Recap of January Regular Board Meeting

Posted on January 12th, 2012 by

Recap of January Regular Board Meeting

If it is the second Tuesday of the month, it must be Board Day!

At the January Regular Board meeting the 2012-2013 school year calendar, Inverness Middle School traffic flow and presentations by Food Service Director Roy Pistone were the primary items covered during the meeting.

This is not your old school lunch! A benefit to being a Board Member is that we often regularly are brought samples of foods, snacks and beverages served to students and staff.  In addition, I try to stop and have lunch at the different school cafeterias as well whenever I can.  Like the kids I have my favorites.  The samples we got at this meeting were Apple & Eve’s Fruitables made from fruits and vegetables and Smart Cookies which are small vanilla cookies with a picture and name of one of the United States Presidents on it.  The cookies will be given to all of our reimbursable lunch students near Presidents Day.  Citrus County Schools Food Service Director, Roy Pistone, presented the Wellness Policy Guidelines as revised by the State and Federal Departments that Food Services must comply with.  Mr. Pistone shared information about some of the new food programs that Citrus will be offering. One of the new guidelines is that, through a grant, Citrus Food Service will be providing a health snack and drink to all students who attend an after school program at no cost to the student or the district.  I encourage you to learn more about our Food Service Department by visiting their web site at cafe.citrus.k12.fl.us

Also, now with the Florida Department of Education moving the testing window to December for the 2012-2013 school year, the Board promptly moved to approve the new school year calendar with the first semester beginning, for students, on August 8th, 2012 and ending on December 21st, 2012.  For more background on this issue read my blog posted on January 9th, 2012: DOE Reverses Decision: High School Testing Window Back to Dec.)

I want to thank the Calendar Committee who had to develop twice as many option calendars and take in to consideration the testing windows issue concerns and  other concerns not previously required or necessary.  I am so proud of the difficult work they did for our students. 

The Board also received an update on the traffic problem and concerns that occurred with autos entering and exiting out of Inverness Middle School Road and the parent pick/drop off route.  The Board formed a Task Force Committee to look for short term and long term goals to improve the situation at both IMS and parent pick up/drop off routes at the school.  The Committee will tentatively update the Board in February.

Next Board meeting is a Workshop on January 24th, 2012 which will begin at CRHS at 9:00am and include tours of CRHS construction, CRMS and then reconvene at the Board room in the afternoon.

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National POW/MIA Flag Presented to the Citrus County School District

Posted on January 12th, 2012 by

National POW/MIA Flag Presented to the Citrus County School District

On Jan 10, a POW/MIA Flag was presented to the Citrus County School Board to Superintendent Sam Himmel at the  district offices by Rolling Thunder Florida Chapter 7.  Last year Dr. Trish Kallenbach, Education Committee Chairperson for the Rolling Thunder, Florida Chapter 7, gave a presentation donating  our Nation’s second National Flag, the POW/MIA flag, at our schools.

(Click above to see video of presentation)

I want to thank Rolling Thunder and Florida Chapter 7 for these great flags and for their commitment to our Nation’s POW/MIA, veterans, fallen service men and women and their families.

I believe theses flags will continue to be a beacon helping our students remember what has been sacrificed to allow and provide the great opportunity of learning knowledge each day.  From the words of one my heroes, retired Crystal River High School teacher and former Vietnam POW Capt. Richard Tangeman,  who spent approximately five years of imprisonment at Hoa Lo Prison (a.k.a. “Hanoi Hilton”),  “Don’t let the MIAs or their families be forgotten.  Now that we are home, please transfer the support you have shown us, the returned POWs, to the effort of aiding the MIA families in their search for knowledge concerning their heroic loved ones. These families still face the pain and problems connected with the absence of their husbands, fathers and sons. God bless your efforts in the past – and those in the future.”

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2012 Begins

Posted on January 2nd, 2012 by

2012 Begins

It is 2012!  January 1st, for many of us, is a day of reflection and planning.  I know in our home we are thinking of starting back to school this week, planning for upcoming events, planning for spring and summer with hopes of doing something special for my wife and my 20th wedding anniversary this year.

