Recent happenings in Citrus Schools for Sept. 30th, 2011

Crystal River Primary School Renovation Open House

Crystal River Primary got a new school!  Well, not really, but it sure looks like it.  Tuesday evening Superintendent Sam Himmel, Board Members, parents, students, Cub Scouts and the community came out to celebrate the official completion of construction and renovation at the “new” school.  Principal Edith Speight began the event by welcoming everyone followed by Cub Scout Troop 415 having the raising of the Flags and the Pledge of Allegiance.  The CRP Elementary Choral, directed by Music Education teacher Mark Garlock, provided several patriotic selections including a wonder rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.  The event ended with the unveiling of the building plaque by Superintendent Himmel, Board Member Ginger Bryant, and several CRP students.

Technology Committee Meeting

Okay, it is no secret that I love technology, the use of technology in learning, and love hanging around other “geeks”.  So what better than to spend the morning at the Citrus Schools Technology Committee (TC) meeting!  This was the first meeting of the 2011-2012 school year.  Over thirty-six members gathered representing Technology Specialists, Technology Aides, Media Specialists and Administrators.

Citrus County School Educational Technology Director, Dr. Mike Geddes, half joking shared his feelings in the meeting regarding educational technology by saying, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” and this does reflect new and very fast changes in the educational technology landscape.  That said, I am still most excited about the educational technology tools and opportunities that our students and educators will have.

BYOT (“Bring Your Own Technology”) was a big topic of the meeting.  This is a new reference to the use of student devices in school such as netbooks, laptops, iPads, etc.  In our district in Citrus County, this year, we are     providing our students with the ability to use their BYOT tools to school where they can access a new student wireless wall to wall network.  This will occur in our middle and high schools which are funded by last budget year through the use of the Race to the Top grant funds.

Citrus Schools, through a grant, are also providing ESE technology support from the Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System.  FDLRS provides statewide diagnostic and instructional support services to the district exceptional student education programs. Karen Hancock is Citrus Schools FDLRS support person and attended the TC.  Ms. Hancock provided many resource materials and shared several smart board activities with the TC.

I am most encouraged and excited about the future of educational technology in our classrooms and for the commitment that the Citrus School District has made towards improving the use of educational technology.

Smart boards and Mobies at work in the classroom

Thursday morning I toured Central Ridge Elementary School with Karen Hancock the district consultant for the Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System.  Ms. Hancock was at CRE to visit the classrooms that are using smart boards and Mobi and are providing support and resources to integrate them more into student learning.  As we walked around the school it was clear that smart boards and Mobies are an integral part of learning at CRE.  In Ms. Williams Pre-Kindergarten classroom the students, in the morning, would walk over to the smart board and, using their finger, drag their name from the “Not Here” to the “Here Today” column. That was just the beginning of how it is used!  Ms. Williams uses her smart board to have students do kinesthetic learning. In Ms. Knox third grade classroom I saw how her students would use the Mobi to answer math questions from their desk while it is being displayed on the overhead screen.  These are such exciting times in educational technology and I appreciate seeing how it is being used in the classrooms today!

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“Please ‘feed your face’ so we can ‘feed theirs’!”

Inverness Kiwanis Club’s

2nd Annual Chicken Box Lunch

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7th, 2011

• ½ Grilled Chicken, Baked beans, Cole slaw & Bread.

• $8 per lunch

• Large lunch orders delivered! (10 or more)

To Purchase Tickets call 352-220-1818.
10 of these lunches raises enough money to feed one child in the program, every weekend, through the entire school year!
All proceeds benefit Blessings in a Backpack of Citrus County! For more information go to www.citruscountyblessings.com

Call to order tickets and to inquire about lunch delivery for large groups.
Contact: 352-302-0109
Email: info@citruscountyblessings.com

Blessings in a Backpack was started in July, 2005 in Louisville, KY, with the singular purpose of helping feed these children of less fortunate families on the weekends, when they don’t have access to government subsidized meals. Working in close cooperation with guidance counselors from enrolled schools to choose the poorest of the poor from these schools, Blessings volunteers supply needed nutrition through the Blessings in a Backpack program. Nationally, Blessings in a Backpack is in 155 schools in 19 states, and has served over 23,000 children. Surprisingly, it only takes $80 to feed one child on the weekends through the entire school year!

