Monday I had the pleasure of visiting  Citrus High School with Principal Dale Johns.  Mr. Johns and I had a chance to catch up some before touring the campus.  Mr. Johns was principal at Citrus Springs Middle School before Mr. Johns was brought to CHS.  Mr. Johns and I visited the CHS Cafetorium as students started entering for the first of the four lunch periods provided at CHS. It was hard not to notice how mature the high school students behaved as they entered the café. One might think a group of high school students would be “clowning” around as they entered the café but I was very impressed with their maturity. I visited several AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) classes.  In one of the AVID classes being taught by Mrs. Gina Armstrong I enjoyed listening to students present a Power Point presentation on a new college that they had learned about. They shared many detailed unique aspects and reasons why they had made the choice for the college that they did. I had an opportunity to visit several other classes and, as always, find it exciting to see our students and educators as they participate in the learning process. On my next visit to CHS I plan on observing more of our Science labs and classrooms.

Monday afternoon I was honored to be asked to speak briefly to the Forest Ridge Elementary School Advisory Enhancement Council 5^th grade class election candidates running for the 2010-2011 school year SAEC Student Representative. FRE has 16 5^th grade candidates that each gave a one minute speech to explain  why they felt that they were the best candidate and what made them the most qualified to serve as SAEC Student Representative. I was very impressed with the speeches and the positive information that each of the candidates shared about themselves.  During one of the speeches a young girl candidate caught my attention because as the person just prior to her finished giving her speech I observed her make positive eye contact with the other student and give her a thumbs up as she mouthed the words, “Good job”!  I was very impressed with the positive attitudes and support for each other during the actual process of “competing”.

Related Links

Citrus High School

CHS Administration

Citrus Springs Middle School

Forest Ridge Elementary

FRE Advisory Enhancement Council

Comments Off on CHS & FRE 5th grade SAEC Reps 9/20/2010
Filed under: News & Updates

Today I had an opportunity to sit down and spend some time with Roy Piston, Director of Food Services at the Citrus County School Department.  He is also a Registered Dietitian.  Mr. Piston shared with me many inside aspects of the operation of our schools’ breakfast and lunch programs.  Some I already knew and others  were new to me.  The CCSB food service department likely serves more meals a day in less time then any other restaurant or catering business in all of Citrus County.

I am often asked, “Thomas have you eaten in our schools’ cafés”?  The answer is, “Yes, I sure have! ”.  Among my favorites are chicken nuggets, chicken patties and the turkey wraps. I plan on trying the fruit smoothies next time I am at one of the middle schools.  They are made from 100% fruit juice.  Several times in the past my wife and I have used the MealpayPlus Online Pre-payment System which not only lets you pay online using a credit card, but also lets you check up on what your students have been buying or not buying.  I would encourage you to check out the CCSB Food Service Departments Web Site which has lots of meal information, weekly menus, games for the students and nutritional information.

Mr. Piston also shared with me that Food Services now has an online application for the Free and Reduced Price Meal Online Application.  This helps process the application faster and allows for more privacy of the process.

If you have questions or concerns about food services, Mr. Piston encourages people to contact him directly.

He can be reached at:

Roy R. Pistone II, RD, MEd, SNS

Director of Food Services, Citrus County School District

1007 W. Main Street, Bldg. 200, Inverness, FL 34450

pistoner@citrus.k12.fl.us

352-726-1931

Related Links

www.citrus.k12.fl.us/departments/food/default.htm

cafe.citrus.k12.fl.us

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietitian

sfsonlinemealapp.citrus.k12.fl.us

MealpayPlus Online Pre-payment System

Comments Off on School Food Services 9/16/2010
Filed under: News & Updates

It was a good meeting that was held at our school board yesterday, September 14^th, 2010.  Among the business conducted, there were several presentations given.  Two students from Lecanto High School’s Art Academy won The Post-it® Brand 30th Anniversary Student Design Contest sponsored by 3m Corporation.  These students won a trip to New York to see their art re-created and displayed in large scale at Grand Central.  In addition, Century Link received an award for monetary support of district events and the Imagination Library.  Steve and Jewel Lamb of Crystal Motor Car and Edward Jones Investments received the Commissioner of Education’s Business Recognition Award.  CREST received the Florida Parent Teacher Association Region II Parent Involvement Award, which was presented by Florida PTA Vice President Kathy Thrumston.   Crystal River Primary School and Central Ridge Elementary School received the State Golden School Award for establishing exemplary volunteer programs where schools must have volunteers donate twice as many hours as there are total number of students at each school each school year .

At the meeting  Assistant Superintendent Mary Curry shared the most current information on Florida’s Race To The Top grant and Citrus County Schools’ plan of action. This is a very involved process and as a district we are beginning to put together the necessary steps required to be eligible to receive these monies.

The next school board meeting is October 12^th, 2010 at 3:00pm.

Related Links

www.3m.com/us/office/postit/promos/201004_bb

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=241324&id=33019468131#!/photo.php?pid=6391655&id=33019468131&ref=fbx_album

www.citrus.k12.fl.us/news/imag_library.htm

www.centurylink.com

www.crystalautos.com

www.edwardjones.com

www.citrus.k12.fl.us/crest

www.floridapta.org

www.citrus.k12.fl.us/crp

www.centralridgeelementary.org

www.fldoe.org/arra/racetothetop.asp

Comments Off on School Board Meeting Recap 9/14/2010
Filed under: News & Updates, School Board Meetings