Regular Board Meeting Recap for Dec. 10^th, 2013

Choir, Presentations and Awards!

December 10^th, 2013 I chaired my first full regular school board meeting.  School Board Member Patricia Deutschman had the opening exercises and, with the assistance of soard secretary, Linda Verderame, arranged to have the Citrus High School’s a-capella choir.  (follow this link to view video of performance: youtu.be/nDmZCvf_0WE) What a great way to start a school board meeting.

One of the presentations was the Superintendents “Making a Difference Award” which was presented to Camden Blackburn, a student at Pleasant Grove Elementary School, and Rosemary Sullivan, a bus driver with Citrus Schools. The awards were given for their heroic efforts which lead to Camden’s brother receiving lifesaving assistance.  Earlier this school year while riding to school Ms. Sullivan was informed by a student that Camden’s brother was sick. Ms. Sullivan took the appropriate action to bring the bus to a safe stop, and radio EMS.  Camden’s brother was unconscious. Camden provided the necessary information and assistance that lead to EMS prompt response and then immediate transport to Shands Hospital.  After weeks of treatment Camden’s brother was released and is healing now back at home.

The other impressive presentation awarded on that day was to recognize the Foreign Exchange Students with the Rotary Youth Exchange.  Director Chairman Doug Lobel presented five high school students from the countries of Belgium, Croatia, Finland, and Brazil who have been attending our three high schools this school year.  The students shared what life and school is like in their home countries and how it compares to Citrus County and the United States. Some of the comments the Board heard were, “I love having sports in high school and picking and choosing your (educational) classes”, “In Finland I never could have taken keyboarding (Piano) as a subject in school. Now I play piano.” Over and over the students said that what is different about American schools is that one, everyone can go to high school, not only those that meet certain criteria. The other is that you have a choice of some of the classes you can take, and lastly, that in Citrus County students can take classes in the field of Arts. These students exchange their own family homes with American students who are living in their native countries and who are learning the language and culture.  This program is celebrating its 70^th year this year.

Besides the presentations the board received updates on the Duke Energy lawsuit statutes and its impact to the district.  I will be sharing more about that in a subsequent blog.  The Board also approved the purchase of additional Penn Foster site licenses and the new English Language Arts text books for grades 6-12 for use beginning in the 2014-2015 school year.

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