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Recap of School Board Meeting for Sept. 13^th, 2011

On Tuesday September 13th, 2011 the school board met for our Regular meeting as well as a Public meeting to give final approval of two policies and the 2011-2012 school year budget.

At the meeting Withlacoochee Technical Institute’s “SkillUSA, National Leadership and Skills Competition” winner, Angie J Mooney, was recognized for winning a Bronze Medal at the State competition and a Silver Medal at Nationals, for her Employment Application Process.  SkillsUSA’s mission is to help its members become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens.  SkillsUSA serves more than 300,000 students and instructors annually. The organization has 13,000 school chapters in 54 states and territorial associations.

A few future construction and maintenance projects were approved.  They included an architectural agreement for Citrus High School Reproofing and an Engineering Agreement for the Lecanto High School Kitchen Upgrade Project where.  Also, an engineer’s proposal was presented to the Board for evaluation of a feasibility study to be done regarding building a new wastewater plant at Floral City Elementary.  After consideration, this study was approved.

One of the items which generated a great deal of conversation was the School Year Calendar for 2012-2013.  Patrick Simon, Director of Reach and Accountability, presented the process for the adoption of next year’s school year calendar. One of the biggest concerns is changes that have been mandated by the Florida Department of Education regarding testing days (a.k.a. “windows”).  As we understand it, due to lobbying by Florida metropolitan school districts, DOE will not allow testing during the month of December in order to accommodate those metropolitan school districts that offer summer school testing.  January testing very likely means that students will not finish their first semester courses before the December Holiday Break. They will, under the new regulation, have to return to school in January and begin taking End of Course Exams and Final Exams.  Why is this a problem?  Among the many logistical and curriculum planning concerns for all grades, it is our high school “Dual Enrollment” students that will lose out the most.  This will, for the most part, eliminate the availability of taking college courses in high school for many students and all but eliminate any high school student from taking college courses in the second semester.  This change will likely have negative affects on student’s success and cause additional financial stress on families future costs of college and post high school educational expenses.  The reason for this is that many high school students can, under the system we have now, finish one to two (or more) college semesters while in high school, therefore potentially saving tens of thousands of tuition dollars.  At this board meeting I was assigned to the District Calendar Committee as the Board Representative and our first meeting is this Monday, September 19th, 2011.  If you have any concerns which you would like to bring to my attention, please let me know.

Also at the meeting the Board approved the final budget for the 2011-2012 school year of $261.7 million dollars and set the millage rate for 8.054 mills which is a decrease of less than one percent from last year.

We have several important school board meetings and event in the next couple of months.  Below is a light of highlighted events I wanted to make you aware of.

Upcoming Events

• CRP Renovation Celebration/Open House
  • September 27, 2011 at 5:30pm
• Regular School Board Meeting for October 2011
  • October 11^th, 2011 at 4:00pm
• Town Hall/ESE Council Meeting on RtI Process
  • Wednesday, October 12 · 6:30pm – 8:00pm
  • Beverly Hills Community Building
• School Board Workshop for October
  • Board Goal Setting Workshop
  • October 25^th, 2011 at 9:00am
• Regular School Board Meeting for November 2011
  • November 8^th, 2011at 4:00pm
• School Board Workshop for November
  • Technology use by students in the Schools Workshop
  • November 15^th, 2011 at 9:00am
• School Board Organizational Meeting for 2011-2012
  • November 22^nd, 2011at 4:00pm
    • Elect New Chairperson, Hire Attorney and Set Meeting Days & Time
    • Date Required by Florida Statue

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