2012 also welcomes many new challenges in education for our students, teachers, classrooms, schools and district.  One of the first things to watch and pay attention to is the Florida Legislative session which begins January 10th, 2012.  Of the many other items to pay attention to is the Redistricting which will affect Citrus County on both a state and federal representative level.  You can learn more about the Florida redistricting by visiting www.floridaredistricting.org.  Another big issue to watch is the State Budget.  While Governor Scott has presented his proposed state budget which includes additional funding to education I have several concerns about his proposal.  The Governor’s projections have an important missing element.  The state is now projecting 300,000 new additional students coming to Florida in 2012-2013 school year. The Governor’s budget does not take that into account. This means that, potentially, whatever the final state educational budget figure is, it will be ultimately divided by the number of students in Florida, creating the new/revised Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) Calculation.  This means that per student funding which the Governor hopes to increase by $100 plus per student could, after the new student number adjustments, be a reduction in funding instead of an increase.  In addition, the way the Governor is looking to fund the additional $100 per student funding is by cuts in Florida Medicaid.  It needs to be known that cuts in Medicaid have a direct effect on many of our students and services offered to students.  Further, the Governor is suggesting cutting 4,500 state jobs.  While many may believe this is reducing the size of government we have to be aware that cutting ANY jobs at this time only continues to have a negative economic effect on our local communities.  We are between the proverbial “rock and a hard place”.

Locally, the School Board and the Superintendent have been working continually to address the education budget challenges.  The Superintendent put together a District Budget Committee who has been meeting since the fall.  This committee was charged with developing proposed budget reduction ideas for the 2012-2013 districts’ budget that were then presented to the school board.  In addition, Assistant Superintendent Ken Blocker has visited the schools and district offices, presenting a “School Budget: 101” overview on how education is funded and what our funding and expenses have been over the last many years.  This also has been a positive way to talk with staff that are directly affected by changes about the process and answer their questions, concerns, and get their feedback and suggestions.  We all are very interested in hearing anyone’s cost savings thoughts, ideas and suggestions.  Many have been looked into already but please keep sharing with us because it has been staff that has come up with some of the best and largest cost reductions ideas.

This has been a tough time in education but we have and will continue to succeed for our students.  It is challenging for the district, the schools, and educators and staff who are working so hard for those changes to not have a negative effect on our students and their learning environment.  Everyone has been playing a part in our districts success, from our students, parents, volunteers, mentors, PTAs & PTOs, Advisory Councils, educators, administrators, staff and community members are pulling together.  This has been one of the few positive aspects of this educational dilemma, and we need to celebrate it and continue it!

Our students need for each of us, in our individual roles, to be positive and realistic about addressing these challenges.  Our students are our investment and our future.  They deserve our total commitment.

God Bless our district and us all in 2012!

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2011… 2012!

Posted on December 30th, 2011 by

2011… 2012

As 2011 comes to a close I thought it important to pause and reflect on so much that has taken place in our school district over the last year.  Many have expressed that the Florida Public Schools System saw more changes in 2011 than it had in all of the past 10 years.  While I am not sure if that is completely correct, it sure has felt that way.

This year provided some of the most challenging changes in public education as a result of state legislature passed and signed into law by Governor Scott.  The one of two changes that are often discussed include SB736, perhaps incorrectly named “The Students Success Act”.  This law creates a new teacher’s merit pay system which directly ties educator’s pay to high stakes tests, including the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, commonly known as the FCAT.  While some of the goals of SB736 were to mirror several initiatives that were already being developed as a result of Florida’s “Race to the Top” (RttT) grant.   Fortunately RttT was proving states and districts a 4 year phase in of the initiatives, SB736 basically gave districts 4 months.  Thankfully Citrus County Schools were well on their way in the RttT development process and Citrus achieved implementation of what was required in SB736.  One of my concerns in SB736 is that it has nearly done away with “due process” for many new teachers and makes the termination process, not just more streamlined, but down right easy.  This could have negative effects for any wrongful terminations which previous laws and statute provided protection of an employees rights.  Even legislators who voted for SB736 have expressed that before it is fully implemented in 2014 changes are needed in the law.  SB736, in part, is likely to be re-addressed in the 2013 legislative session.  The other major change was the new 3-percent pension employee contribution now required for all participants in the Florida Retirement System. For almost 40 years FRS had been entirely employer-paid  for all local and state government employees including teachers, police, fire and others. This was one of the benefits for choosing a modest life in “civil service”. During high income years many of these same employees did not see large increases in their wages, much less a “cost of living adjustment” like those in the private sector received, but that was understood because it was balanced with the 100% retirement contribution. This year all government agencies were allowed to use that 3%, which used to go to FRS (from the employees) to fund the general operations.  Now lawsuits have been filed and concerns are that the law may be found unconstitutional and that local and state agencies will have to find a way to pay back that 3% for this year’s budget and another 3% for next year’s budget. While I think there may be valid reason that the law will, and perhaps should be, found unconstitutional this could have new devastating impacts to agencies and local governments’ budgets.

