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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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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