Sarasota County Schools News

OSPREY – In an event billed as an “action lab,” Pine View School recently hosted teachers, administrators and other specialists from throughout the U.S. who serve gifted learners. The Oct. 30 event was part of this year’s annual conference of the National Association for Gifted Children, which is being held from Oct. 29 through Nov. 2 in Tampa.

“We were honored to have such a distinguished group of gifted educators from across the country visit Pine View,” said Steve Largo, principal. “It was truly an ‘action lab’ for all of us, as our staff and guests interacted with and learned from each other.”

At the event, Largo introduced Pine View School and Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Lori White, who discussed gifted education in her welcoming remarks. Attendees from the NACG had the opportunity to view and interact with a school that is specifically designed for intellectually gifted students. Participants observed teachers who are highly trained and gifted-endorsed to meet the needs of high-potential learners.

Classroom observations in grades two through 12 showcased classroom instruction for the gifted learner in a unique environment. Teachers and students demonstrated strategies for high-level cognitive skills, such as critical thinking, abstract reasoning, creative problem solving and scientific inquiry. Lunch offered opportunities to mix and mingle with students and teachers. The final session was a panel discussion with principals, district-level administrators and parents who answered questions from the guests.

The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) is an organization of parents, teachers, educators, other professionals and community leaders who unite to address the unique needs of children and youth with demonstrated gifts and talents as well as those children who may be able to develop their talent potential with appropriate educational experiences. NAGC defines a gifted person as someone who shows, or has the potential for showing, an exceptional level of performance in one or more areas of expression.

Pine View School is located at 1 Python Path in Osprey.

McIntosh Middle School students receive copies of the book "Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie" as a drummer from the Sarasota High School Mighty Sailor Band performs at the Starbooks kick-off Oct. 31. Photo courtesy Randall Tosch, Bryn-Alan Photography

SARASOTA COUNTY – High school bands are helping drum up interest in a new literacy program at middle schools in north and south Sarasota County. The program, called Starbooks, uses shared activities to instill a love of literature in sixth-graders. The centerpiece of Starbooks is a collective reading of the young-adult novel “Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie” by Jordan Sonnenblick.

On Oct. 29 the Riverview High School Kiltie Band drum line arrived in the Brookside gym as the rest of the band marched to the athletic field. The drummers gave a performance in the gym, introducing the “Drums” book. Then the drum line marched out of the gym to the field, with Brookside sixth-graders marching behind. Seventh- and eighth-grade students met the Kiltie drummers and their younger schoolmates on the field, where the entire Kiltie Band gave a performance for the whole school.

The Mighty Sailor Band from Sarasota High School visited McIntosh Middle School in Sarasota Oct. 31. Drummers and other band members played for sixth-grade students in the gym, then met the entire band outside.

Monday, Nov. 3, members of the North Port High School Alliance Drum and Bugle Corps arrived at Heron Creek Middle School in North Port. They began in front of the school, then marched through the breezeway and into the courtyard. Sixth-grade students and teachers lined up around the courtyard. Teachers were given copies of the book and special drum sticks to display in their classroom.

“We want all our middle-school students to march to a beat that celebrates reading and the excitement of getting caught up in a compelling story,” said Page Dettmann, executive director of middle schools for Sarasota County Schools. “We couldn’t think of a better way to introduce this novel and the Starbooks program than with a drum roll from our own Riverview High Kiltie Band.”

“Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie” tells the story of Steven, a middle-school boy who lives to play the drums and worries about what girls think of him. His life changes when his little brother is diagnosed with leukemia. Sonnenblick, a former middle-school teacher, wrote the book to educate young readers and help them develop empathy for others. It was voted as a favorite by students in a statewide poll.

The Starbooks reading program is being funded by a $217,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, part of a multi-year goal to promote and improve literacy among children of all ages. The idea behind Starbooks, the middle-school component of the foundation’s $675,000 first-year financial commitment, is to encourage reading through the involvement of peers, parents, teachers, media specialists and literacy coaches. Other components of the Starbooks program include a local visit by “Drums” author Sonnenblick for students and their families to discuss the book.

