Farm City Week 2011

I had the opportunity of attending the Citrus Farm Bureau’s breakfast to celebrate Farm City Week at the Citrus Cattleman’s Educational Building in Floral City.  The event was attended by local farmers, business people, election officials and students from the Future Farmers of America.

The guest speaker was Dr. J. Stacy Strickland, Director of Hernando County Extension.  Dr. Strickland asked us if we thought there were more farms in Citrus and Hernando County in the 1950s or today?  He then shared the fact that we have over three times as many farms today as in the 1950s!  He asked the same thing regarding income that was generated in the counties from 1950s as compared with today.  The answer again was almost three times as much income is generated from agriculture today than in the 1950s.  Citrus County has over 700 farms alone!

This was an amazing breakfast where all local products were used to prepare it.  I must also add that it was a wonderful southern breakfast!  I  then topped it all off by drinking three cartoons of locally produced  M & B Dairy chocolate, strawberry and white milk. (Yummy!)

The breakfast was Citrus Farm Bureau’s opportunity to share with non-farmers (urban) community members’ information about how agriculture relates to us.  I sat with Lecanto High School Agricultural Teacher, Mr. Richardson, who brought several students to the breakfast whom are members of LHS Future Farmers of America.  Mr. Richardson talked about his students like a proud parent!  The students and Mr. Richardson shared about the many successes they had and some of the challenges that they are overcoming.  They are a most impressive group of young people.

We must be cognizant of how much agriculture plays a role in our lives, not simply by feeding our bellies but also by providing products necessary for our daily lives such as fuel, and many more.  Citrus County depends on agriculture more than most of us realize and it is very important that we actively support our local industries.

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Drafting & Design at CHS

Last Wednesday I stopped by Citrus High Schools for a visit.  While there the District Literacy Coach, Debra Stanley, spent time with me showing me the new literacy intervention programs for our subject area teachers.  Later, Ms. Stanley toured me through some of the literacy interventions at work in the classrooms.  One of the places she brought me to was the CHS Drafting Lab under the leadership of Mr. E. H. Lindsey.  Mr. Lindsey holds multiple degrees, including advanced degrees, from North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina – Wilmington, University of Wisconsin – Madison, and ECPI – Charlotte, NC. He has over 35 years of experience in engineering, facility management and information management.  He was a system engineer at the Brunswick Nuclear Plant in North Carolina for 20 years and also held managerial positions in maintenance and engineering with other companies.  Mr. Lindsey is a professional member of the American Design and Drafting Association  (ADDA), and holds three ADDA certifications in Mechanical, Architectural, and Civil Design Drafting.

The Drafting & Design Program at CHS is certified by the ADDA.  The ADDA is the only international organization that certifies draftsmen in the industry. CHS students are eligible to obtain their ADDA professional grade certification while at CHS. The ADDA offers an Apprentice Level Certification however; many CHS students are trained to enter the work field or college engineering programs at a professional level.  This is the reason why Mr. Lindsey advocates that students get the higher level certification.  The ADDA certification is an Industry Certification and not a Software Certification.  (Software certifications can be limited in scope.) Since September 2008, CHS has certified 141 students in Mechanical Drafting. In 2009 and 2010, CHS certified more students than any other high school or college in the state of Florida and was the second leading school in the nation for two years in a row.

Crystal River High School and Lecanto High School also offer drafting programs for students.  Programs like CHS Drafting Program are the types of programs that I so much believe in, not only for those desiring to further their education in college and universities, but it is also an option for those students who simply want to enter the work place directly out of High School .

Well done (“Bravo Zulu”) to Mr. Lindsey and to the students successes in the CHS drafting program.

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High School Graduation Options

“In Education, one size does NOT fit all!”

For many decades great progress has been made to provide more rigorous educational requirements for high school students.  This progress has occurred at both state and local levels.  Citrus County Schools can be very proud that even with the additional high school requirements, the Citrus County high school graduation rate increased from under 75% in 2005 to over 85% in 2010.  That has not come easily for administrators, teachers and, most especially, for students and their families.

What concerns me now are the new “higher” mandated graduation requirements which are a  result of the 2010 Florida Legislative session’s Senate Bill 4: Education Accountability introduced by Florida Senators Thrasher, Wise, Gaetz, Richter, Storms, Peaden, Fasano, Negron, Altman, and Baker.  This Bill created the requirement that “ALL high school graduates must be college eligible in order to get a high school diploma” by requiring that all graduates beginning with the 2013-2014  9th grade class must  pass 10^th grade Reading FCAT, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Biology, Chemistry or Physics; pass another science course that is equally as rigorous as chemistry or physics; and pass at least one online high school course.  This is in addition to the graduation requirements already in place which in essence makes a “Standard High School Diploma” a college ready only track. (see requirements at http://www.fldoe.org/students/pdf/FloridaGradRequirements2011.pdf)  This Bill is now law in Florida and has begun being phased in as the new graduation requirements for this year’s 2011-2012 9th grade class must take and pass the EOC tests for Algebra I, Geometry, and Biology. 

Proponents of this more rigorous high school standard diploma will say that our state does have other diploma options.  They will cite the diplomas offered for College Prep, Career Prep, IB, G.E.D., and Special Diplomas as examples.   While in theory that is correct, in reality, and this is important to understand, Special diplomas are NOT an equivalent diploma and do not provide for a student to attend a Florida college (previously known as community colleges), technical center, or registered apprenticeship programs.  Again, under the new graduation requirements approved under SB4, in order for a student to attend a technical center or register for an apprenticeship program or Florida college, they will be required to pass 10th grade Reading FCAT, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Biology, Chemistry or Physics, and pass another science course that is equally as rigorous as chemistry or physics and pass at least one online high school course. This is in addition to the graduation requirements already in place.

While job creation is important for our state, it is equally important for us to have quality trained skilled workers and professionals ready to fill those jobs.  Our legislators must provide or create a career/vocational high school diploma option which is the equivalent of a “Standard diploma” for students who are not going directly into college or a university right out of high school.  Some of these students may go into a vocational school while others may enlist in the armed services. (Note: Few enlistment offices are accepting G.E.D. for entrance into the military.) Still others may want, or need, to begin working in a job.

While I believe “higher education” is important, I also believe that we MUST provide more than a “one size graduation requirement” for high school students in Florida.  Our great country’s success was not founded on simply having “highly educated young people”; we have been successful largely because we are great at fostering entrepreneurship.

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