Happy Holidays and vacation to our students, families and staff of Citrus County School District!
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Serious education briefly took a backseat to serious fun last week when teachers, the principal and some other school staffers took the stage at Citrus Springs Elementary School for a holiday production.
Amy Crowell, a teacher on special assignment at the school, directed the show, titled “A Toy Story Christmas.”
Based loosely on Walt Disney’s “Toy Story” films, the production featured beloved big-screen characters such as Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Jessie, with good “children” Hannah and Andy plagued by Hannah’s evil sibling, Sid.
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This was my first full agenda board meeting. The meeting began with opening exercises which board members do in turns. It was my turn for this meeting. As we bowed our heads for a moment of silence, I asked them and I ask all of you now to please keep in your individual thoughts and prayers during this time of the year (and during these very cold days and evenings) the needs and challenges of our near 200 “McKinney-Vento” homeless students that are in our schools and who are without a permanent home.
It was a most productive board meeting. Mr. Kelly Tyler, Principal of Lecanto High School (LHS), accepted the United Way Trophy for LHS. LHS raised the most donations for United Way and has continually been a winner of this award. Mrs. Kathy Thrumston received a special Recognition award from the district for her years of support, leadership and advocacy in education for the children of Citrus County as a Florida PTA Director, Education Panel Adviser, and Legislative Committee Member.
The Board was provided a presentation on Crystal River High School (CRHS) Phase II. Currently CRHS is in the middle of Phase I which includes construction of nearly half of the current campus. Phase II will include among other things a new Media Center (Library), Freshman Academy, Business Academy/Education, classrooms, and cafeteria expansion. These are critical renovations and additions. The Board approved the preliminary design concept and schematic and now the architect will begin preparing a more complete drawing.
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“I need a science fair project.” Those can be scary words to parents, guardians, or grandparents of students desiring to enter a science fair. They can also be the beginning of great learning and encouragement of further education.
Last Wednesday, December 8th, 2010, I stopped by the Citrus County Fairgrounds Auditorium and spent some time visiting students and viewing their projects that were entered in this year’s Citrus Regional Science & Engineering Fair. Their work was outstanding. Among the things I learned was what batteries were best to buy to save money, what hair products performed better, what temperature makes popcorn pop faster, how to use reusable resources to make cost-saving energy, and what pest control product was best for terminating ants . Our Citrus County students are nothing less than amazing! The Fair was supported by our Citrus County School District and by Suncoast Schools Credit Union & American Pro Dive. Nearly all of our public schools, our charter schools, home schools/virtual schools, and three private school s were represented at the science fair.
At the Citrus Regional Science & Engineering Fair Award on Monday, December 13th, 2010 , I had the opportunity to congratulate our student award winners. This was a special honor for me to be able to do. In addition to the category winners, Special Awards were given from the following groups and organizations: American Meteorological Society, American Psychological Association, ASM International Foundation, Association for Women Geoscientists, Excellence in Environmental Sciences, The John & Olga Sloboda Memorial Award, Linblad Expedition Awards for Excellence, Mu Alpha Theta, National Society of Professional Engineers, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Association, Nature Coast Alumnae Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta, Ricoh Sustainable Development, Society for In Vitro Biology, Stockholm Junior Water Prize, U.S. Army, U.S. Metric Association, U.S. Navy/Marine Corps, Yale Science and Engineering Association, and Xi Nu Upsilon of Beta Sigma Phi Award.
I want to specially thank Director of Secondary Education Mark Klauder, Science Fair Director & TOSA Amanda Crawford, and Science Fair Co-Director Lindsey Reid for working so hard to make this science fair possible. I want to further thank the individual school educators that supported our students through their projects. Lastly, I want to thank the students’ home support of parents, grandparents and guardians.
Ten junior (middle school) and ten senior (high school) students will go to State to compete and two students (one from the Academy of Environmental Science the other from Citrus High School) were chosen to represent Citrus School District at the International Science Fair. Lastly, the Academy of Environmental Science won best all around senior school for the 2010 Science & Engineering Fair.
Best of luck to our students as they continue to complete and to students who are already thinking of next year’s projects!!
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On Tuesday, December 7th, 2010 I visited Lecanto Primary School (LPS). Assistant Principal Lee Mulder toured me through most of the school’s classrooms as Principal Donnie Brown was in Pinellas County Schools visiting a high- performing school to learn about their programs and curriculum.
I am always impressed to see how these educators, who often work in pairs and as a team, use their individual strengths in teaching for the betterment of our students. The classroom pods often have several classes together and the teachers provide differentiated instruction so that each student’s individual needs are being met.
One of neat new additions to LPS is the large new running/walking track. This new track was built and installed using federal grant monies. The day I visited, the bicycle safety learning and training was going on and the new track was perfect for the bikes too. In addition to the Physical Education classes, LPS also has a running club that will benefit from the new track.
As I left the school I walked past the Media Center (Library) and saw that the walk just outside of the library has a permanent display of all of our forty-four United States presidents. I tested myself to see if I could remember and name the presidents in order. Can you?
I am looking forward to visit LPS again soon.
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A recent donation was received for the Citrus County Blessings in a Backpack program from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation.
Blessings In a Backpack Is a program designed to bridge the meal gap for students on federally funded meal programs during the school week. It provides three meals a day on Saturday and Sunday. From left are: Dusti Curry, vice president of Bank of America at Inverness Banking Center; Debbie Lattin, chairwoman of Citrus County Harvest; and Jeffrey Smith, vice president of Bank of America at Citrus Village Banking Center.
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