Tag: waters edge

Red Sox Sign West Boca’s Zach Schneider

West Boca native Zach Schneider, a pitcher, signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent:

Schneider grew up in the Waterways subdivision of Boca Winds at the far west end of Palmetto Park Road, across the street from his first school, Waters Edge Elementary. He may have attended Loggers’ Run Middle School but we haven’t confirmed that yet. We know he pitched in the summer for the West Boca Snappers.

He moved on to American Heritage Delray, Polk State College (2017 Team MVP) and had an outstanding run at FAU.

We reached out to family and family friends.

So proud of Zach for all his focus and dedication to fulfill his dream since he was a little boy.

Lisa Oken, family friend

Zach was good friends with my daughter throughout elementary school and middle school. I always knew he would make it. He was dedicated to baseball at such a young age, I remember my daughters half-day pool parties – Zach always came late and was always in his baseball uniform! Great kid and an amazing family! Well deserved! Way to go Zach! 

Gail Nobile Field, neighbor and family friend

Schneider had his own comment on Instagram:

We wish him good luck on his journey.

New Principal for Loggers' Run Middle: Edmund Capitano

Edmund Capitano, from his Twitter page
Edmund Capitano, from his Twitter page

The school district announced 13 new principals for schools in the county. Edmund Capitano will take over the helm of Loggers’ Run Middle School after Francis Giblin’s retirement.
Another photo of Ed Capitano from his Twitter page.
Another photo of Ed Capitano from his Twitter page.

Capitano (sometimes called Ed) was most recently principal of Galaxy E3 Elementary School in East Boynton Beach. Galaxy has received press for being environmentally conscious and having a science and engineering focus. The school’s most recent school grades were near the bottom of the county, though their student population is heavily minority and economically disadvantaged.
Ed and his wife Rachel, who is principal at Del Prado Elementary, also in West Boca.
Ed and his wife Rachel, who is principal at Del Prado Elementary, also in West Boca; from her Facebook page.

Before Galaxy, Capitano was a popular science teacher at West Boca High, at least according to RateMyTeachers.com. His wife Rachel is principal at Del Prado Elementary. They are the proud parents of a baby girl, and own a very nice house just off the intracoastal in East Boca.
For those interested in learning and/or following him, see his Edmund Capitano Twitter page.
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In other news affecting West Boca, we mentioned earlier this week on Facebook that Dianne Rivelli-Schreiber of Waters Edge Elementary (west end of Palmetto Park Road) is leaving to take over Calusa Elementary (Clint Moore just west of Military Trail). A replacement for Waters Edge has not yet been announced.
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And Boca High’s Geoff McKee was recently promoted to a regional “instructional superintendent” position. He will be replaced by Vice Principal Suzanne “Susie” King. While Boca High is in East Boca, its zone extends to Powerline between Palmetto Park Road and the county line. Calusa Elementary’s Jamie Wyatt was also promoted. The Sun-Sentinel wrote about those promotions in April.

Teacher of the Year: Waters Edge, Sunrise Park & Sandpiper Shores

This is the first of a series of articles recognizing teacher of the year award winners in West Boca.
The Palm Beach County School District recently held an award ceremony with the Rotary Club of Boca Raton Sunrise to recognize outstanding teachers in Boca Raton schools. The videos are also available in higher resolution on the West Boca News YouTube channel.
Lindsay Ackerman-Conway was named Teacher of the Year at Waters Edge Elementary School, recognized in particular for her work with struggling readers.

Rachel Smith was recognized for Sunrise Park Elementary School, also for her work with the “most challenging students.”

Sandpiper Shores Elementary School chose Kristen Stern, who attended the school as a child.

Thanks to the school district for providing the videos, and our compliments for the excellent production quality of the originals.

Burglaries in Boca Falls & Boca Madera; School on Lockdown

Update: A homeowner in Bayberry (Boca Winds) said she saw two black males in a older white pickup “casing the neighborhood”. They were not young, perhaps in their 30s or 40s, and she saw them two or three times. The location is very close to the Boca Falls burglary in this story and the description seems to match what the homeowner saw when she walked in on the burglars.

Two burglary incidents attracted a lot of attention in the past 24 hours, one yesterday afternoon in Boca Falls and early this morning in Boca Madera.

