Board Meeting Recap for Oct 25th

Tuesday’s board meeting and workshop while having a full schedule and covering a multiple of different subjects was, as one person put it, “kind of like watching sausage being made”!  You are really just waiting for the results, not how it is made.  I thought that was a good analogy for describing it. (smile)

The Board approved a couple of amendments for the Crystal River High School Phase II Renovations, Remodeling and Additions.  Phase II will include the new Media Center and Freshmen Academy Building, renovation of the old administrative wing into the Medical Academy, and remodeling of the cafeteria.  This is going to be an amazing addition to Crystal River, Citrus County Schools and most importantly to the students of Citrus County.

The Board approved for four potential calendar variations for the 2012-2013 School Year to be sent to employees and the School Advisory Enhancement Councils for their voting input.  The 2012-2013 calendar is going to be a challenging one.  To help understand why please read my recap from our Sept. 13^th, 2011 meeting regarding the calendar. (Click here for recap to Sept. 13^th, 2011 Board Meeting.)  Two variations of calendars were developed by the Calendar Committee in response to our hope that the Department of Education (DOE) will expand End-of-Course exam dates testing window so that we may consider having our first semester end in December.  Since a final decision by DOE is still pending, in order to make the selection of the final calendar as efficient as possible, we ask that a vote be taken for each variation.  I hope to have more specific details to share regarding this in the coming weeks.

In a workshop meeting Renaissance Center Principal, Danita Eatman, shared information about the Renaissance Transition Program and provided an updated overview of the Renaissance Center.

Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, Kenny Blocker, provided an update from the Budget Committee regarding the 2012-2013 budget.  Several weeks back Superintendent Himmel told her executive team to put together, with the help of the school principals, a comprehensive budget committee. The committee members are from all the various Citrus County School Departments and representatives from each of the schools. The 2012-2013 budget will likely be the most challenging budget Citrus County schools has faced in decades.  Cuts to the budget are inevitable at this time. The purpose of this committee is to look at anything and everything throughout the school district as a possible reduction.  The board will still be the deciding vote in the end, but this information will be most helpful to hear and know when they are making those critical decisions.

Lastly, during a special goal setting part of our workshop, discussion began regarding the school board exploring the possibility of putting a half penny sales tax on a referendum for Citrus County Voters in the November 2012 election.  (see Chronicle reporter Mike Wright’s story, “Board ponders sales tax increase”)  I am sure I will be sharing more about this in the future.

Our next meeting is the School Board Regular Meeting on November 8^th, 2011 at 4:00pm.

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October 2011 Regular Board Meeting Review

Not all Board meetings are alike.

Not all Board meetings are alike. That was my thoughts as we finished the regular Board meeting on October 11^th, 2011.

After the opening exercise by Board Member Linda Powers, we had several presentations.  The first was a Presentation by the Nature Coast 9/12 out of Springs Hill, Florida.  I encourage you to read my separate blog on this presentation.

Our next presentation was to give directions to “Staff” on how to proceed with improving the vehicle circulation at Inverness Middle School during the entrance and exiting processes. After reviewing four options the Board voted not to spend any significant funds at this time. Instead we will spend a limited amount of funds on installing a gate and signage.  The school administrators and Board felt that by doing this we will be able to test the proposed options to see if they would really improve traffic control without spending the funds and later finding out whatever was spent on change didn’t work.  Look for a gate at the end of Middle School Drive in the not too distant future.  The gate will only be closed during specified periods.

Next the Board approved a Proclamation for Red Ribbon Week October 23^rd -29^th, 2011.  Representative from Partners for a Substance-Free Citrus were on hand to accept the proclamation.  Visit their web site www.SubstanceFreeCitrus.com to learn more.

The last presentation was the Insurance Committee’s recommendation for the 2012 Health Insurance Rate Structure. If you have any questions regarding this matter please feel free to contact me directly and I would be happy to listen and share with you.

The Board also approved to Adopt/Amend the district school board member residence areas/districts as required by Florida Statue 1001.36.  This identifies the districts/areas where board members must live in order to run for a specific school board seat.  This is part of the whole state wide re-districting that is going on.  Only a few minor amendments were made in Citrus County.  The largest change was in my own district in the Pine Ridge area although it did not affect me.  In addition to the recommended, Florida Statue amendments also prohibit making changes in a district that would “un-seat” a sitting elected official.

Salary schedules for Administrative, Non-Union Support, Professional Technical and Teamsters Support and Professionals were approved.

Our next board meeting, which will be a Special Meeting and Workshop, is scheduled for October 25^th, 2011 beginning at 9:00am. (Click here for the agenda)

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“Over 20 years ago before I had even started dating my wife,  I kept hearing from my close friend, Tim Stuart, about this amazing Crystal River Middle School student of his who was so smart that he would talk to him about ‘Quantum Physics‘.  That student’s name, Ben Lev.” ~Thomas

Former Crystal River Graduate Honored by President Obama

Obama names Stanford physicist Benjamin Lev for honor

(Click here to also read Citrus Chronicle Story By Cathy Kapulka)

Benjamin Lev, who studies the behavior of quantum matter, will attend an Oct. 14 awards ceremony in Washington D.C. for early-career scientists.

President Obama on Monday named Benjamin Lev, an assistant professor in applied physics at Stanford, as a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. It is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their research careers.

Lev will be among the 94 researchers to be honored by Obama at an Oct. 14 ceremony at the White House. Those awarded were selected for their pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology, and their commitment to community service.

The awards are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the executive office of the president. Sixteen federal departments and agencies join together to nominate the most promising scientists and engineers.

Lev received the National Science Foundation Career Award in 2008. The new honor follows his significant breakthroughs in physics.

Last year, Lev also received an $875,000 Packard Fellowship for his work. He said his work attempts to understand the behavior of quantum matter. “I want to create new forms of quantum matter and study their properties in novel ways,” he said. “This can then lead to better intuition about how materials such as high temperature superconductors behave.”

To create these new forms of matter, Lev and his group of researchers used lasers to cool an exotic gas made of highly magnetic dysprosium atoms.

“It was long thought impossible to cool them with lasers, but we found a way do that,” Lev said. They eventually chilled the atoms to “a billionth of a degree above absolute zero – one of the coldest objects in the universe.”

Lev and his group also created a “first-one-of-its-kind” quantum matter wave of these dysprosium atoms – another feat that was considered impossible before the breakthrough.

The implications of his research are powerful: “It could revolutionize the power grid or lead to quantum computers, but that’s all very far-off at this point,” he said.

Lev received his PhD in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 2005, and joined the Stanford faculty earlier this month from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

(source: https://news.slac.stanford.edu/features/obama-names-stanford-physicist-benjamin-lev-honor)

Media Contact
Benjamin Lev, Physics: (626) 676-5529, benlev@stanford.edu
Cynthia Haven, Stanford News Service: (650) 724-6184, cynthia.haven@stanford.edu

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