Archive for News & Updates

In Review for July 17th, 2011

Posted on July 17th, 2011 by

picture Highlights of Regular School Board Meeting for July 12th, 2011

Highlights  of Regular School Board Meeting for July 12th, 2011 Our meeting began with presentations  by the 6th grade 4-H Tropicana Public Speaking Citrus County Contest winners: First place: Ethan Kennedy, Citrus Springs Middle School, “What It’s Like Being a TK” Second place: Fallon Crowell, Citrus Springs Middle School, “The 411 on False Advertisements” Third […Click link above for more]

picture EdCamp Citrus 2011: Registration is now open!!!!!

EdCamp Citrus 2011 Attention Citrus educators…   EdCamp Citrus 2011 will be taking place on October 15h, 2011 from 8:00am to 4:00pm at Citrus High School in Inverness.  They have some great sponsors already lined up and it is shaping up to be an amazing event. Please join, Registration is now open at www.edcampcitrus.eventbrite​.com!!!!! EdCamp Citrus […Click link above for more]

picture MEET YOUR TEACHER & ORIENTATION DATES

MEET YOUR TEACHER & ORIENTATION DATES 2011-2011 Wednesday August 3rd Thursday August 4th Friday August 5th ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS CSE 4:00 TO 6:00 PM CRE 4:30 TO 6:30 PM CRP 3:00 TO 6:30 PM HOM 4:00 TO 6:00 PM FCE Kindergarten 9:30 to 11:00AM PreK, 1st through 5th 10:00 to Noon FRE PreK & Kindergarten 3:00 […Click link above for more]

picture No… Not Yet!!

No… Not Yet!! “Saw this today (July 6th) at Wal-Mart…  This is just too early and too wrong!” ~Thomas

 

 

picture Gov. Scott’s Prized Schools Earn F’s

“I read this news today and I think “the data” speaks for itself…” ~Thomas Gov. Scott’s Prized Schools Earn F’s Back in January, just two days after being sworn in, Governor Rick Scott and his advisor Michelle Rhee flew to Miami to enthusiastically praise what turned out to be an F school. “We have to […]

picture USA Today Editorial: Education in Finland

“As I have shared before, I am not a believer that American public schools should follow practices of other schools in other developing countries.  We as Americans are very unique and among many of our great beliefs and cultures is that we believe in schooling ALL children.  We also fund our public schools using local […Click link above for more]

  ChronicleOnline: School district earns “A” sixth year in a row

School district earns “A” sixth year in a row By Cheri Harris, Thursday, June 30, 2011 – Citrus Chronicle Citrus County School District officials heard some good news Wednesday night. That’s when Florida’s Department of Education released school grade information. For the sixth year in a row, the district earned an A — as did […Click link above for more]

picture ChronicleOnline: Building up, tearing down at local high school

Building up, tearing down at local high school Construction moving at Crystal River By Cheri Harris, Tuesday, June 28, 2011 CRYSTAL RIVER — What had been the largest classroom building at Crystal River High School is now part of the school’s past. Last week, construction crews used heavy equipment to knock down the 500 Building […Click link above for more]

picture WSJ: U.S. Teachers’ Hours Among World’s Longest

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Teachers’ Hours Among World’s Longest 1,097: Average number of hours U.S. teachers spend per year on instruction. Students across the U.S. are enjoying or getting ready for summer vacation, but teachers may be looking forward to the break even more. American teachers are the most productive among major developed countries, […Click link above for more]


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EdCamp Citrus 2011: Registration is now open!!!!!

Posted on July 13th, 2011 by

EdCamp Citrus 2011

Attention Citrus educators…   EdCamp Citrus 2011 will be taking place on October 15h, 2011 from 8:00am to 4:00pm at Citrus High School in Inverness.  They have some great sponsors already lined up and it is shaping up to be an amazing event. Please join, Registration is now open at www.edcampcitrus.eventbrite​.com!!!!!

EdCamp Citrus 2011 is an unconference, inspired by similar events being organized around the country. The goal of edcamp Citrus is to bring educators together to discuss technology that works. It’s a conference for educators, by educators, and the presenters are the people that show up to the event. If you want to present, you just write your name on the board and you present for an hour. If people get something out of it, that’s great. If not, participants are encouraged to vote with their feet. So the event is as good as the people that show up to participate.

While there will be organizers for this event, we only provide the basic framework. Teachers and educators like you show up and decide what is going to be discussed. No longer are you stuck with sessions that have been determined months ahead of time in which you have no input. If you do not see something that is helpful, create your own session and share what you know best. Feel free to contact the organizers of EdCamp Citrus at any time with questions or ideas:

Email: edcampcitrus@gmail.com
Twitter: @edcampCitrus

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MEET YOUR TEACHER & ORIENTATION DATES

