Highlights  of Regular School Board Meeting for July 12^th, 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 place: Jake Salute, Crystal River Middle School, “The Power of a Single Word”
• Honorable Mention: Austin Danna, Lecanto Middle School, “the Devil That Lives With Me”

This was extra exciting for me as my son Ethan won first place and his friend and fellow CSMS Falcon Fallon Crowell took second place.  I am so proud of all of these young people.

One of the major decisions that was made at the board meeting was to finalize the sale of property for a future new elementary school adjacent to Pine Ridge along County Road 486.

The Board unanimously approved the purchase of this property.  Some have asked why the Board would purchase property for a future school during a budget crisis and when we currently have declining enrollment. It is important to understand that  no “Ad valorem taxes” (property taxes) will be used in the purchase the property.  The revenue/taxes used to purchase this property are coming solely from impact fees paid by new residential homes built in Citrus County.  No property taxes are paying for this land. One of the several reasons I support this purchase is that we are purchasing the property at a good price during a time when property prices are low.  The Board has had two appraisals done over the last 12 months and we are purchasing the land for 25% less than the most recent appraisal. It is important to understand that the Board and district cannot just build a school when it wants to.  The Board must get approval to build a school and prove its need by showing current schools at capacity with increasing enrollment to the Florida Department of Education. By having this land purchased already, the process of building a school will go faster once a new school is deemed necessary by the DOE.  The Board and Superintendent have modified the Long Range Capital Improvement Plan and pushed this school construction out to about five to ten years in our Long Range Plan

Also at the meeting the Board was asked to give direction to staff on options to improve the parent loop and parking at Inverness Middle School.  After a presentation of several potential options, the Board approved the least costly improvement which was to use only the existing IMS property as the existing parent loop and parking was improved and modified.  IMS has historically been a challenging school campus for traffic flow. While I believe the direction we are going will be an improvement at IMS, it will still not be a perfect solution.

During Board Member comments I took this opportunity to speak about my desire to bring back the ESE Council or, as I am suggesting calling it,  the “Exceptional Children Group”,  a group for Exceptional Student Education & Learning Challenged Students Parents, Guardians and Community.  Look for me writing more about this in a subsequent blog.

Our next meeting is a School Board School Tour of CRHS, CRP & LHS beginning at 10:00am on Tuesday, July 26^th, 2011 followed by the  3:00pm Budget Workshop & Special Meeting.

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