Straight to the Moon

STEM @ Your Library

The Central Ridge Library is having an event for Teens and Tweens on Thursday, April 18th at 3:30pm-5:00pm.

Board your space shuttle and find your way to the Central Ridge Library to celebrate National Library Week.

Join as they explore the surface of the moon, design a system to protect astronauts as they land their space craft, and learn why NASA is crashing into the moon on purpose!

The Central Ridge Librabry is located on , 425 W. Roosevelt Blvd., Beverly Hills. For more information contact (352) 746-6622 or  visit www.citruslibraries.org

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EDC Hears About Citrus School Students

Recently I had the privilege of speaking before the Citrus County Economic Development Council Board of Directors regarding high school graduation requirements and job ready skills.

I began by sharing that Florida is ranked 6^th in the Nation in Education; Citrus County School District is 12^th out of 67 counties in Florida for overall performance and 1^st in performance for students with the highest number of Title 1 students (economically disadvantaged students); Citrus has the highest percentage of “A” schools of any Florida district; has been designated an “A”  district for 7 years running; and has been designated by Florida Department of Education as “Academically High Performing School District” for 6 years in a row. I then pointed out the irony that the more successful the Citrus County School District becomes, the more challenging it becomes for the economic development of Citrus County.

Why, you might ask?  Citrus County was specially awarded a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  A significant reason Citrus was selected for the unique achievement of students, especially for a rural community with a higher than normal poverty rate.   Using the tool provided by the Gates Foundation some excellent details of our impressive post-secondary results of our graduated high school students.  The data tells us that an inspiring 68% of Citrus students are enrolling into a college or university within one year after graduating high school and that of those that originally graduated high school in Citrus, 61% will receive a four year degree within five to six years after high school graduation.  If that were not exciting enough, of those that graduated from a Citrus high school that are Exceptional Student Education students (those with disabilities), 45% will get a four year degree– almost twice the national average.

Here is the problem: the majority of those that get their degree will not move back to Citrus.  Of the 13% that go to student engineering, nearly 0% come back to Citrus; of the 22% that go into medical,  surprisingly few of even those young people come back as they often prefer the cities.  One of the primary reasons for those in other fields to return to Citrus is to care for an aging family member.

The exception?  Those who get a degree in education.  They are largely the highest group of young people with degrees to return to Citrus. What is surprising about this for some is that Citrus is a ranked 45^th out of 67^th in pay for teachers.  One of the draws for teachers who move to Citrus from other area was that their spouse was working at Progress Energy. This was a benefit for Citrus County and our students as many of these educators might not ordinarily have located in Citrus. Another misfortune of the Crystal River Nuclear plant closing for Citrus is that many of these teachers must now move away. I speak of this first hand as this includes a great teacher that teaches next to my wife’s classroom.

So who stays in Citrus County and who is our potential labor workforce? First it is the bulk of the 33% of students that do not go on to a colleges and universities in the first year after high school. They may go to WTI or even find an entry level job. Many realized during the months after high school that they must get more specific skills and training.  Several will go to WTI but after school leave the area to look for opportunities outside of Citrus. What remains in our county is the potential employment pool for businesses and employers.

What are we doing in our Citrus schools to help young people acquire job ready skills?  I would point to some excellent examples in job and career readiness training such as the Crystal River High School Academy of Health where students by their Junior year can earn a certification as a CNA and/or other certifications to begin work immediately after high school.  This facility is one of only 10 like it in the nation.  The Academy of Health has a state-of-the-art six station dental suite where students learn hands-on the skills necessary to work for a dentist. Students are getting hired directly out of high school and are furthering their dental training while working for a dentist. Another great example is the Citrus High School Drafting Academy which is 1st in the Southeast and 2^nd in the entire nation in having the largest number of drafters become ADDA certified drafters. The Academy’s walls are filled with copies of the certifications former students have received. These students have the skills to be hired directly out of high school or to continue their education in many other areas.

One of the biggest obstacles we have had in high school was the State’s requirement that all students must be college ready in order to graduate high school.  This was mandated through the passage of 2010’s Senate Bill 4 which has contributed in large part to taking away schools’ and districts’ abilities to offer “real world and job/career ready skill building” classes and opportunities in school.  How? Because SB4 put in in Florida law that all high school students must demonstrate through standardized testing that they are college ready/eligible in order to receive a basic high school diploma accredited from the Florida Department of Education.  In order for the Freshman class of 2013 to graduate, they will have to pass FCAT Reading along with Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Biology, Chemistry and/or Physics. They also must pass another science course that is equally as rigorous as Chemistry or Physics, and pass at least one online high school course.  The standard graduation requirements for high school are higher than the entrance requirements to UF.  This MUST be changed!!

