Teacher Welcome Back &

Digital Learning 2.0

The annual welcome back for teachers took place at the Curtis Peterson Auditorium this morning. It is always a mix of emotions—new teachers nervous about starting, and returning teachers wanting to get back to their classroom and work.  There is excitement of the new year and a little sadness that the short summer break went by so quickly.  This is always a big event and there is often a big surprise (or two).

This welcome back would be immediately followed by a massive digital learning professional development. Lindy Woythaler, Director of Professional Development opened the day and introduced Superintendent Sandra “Sam” Himmel. Superintendent Himmel welcomed the teachers back and talked about the importance of a special group of individuals to our schools and then opened the stage’s curtain to reveal our Citrus County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officers and Sheriff Jeff Dawsey to honor them for their service to our students, staff and schools. The very packed audience “roared” as they clapping and gave a standing ovation, screaming with pride and appreciation for their service.  Sheriff Dawsey talked about his upcoming retirement and of the outstanding relationship between the Sherriff’s office and the School District and talked about how rare that was. Sheriff Dawsey seemed most taken back by the support and appreciation of the audience.

If all of that were not enough Superintendent Himmel had another special guest to introduce. Florida Department of Education Commissioner Pam Stewart.  Commissioner Stewart came down from Tallahassee to help welcome back our teachers.  She has recently completed her radiation treatments at the Tampa Moffitt Center and she opened up briefly about her cancer recovery.  Commissioner Stewart shared what the consistent and outstanding accomplishments of Citrus County Schools and she praised the teachers and the leadership team under Superintendent Himmel.  Commissioner Stewart explained that the digital expectation and successful technology implementation of curriculum done in Citrus County Schools exceeds that of most districts. She explained that it is time that teaching moves away from a textbook and focus on teaching standards using teachers’ expertise and the digital one-to-one device as the curriculum.  I believe wholeheartedly with Commissioner Stewart and am confident that is what Citrus Schools is doing.

The session then moved on to the digital training.  Over 200 Citrus teachers provided some of the most cutting edge training to our over 1,100 teachers.  This level of expertise in the past would have cost a school district tens-to-hundreds of thousands of dollars. Click here to read the catalog of the day’s breakout sessions. I was honored to be asked to present a learning session and presented, ‘Digital Tools for Struggling Students’.  The session shared about how to use digital tools that provide personalized support for struggling readers and writers. I provided suggestions on how these tools may be utilized for IEPs and PMPs.  Click here to see the presentation.

I am so proud of the exciting talents of our educators in Citrus County and how our students will benefit from our teachers’ talents and insight.  It is going to be another great school year!

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Millage & TRIM

July 26, 2016 Board Workshop Presentation

At our July 26, 2016, School Board Public Hearing Meeting, the School Board adopted the tentative budget and millage rate for the 2016-2017 year as required by law.  The district’s tentative budget comes in at $208,304,509. The board approved a required local effort rate of 4.677 mills set by the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Legislature, which would raise $40,741,612. That is a decrease from the 2015 rate of 4.9410 mills. The board approved a discretionary rate of .7480 mill, unchanged from last year, which would raise $6,515,870. Its capital outlay rate was set at 1.500, unchanged from last year, which would raise $13,066,585.  Total millage rate approved 6.925 mills, which would levy a total local school taxes of $62,837,570, which is estimated to be $413,635 less in local school taxes compared to last year.

Following the public Hearing the school board had a Workshop that included a presentation by Tammy Wilson, Director of Finance on ‘Millage and TRIM’ to share with the public information on what millage rates and TRIM notices are.  I wanted to share this valuable presentation.

Click Here to Download Presentation or view below

[slideshow_deploy id=’7970′]

Historical Millage & Local School Taxes Levied

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Lies, damned lies, and statistics

Recently the School District Fix Capital Outlay Funding report by the House Education Appropriations subcommittee has been making its rounds on social media. This questionable report has undoubtedly been shared in hopes of proving that the Citrus School Board has not been a good steward of taxpayers’ money.  This report being shared is highly suspect and many news reports questioned its credibility. (see http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/incoming-speaker-corcoran-says-bill-that-would-benefit-his-wifes-charter/2271194 and http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article59914131.html).

In February I blogged about this very subject post and how misleading this report was: (https://thomastalks.org/2016/02/06/rep-fresen-battles-with-superintendents-over-construction-costs-then-files-bill/)

To recap:  the School District Fix Capital Outlay Funding report’s purpose was to show that schools did not use their capital dollars responsibly.  It reported that Citrus spent $249,652 per student station. That would be true IF you divided the $5 million whole school renovation project by 18 student stations.  However, the project encompassed more than 18 student stations.  It also included a new media center, a new cafeteria, a new multipurpose room, a new stage, a new covered play area, and other related areas all sized to meet the needs of the entire school. Rep. Fresen said that because the state requires that student station costs not exceed $18,000 per student, Citrus was an example of exceeding the student station limit.  However, had just the area of the student station cost been in the report, and not the additional items mentioned, the actual cost would have been well under the $18,000 per student station cost. Furthermore, the project received prior approval from the Florida Department of Education.

What made this report even more suspect was that the authors, Rep. Fresen and Rep. Corcoran, have a clear ethic concern as this report was published to make a case to provide more capital funding to Charter schools of which both of these Representatives have personal strong business connections. (see http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article59914131.html and http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/incoming-speaker-corcoran-says-bill-that-would-benefit-his-wifes-charter/2271194)

If that wasn’t enough, as a result of this report the Florida House– on the last day of session– approved the controversial “train bill” HB 7029 which added new sanctions to school districts that violated projects over the set per student station cap.  This educational bill included forced local opened enrollment for out of county students and a new state law that allows students to opt out of   standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.  I personally do not agree with this new law or much of anything else found in the approved HB 7029. (see http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/article_3b185194-a5b4-5a9b-a231-647f1ba2bd73.html and Overview of HB 7029 Relating to Education , DOE Memo with Summary of Key HB 7029 Provisions , FHSAA Analysis of HB 7029 Provisions on Athletics)

Please learn the facts!

I would encourage you to study these links below on this School Capital Outlay Report Report: (below are linkable)

FADSS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
FADSS Response to Capital Outlay Report, 2/1/16

Related news articles:

Schools superintendents rebut Florida legislators’ claim of wasteful construction spending , Miami Herald, 2/3/16

Local Florida districts offer specifics to counter lawmaker school construction cost claims , Gradebook, Tampa Bay Times, 2/2/16

Florida superintendents strike back against lawmakers’ claims on construction costs , Tampa Bay Times, 2/1/16

District Capital Outlay letters:

• Calhoun County School District
• Escambia County School District
• Pasco County School District
• St. Johns County School District
• Sumter County School District
• Volusia County School District
• Washington County School District
• Walton County School District

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