News Briefs

+ School Board approves all-boys charter school
The first all-boys school in Manatee County will open in August.

The Manatee County School Board has approved the Visible Men Academy’s charter application for boys entering kindergarten through second grade.

This is the second single-gender school approved in the county and the first one for boys.

The school, which will later expand to eighth-graders, targets boys from low-income households.

Located at the former location of the Community Church of God at 1003 63rd Ave. E., Bradenton, the non-denominational charter school is an all-boys charter school whose mission is to provide outstanding academic, character and social education in a nurturing school environment.

Because public charter schools get state education funds, tuition is free.

The new charter school must file annual reports to Manatee County, which will evaluate its performance.

“Our team is incredibly grateful and excited to be welcoming our inaugural class to this location, and we will shortly be starting work to ensure that we have a fully functional campus for the first boys who join us in August,” said Neil Phillips, founder of Visible Men Academy. “We feel privileged to join the surrounding community and are eager to serve its families by providing a high-caliber school choice in Manatee County for young boys.”

Phillips has more than 25 years of experience as an educator, entrepreneur, coach and youth advocate.
From 2011-2012, Phillips served as the interim Upper School head master at the Out-of-Door Academy in Sarasota. 

Before its Aug. 13 opening, Visible Men Academy will be upgrading the main building, designing classrooms, adding new fencing along 63rd Avenue and adding three portable school buildings.

The school will also have a playground.

Its charter will have to be renewed in five years.

+ Man killed in I-75 crash
A man was killed and a woman was injured in an I-75 crash April 17.

Eighty-one year old Kasper Fluek, 81, of North Port, died in the crash.

Rosetta Flueck, 70, suffered minor injuries and was transported to Lakewood Ranch Medical Center.

A Florida Highway Patrol report states Fluek was driving northbound on I-75, just north of University Parkway, around 3:15 p.m. April 17.

His 2002 Mercury was towing a tandem axle box trailer, which started swaying side to side.

The motion caused the vehicle to rotate counterclockwise and jackknife.The vehicle then overturned.

The box trailer remained upright and connected to the vehicle, which came to a final rest facing southwest in the median emergency lane.

The left front of the trailer box struck the left side of the vehicle.

Meetings & Agendas
• Manatee County Council of Governments — 4 p.m. April 30, at the Bradenton Area Convention Center, 1 Haben Blvd., Palmetto
• Manatee County Board of County Commissioners Land Use Meeting — 9 a.m. May 2, at 1112 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton