Saving Children’s Lives with help of CCEF

Water safety program is vital

As a School Board from a rural community with a student population of approximately 70% coming from economically disadvantaged households we are often asked about some of our programs, “why is the school system to ‘that’? or that isn’t something the public school system should do”. In Citrus the majority of our students often come from homes that can’t provide the extra positive opportunities and as a School District we have learned that those experiences are vital in providing the opportunities for our students to be successful in the classroom and in their future.

One example of that is the Marine Science Station (MSS) in Crystal River where students in, 4th, 7th, and 10th grades get hands on real world experience learning about our water and marine environments. We regularly have students tell us that going out on a boat at the MSS is the first time they have ever been on a boat. Might seem small but the MSS impact one 7th grader so much that years later he became a Marine Scientist and now is the Administrator at the MSS.

Another such program which interestingly is also connected to water, is the Water Safety program in our elementary schools. Someone once asked us to justify this program and said, “So how many kids has this program saved”? My response, “every child that we don’t have to call 911 for about a drowning”. The Florida Department of Health states that, “Florida loses more children under age five to drowning than any other state. Annually in Florida, enough children to fill three to four preschool classrooms drown and do not live to see their fifth birthday. In 2013, Florida had the highest unintentional drowning rate in the nation for the 1–4 year old age group with a drowning rate of 7.54 per 100,000 population. Florida had the second highest drowning rate in the nation for the 1–14 year old age group with a drowning rate of 2.54 per 100,000 population.”

During the educational budget challenges over the last many years there were times when due to funding, the Water Safety program was listed as a possible cut. I have been happy that the School Board, Superintendent Himmel and Assistant Superintendent Mullen did not support cutting the program, but the challenge has been how to fund it. The State of Florida does not provide funding for programs like the MSS or the Water Safety as they are not “required”, so when the local School Board and Leadership team desires these programs we have to either find the funds in the ever stretched general fund or we have to find a person, group or organization that is just as committed to our students as the school system— enter the Citrus County Education Foundation.

This past month, once again, the CCEF stepped forward to assist in funding the Water Safety program with the school district. As a USA Swimming certified swim coach, I wholeheartedly support the Water Safety program and I am grateful for the continual devotion CCEF has to our students’ education, safety and future.

This week the CCEF will be giving teacher’s mini grants for the classroom totaling over $100,000. The CCEF is steadfast in its commitment to our students. We are indebted to the CCEF and its partners such as the Suncoast Credit Union. If you find yourself in a position to contribute to this find organization do not hesitate to do so, doing so is directly contributing to our students and their classrooms.

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Legislators still not listening to parents, teachers, Superintendents and school boards

“The principle of accountability ensures we measure student outcomes.” she says, “Parents have a right to know whether their child is making adequate progress.” ~ Rep Adkins

Florida House Legislative Leaders still do not appear to be hearing the concerns of parents, teachers, superintendents and school boards.  Florida House of Representative Janet Adkins, chairwoman of the House K-12 Education subcommittee released a statement on Tuesday continuing supporting strong support for the current accountability system which is based in testing assessments of students and linking those test to teacher evaluations. Click here to read statement.

Despite the Florida School Board Association (FSBA), Florida Association Of District School Superintendents (FADSS), Florida Parent Teachers Association (PTA), and the Florida Association of School Administrators (FASA) call for an overhaul to the current Florida accountability system which has been plagued with issues largely surrounding the Florida Standardized Assessment or FSA.

While I greatly appreciate that Rep. Adkins shared in her statement that one of the issues she will be working on is to address struggling readers and those with Dyslexia– Rep. Adkins stated, “One major focus of my committee work will be to craft a framework to ensure we address the challenge of those who struggle to read and those with Dyslexia”.  That said I believe that the State Legislature have cross the line of what is best for students with the current over testing and flawed state mandated school accountability system.

I would respectfully counter Rep. Adkins statements by sharing; that the legislature should listen to parents’, teachers’, administrators’, school boards’ and the communities’ concerns, rather than be lectured too and by the legislature. Because of the laws which Rep. Adkins and her colleagues have passed over the last many years it isn’t teachers and school districts who determine ‘adequate progress’– it is unfortunately for our students, the State Legislature. This should be a concern to us all. It is time that Rep. Adkins and the Florida Legislature stop the direction they continue to arrogantly go in public education which is having drastically negative consequences on our students’ lives.

Why do Representative Adkins and her committee continue to believe they know what is best for our young people over the teachers, administrators, parents, and school boards that represent them?

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School Board Meeting Recap for October 2015

A time to celebrate

Tuesday, October 13th, 2015 the Citrus County School Board met for our October Regular Meeting. During the meeting the Board approved over $80,500.00 in donations to our students and students. We cannot thank our community enough for the generous contributions made for our students.

One of the best parts of our board meetings is the Superintendent honoring the community through the “Superintendent Himmel’s ‘Making A Difference Award’”. During the meeting five individuals or organizations were honored including; Rotarian Ray Darling, Teacher Amanda Mathieu, Inverness Kiwanis, Citrus County Blessings, and the Citrus County Educational Foundation.

During the meeting the School Board also approved a Proclamation honoring the Anti-Drug Coalition’s ‘Red Ribbon Week’, from October 23^rd through October 30^th, 2015.

Ray Darling is a Rotarian and founder of the Rotary Upward Bound quarterly student Award Program. Follow this link to learn more about Mr. Darling; https://thomastalks.org/2015/09/13/upward-bound-because-of-ray-darling/

Amanda Mathieu is a teacher at Lecanto High School who was honored for being selected this year to take part in the State Teacher Artist Residencies by the Florida Alliance for Arts Education.

Inverness Kiwanis was honored for their tremendous generosity over the years in providing a Chicken Dinner Competition between our high schools with 100% of all funds received going directly to the schools. This year alone over $10,000 were donated to the schools.

Citrus County Blessings was honored for the great work feeding over 1,050 students in Citrus County for the 2 ½ days of each weekend during the school year. For more information on Citrus County Blessings visit: http://citruscountyblessings.com

Citrus County Educational Foundation is the largest donating contributor to Citrus County Schools. They raised over $412,000.00 for 2014-2015 year. There are numerus programs in our schools and classrooms that could not exist if not for the CCEF. For more information on Citrus County Educational Foundation visit: http://www.citruseducation.org

Red Ribbon Week Proclamation— Citrus County Schools will be hosting wonderful awareness activities throughout the week showing drug free living. These activates are supported by Anti-Drug Coalition, School Resource Officers, teachers and SADD Clubs. For more information on Anti-Drug Coalition visit: http://www.substancefreecitrus.org

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