Now for the positive!

I feel so blessed that my family lives in Citrus County and that my children attend our great public schools.  Our middle school son told us recently, “Mom and Dad I LOVE school, I love my teachers!”  Our 3rd grade daughter was so upset recently when she was sick and needed to stay home from school because she was going to miss being at school learning.  Could we, as parents, ask for much more?

Citrus County had all of its Elementary and Middle Schools awarded an “A” rating .by the Florida Department of Education. In addition Citrus, as a district, again received the highly coveted ‘High Performing District’ from Florida DOE.  Citrus County is the only district in Florida to be awarded as a ‘High Performing District’ six years in a row and the only district among all ‘High Performing’ districts in those six years to see increases in student performance each year during that same period.

2012

As we begin 2012 I have concerns, but I also have hope and excitement.  I enjoy looking at life from “the glass is half full” prospective but I am also a realist and I accept that “the glass is not completely full” either.  While the challenges are very real, we can and will, in Citrus County Schools, continue to provide “Great learning, meeting students’ individual needs and preparing students to be successful in school and beyond.”

I ask that you continue to pray for our students, our school leaders, our school board, and myself as we begin a great 2012!!

 

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Posted on December 18th, 2011 by

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

At this time I wanted to pause to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a most happy of Holidays!  Take time to hug those in your life and tell them how much you care for them and let them know what a blessing they are to you. Reach out to someone new and show them kindness.  Pray for our community, our schools, our friends and our families.

Merry Christmas!

Thomas Kennedy

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Recap of Regular Board Meeting – Dec 13,-011

Posted on December 15th, 2011 by

Recap of Regular Board Meeting Dec. 13,-011

About twice a year, by a board member rotation, each board member is responsible for the meeting opening exercises.  December was my turn and I wanted to arrange for something that was about the Holiday season and that was a little entertainment gift to the other Board Members, Executive team, staff and guests.  I arranged for the Citrus High School Girls Barbershop Quartet “So Divine” featuring Ashlyn Gibbs, Lead; Christi Black, Tenor; Jamee Billings, Baritone; Mary Jane Onsager, Bass.  They to preform two holiday songs.  They were amazing!

Click video above to watch

Gerry Mulligan, Publisher of the Citrus County Chronicle and Chief Volunteer Officer introduced the new Executive Director of the Citrus County YMCA, Joanna Castle.  The “Y” currently offers after school and summer programs in Citrus County and a major Capital project is currently underway to build a permanent state of the art YMCA in Lecanto on property next to property recently purchased by CCSB for a future elementary school.

The Board also gave recognition to the winner of the Art Outside the Box Contest from the 40th Festival of the Arts celebration, which was the Citrus High School.  Citrus County High School Students decorated Citrus County Chronicle newspaper boxes that were throughout the festival. The boxes will now be placed throughout the county to vend daily papers and for the community to enjoy. (Click here to read Chronicle Story)

The last recognition at this meeting was of Nathan P. Lovestrand, a Citrus High School student from Troop 415, for attaining the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.  Nathan completed an award winning community service project, building a roost for up to 10,000 bats at Fort Cooper State Park.

The Board approved a number of items at the meeting including but not limited to a salary step increase, a top of the scale bonus based on contract days for CCEA Instructional, Support, Professional and Technical Staff for the 2011-2012 school year.  The Substitute Salary Schedule will reflect a small increase in the daily rate. “Change Orders” for Phase II of the Crystal River High School Project. The purchase of Dell computers for Testing and Data Services.

Lastly the Board was asked to approve the 2012-2013 School Calendar.  Due to a pending decision regarding the testing window requirement for the 2012-2013 by the Florida Department of Education , the Board “Tabled” the issue until the January 10th, 2012 Board meeting in hopes of hearing from DOE.

The next School Board meeting is a Regular School Board meeting at 3:00pm on January 10th, 2012.

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