NewsBreak Original

Clay County students return to school Thursday, Aug. 10 and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office is reminding citizens of student pedestrian safety. “It’s important to ensure the safety of our students as they make their way to and from school,” a Clay County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post said.

Welcome back to school Clay County students, now put your cell phone away. Clay County District Schools classrooms, restrooms and locker rooms are now “device free zones” due to updated Florida law.

The Clay County school district allows parents and guardians to receive email alerts for each library book their child checks out, however, only four parents signed up for these alerts during the 2022-2023 school year, the district reported.

Clay County District Schools is opening its newest school, Spring Park Elementary, this year and will welcome approximately 625 students on August 10, the district reported. The school is located at 3530 County Road 315 near the old Rosemary Hill landfill and, according to the “News 4 Clay County” Facebook group, some residents have expressed concerns about the school’s proximity to the old landfill.

Clay County District Schools is requiring that students be registered for bus transportation for the 2023-24 school year. Students must be registered by July 15, 2023. The district requires an up-to-date home address in their Synergy system for children to be placed on a bus route. Additionally, some addresses are not compatible with bus routes.

Twenty-four Clay County schools have earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR certification for superior energy performance. On average, ENERGY STAR certified buildings and plants use 35% less energy, cause 35% fewer greenhouse gas emissions and are less expensive to operate than their peers—all without sacrifices in performance or comfort, according to a Clay County District Schools press release.

As the 2022-23 school year officially comes to a close on Friday, Clay County had one of its most exciting athletic years in recent history. Many athletes will play their sport at the next level across all divisions of athletics. Some will graduate and never play sports again and many athletes will return for their sophomore, junior and senior seasons.

Clay County Athletics held the Clay County District Schools Athletics Awards Show of 2023 at the Thrasher-Horne Performing Arts Center Wednesday night. The award show is a chance for the First-Team All-County athletes across Clay County to be recognized in a significant fashion. The show is very similar to the ESPYS with MCs, guest speakers and a lot of individual and team awards. Student-athletes across 24 sports and all seven Clay County High Schools got a chance to be recognized Wednesday night and presented with an All-County medal. A total of 265 student-athletes were recognized.

A boil water advisory has been lifted as of approximately 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 3, in Green Cove Springs. The advisory was issued Monday, May 1 and an emergency repair to the water distribution system was issued.

The Clay County school board is holding a special meeting Tuesday, April 25, at 10:30 a.m. at the Teacher In-Service Center at Fleming Island High School for the purpose of holding interviews for the position of School Board Attorney.

The Clay County school board unanimously approved moving forward with a proposed policy Thursday that requires students to use restrooms, locker rooms and dressing rooms based on “the sex assigned to that student at birth.”

The Clay County school board is advertising amendments made to its current Library and Media Policy that, if approved, would put many challenged and removed library books back on the shelves.

A Middleburg man says he is primarily responsible for the removal of 288 library books from Clay County’s school shelves and is working to remove more. Bruce Friedman, the father of a high school student and Florida State Chapter president of No Left Turn in Education organization, says books he has challenged account for about 92 percent of Clay County’s challenged library books.

Parent-challenged library books were once again the topic of debate at the Clay County school board meeting last week. A teacher, a parent, a pastor, a professor and a student each weighed in on the discussion.

A sixth-grader from Rideout Elementary school addressed the Clay County school district’s school board Thursday night about his school bus picking him up more than an hour late, or sometimes not at all.

The Art in the Courthouse community outreach effort by the Clay County Clerk and Comptroller’s office announced its latest exhibit that will be on display Feb. 1 through April.

Superintendent David Broskie and leadership from the Clay Education Foundation named Clay County’s top five finalists for School-Related Employee of the Year and Teacher of the Year. They surprised them at each of their school sites on Wednesday.

Clay County District schools closed Thursday in preparation for Tropical Storm Nicole.Clay County District Schools. Clay County District Schools announced Tuesday night that all schools will be closed Thursday in preparation for Tropical Storm Nicole, which is expected to become a hurricane by Wednesday evening.

Clay County District Schools nominated Ridgeview High School’s Principal Becky Murphy and Middleburg Elementary School’s Assistant Principal Amanda Strickland as the 2022-2023 Principal and Assistant Principal of the Year.

Clay County District Schools police sent out a Community Alert on Thursday afternoon about a threat against Middleburg High School. “Clay County District Schools Police are aware that an individual is sharing through AirDrop on Apple's iOS a threat against Middleburg High School. We are investigating this incident and take every threat seriously and have zero tolerance for this behavior,” the community alert on the police department Facebook page said.