Brookside Middle School is at 3636 S. Shade Ave., Sarasota. McIntosh Middle School is at 701 S. McIntosh Road, Sarasota. Heron Creek Middle School is at 6501 W. Price Blvd., North Port.

SARASOTA – Taking an aggressive approach to the harsh economic realities the Sarasota County Schools must address for the foreseeable future, the district Operations Division has worked tirelessly to improve efficiency and productivity over the past year. Their efforts have saved the district more than $13 million and improved services to students at the same time.

The Operations Division is responsible for most of the services that support teachers and other instructional staff in schools, including facilities planning, construction management, maintenance, custodial services, food service, transportation and security. The division includes some 1,400 employees and manages an annual budget of about $130 million.

The individual departments provide services on an industrial scale. Each year they serve more than five million meals, clean more than seven million square feet of floor space and transport 22,000 students daily and over more than six million miles a year. An enterprise of that size can generate significant savings with even minor improvements in efficiency.

Some of the significant recent initiatives from individual operations departments are described below. The full 2007-2008 Operations Department activities report is available on-line at Operations Report.

Planning and Construction

· The Long Range Planning team saved the district $1.5 million in water, sewer and other impact costs through negotiations with the city of North Port regarding future construction.

· A committee was created to recommend how a prototype elementary school can be built at a lower cost. The recommendations have reduced the projected cost to the new elementary school under construction in North Port by $1.7 million, about 8 percent of the total cost.

· Woodland Middle School in North Port was built for $42 million, nearly $2 million less than the original guaranteed maximum price.

· Suncoast Polytechnical High School, the district’s state-of-the-art technology facility, was budgeted at $17.4, but was completed for $15.7 million, a $1.7 million saving.

· The 560,000-square-foot rebuild of Riverview High School, the largest construction project ever undertaken by the district, remains on time and within budget.

Maintenance and Custodial

· Facilities maintenance has been reorganized into zones to minimize travel time and familiarize staff with their target service areas.

· A vendor was hired to stock warehouses and vehicles in each facilities zone with parts. The ready availability of parts eliminates shopping and reduces travel time for maintenance staff.

· Maintenance staff has increased its completed work order rate from 14,830 in the first six months of 2006-07 to 19,217 in teh first six months of 2007-08, nearly a 30 percent increase.

· Over the past three years, the district has reduced the overall custodial budget by nearly $3 million while building five new schools with 625,000 square feet of new floor space. The cleanliness of schools has improved and customer-satisfaction levels have been maintained.

· Sarasota custodians clean an average of 30,000 square feet per person per shift, about 37 percent higher than the industry standard.

· The custodial staff is using improved cleaning products and techniques, including micro-fiber materials that eliminate the need for mops, sponges and buckets that can transfer contaminants.

· State-of-the-art power cleaning equipment enables custodians to clean and disinfect a typical school bathroom in about seven minutes.

Energy Conservation

· An energy education program was initiated to promote energy conservation practices among staff members. In the first nine months of operation, the program produced $1.7 million in cost avoidance.

Food and Nutrition

· By carefully selecting alternative vendors, the Food and Nutrition Department reduced the cost of dairy products by $250,000 with no reduction in quality.

· Food and Nutrition adopted an online payment program that makes it easy for parents to manage their children’s meal accounts and monitor their food choices. Parents paid nearly $700,000 directly to students’ meal accounts electronically last year, reducing paperwork and improving efficiency.

Transportation

· The Transportation Department is saving roughly 15 percent in fuel costs by purchasing fleet vehicles with smaller engines and more fuel-efficient buses.

· The Transportation Department adopted a revolutionary low-temperature maintenance technique to triple the life of brake drums.

Security

· District Security staff saved $253,000 by using district staff to perform background checks on 11,000 volunteers.


