Recap of School Board Meeting for 5/8/2012

“Ya’ll welcome, Maddie Fisher…”

It was my turn for opening exercises so this time I asked Lecanto Middle School eighth grader, Maddie Fisher to perform two songs for us.  Ms. Fisher sang and played the guitar.  Her first rendition was “Fifteen” by Taylor Swift.  Ms. Fisher has amazing talent and the whole attendants were elated by her performance.

Our meeting was a long one and lasted almost five hours, plus we spent two hours prior to that in Administrative Hearings.  While those are long days my wife, and teacher, always reminds me that while it was a long day, with much important and critical work to do, we, the school board, still are able to take breaks when we need or want, and we do not have 50% of our salary based on the outcome of a high stakes test such as the FCAT.  Maybe she has a point…

During the 5:30pm Public Hearing section of the meeting, revisions to three policies were voted on, and all were passed.  The first was revisions to Policy 6.91, “Salary Schedules”, and then to Policy 6.40, “Assessment of Employees” requiring a minor change necessary due to statutorily changes.  The most major change was to Policy 5.621, “Student Medications”.  Due to revision in statute, the district is no longer allowed to keep Auto injectors, commonly referred to as “Epi pens”, without a prescription.  Previously the school health clinic was allowed to have Epi Pens available in case of an emergency. If you know of a student that may require the need of an Epi Pen please make them aware of this change. The clinic may still keep on campus personal Epi Pens, which have a prescription for a specific person. The district has made the Citrus County Emergency Services and Sheriff’s Office aware of the change so that they know that if a 911 call comes through from one of our schools for an allergy and/or a potential need of an Epi Pen, that they need to respond promptly.

Several Special recognitions were given to students during this meeting. First were Colton Trigin and Austin Boling for attaining their rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.  Next, six high school students who participated as a team in the 2012 Commissioner’s Academic Challenge and placed 2nd in the State in Division II.  The Challenge Team consisted of Alex Park, Hanain Fazal, Kaitlin Beranek, Zuhair Sami of LHS, as well as Robert Walters and Angela Ketchum of CRHS. Their coaches were: Scott Waters (Varsity) and Angela St. George (Junior Varsity) of CHS; Bill Hartley (Varsity) and Luke Witkowski, (Junior Varsity) of LHC; Al Balk (Varsity & JV) of CRHS.

Presentations and special recognition was given to the Citrus County’s 2012 National Merit Scholarship Participants. Among the awards given was a 2012 National Merit Hall of Fame Award given to Jacob Tamposi.  Being a National Merit Scholar is a distinction for life.

Approval was given for the renewal of Bid #2010-56 which was for the Purchase & Installation of School Bus Digital Camera System

Three new administrators were recommended by the Superintendent and approved by the board effective July 1, 2012.  Vicki Lofton as Principal of Lecanto Primary School, Deon Copeland as Assistant Principal of Citrus High School, and  Ernest Hopper  as Assistant Principal of the Renaissance Center.

Lastly at the meeting the board approved thirty-nine Teacher Aide TERM Units which are a continuation of par-professional teacher aides that are currently in our schools.  We also approved changes to the current job description for the Student Health Specialist’s Job Description.

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