Refuge partners with school district for education staffing
In a partnership with the School District of Lee County, the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge and “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge have negotiated the sharing of an environmental education resource teacher.
John Bailey began his role coordinating conservation education programs with the refuge earlier this month through the school district’s Curriculum & Instructional Innovation Department.
“We are super excited to have this resource in our toolbox to help with our heightened onsite and outreach education efforts this school year,” Supervisory Refuge Ranger Toni Westland, who helped engineer the partnership, said. “John has the background and energy that make him a perfect fit with the ‘Ding’ education team.”
Since 2017, the education team has been fortified through support from the DDWS. That year, the group hired a professional environmental educator to replace a position that was cut from the budget by the federal government. Bailey fills that position, now jointly funded by the DDWS and school district. He will drive busloads of students to the refuge and will interpret their tours along Wildlife Drive.
“I’m excited about this partnership with ‘Ding’ Darling,” Bailey said.
He transitioned to the new position from Trafalgar Middle School in Cape Coral, where he taught science. An honors graduate of Barry University in Miami, Bailey studied management with an emphasis on recreational tourism. He went on to pursue a master’s in educational leadership and has been a lifelong naturalist.
“I tend to drag my family to various spots around the world in search of natural points of interest,” Bailey said. “I’m also an active scuba diver and involved with Sea Scouts and continue to enjoy researching and sharing adventures and my love of the coastal ecosystems with everyone I meet.”
“This is a shining example of what can be accomplished through community partnerships,” DDWS Executive Director Birgie Miller said. “Thanks to creative thinking on Toni’s part and a lot of brainstorming with refuge and school district staff, we see a brilliant solution to busing issues and the federal budget cuts that have threatened to cripple the refuge’s mission to educate and mold conservation stewards of the future.”