Heartland Educational Consortium

🌟 Apply for a Scholarship to the 29th Annual Summer Leadership Conference! Are you ready to Shape & Strengthen your leadership? Here's your chance to attend the 2025 Summer Leadership Conference—for FREE! What the Scholarship Covers: 🎟 Full Conference Registration ($250 value) 🏨 Hotel Accommodations for 2 Nights at the Westin Cape Coral 🍽 All meals and conference perks included! Conference Highlights: 🎤 Keynote by Superintendent Russell Hughes: "EPIC WITH ONE OPPORTUNITY: The Reality of Having One Chance at Anything Great!" 🧠 Engaging breakout sessions and networking opportunities 🎓 Insightful updates and panels, including Florida's 2025 Teacher of the Year 📅 Dates: June 17-18, 2025 📍 Location: Westin Cape Coral at Marina Village 📌 Scholarship Application Deadline: May 14, 2025 Apply now for your chance to experience this dynamic professional learning opportunity! 🔗 Scholarship Application: tinyurl.com/2025slcscholarship

HEC would like to congratulate Angela M. Butts from DeSoto County being named their 2026 District Teacher of the Year. Superintendent Bennett states, "Angela's patience and genuine love for teaching shines through in her personal connections with students, fostering a supportive and nurturing environment where all children can thrive. Angela inspires her colleagues by continuously seeking growth and embracing new ideas and district initiatives. As a grade-level chair, she leads by example, offering guidance, support, and encouragement to her team." #FLTOY2026

🛠️ Non-Instructional Staff – We want to hear from YOU! 💬💼 From tech to transportation, office staff to operations—your voice matters! 🙌 💡 Help shape next year’s services and supports by completing the HEC 2025 Needs Assessment! Your insights help us build a better future for our schools and students. 🌱✨ 🔗 tinyurl.com/2025NonInstructionalNeeds 📸 Or scan the QR code below to get started! 👇 Let’s grow together—every role makes a difference! 💙🏫 #HECStaffVoice #SupportStaffMatters #HEC2025 #WeHearYou

🎯 District & School Leaders – We need YOU! 💬📣 Your voice matters, and we want to hear what you need for the upcoming year! 🙌 📝 Please take a moment to fill out HEC’s 2025 Needs Assessment. It helps us plan impactful support and services tailored just for YOU! 💡✨ 🔗 tinyurl.com/2025LeaderNeeds 📲 Or scan the QR code below 👇 Let’s make 2025 amazing—together! 💪📘🧩 #HECLeaders #SchoolImprovement #LeaderSupport #WeHearYou

🍎 Instructional Staff – We want to hear from YOU! 🗣️📚 Your insights are 🔑 to helping us shape next year’s support, training, and resources! 💡 Let us know what YOU need by filling out HEC’s 2025 Needs Assessment! Together, we can create impactful learning experiences for all. 🌟 📲 tinyurl.com/2025InstructionalNeeds Or scan the QR code below! 📸👇 Let’s build a stronger future—side by side! 💪👩‍🏫👨‍🏫 #HECInstructionalVoice #TeacherSupport #HEC2025 #WeHearYou

🎉 What an AMAZING day at Heartland Educational Consortium! 🙌 Every single member district showed up and showed OUT 💪💻 for our ADA Training on Website & Social Media Accessibility! 🌐📲 From mastering ADA & WCAG compliance to hands-on implementation and live audits, participants are now fully equipped to go back and make sure their digital spaces are accessible to ALL 💬👀👂. We're not just reducing legal risk — we're building a future, one bright website and post at a time. 💙✨ Thank you to everyone who made today such a success! Let's keep pushing for accessibility across every screen and platform. 🚀 #AccessibilityForAll #Heartland #HEC #ADACompliance #WebAccessibility

📣 Calling all CTE Teachers! 📣 Get ready for a day of collaboration, innovation, and planning as we prepare for the 2025-2026 school year! 🔧💼💻 🗓 Date: Tuesday, June 3, 2025 ⏰ Time: 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM 📍 Location: Heartland Educational Consortium 💰 Participants will receive a $150 gross stipend (before taxes). 🚗 Please note: Travel is not covered. Join fellow Career & Technical Education educators to share ideas, align best practices, and strengthen your CTE programs for student success! 🛠️📚🚀 👉 Don’t miss this opportunity to connect and plan with CTE professionals from across the region! #CTETeachers #CTEStrong #HECcollaborates #HeartlandEd #WorkforceReady #CTE2025 #ProfessionalLearning