In addition to the savings represented by the examples above, the Operations Division is investing in long-term efficiencies with a number of environmentally friendly initiatives. The new middle school and elementary school in North Port are being built to the specifications of the U.S. Green Building Council for certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

The division also is using only environmentally friendly cleaning products and has developed a catalogue of low-maintenance, Florida friendly plants for use in all future district landscaping projects.

The district also is piloting the state’s concurrency program that will require residential developers to pay the costs of the impact of new development on schools in advance of construction.

These initiatives are particularly important in the current challenging economic environment, but COO Lempe said they would have been pursued regardless of the health of the economy.

“We never lose sight of the fact that the entire purpose of the Operations Division is to support teaching and learning,” Lempe said. “Efficiency and productivity are crucial to our mission because every dollar we save is a dollar that can go back into the classroom.”

Pine View rain forest dwellers (left to right) Michele Miskovic, Angela Cicogna, Jessica Cochran, teacher Misty Tucak, Nicholas Blake, Eva Checkoway. Photo courtesy Bo Kinsey, Bryn-Alan Photography

OSPREY – A room at Pine View School has been transformed into a rain forest to teach students the importance of respecting the Earth’s ecosystems. The room is filled with the sights and sounds of a rain forest, complete with forest-like camouflage fabric, exotic papier-maché animals, a video waterfall, and other multimedia elements.

“The great thing about the project is that students in grades two through five are learning about the ecology of the world’s rain forests in a very hands-on way, by actually creating those simulated elements,” said teacher Misty Tucak. “They also demonstrate their knowledge and pass it along to other students here at Pine View and to visitors by giving tours of the rain forest. It’s a great example of interactive, collaborative learning. This is our second year and the project has been a big hit with the students once again.”

The project was funded both years in part by a Building Blocks for Success grant from the Education Foundation of Sarasota County. The funding allowed Tucak to buy the materials to build the rain forest and to purchase books about rain forests.

Grant funds also were used to buy Activexpression units, handheld student contribution and assessment devices that are used with the Activboard interactive touch-screen white boards installed in all district classrooms. The Activexpression allows students to respond to questions from the teacher and share their information electronically with their classmates as a display on the Activboard screen.

Although they were purchased for the rainforest project, the Activexpressions will be used throughout the year to support the engaged, interactive learning that is one of the key elements of the district’s NeXt Generation Learning strategic plan.

“From high-tech to high touch, there are many ways to learn,” said Tucak. “This project is the perfect blend of various learning approaches. More than 600 students, 44 teachers and a number of visitors will get to experience our rain forest. We hope it helps them appreciate how the ecology of every part of our planet affects us all every day.”

SARASOTA – Suncoast Polytechnical High School science teacher Stephanie Dunda has been selected as the 2008 Outstanding Science Educator at the high school level by the Florida Association of Science Teachers (FAST). The award recognizes the contributions of a teacher in promoting science and preparing students for the challenges of the 21st century, including global energy and ecology issues.

FAST chose Dunda for the honor in recognition of her innovative, interactive classroom techniques and projects. She will receive her award Friday (Oct. 24) at the annual FAST conference in Orlando.

Dunda joined the faculty of SPHS, Sarasota County’s new high school dedicated to career and technical education, for its inaugural academic year. She previously taught at Phoenix Academy in Sarasota, where she was named Teacher of the Year.

Jennifer Putnam, principal of SPHS, describes Dunda’s science lab as “highly scripted, highly organized chaos. Her class is structured to be inquiry-based and hands-on. For example, this year she challenged her students to ask and answer the question, ‘What’s in the drink?’ Then they proceeded to analyze popular sports drinks — what’s in them, how they’re made, how they’re marketed, and why and when athletes use them. It was a great exercise in applying scientific principles to an everyday product.”

Dunda uses technology each day to inspire students to communicate with the tools that are familiar to them, including computers, MP3 audio players and cell phones. Students create podcasts and movies as a way to explore the topics they are studying. Her class resources are Web-based, so students have instantaneous access to lessons, grades and schedules.

