. Missing from the North Port school will be more than 50 portable classrooms, which were removed to make way for the creation of athletic fields.
• At Laurel Nokomis School in Nokomis, the district’s only K-8 school, parents now have the option of purchasing school uniforms for their students. The voluntary uniform shirts are polo-style and feature the school’s logo.
• Students at Booker High in Sarasota will start to see changes in their campus this year as part of a three-year rebuild of the school. The project will begin with the demolition of one of the school's oldest buildings, the former Amaryllis Park Elementary School, to make room for the re-routing of Orange Avenue along the east side of the campus. Construction of new campus buildings will start in early 2011. The history of Booker High School and Amaryllis Park Elementary School is being preserved through videotaped interviews with former students and staff. Displays planned for the new campus will include the videotaped memories and memorabilia.
• Motorists driving to Booker High should note that access to Myrtle Street from Washington Boulevard (U.S. 301) is temporarily blocked due to work on U.S. 301 that is unrelated to the school rebuild. Drivers must turn on 35th Street (just south of Myrtle Street) and follow the detour signs to BHS. Myrtle at 301 is expected to reopen in late September or early October.
• The rebuild of Venice High has begun. The preliminary site work is under way. New parking and traffic patterns will be complete by the beginning of school. Construction of the new academic building and cafeteria will start in September.
• The Cyesis program for pregnant teens, young parents and their children has moved from its old location at Beneva and Wilkinson roads to Riverview High in Sarasota. Students in that program are now RHS students. The former home of Cyesis now houses YMCA Triad, an alternative school.

News about back-to-school events, including student orientation and meet-the-teacher opportunities, is available at individual school websites, which are accessible from the district website at www.SarasotaCountySchools.net/schools.aspx  

Information about bus routes and back-to-school bus safety reminders for motorists and students are available at www.SarasotaCountySchools.net/transportation