📣 **Calling all AVID Teachers!** 📣 Join us for a day of collaboration, planning, and inspiration as we prepare for the **2025-2026 school year**! 💡📝🌟 🗓 **Date:** Thursday, June 5, 2025 ⏰ **Time:** 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM 📍 **Location:** Heartland Educational Consortium 💰 **Participants will receive a $150 gross stipend (before taxes).** 🚗 *Please note: Travel is not covered.* Let’s come together to share strategies, build strong AVID systems, and support student achievement through **Advancement Via Individual Determination**! 🤝📚💬 👉 Mark your calendars and get ready to collaborate with passionate AVID educators from across the region! #AVIDTeachers #AVIDStrong #HECcollaborates #HeartlandEd #ProfessionalLearning #StudentSuccess #AVID2025

📣 Calling all Advanced Placement Teachers! 📣 Join us for a day of collaboration, planning, and connection as we gear up for the 2025-2026 school year! 💡📘✨ 🗓 Date: Wednesday, June 4, 2025 ⏰ Time: 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM 📍 Location: Heartland Educational Consortium 💰 Participants will receive a $150 gross stipend (before taxes). 🚗 Please note: Travel is not covered. Let’s come together to share strategies, plan for student success, and strengthen our AP community! 💬📚🤝 👉 Don’t miss out—mark your calendars and get ready to collaborate! #APTeachers #HECcollaborates #HeartlandEd #ProfessionalLearning #PlanWithPurpose #APStrong

Exciting News for Florida Educators! The 2025 New Worlds Reading Initiative Teacher Professional Learning Opportunity is officially LIVE! If you’re a K–5 public school teacher or a VPK lead teacher/aide at a VPK-contracted provider—this is for YOU! Here’s what you need to know:    •   Registration opens April 1st at 9 AM—spots are limited!    •   Grade Bands: VPK-K, 1st-2nd, & 3rd-5th    •   Southwest Region Dates: July 15–16, 2025 (Serves DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Okeechobee, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Indian River, and St. Lucie counties!)    •   Location: Seven Sebring Raceway Hotel (SW Region)    •   $450 stipend + breakfast, lunch, and snacks both days! Register here: https://lastinger.center.ufl.edu/work/literacy/newworldsreading-teacher-pl/ Tag a fellow teacher who needs to see this! Let’s grow together and empower our students through literacy!

🎉 Exciting News! 🎉 Last week, we had the incredible opportunity to connect with partners from across Florida, including PAEC and NEFEC, to share best practices and collaborate on ways to enhance community literacy events. These conversations are vital to strengthening our impact and expanding access to reading opportunities. We were also honored at the New Worlds Reading Annual Retrospective for our efficiency in event requests—earning recognition for the fewest pending events—and for submitting the most applications in the Medium Regional Partner category! A huge thank you to our dedicated districts for making this possible. Your hard work helps bring meaningful literacy events to our communities, and we couldn’t do it without you! 📚👏 #LiteracyMatters #NewWorldsReading #HECAchievement #Collaboration

📚✨ Celebrating Literacy at Memorial Elementary-DeSoto & Everglades Elementary- Okeechobee!✨📚 Closing out February, Memorial Elementary-DeSoto and Everglades Elementary-Okeechobee had fantastic turnouts for the New Worlds Reading Literacy events! 🎉 Families enjoyed a wonderful evening together, complete with dinner, an engaging literacy activity, and the opportunity to sign up for free books to build their home libraries. A big thank you to everyone who participated in making these events a success—because every book in a child’s hands is a step toward a brighter future! 📖💙 #NewWorldsReading #BuildingReaders #FamilyLiteracy #GrowingYoungMinds

📚✨ A fantastic day of collaboration and learning! 📚✨ Literacy Coaches from across the HEC region came together for their third forum of the school year, continuing their deep dive into coaching explicit instruction. The afternoon brought an exciting session on leveraging AI to enhance Question Generation practices, sparking new ideas and strategies to support student learning. Grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow together—can’t wait to see how these insights impact classrooms across the region! 💙💚 #LiteracyCoaching #HECForum #ExplicitInstruction