In addition to keeping up with the latest teaching tools, Dunda trains other teachers on new technologies. These include online learning tools and the district’s Activboard touch-screen interactive presentation boards that allow teachers to present information from the Web, interactive maps, photos, videos and notes written directly on the screen. Dunda said the idea behind the extensive use of technology is to prepare today’s digital learners for higher education and for the highly collaborative, rapidly changing 21st century workforce.

“I strive to be a leader to make people critically think about the world around them,” said Dunda. “I love teaching, I love learning and I love communicating my students’ successes. The FAST award will help me do that on a state level.”

The Florida Association of Science Teachers, the state's largest non-profit professional organization dedicated to improving science education from kindergarten through graduate school, recognizes excellence in science teaching each year at the elementary, middle and high school levels.

More information about Suncoast Polytechnical High School is available at www.SarasotaCountySchools.net/SPHS. The Florida Association of Science Teachers Web site is www.FASTscience.org.

SARASOTA – The School Board of Sarasota County has approved a contract with the Sarasota Classified/Teachers Association (SC/TA) that includes a 1 percent salary increase and an additional 1 percent one-time payment in December. The contract, which was ratified by instructional employees and support staff Oct. 6 and approved by the School Board at its regular meeting Tuesday (Oct. 7) is retroactive to July 1, the beginning of the district’s fiscal year.

Employees also will have improved dental coverage in 2009. However, some aspects of health insurance coverage will be more expensive, since part of the savings required to fund the raise was achieved through changes in this coverage. Although the district will continue to pay employees’ health insurance premiums, employee co-payments and deductible amounts will increase.

In addition, the group health insurance family subsidy will be discontinued as of Jan. 1, 2009. Employees will still be able to obtain health insurance through the school district for their family members, but at a higher cost.

The 2008-09 raise will be removed from the salary schedule if the local school funding referendum, originally approved in 2002, is not renewed in 2010. Across-the-board raises from the previous two years also would be affected if the referendum renewal does not pass. Annual step increases, which average 1.5 percent for eligible employees, would remain in place, as would longevity pay.

The referendum authorized the collection of an additional one mill in local property taxes for school operations. The referendum was renewed in 2006 and will sunset in 2011 if not renewed.

“Our teachers and support staff help develop our most precious natural resource — our children,” said Kathy Kleinlein, School Board chair. “The support we get from our voters for education funding shows that this community values education and wants us to be able to attract and retain the highest quality teachers. We’re glad that in these challenging economic times we’re able to continue showing our employees that the School Board and the community appreciate all they do.”

OSPREY – Fran Squires, a third-grade teacher at Pine View School, will be awarded the John Morton Excellence in the Teaching of Economics Award this week for helping her young students become creative, socially responsible entrepreneurs.

The award is sponsored by the Global Association of Teachers of Economics (GATE), an international organization founded and supported by the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE). Squires will travel to Biloxi, Miss., to receive the award at the annual joint conference of GATE, NCEE and the National Association of Economic Educators (NAEE).

Three GATE teaching awards are given each year — one each at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Squires will receive the award for the elementary level at an awards dinner Thursday (Oct. 9).

GATE, which was founded in 2003, began giving the awards to teachers in 2005. Each spring the organization requests nominations at each of the three levels; Squires was nominated by Steve Largo, principal of Pine View.

On the nomination form, Largo noted that “Fran makes economics an integral part of her curriculum by setting up her classroom to function as a business….with its CEOs (Chief Education Officers) of the week who are responsible for the performance of their classmates in daily work habits. Students develop an original product and produce it for profit at the annual third grade Bizarre Bazaar. They learn how to design a logo for their business, write a plan for applying for a bank loan, facilitate advertising of their products through various mediums, write checks and market their products.

“Their business is also the acquisition of knowledge and skills that will take them to the next level in learning. Fran’s classroom is grounded in fostering independence and accountability. Respecting each other, respecting property and authority results in promotions and bonuses. She builds her classroom business with support, kindness, respect and hard work. For her it is fun, and she does it with her whole heart.”

