Seven Lake County schools were recently designated as Five Star Schools by the Florida Department of Education for the 2011-2012 school year.

Principals from Clermont Elementary, Grassy Lake Elementary, Lost Lake Elementary, Sawgrass Bay Elementary, Seminole Springs Elementary, Sorrento Elementary and Treadway Elementary School were congratulated at this week’s meeting of the Lake County School Board for receiving the Five Star School Award.

“It’s a very nice honor because it shows the partnership between the parents, school and community working together in the best interest of students,” said Rhonda Hunt, Principal at Lost Lake Elementary.

The Five Star School Award was created by the Commissioner of Education’s Community Involvement Council and is presented annually to those schools that have shown evidence of exemplary community involvement, which plays a vital role in the success of schools and students’ ability to learn, dream and achieve. In order to earn Five Star School recognition, a school must show documentation that it has achieved 100 percent of the established criteria in the categories of:

· A school must have double the number of volunteer hours compared to the number of students enrolled

· Achieve 100 percent of the criteria in each of the five categories of Business Partnerships, Family Involvement,  
   Volunteers, Student Community Service and School Advisory Councils, as defined by the Florida Department of Education

· Have a school grade of “C” or above; and

· Also have a portfolio that documents the achievement of each criterion.

According to the Florida Department of Education’s website (fldoe.org), 821 schools across the state received Five Star School Awards for the 2011-2012 school year.