Salma Wehrmeyer Nawlo

After vouchers become law, Polk teachers try to turn up pressure

Days after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping expansion of private-school vouchers, a group of teachers from Polk and other nearby counties held a rally in front of Sen. Ben Albritton's Bartow office on April 1, trying to turn up pressure on Polk's legislators.

Members of Polk's teachers' union, the Polk Education Association, were joined by teachers' unions from Hillsborough and Charlotte counties to show their displeasure for

Polk campuses have seen 6 gun arrests this school year, the latest Tuesday at Haines City

One day after a school shooting in Tennessee killed six people, including three children, the Polk County school district saw its sixth arrest for gun possession on campus this academic year — with two months still to go.

The latest arrest came at Haines City High School on Tuesday morning, when school resource officers Nathaniel Moya and Officer Monica Lozano of the Haines City Police Department, receive

Carol Wynn-Green worked for the state of Florida for nearly 26 years and for Polk County Public Schools for more than 10. She was expecting to retire there.

But in 2021, the 52-year-old equity and compliance analyst, whose job was to investigate allegations of inequities, began to suspect that sexism was at play within her own department. She said a male colleague with less seniority and fewer qualifications was given a 3% raise and a higher position while she and two other women in her departm