WTSP: ‘Citrus County and Schools join legal fight against Progress Energy’
WTSP TAMPA NEWS “Crystal River, Florida — It’s a power struggle with millions of dollars at stake.
Progress Energy Florida, which recently merged with Duke Energy, is disputing its tax bill in Citrus County. The power company disagrees with the way its power plants there were valued by the property appraiser, so it paid only 19 million of its $35 million bill and then filed a lawsuit against the county property appraiser and tax collector.”
JOINT MEETING of the CITRUS COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD AND CITRUS COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Along with other County Agencies to discuss the Duke Situation
This Monday, December 10th, 2012, 10:00am at College of Central Florida, 3800 South Lecanto Highway, Lecanto, FL 34461 . The Citrus County School Board and the BOCC along with other county agencies will come together to update the community about the Duke Energy situation and discuss options moving forward.
There will be an opportunity for community input and I encourage the public to attend this important meeting which could have profound taxing implications to ad valorem tax payers in Citrus County.
Last week I attended the Florida School Board Association Joint Conference and School Board training. These conferences are an important opportunity for board members to receive trainings on how to be more effective board members and for board members to learn about changes in education and its effects on our communities.
One of the keynote speakers at the conference was Dr. Ioannis Miaoulis, the president and Director of the Boston Museum of Science. Prior to being director at the Boston MOS Dr. Miaoulis was Dean of the School of Engineering at Tufts University. Dr. Miaoulis was on the Massachusetts Curriculum Development Team that was the first in the nation to develop a K-12 curriculum framework and assessments for technology/engineering which included STEM. Dr. Miaoulis shared that he believes the United States has in the past taken the wrong approach to teaching science. He feels too much emphasis has been put on natural science and not enough in the engineering sciences. He shared that in the real world careers and daily life, engineering sciences will make up the greatest part of what our students will use, where far less of the natural sciences will typically be used. He has helped move Massachusetts, one of the leading performers in Science and Math, to embrace this philosophy and approach. He encourages the teaching of engineering sciences for students spending more time exploring automobiles, airplanes, and machinery. He shared how much can be learned about chemistry in a Gourmet cooking class where chemistry and physics standards are taught then in a traditional chemistry class. He noted that often doctors, lawyers and ‘forensic scientist’ are ranked as heroes by high school students in the workforce. Often the only example in media that high school students know that works is engineering, Homer Simpson. (“D’oh!”) Dr. Miaoulis believes that if we are going to be completely successful internationally in the science and engineering fields then we must change how we teach it and better provide real world applications to best engage students.
During this conference I attended a special session on ‘Legal Hot Topics’ by current school board attorney and former legal counsel for the Navy Judge Advocate General, C. Wesley Brisges II. I also attended a session Common Core by Florida Department of Educational Deputy Chancellor of Curriculum, Instruction and Student Services, Mary Jane Tappen.
During the conference the FSBA held a board meeting and shared about many of the educational and legislative challenges that Florida will be facing. The legislator’s and Governor’s pro charter school movement continues to be a concern. As I have shared in the past, in Florida, generally Charters Schools fail at twice the rate of public schools. In addition charter schools are not required to following the same requirements that Florida DOE and the Florida Legislation require from public schools. This favoritism and inequity continues to be a grave concern as it is tax payers that are paying the bill for this movement.
I enjoyed my time at FSBA, especially the time I get to meet and share with other school board members from around the state. We enjoy bragging about Citrus County Schools, our students, teachers, staff and administrators. Sharing with these other board members often helps us learn how other districts meet their challenges and learn from one another and it also often affirms the work and decisions we are doing for Citrus County Schools.
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On Thursday the Florida Department of Education released a report which described that 97% of Citrus County public school teachers received a score on their evaluation of “highly effective” or “effective”. These teacher evaluation scores are part of the evaluation system being phased in from the controversial new “Student Success Act” (a.k.a. SB736) where 50% of a teachers evaluation is determined by their students’ test scores.
While I have shared in the past that I am not a great supporter of this new state evaluation system and nor am I a fan of releasing teachers evaluations (click here to read my Blog, “Publishing Teacher Rankings”). I do want to congratulate all our teachers for their exemplary work with our students and I believe this reports simply shows that Citrus public school teachers are doing an remarkable job during challenging times.
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Brought to you by the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officers
The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officer Unit has devised a way to assist some needy families with holiday gifts and meals. The elementary school staff from each elementary school in the county selects five children from their school and each child will receive a $125.00 Wal-Mart gift card. On the evening of the event the selected children will meet at their local Wal-Mart and each child will then be paired up with a Deputy from the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office to shop together. The children can use the money to buy themselves gifts and/or purchase gifts for their family members for the holidays. Usually, the children buy presents for their families because they believe it is better to give than to receive. When the shopping is complete local volunteers will wrap each gift for them to take home. The child will also leave the event with a full course holiday meal for the family. They will also give away door prizes during the event and each child will receive a meal from a local McDonald’s.
On December 10th at 6:00pm they will begin the shopping at the Homosassa Wal-Mart, and on December 11th and 12th at 6:00pm at the Inverness Wal-Mart. The event this year will include at least 75 children from the local elementary schools and the CREST School. It is a very rewarding event and it is priceless to see the smiles on the children’s faces when they are going around the store searching for presents for their family. They are now accepting donations. ALL of the money raised will go towards this event.
Please make checks payable to “Shop with a Cop” and send to the Sheriff’s Office address attn: Dep. Joe Faherty, 1 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., Inverness, Florida 34450-4994.If you have any questions please feel free to contact event coordinator Dep. Joe Faherty at 352-726-4488.
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