WEEk OF AUGUST 16, 2023
VOLUME 61, NUMBER 39
Board ponders pay for elected superintendent By MEGHAN BRADBURY
news@breezenewspapers.com
The Lee County School Board agrees: A market analysis report is needed before it can decide how much an elected superintendent should be paid. “I think that a market rate analysis is appropriate to determine what salary feels appropriate,” Board Member Chris Patricia said at a recent meeting. “A market analysis gives us a specific number.” The board also suggested including other elected official salaries in the county as part of the analysis. Lee County voters approved a change from an appointed superintendent to an elected superintendent via a referendum in November. The measure — which was placed on the ballot by the State See SUPERINTENDENT PAY, page 18
School resumes on islands as students begin new year By TIFFANY REPECKI
S
trepecki@breezenewspapers.com
tudents returned to The Sanibel School on Aug. 10, kicking off the start of their new year. “The first day was wonderful,” new Principal Jennifer Lusk said. See SCHOOL RESUMES, page 20
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The Sanibel Fire and Rescue District reminded motorists to “Slow Down, School's Back In Session” last week as School District of Lee County students returned to class, including at The Sanibel School. SANIBEL FIRE AND RESCUE DISTRICT
SCCF: Record number of nighttime turtle encounters The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation reported that staff had 406 nighttime sea turtle encounters on Sanibel as of Aug. 8 as part of the sea turtle program's nighttime tagging project — almost double the number of encounters documented last year and a new record for the island. From May through July, SCCF's nighttime tagging team conducts nightly, sunset-to-sunrise beach patrols in search of nesting sea turtles. Of the 406 females encountered this year, 222 were unique individuals, compared to 125 in 2022. This year also broke the previous record for the number of unique individuals
encountered, which was set in 2020 when the team saw 188 unique individuals. “During night patrols, we check to see if sea turtles have tags. If they don't, we apply a flipper tag and a Passive Integrated Transponder tag to help us track an individual's nesting and movement patterns over time,” sea turtle biologist Savannah Weber said. “We also measure the carapace (back of the shell) of each turtle to obtain useful data, such as growth rates and average size of reproductive maturity.” SANIBEL-CAPTIVA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION
See TURTLE ENCOUNTERS, page 18
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