Archive for News & Updates

10 News Story on Citrus County Goes Back to School

Posted on August 8th, 2012 by

10 News Story on Citrus County Goes Back to School

Tampa Bay’s CBS affiliate WTSP ran a story today on” Back to School Citrus County: District pushes innovative ideas”.  Watch the video below or follow this link:  http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/267404/8/Back-to-school-already-District-pushes-innovative-ideas

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Florida PTA Action Alerts and eNews

Posted on August 3rd, 2012 by

Florida PTA Action Alerts and eNews

It is not just Bakes Sales and Movies Nights

With the election year upon us I would like to encourage you to register for the Florida PTA legislative action alerts (click here to register for PTA Legislative alerts). Signing up for these alerts means when important educational issues comes up in Florida, PTA will then send you an alert and provide you information as to the situation and where you can help by send a message to those needing to be contacted.

After registering I would encourage you to send a message to Governor Scott and provide him input into the selection of the new Commissioner of Education. (Click here to send message to Gov. Scott)  You can just copy the message that PTA supplies or write your own message.

Also sign up to receive our the PTA eNews emails (click here to register for PTA eNews).

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‘Stuff the Duck’ returns to help students with school supplies

Posted on August 1st, 2012 by

‘Stuff the Duck’ returns to help students with school supplies

Not to be confused with “Howard the Duck” or Foie Gras.

If you’ve never before seen an amphibious armored personnel carrier up close and personal, then Saturday will be your lucky day.

That’s when the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office will have its highly specialized crime-fighting tool, affectionately dubbed “The Duck,” in the parking lot of the Inverness Walmart Supercenter on East Gulf to Lake Highway.

On Aug. 4, from 8 a.m. to noon, the agency will team up with Walmart and the Citrus County School District to “Stuff the Duck” with much-needed school supplies for the county’s children as they head back to classes on Wednesday, Aug. 8th, 2012.

Please help by making sure every schoolchild, regardless of family finances, has the tools he or she needs to be successful in the classroom. Brand-new items, such as pens, notebooks, erasers, glue sticks, highlighters, pencils, crayons, loose-leaf paper, book bags, memo pads, index cards, binders and more, are much appreciated.

School Resource Officers (SROs) Joe Faherty, Tim Langer and Todd Farnham will be on hand to collect donations and showcase the program’s brightly detailed Camaro and Dodge Magnum FOCUS (Filtering Out Crime United with Students) cars for all to see.

Every little bit helps, so please stop by on Saturday and help “Stuff the Duck!”

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Florida Sales Tax Holiday 2012

Posted on August 1st, 2012 by

Florida Sales Tax Holiday 2012

August 3 through August 5, 2012

Attention Parents, NO SALE TAXES!!  That is correct from August 3 through August 5, 2012 no sales tax shall be collected on the sale of clothing, wallets, or bags, including handbags, backpacks, fanny packs, and diaper bags, but excluding briefcases, suitcases, and other garment bags, having a sales price of $75 or less per item, or on sales of certain school supplies having a sales price of $15 or less per item for the period beginning 12:01 a.m. on August 3, 2012, and ending at 11:59 p.m. on August 5, 2012.

  • “Clothing” means any article of wearing apparel, including all footwear (except skis, swim fins, roller blades, and skates), intended to be worn on or about the human body. However, “clothing” does not include watches, watchbands, jewelry, umbrellas, handkerchiefs, or sporting equipment. (Follow this link for a full list of clothing and accessory items.)
  • “School supplies” means pens, pencils, erasers, crayons, notebooks, notebook filler paper, legal pads, binders, lunch boxes, construction paper, markers, folders, poster board, composition books, poster paper, scissors, cellophane tape, glue, paste, rulers, computer disks, protractors, compasses, and calculators. (Follow this link for a full list of clothing and accessory items.)

For more information on Florida Sales Tax Holiday 2012 visit the Florida Department of Revenue’s web page at: http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/

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Student iPad Information Night for Parents

Posted on July 26th, 2012 by

Student iPad Information Night for Parents

On Wednesday evening I join Superintendent Sam Himmel and Assistant Superintendent of School Operations, Mike Mullen, at Citrus Springs Middle School for the iPad Information Night for Parents.  The 7th grade students at CSMS for the coming 2012-2013 school year will be receiving iPads instead of textbooks as part of a district pilot program for transitioning print to digital curriculum. (Follow this link to my blog post about CSMS iPad pilot: http://www.thomastalksoncitrusschools.com/3879). The State of Florida mandated new state requirement that by the 2014-2015 school year all public school curriculum must be delivered digitally.

Principal David Roland began the evening welcoming parents and students and sharing information regarding plans to implement the pilot program.  Mr. Roland showed a video from Apple on iPad use in classrooms (see video below). Following Mr. Roland, Executive Director of Curriculum, Mark Klauder, gave an overview of the District’s Implementation of the iPad devices.  Director of Technology, Dr. Mike Geddes, shared about the grant process for this pilot and how CSMS was selected.  Assistant Principal, Dr. Jennifer Sasser, explained to parents what a classroom and curriculum might look like with students using one-to-one iPads. Assistant Principal, Jason Koon, explained some of the process for maintaining the iPads, covers, and the need for re-charging them.  Following that Principal David Roland, and Assistant Principals Jason Koon and Jennifer Sasser, went over the critical points of the Student iPad User Agreement.  The evening finished with encouraging remarks from Superintendent Himmel. Following that she requested that all of the students in the audience please stand.  As these students stood the rest of the audience consisting of parents, educators and district staff cheered with excitement.

I am overjoyed that as a district we are using the best tools available to educate our students for their future in the world they will eventually be working and succeeding in.

Apple education learning with ipad us

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2012 High Performing School District for 6th Year!

Posted on July 26th, 2012 by

2012 High Performing School District

School District for 6th Time Honored as High Performing School District

It is with great excitement that I share that the Florida School Board of Education that the Citrus County School District for the 6th year is designated as an Academically High Performing District for 2012. This distinctive honor requires that the district maintained the following:

  • The district earns a grade of “A” for 2 consecutive years
  • Has no district-operated school that earns a grade of “F”
  • Complies with class-size requirements
  • Has no material weaknesses or instance of material noncompliance noted in the annual financial audit conducted

I am so proud of the great work by our students, teachers, staff, administrators, district staff, executive team, volunteers, parents, family members and community members that each contributed greatly to this success.  GREAT WORK CITRUS!!

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