Mystic Cove in Boca Falls; image by Google
Mystic Cove in Boca Falls; image by Google

Readers alerted us to an incident yesterday in and near Boca Falls at the west end of Glades Road and Palmetto Park Road. Several police cars were seen, some on Glades Road near the Boca Falls entrance with others on or near Palmetto. Readers also saw a police helicopter. We arrived on the scene about an hour later and saw one police car at Palmetto and Riverside along with the helicopter.
One of our readers described the incident as he heard it:

[The homeowner] walked into her house and her house was being robbed! She saw them and they saw her and then they ran out the back and she ran out the front. They did take items from her house. From what she said, they came in by piggybacking through the gate.
Hopefully word will get out and our neighborhood will take precautions and this doesn’t happen again!

Various sources tell us that police were looking for two black males in a white pickup; the pickup “piggy backed” through the gate near Waters Edge Elementary School; Waters Edge went on a “Code Yellow” lockdown for about an hour; and that Boca Falls was already considering measures to improve gate security and this incident is likely to accelerate changes.
The reference to piggy backing is when an unauthorized vehicle follows closely behind an authorized vehicle to get through a gate before it closes.
Another reader forwarded us this notice from Waters Edge Elementary:

Please know that for everyone’s safety, we were on a Code Yellow today from approximately 12:25-1:25 pm due to some unusual activity in Boca Falls– we are now “All Clear”. All students and staff remained in the building and they did a fabulous job following our expectations. We appreciate everyone’s support during this time.

So far there’s no indication as to whether the burglars were caught or not.
We should note that crime maps show incidents like this are rare in gated communities, and West Boca has one of the lowest crime rates in Palm Beach County and South Florida.

Boca Madera entrance; image by Google
Boca Madera entrance; image by Google

Early this morning there was a burglary in the Boca Madera neighborhood which is on the east side of Jog Road north of Glades near the St. Andrews School. It’s inside the city line but still what we consider West Boca (west of Military Trail). Boca Raton Police notified the community (via Facebook and Twitter) of the incident and warned residents to stay inside.
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Not too long after they followed up with an all-clear notice:
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WPTV reports that two men were arrested after a search was conducted by Boca Raton PD and a PBSO helicopter. We do not see any blotter entries that fit yet, but it was only a few hours ago and usually takes longer than that for them to show up.
Note that the correct spelling of the neighborhood is Boca Madera (Madera is Spanish for wood), not Madeira (a Portuguese wine).

Olympic Heights and Loggers Run Winners

Students of the Olympic Heights SECME team competed at the District Olympiad that was held at Santaluces High School on Saturday, March 28th. Meanwhile two Logger’s Run Middle School students won awards at the 2015 State of Florida Science and Engineering Fair.
SECME stands for “Science, Engineering, Communication, Mathematics and Enrichment”, though originally it was “Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering.” The Olympic Heights SECME team was the defending champion, and needed to place in almost every one of the 8 categories in order to retain their title. The team worked hard on the design and building of their projects, and they are very energized by their decisive victory at the event.
The OH SECME team is mostly comprised of students from the Engineering Academy with the majority from the class of 2015. This was a great way for the current seniors to finish their high school career, and now the team next year has a lot to live up to!
The following are the results of the competition:
Essay – 1st Place (Sarah Curtis), The winning essay will go to Nationals in summer 2015.
Banner – 1st Place (Jennifer Coelho and George Tripp with help from rest of the SECME team)
Poster – 1st Place (George Tripp)
Brain Bowl – 3rd Place (Daniel Baum, Garrett Goode, Jennifer Coelho, and Samantha Jairam)
Generator – 3rd place (Daniel Baum, Vincent Santano, and David Gebka)
Bridge – 3rd Place (Vincent Santano, Emily Lyn, and Garrett Goode)
Mouse Trap Car – 2nd AND 3rd Place (David Gebka, Ryan Dingman, Vincent Santano, Jennifer Coelho, Sarah Fine, Shayna York)

From Logger’s Run, Anam Ahmed’s project, “GMO: Yes or No?” earned her a 2nd place award at the state Science and Engineering Fair. Tesla Radulovic’s “The Goldbach Conjecture” won a 5th place award. That’s some pretty serious math per Wikipedia.
Last month we reported on the success of the Waters Edge SECME team as well.
And for all the whiners at Eagles Landing who are complaining, yes, we did cover you, on the West Boca News Facebook page.
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