🎉🎓 It's National School Counseling Week! 🎉🎓 This week (Feb. 3-7, 2025) is all about recognizing the incredible contributions of our school counselors who help students thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. 💙✨ 👏 Join us in celebrating these amazing professionals who empower students every single day! 🌟 Let's show them our appreciation with a big THANK YOU! 🙌💐 #SchoolCounselorsRock #HelpingStudentsThrive #NSCW2025 🏫💛

📚🚧Laying the Foundation for Literacy with HEC!💙💚 This week was Just Read Florida's Celebrate Literacy Week and we were hard at work building strong literacy foundations with over 500 participants joining New World’s Reading Family Literacy Events at : 📚East Elementary 📚Kingsway Elementary 📚Vineland Elementary 📚Avon Elementary Just like a sturdy home starts with a solid blueprint, a lifelong love for reading begins with access to books!🏡 Families gathered to construct their at-home libraries, enjoying meals together while engaging in interactive literacy activities. Each student left with a brand-new book—another brick in the foundation of their reading journey. We’re thrilled to see so many families strengthening their literacy skills and laying the groundwork for future success. Let’s keep building a brighter future, one book at a time!📚💙💚 #newworldsreading #FLCelebratesLiteracy #inhomelibraries

🎉✨ Underground Spirit Week Winners Announced! ✨🎉 A HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in our first-ever Underground Holiday Spirit Week at HEC! 🌟 The creativity and holiday cheer were truly next level. 🎅🎄🎁 🏆 Drumroll, please... 🥁 The winners for each day are: 🎅Daisha Shannon ⭐Jessie Roberts 🎁 Maggie Santana 🧦Stacy Lee 💡 Dawn Rigsbee ⭐Megan Glass 👏 Congratulations to all the winners and participants for spreading holiday cheer! Keep shining your light, HEC family! 🎄✨ #HECSpirit #HolidayFun #UndergroundSpiritWeek 🎅🎁

📢 Calling All Educators in Our Member Districts! 🎤📚 Do you have innovative ideas, success stories, or best practices to share from your school? 🌟 Now's your chance to shine at the 29th Annual Heartland Educational Consortium Summer Leadership Conference! 📅 June 17-18, 2025 📍 Westin Cape Coral at Marina Village ✨ Presenters will have their $250 registration fee waived for up to 2 people if accepted! Don't miss this opportunity to share the amazing things happening in your schools! 📝 Submit your proposal by Friday, February 28, 2025, at 5:00 PM! 🔗 Click here to apply 👉 tinyurl.com/2025slcproposal Questions? 🤔 Contact Stacey Hinson: 📧 stacey.hinson@heartlanded.org 📱 863-531-0444 💡 Let's Shape & Strengthen Together — Your Expertise. Our Stage! 🎉 #HeartlandEd #SummerLeadershipConference #ShareYourStory

✨ Shine bright like a diamond! ✨ It was a “HEC” of a weekend at the 60th Florida Literacy Association Conference, where literacy leaders from DeSoto, Hardee, Hendry, and Highlands Counties came together to learn, share, and grow. 🌟 Keynote Highlights:    •   Dr. Doug Fisher, Dr. Wiley Blevins, and Dr. Tim Shanahan lit up the stage during the general sessions.    •   A memorable Author’s Luncheon with Lester L. Laminack. 💡 Spotlight Session: HEC's Literacy Specialist, Candis Dean, and Highlands Content Specialist, Jenn Sanchez, delivered a powerful presentation: “Beyond Words: Exploring the Impact of Morphology.” Here’s to celebrating literacy and its impact on our students and communities! 💎 #ShineBright #LiteracyMatters #FLA2025 #ShineBright #FLADiamonds

🎶 Calling all music lovers! 🎶 Join us for the 2025 Heartland Honor Band concert! 🎺🎷🎸 Date: Thursday, February 13, 2025 Time: 7:00 PM Location: South Florida State College - Avon Park This is a fantastic opportunity to experience the talent and dedication of young musicians from across our region. Don't miss it! #HeartlandHonorBand #MusicEducation #LiveMusic

Exciting things happening today! ⚡️ Our second AVID Forum of the year is underway! 🎉 In partnership with AVID, teams from Hardee, Highlands, and Okeechobee counties are diving deep into Tier I Instruction. This workshop is guiding educators in clarifying how the WICOR framework can inform Universal Instruction, empowering them to create impactful 90-day action plans. We are excited to learn alongside our member districts and equip our educators with the tools to improve student success! #HeartlandEducationalConsortium #HEC #AVID