Posted on July 8th, 2011 by

MEET YOUR TEACHER & ORIENTATION DATES

2011-2011

Wednesday August 3rd Thursday August 4th Friday August 5th
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
CSE 4:00 TO 6:00 PM CRE 4:30 TO 6:30 PM CRP 3:00 TO 6:30 PM
HOM 4:00 TO 6:00 PM FCE Kindergarten 9:30 to 11:00AM PreK, 1st through 5th 10:00 to Noon
FRE PreK & Kindergarten 3:00 to 4:00 pm 1st through 5th 4:006:00 pm
HER PreK & Kindergarten 3:00 to 4:00 pm 1st through 5th 4:00 to 6:00 pm
IPS 3:30 to 6:00 pm
LPS PreK & Kindergarten—2:00 pm 1st through 5th 3:00 to 6:00pm
PGE New to PGE 3:30 to 4:00 pm All others 4:00 to 6:00 pm
RCE 4:30 to 6:30 pm
MIDDLE SCHOOLS
CSM 3:30 TO 6:30 PM IMS 3:00 TO 6:00 PM
CRM 2:30 TO 5:30 PM
LMS 3:00 TO 6:00 PM
HIGH SCHOOLS
CHS 8:00 to Noon Open House August 23rd 5:30 to 7:00 pm
CRH 9TH & 10TH 5:30 TO 7:30 PM CRH 11TH & 12TH 3:30 to 5:00 pm
LHS 3:00 TO 6:00 PM AES 6:30 PM College of Central Florida
CREST 2:00 TO 6:00 PM
Ren. Center 3:00 to 6:00 pm

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No… Not Yet!!

Posted on July 6th, 2011 by

No… Not Yet!!

“Saw this today (July 6th) at Wal-Mart…  This is just too early and too wrong!” ~Thomas

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Gov. Scott’s Prized Schools Earn F’s

Posted on July 5th, 2011 by

“I read this news today and I think “the data” speaks for itself…” ~Thomas

Gov. Scott’s Prized Schools Earn F’s

Back in January, just two days after being sworn in, Governor Rick Scott and his advisor Michelle Rhee flew to Miami to enthusiastically praise what turned out to be an F school. “We have to make sure our system does exactly what you are doing here at Florida International Academy,” said Scott.

Last week Jacksonville’s KIPP School, the site of Governor Scott’s grandly-staged signing of SB736/Teacher Merit Pay, earned its first grade: F
Rhee said: …”charter schools can accomplish things quicker and at a lower cost than typical public schools because there is less paperwork involved.”
Less paperwork? Lower cost? Charter schools use a proprietary formula to deduct profits from each child’s per pupil funding allocation. Charter students receive the same funding as any other public school student. Rhee and Scott have one thing right: charter schools and their for-profit management companies (CMOs) have found a great way to quickly rake in the cash with little or no investment.

What do you think?

Rick Scott, Michelle Rhee praised charter school that just got an F (partly)

Miami Herald Naked Politics blog, June 30, 2011

When Gov. Rick Scott unveiled some of his education policy proposals with school-choice celeb Michelle Rhee this January, they paid a visit to a second-grade class at Florida International Academy in Opa-Locka to showcase the successes of school choice.

Oops.
The school rankings are out. And the academy’s new elementary school just got an F.

Full story found here.

New Jacksonville KIPP charter scores at bottom in FCAT

Jacksonville Times-Union, June 30, 2011

A charter school that opened this year with high expectations and wealthy, powerful backers scored at the bottom of all schools in all of Northeast Florida in School Grade score.
KIPP Impact Middle, a college preparatory school, earned an F in its opening year.
“We’re disappointed,” Principal Robert Hawke said. “We fell pretty far short of where we wanted to be.”

Full story found here.

Information for this article provided by www.fundeducationnow.org

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USA Today Editorial: Education in Finland

Posted on July 1st, 2011 by

“As I have shared before, I am not a believer that American public schools should follow practices of other schools in other developing countries.  We as Americans are very unique and among many of our great beliefs and cultures is that we believe in schooling ALL children.  We also fund our public schools using local tax dollars.  That said, this editorial below about Finland’s public schools from a recent USA Today has some information we should seriously ponder.” ~Thomas

Education in Finland

An Excerpt from USA Today Editorial: America can learn from best practices abroad

In a 2009 international assessment of math proficiency, American students ranked 32nd, behind virtually all developed countries. In second place stood Finland, a country that also used to languish in mediocrity.

Finland, which like the U.S. funds its schools locally, does a lot of things that American leaders should consider. Among them, it starts its kids early, with state-run, high-quality day care beginning at six months. This ensures that children are ready to learn when they reach kindergarten and first grade.

Finnish schools frequently employ a second teacher in the classroom to focus on the struggling students. This allows those students to get specialized attention while remaining in the same class as their peers.

Most remarkably, Finland appears to have solved the problem of teacher burnout that plagues our system. In the USA, roughly half of all new teachers quit in their first five years. Too many of those remaining lose their passion for the profession but are almost impossible to fire.

Finland avoids this by getting the best teachers and giving them tools they need to thrive. It subsidizes the education of would-be teachers, helping to attract bright students who can begin their careers debt-free. It then puts them through a battery of tests, training seminars and internships to make sure that they are ready before they step into the classroom.

Once approved, Finnish teachers are given much greater leeway to teach, including the ability to select their own textbooks in many cases. They are highly respected in society, receiving the kind of acclaim that is common in the USA for military personnel, firefighters and police officers.

All of this has helped to make Finland a pilgrimage site of sorts for education leaders from around the world who hope to emulate its successes. The United States would do well to learn in its classroom.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE…

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