Last year Squires’ students created and sold Mother of Pearl picture frames and the Blow and Stow, a tissue-box cover made of recycled materials. Previous projects have included the Kids Shopping Network and the sale of “chocolate flamingo pops.” The profits from these enterprises have allowed the students to assemble packages of needed items for soldiers serving in Iraq; the Heifer Project International, which provides animals to impoverished families in countries around the world; the Adopt an Animal program at Sarasota Jungle Gardens (to care for a baby flamingo); and the Sarasota Day Nursery; among other charitable projects.

“The students select the projects and the causes,” said Squires. “We try to do something different in my class each year,” said Squires. “I was inspired by my father, who ran a small agribusiness, to be creative and always pay attention to customer service. How you treat people, and being true to your word, are as important as any other aspects of business. I try to instill those values in my students.”

Squires, a National Board Certified Teacher and a mentor for struggling and first-year teachers, travels regularly to the Gus A. Stavros Center for Free Enterprise and Economic Education at the University of South Florida in Tampa to take classes in economic education and to consult with other teachers in the Tampa Bay area; offering her advice on how to teach economic at the elementary level.

In 2007 Squires received honorable mention in the USA Today All-USA Teacher Team program. She has been named National Social Studies Elementary Teacher of the Year, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) National Citizenship Elementary Teacher of the Year, Florida Council of Economic Education’s Economic Educator of the Year, Florida Gifted Teacher of the Year, Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year and Teachers’ Insurance Plan Florida Teacher of the Year for Creative Classroom Excellence.

Squires has received the Governor’s Award for Economic Education in the Classroom and the Freedom Foundation’s Leavey Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education. She was selected by the National Council for Economic Education (NCSS) for an economic study tour to Tallinn, Estonia and St. Petersburg, Russia.

SARASOTA – Students at Suncoast Polytechnical High School will get a first-hand look at the issue of watershed sustainability in a school-wide project that starts the week of Oct. 6. The project, which will take groups of SPHS students to Mote Marine Laboratory and Myakka River State Park on Monday, Thursday and Friday (Oct. 6, 9 and 10), is being supported by grants from the Education Foundation of Sarasota County and the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD or “Swiftmud”) and coordinated with the Florida House board of directors.

The SPHS school project, which will continue with various events and student assignments through April, is part of a larger community effort to engage citizens in the critical issue of protecting the local watershed, the area of land that water flows across as it moves toward a common body of water, such as a stream, river, lake or bay.

The health of the Southern Coastal Watershed, which stretches 60 miles along the southern part of central Florida’s gulf coast, determines the quality of the area’s water bodies, large and small. Conserving water and preventing water pollution are the keys to maintaining a healthy watershed and overall quality of life. The SPHS class of 2012 will be applying research, technology and presentation skills to assist in this community project.

“This is a perfect opportunity for our students to get hands-on experience understanding and dealing with an issue that affects our entire community,” said Jennifer Putnam, principal of SPHS. “The generosity of the Education Foundation and Swiftmud, and the sustainability leadership of Florida House are making this project possible for our students. In turn, we hope to provide some innovative ideas for raising awareness and helping protect this valuable natural resource.”

In an approach to education known as project-based learning, SPHS teachers worked collaboratively to design the school-wide project. Students have been divided into three groups and will gather data at Mote and Myakka and participate in interdisciplinary workshops at the school. Buses will leave about 9 a.m. and return to the school by about 1:30 p.m. on each of the three field-trip days.

At Mote Marine Laboratory students will participate in water-quality studies, observe the ecosystem and complete a service project to promote healthy beaches. At Myakka River State Park students will complete water-quality studies, make observations from the tree-top canopy walk and help remove invasive plants.

Throughout the school year, students will continue the project with exhibitions and presentations demonstrating their research and mastery of the subject, applying what they have learned to help tackle a real issue facing the community — in this case, watershed sustainability.

Suncoast Polytechnical High School is located at 4650 Beneva Road, Sarasota. More information is available at www.SarasotaCountySchools.net/SPHS.