Washington Post: Citrus is AGAIN among America’s Most Challenging High Schools 2016
Today we learned that all three of our high schools in Citrus County were again recognized by the Washington Post as “America’s Most Challenging High Schools”.
Of the 28,561 high schools in the US, about 2,500 are recognized. Rankings are based on the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests, and college level coursework given in a school year divided by the number of seniors who graduate in May. The schools that earn this challenge honor are among the top 9% of schools in the US.
The publisher of The Washington Post personally called Citrus County School District’s Director of Research and Accountability Patrick Simon to share with him the positive news of how Citrus continues to excel nationally. The publisher shared how Citrus continues to gain the attention Washington Post’s for continually being an outlier with student success with the challenges of being in a rural community with a high number of economically disadvantage households.
Lecanto High School is now ranked 761 out of 2,500 awarded schools, Citrus High Schools is 1,822, and Crystal River High School improving even more significantly again to be awarded 1,572.
Read Citrus Chronicle News Editor Brad Bautista wrote a special report on today news; Citrus County’s high schools are still among the best in the nation – http://goo.gl/BNyVYe
UF Health Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Institute will be providing PRE-PARTICIPATION/SPORTS PHYSICALS to all youth that will be participating in athletics for the 2016-2017 school year.
April 23, 2016
8 am—12 pm
UF Health Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Institute
2nd Floor
3450 Hull Road, Gainesville, FL
*Forms can be found on the FHSAA website at www.fhsaa.org*
[Click on EL2 Form under For Students and Parents]
*Pop warner forms can be found at www.popwarner.com
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Filed under: News & Updates
Tuesday, April 12th, 2016 the Citrus County School Board met for our April Regular began with opening exercises by the Honorable Doug Dodd.
Mr. Dodd brought Citrus Springs Middle School Principal John Weed and AVID teacher Jill Lynch to introduce Emily Brock, an eighth-grade student at CSMS who recently won first place in the national AVID E-Binder Contest. Miss Brock played her winning video which can be viewed by clicking play on video or by following this link: http://youtu.be/pXQxZRMN5cE
Following the presentation of Miss Brock’s video Citrus High School student Mackenzie Barnett performed a wonderful rendition of the National Anthem. Watch Miss Barnett’s performance by clicking play on video or by following this link: https://www.facebook.com/CitrusCountySchoolDistrict/videos/10153940001866259/
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Filed under: News & Updates
We all know that the intake of food is vital for physical performance. In addition, social scientists and nutritionists have long known there is a definitive link between nutrition and learning.
The Citrus County Blessings program was started in 2009 to address the needs of hungry school children. Its singular purpose is to help feed children of less fortunate families on the weekends, so they will be ready to learn on Monday mornings.
Sixty-eight percent of school age children in Citrus County are enrolled in federally funded subsidy food programs. That translates to the possibility of a large number of children not having proper access to food during days they are not in school.
The Blessings program works in close cooperation with guidance counselors, teachers and administrators from Citrus County public schools. School personnel help identify the neediest children and enroll them in the program. The schools do not reveal identifying information about the students enrolled, just the number of children in the school who have a need. A network of volunteers pack the meals and deliver them to schools, and the kids pick up the meals on their way to buses on the last day of the week.
Blessings currently serves 1,450 students in 18 local schools. The program services all mainstream public schools in Citrus County. Surprisingly, it only takes $125 to feed one child for 35 weekends during the school year. Seventy-six percent of the children served are ages 6-11, and 24 percent are ages 12-18. Participating schools report that children benefit in the following ways:
Increased access to vitamin-fortified food.
Increased attendance at school.
Higher test scores.
Reduced behavioral problems.
Increased parental participation.
Citrus County Blessings is completely dependent on money and food contributions to keep this program going. The ongoing generosity of so many people is a testament to the character of all the communities in Citrus County – but, there is still a need. You can “Adopt a Child” for $125 per year or you can donate an amount that is affordable for you. You may also donate food. Many banks and businesses have donation containers with flyers explaining the guidelines for food donations. Visit http://citruscountyblessings.com/ to find out how you can make a difference in the life of a Citrus County child.
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Filed under: Blog Posts
Koch Awarded PBS LEAD LearningMedia Digital Innovator for Florida and Leonard for Digital Innovator
PBS announced the 2016 PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovators, Citrus County Schools Dan Koch, media specialist for Citrus Springs Middle School was awarded 2016 PBS LEAD LearningMedia Digital Innovator for Florida. Zachary Leonard from Lecanto Middle School was awarded 2016 PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator.
PBS shared about Koch:
Dan is an Apple Distinguished Educator, English teacher, media specialist, and technology coach in Citrus County, Florida. He’s passionate about breaking down technology barriers, empowering all learners (that includes teachers!), and believes strongly that tech truly allows us to do something different (and meaningful). With even marginal access to the internet, students can tap into the collective consciousness of countless experts on any given subject, create something new with that knowledge, and share their creativity and innovations with the world. We should be excited about this every day.
These two Citrus Schools educators are part of an impressive group of educators from across the country who will receive one year of free professional development from PBS. The professional development program focus on developing a tech-savvy group of educators that will serve as digital learning ambassadors to go out into classrooms throughout our country.
In addition, to the Award and professional development Koch will represent Florida at the PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator Summit in Denver at the 2016 ISTE conference.
Congratulations to Koch and Leonard on their Awards and for Citrus School from benefiting by the impressive curriculum digital innovators.
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Filed under: Blog Posts
Washington Post: Citrus is AGAIN among America’s Most Challenging High Schools 2016
