Sanford school leaders report lower absences, rising test readiness; district details multimillion-dollar campus projects

Jamie Washington, ninth-grade principal at Edward Blackshear Ninth Grade Center, told the Sanford monthly community meeting that the campus has cut disciplinary incidents and improved supports, saying, “we have been doing an amazing job of getting our discipline data down. We're about 40% reduced from this year compared to last year.”

The decline in discipline incidents was matched by administrators at Seminole High School’s main campus, where Cindy Carlton, assistant principal, credited a reimplementation of the district’s attendance enforcement (referred to at the meeting as “credit denial”) with a notable drop in excessive absences. Carlton said last year about 18.5% of students had more than 10 unexcused absences at midyear; this year that figure was 10% at the same point. “With this reimplementation, credit denial has been probably the most positive thing that we've seen on our campus,” she said.

Why it matters: Administrators linked improved attendance and behavior to better academic outcomes and readiness for graduation. Carlton reported that the school’s Operation Graduation interventions increased the share of seniors meeting required concordant scores for graduation from roughly 75% at midyear last year to 85.4% this year; she added that recent district testing produced 22 additional seniors who became “grad ready” and 51 juniors who reached concordant thresholds.

District operations also presented a list of planned and ongoing capital projects intended to be completed over spring break and the summer. Mark Mullins, assistant superintendent of operations, said work at Seminole High School includes a comprehensive dining renovation, a new health academy fit-out that will include an on-campus ambulance component, a multi‑million-dollar fire alarm upgrade and HVAC control work. Mullins described several dollar figures: a multi‑phase dining renovation described at the meeting as about $5,000,000,000 (as stated), a fire alarm improvement approaching $3,000,000, HVAC controls near $300,000, a new auditorium sound system budgeted at about $50,000, and a chiller replacement at the ninth‑grade center estimated at roughly $750,000.

Mullins also listed work at other Sanford campuses: Sanford Middle (gym floor and bleacher replacement), Crooms Academy (field lighting and field reconstruction and dining facility improvements), Winkel (front entrance security improvement) and smaller dining‑facility upgrades at Benton Bay Elementary. He stated that summer and spring break are the district’s primary construction windows to minimize disruption to instruction.

Administrators at other schools reported routine student engagement and events: Markham’s assistant principal Allison Brown described sixth‑grade transition activities and a successful “4 breakfast” recognition event for high‑performing students; Sanford Middle assistant principal Jen Horstin said Sanford Middle’s magnet program received recognition from Magnet Schools of America and that applications for the next year were high (more than 330 applied, 308 were accepted). Horstin said the school is emphasizing targeted interventions for the students not meeting proficiency.

Ending: School and district leaders encouraged families to use spring break for rest while noting the schools’ upcoming benchmark and state testing schedules. Mullins said major facilities projects are intended to be completed for the next school year and that some work is already in final phases.