Post Hurricane Michael

THANK YOU!!!

Photos of the Citrus County Schools District Marine Science Station following Hurriane Michael, Oct. 11, 2018, complements of Earnie Olsen, Supervisor of MSS.

Citrus County and our school district were spared from the destruction of Hurricane Michael. We pray for the those particularly in the Panhandle who were in the devastating path of this historic storm.  The community of Citrus County has so much to be thankful for this morning.

Citrus County Schools will return for school on Friday, October 12, 2018, as the scheduled half day already on the school calendar.

When the Sheriff and the County Emergency Operations Committee decides to open shelters for the citizens of Citrus County, it is our public schools in Citrus County that are converted into these emergency shelters and it is our School District administrators and staff that prepare, man and operate these shelters with support from the Sheriff’s office and county services.  It takes a great deal of preparation to prepare these schools to become shelters, and then back to schools.  Counties and communities around the state have different manners of providing and operating shelters.  In Citrus County, the task largely falls to the Citrus County School District, with the corporation from the Board of County and the Sheriff’s office.  Once again, I am so grateful and blessed that our family lives in this great community of Citrus County.

Special thanks to these vital individuals for the countless hours they have put in over the last many days!

• Cheri Cernich, Director of Risk Management and Steven Baumer, Coordinator of Risk Management; who tirelessly where at the Emergency Operations Center, also for their coordinating of the shelter management and operations.
• Jonny Bishop, Assistant Superintendent of Business and Support Services and Mike Mullen, Assistant Superintendent, School Operations, Scott Hebert, Chief Academic Officer; overseeing operations of all school district operations, emergency and shelter planning.
• Marilyn Famer, Director of Transportation; coordinating and planning of all school transportation and contingency transportation for emergency planning.
• Roy Pistone, Director of Food Services; coordinating and planning of food needs for shelters and coordinating the storing and planning of school food needs.
• Eric Stokes, Director of Facilities, Construction and Maintenance and Dave Vientos, District Facilities Specialist and the entire district and school facilities teams; shelter preparation, operations and restoration of shelters back to schools.
• All the School Administrators and staff; for manning and operating of shelters
• Athletic/Activity Directors at schools; for the extensive rescheduling and replanning of sporting and activities at our schools.
• Earnie Olsen, Supervisor of Marine Science Station; for caretaking of the MSS and for providing detailed expert weather analysis to assist the school district with planning and preparation.
• Larry Brock and Citrus County Road Department; for assisting with the restoration of road access to our facilities.
• The AMAZING custodial staff at our shelter schools; These are the “unsung” heroes of the Citrus County School District who have been working together before, during and following the hurricane.
• Citrus County Sheriff Office, deputies and staff; for the continual protection, shelter support, and weather coverage.
• Nature Coast EMS; for the continual protection and shelter support
• Citrus Health Department; special needs shelter support and manning
• Citrus County Animal Services Department; animal shelter support
• Citrus County School Board Members
• Citrus County Commissioners
• City Administrators and Councilperson of Inverness and Crystal River
• State Rep. Ralph Massullo and State Senator Wil Simpson
• And the great leadership of our Superintendent of Schools, Sandra “Sam” Himmel

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Cypress Creek Academy Advisory Council Meeting

One of our schools that I greatly enjoy visiting and sharing about is the Cypress Creek Academy, which is also a 96 bed High & Maximum-Risk Male State Juvenile Detention Center located in Lecanto.  While nearly none of the resident students are from Citrus County.  Citrus County Schools is responsible for these students and works in partnership with TrueCore (the company that manages CCA) and Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.

I have been the School Board member on Cypress Creek’s school/community advisory council and visit the school a number of times throughout each school year. What often shocks people when they visit Cypress Creek is that is has some impressive learning taking place.  Many are astonished that even though it as a detention center it also resembles a school setting.

Many of the students at Cypress Creek have made some extremely poor choices prior to being brought to CCA.  The students at Cypress Creek range in age from 15-21 years old and will be at the Academy between 18-36 months.  Cypress Creek Academy is recognized in the DJJ system as one of the most successful programs in the state. While Citrus Schools works to support Cypress Creek students and staff, it is the leadership and staff at Cypress Creek that are the reason for the success. At the center of this leadership team is TrueCore Principal of Cypress Creek Academy Robert Cummins or as he is referred to by most at Cypress Creek, “Coach”.

At this quarter’s advisory meeting Principal Cummins shared of the many recent successes of their students.  He shared that traditional Florida high school graduation courses are offered as are G.E.D. courses. Principal Cummins talked about the career pathway programs that students at Cypress Creek that provide career skills and future opportunity to students.  The academy has a successful Home Builders Institute program. This program provides the student the opportunity to get career certified in a number of construction areas including OSHA training. Principal Cummins explained that the students that have completed the HBI programs, near 100% of them have had job placement after leaving Cypress Creek.  The academy also offered Truck Driving and Equipment vehicles training using computer simulators and now will have a forklift on site.  Students can complete all levels of driving training and certification up to the actual State Driving Test.

Many of Cypress Creek students in addition to high school credit focus on vocational course options, but for some that have completed high school either at Cypress Creek or before, they apply and attend colleges virtually.

Obviously not all of these students are prepared academically to attend college or vocational programs. These students may have learning disabilities or other learning challenges and so Principal Cummins’s staff provide a number of remediative strategies to help increase the students’ academic knowledge. The proof in Cypress Creek’s success is that while statistically nearly 50% of youth sadly reoffend and return to a Juvenile Detention Center, Cypress Creek students have had far fewer, with a reoffending rate of approximately 35%.  Again testament of staff and leadership.

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Massullo Legislative Wrap-up

On Monday afternoon I had the pleasure of attending State Representative Dr. Ralph Massullo’s Legislative wrap-up at his office in Lecanto. He was very kind to recognize me and praise our schools.

I greatly appreciated Rep. Massullo’s reflections about public education. Rep. Massullo shared, that education is the most important work that the legislature is and should be doing.

Rep. Massullo said, “as I listen to educators it is clear that education is NOT a one size fits all”.

Rep. Massullo also shared about school safety and mental health and the work the Legislature has been doing. He expanded that the Legislature is looking to continue improving options for School Boards in school safety and mental health.  Rep. Massullo explained that hopes in the coming legislative session that the state will strengthen some laws, he said, “mentally unstable people should not have firearms… I will support legislation that will do just that”

I am grateful for the work Rep. Massullo is personally doing to improve career pathways for high school students and provide alternative options to high stakes testing. Rep. Massullo is looking to continue running positive common sense education legislation this coming session and I am pleased to assist him and his team in anyway.

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