What needs to happen? One of the best chances of change we have this legislative session is the passage of House Bill 7091 which is co-sponsored by our own State Representative Jimmie T. Smith.  This will provides more pathway graduation options for high school schools then we currently have.  It provides flexibility for districts to work with industry leaders to develop job skill building courses and programs which will count towards high school graduation.  This bill provides student assessment taking and passing options which will provide that students’ daily work will count towards passing their required courses. Currently, many required courses are pass/fail only end of course exams.  This is one of the best educational bills facing Florida in many years and it is my hope and prayer that it passes and becomes law.

Citrus economic development has many challenges ahead but I appreciate that the Citrus Economic Development Council recognizes the valuable educational system Citrus County School District has built and the asset that it can be in attracting industry and people to our great community.  I look forward to the EDC and the school system working more closing to meet the challenges our county is facing.

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HB7091 Is Good for Students

“HB 7091 may just be one the best educational changes in many years.”

I want to take this opportunity to update you on what has been happening at the legislative level in Career and Technical Education (CTE), in the past often referred to as vocational education.

Florida House Representative Jimmie T. Smith, and his local Task Force on Career and Technical Education which I am honor to be Chair, developed a Constituency bill which Representative Smith made a priority during this session, HB 133 High School graduation options.  This bill was the start to making improvements in the current high school graduation requirements by providing more career and vocational options for high school students. Currently in Florida law all high school students must be “college ready” in order to graduate high school.  This past week we updated the Task Force about the progress of HB 133 and other educational legislation bills being proposed.

Representative Smith has been diligently communicating with Florida House Representatives and Senators informing them of the challenges and changes that need to be made to Florida’s educational system.  Representative Smith has been also working with Education K12 Subcommittee Chairman Janet Adkins regarding HB 133 and our Task Forces’ other CTE and high school graduation requirement concerns.  As a result we will not have to wait for HB133 to pass before getting the improvements necessary for our students. Two of the primary issues the Task Force has been focused on at this time has been modifying the pass/fail requirement for End of Course Exams (EOC), and providing multiple graduations option pathways.  These have been incorporated into Education K12 Subcommittee sponsored bill HB 7091.

Representative Smith explained to the Task Force that there was much reason to be encouraged this legislative session’s regarding formative changes in CTE for Florida high school students. Representative Smith is so pleased that much of what the Task Force has identified as needing improvements are being incorporated into HB 7091.  Some of these include multiple high school graduation pathways, significantly modifying or eliminating barriers for End of Course exams (EOC), providing for the development of custom career and vocational course options, and the elimination of a funding penalty for students that do not pass EOCs and much more.

One of the most important improvements would be moving away from Florida’s current law that “all high school students must be college ready” in order to graduate.    In HB 7091 puts in place three spate high school graduation pathway tracks for student to choose from.  These high school graduation tracks would be a College, Technical and Industrial Graduation Diploma at graduation.  The College and Technical tracks are similar to what is the present graduation standard, put into law in 2010 through Senate Bill 4.  It includes the requirements of high math and sciences of Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Biology, Chemistry and/or Physics in order to receive this high school diploma option.  The other is an Industrial diploma option which is a graduation standard similar to the pre 2010/SB4 standards.  This includes passing of Algebra 1 and Biology for math and science.  In all three options EOCs would no longer be a pass/fail but rather EOCs would count for 30% of the student’s grade, which is much more appropriate as it would allow for students daily work to be included in their grades.

HB 7091 would also provide each school district to establish Educational Task Forces like Representative Smith’s that would work with local school boards and local industries to develop custom career and vocational courses that would be alternative course options that would count towards required graduation courses for the Industrial diploma.  These are issues that the Task Force has been working on promoting to the legislators in Florida.

HB 7091 and its positive changes have become the priority of Florida House of Representatives Speaker Will Weatherford. I greatly value Representative Smith’s working to bring these necessary changes in education to the House Leadership and working with Speaker Weatherford, Chairman Adkins and others to see these changes take place for our students and schools.

Representative Smith has appropriately joined in Co-Sponsoring HB 7091.  I have expressed to Representative Smith our gratitude for his strong support in making CTE and high school graduation pathways a priority and for again putting the needs of his young constituents ahead of any personal agenda. When Representative Smith talked about HB 133 and the needs for our students, he made it clear he was not interested in who got the credit, but rather, that the formative changes identified by educators, industry representatives, parents and students of the Task Force, got accomplished and was successfully put into law.

HB 7091 is more than I could have hoped for.  HB 7091 may just be one the best educational changes in many years.

I am asking each of you to use your influence and resources to show your support so that this bill passes successful.  I will continue to keep you posted on this bill as it moves through the legislative session.

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