Citrus School District honors Former Superintendents
It was a wonderful event on Thursday afternoon honoring some of the good and caring people that worked to education our Citrus students.
So many magnificent words were shared by and about these inspiring leaders. I encourage you to read Chronicle reporter Eryn Worthington’s article below on the event.
During this event the portraits of each of these honored Leaders were unveiled and were then hung permanently in the new Hall of Fame wall at the Citrus School’s District Service Center at 1007 W. Main Street in Inverness.
Special thanks to Superintendent Sam Himmel for developing the Wall of Fame and having this event.
ChronicleOnline: District honors leaders
Wall of Fame recognizes past school superintendents
By Eryn Worthington
The history of a strong foundation of leaders is what created the successes of the Citrus County School District today.
That’s what community leaders and educators preached Thursday when recognizing five superintendents from the past 46 years. They were honored in front of former colleagues, friends and family members at the unveiling of the Superintendent’s Wall of Fame ceremony at Withlacoochee Technical Institute.
Presenters each spoke of their memories of their designated former superintendent.
Ed Murphy was the first to give a personal testimony. He was he joined by the late Roger Weaver’s family.
“He was loved for his educational insight and his humbleness to the employees of the Citrus County School Board,” Murphy said. “When needed, Mr. Weaver was an enforcer capable of authoritative steel. He also had an idea that it was OK to dream big and a desire to give back to the community in an area that he loved.
Motivational Speeches to CREST, LHS & Renaissance Students and APs
Today I had the very distinct honor of being the opening speaker at a standing room only crowd at CREST with former ESE student turned Motivational Speaker Kenny Korshak.
The audience included CREST, LHS & Renaissance students as well as Assistance Principals from each of our elementary, middle and high school was on hand to hear about Mr. Korshak and my experiences and challenges as ESE students as we conveyed our messages that no hardship is too hard to overcome to reach success.
I want to thank CREST Principal Lee Mulder hosting this event and to Citrus County Schools ESE Director Nancy Haynes for again arranging for Mr. Korshak to speak.
Withlacoochee Technical Institute Open House March 6th, 2014
The Withlacoochee Technical Institute provides technical and career training through its program offerings. The goal of the school is to provide a skilled workforce for high demand, high paying jobs and WTI adapts its curriculums with changes in the industry. WTI has obtained several accreditations and strives to be a technical school of choice.
Academics
WTI offers adult education, teen parent and career/technical programs. Adult education courses assist in adults obtaining their GED. The teen parent program assists teens with children in finishing their high school diploma. The career and technical courses provide quality education in high demand fields and impart the skills necessary to be successful.
Citrus County Education Foundation Scholarships Now Available
The Citrus County Education Foundation proudly announced the continuation of seven scholarships available to Citrus County graduating seniors. Bright House Networks has once again sponsored three $1,000 scholarships available to all schools. The Citrus Hills Civic Association Memorial Scholarship is a $1,000 scholarship for a student residing in the Villages of Citrus Hills. The Lt. Peter A. Codella Memorial Scholarship is a $500 scholarship available to a graduating senior at Citrus High School. The Thelma DeLay and Nancy Dodge Memorial Scholarship is a $1,000 scholarship available to any school for a student demonstrating an aptitude and interest in one of the visual arts and showing a serious interest in pursuing further studies in the field of art.
For more information on these scholarships and to apply, students should contact their school’s guidance department or copy and paste the following this link: http://scholarshipscitruseducationfdn.wikispaces.com/.
The application deadline for all of these scholarships is April 1, 2014.
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Special Meeting & Workshop Recap for Jan. 29th, 2014
Last Wednesday the school board had a rare Wednesday meeting because several of the board members were busy on our regular day of Tuesday as judges for the 2014 Regional Science and Engineering Fair sponsored by the Citrus County School Board.
The board meeting included a short special meeting followed by a long workshop. At the workshop several topics were covered including the 2014-2015 Code of Student Conduct and a Food Services Nutrislice Software and Nutrislice apps Overview.
One of the most important documents for students, parents, and staffs is the Code of Student Conduct. Each year the school board by Florida statute must pass and publish a new updated Code of Student Code (CSC). The CSC is the policies that govern the expectations and conduct of students at school. I have had the pleasure of being a part of this process from several angles, from a husband of a teacher, father of two students in Citrus County, former School Advisory Council (SAC) chairman and now as a school board member. From each of these perspectives I continue to have great appreciation for the process. The process of updating the CSC begins in the early fall each school year with asking school’s SAC meetings and asking members (parents, students, teachers, community members) for input on the coming year’s CSC, then each school has a Principal appointed staff member that serves on the CSC district committee and then that school staff member asks other staff members for input on the CSC which, along with the SAC input, is brought to the annual district CSC meeting. At the annual district CSC meeting another cross section of department heads, administrators, school representatives and a school board member attend that meeting. Following that meeting proposed changes are then brought to the school board workshop as was done this past Wednesday, January 29th. Next the CSC will be put on the agenda to be approved for advertising and final approval. This is about a total of a six month process from beginning to end and is repeated each school year.
At the workshop Food Service Director, Roy Pistone shared about a new service that his department is beginning, Nutrislice. This service allows parents and students to get food allergy and basic nutritional information provided on each school cafeteria menu. The service is being paid for by the state of Florida and not by local taxes. The information students and parents can obtain from Nutrislice allows them to make better choices and be better informed as to the health needs of students.
While Mr. Pistone shared about Nutrislice he also asked for school board feedback on a beverage request made by the Citrus County School Superintendents’ High School Student Advisory Councils. These councils have been meeting quarterly at each high school with Superintendent Sam Himmel. They talk about their specific schools and how they can be improved. One of the requests made by each High Schools Council was for coffee to be sold in the mornings. That request was forwarded by the councils to the Food Service Department and then brought to the school board. Mr. Pistone explained that due to state and federal requirements their would be a limite as to how many a student could purchase in a day, in addition the cup size would be limited as would the amounts of sweetener and creamers (similar in size to the picture here). The school board discussed the pros and cons of the students’ request. The School Board felt, before we decided one way or the other, we should seek input from parents of the students. We requested that the Food Services Department get that information and then get back to us with the findings. Mr. Pistone said he would seek that information and provide it to us at an upcoming board meeting.
Both of these items brought to the school board are good examples of the positive process in place to obtain input from students and parents into the decision making at their schools.
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I had the pleasure of joining Rotarian Doug Lobel on CITRUS TODAY on WYKE on TV channel 16 or 47 on Friday, January 31, 2014 to share about Citrus County School Board.
It was a wonderful event on Thursday afternoon honoring some of the good and caring people that worked to education our Citrus students.
