Posted on September 25th, 2010 by
Thomas Kennedy
By Nancy Kennedy
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When you’re in middle school, lunch is the most important time of the day — and it’s not about the food.
“It’s like recess, but better; you get to talk with your friends,” says Julianne Cook, Inverness Middle School sixth-grade student.
The Chronicle is following Julianne as part of the year-long Students in Transition series, following a kindergarten student, a middle school student and a set of high school freshmen twins.
It’s Friday in the IMS cafeteria. Sixth-graders eat lunch from 11:15 to 11:50 a.m. Because some of the students are having difficulty following rules, everyone sits at assigned tables.
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Posted on September 24th, 2010 by
Thomas Kennedy
By Cheri Harris
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Progress has taken over the baseball field at Crystal River High School.
The former site of Crystal River Pirate baseball glory is now bustling with construction workers raising two new two-story buildings.
Gary Goodman, project manager for ACA Construction Group, the company in charge of the $20.7 million project, said Building 2, which will primarily house classrooms, is located on the site of the old baseball diamond and Building 1, which will house the administration offices as well as classrooms, is on what was part of the outfield.
The new Mike Hampton Field is under construction on the school campus beyond the tennis courts.
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Posted on September 24th, 2010 by
Thomas Kennedy
Thursday, September 23, 2010 6:59pm PDT
There was a time, not that long ago, when skateboarders and school officials were hostile warring parties.
Administrators, school boards, and city officials fearing the long arm of litigation declared war on skaters years ago, 
making them outlaws for riding anywhere near a schools’ coveted features like high curbs, manicured concrete roll-ins, and flat handrails, all of which make campuses a target rich environment for skaters.
In several instances the bans became city wide. To this day, the cat-and-mouse game skaters play with most security detail, be they hallway monitors, mall cops or fully deputized police officers, is not just a past time, but a source of pride.
But times are changing.
More and more schools, desperate to do anything to encourage kids into some physical activity, are warming up to the idea of bringing some “controlled chaos” into the P.E. class by not only encouraging them to take up the sport, but instructing them in the fundamentals.
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Posted on September 22nd, 2010 by
Thomas Kennedy
‘Day of Caring’
By Nancy Kennedy
For Hugh Adkins, supervisor of the Marine Science Station in Crystal River, Tuesday was like winning the lottery or being on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”
The site was chosen as one of about a dozen Progress Energy Day of Caring local projects.
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Posted on September 21st, 2010 by
Thomas Kennedy
This morning I had the privilege of visiting Citrus Springs Middle School. CSMS is the school where my wife teaches 7th grade reading so I am more familiar with their campus, but I was interested in seeing some of the classrooms I had not seen before. CSMS has been a Florida graded “A” middle school for six years in a row. I enjoyed visiting the language arts, science and math classes. In the math class the teacher was using a Mobi while teaching her class. The Mobi is a 
mobile interactive whiteboard and it allows teachers and students to write on the Mobi and for that to then be projected onto the large video monitor. This is a great way for teachers and students to actively participate in the lesson. I am looking forward to seeing a Mobi being used to teach Social Studies next.
Best of luck to the Falcon Football Team that is playing tonight!
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Posted on September 20th, 2010 by
Thomas Kennedy
Monday I had the pleasure of visiting Citrus High School with Principal Dale Johns. Mr. Johns and I had a chance to catch up some before touring the campus. Mr. Johns was principal at Citrus Springs Middle School before Mr. Johns was brought to CHS. Mr. Johns and I visited the CHS Cafetorium as students started entering for the first of the four lunch periods provided at CHS. It was hard not to notice how mature the high school students behaved as they entered the café. One might think a group of high school students would be “clowning” around as they entered the café but I was very impressed with their maturity. I visited several AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) classes. In one of the AVID classes being taught by Mrs. Gina Armstrong I enjoyed listening to students present a Power Point presentation on a new college that they had learned about. They shared many detailed unique aspects and reasons why they had made the choice for the college that they did. I had an opportunity to visit several other classes and, as always, find it exciting to see our students and educators as they participate in the learning process. On my next visit to CHS I plan on observing more of our Science labs and classrooms.
Monday afternoon I was honored to be asked to speak briefly to the Forest Ridge Elementary School Advisory Enhancement Council 5th grade class election candidates running for the 2010-2011 school year SAEC Student Representative. FRE has 16 5th grade candidates that each gave a one minute speech to explain why they felt that they were the best candidate and what made them the most qualified to serve as SAEC Student Representative. I was very impressed with the speeches and the positive information that each of the candidates shared about themselves. During one of the speeches a young girl candidate caught my attention because as the person just prior to her finished giving her speech I observed her make positive eye contact with the other student and give her a thumbs up as she mouthed the words, “Good job”! I was very impressed with the positive attitudes and support for each other during the actual process of “competing”.
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