Access, 8.14.07

	Access
	Edition #142, August 14, 2007
Leaders confront and resolve issues. Others complain.             Next School Board Meeting is at 5:30 on August 14th.	Brevard's Partnership to Create Melbourne High School Academy of Business and Finance has been selected to receive The National Civic Start Award. Congratulations to MHS and all who made this possible.   32% of Brevard's teachers and administrators will receive a bonus of 5% of their salary under the 2006-2007 STAR program. The pay for performance bonus totals $3.9M in Brevard! Some other counties may not award performance pay under STAR/MAP as the majority opposes the program. This is flawed logic because the majority (68% in Brevard) did not earn the bonus. We need to recognize exemplary performance to insure the availability of high quality teachers in the classroom.   Mr. Jordan, Ms. Kneessy and I attended the 2007 Exemplary Science Teacher Awards Gala last night. Congratulations to winners: Veronica Fedor-Duys, Cocoa Beach High, Elizabeth Faulkner, Apollo Elementary, Michelle Ferro, West Melbourne School for Science, Maria Granatosky, Jackson Middle, Christine Hill, Atlantis Elementary, Miranda Korpas, Central Middle, Richard Regan, Stone Middle, and Emily Torlak, Eau Gallie High. You efforts, and those of your peers, keep Brevard First in Florida in Science and is leading to national recognition.   "The Palm Bay City Council will appeal the Brevard Public School District's decision to deny the city's applications to build three more municipal charters. The city council gave permission Thursday to hire outside council at an estimated cost of no more than $40,000 to appeal the school board's decision to the State Department of Administrative Hearings. The city also will challenge the district's decision to be the county's exclusive contractor for charter schools." (Florida Today, August 3) Patriot, Palm Bay's only municipal charter school, earned a 'C' from the FDOE for the 2006-2007 school year. Public Schools in Palm Bay earned (11) 'A' and (2) 'B' grades with none below a 'B' in the same period. In other news, there the City Council considers reducing school crossing guards by 50% because they can not afford to fully fund school crossing guards in Palm Bay. (Florida Today)   I need a volunteer for the Audit Committee from District 4 with audit experience. The time commitment is about ½ day every quarter. Please contact me if you are interested in learning more about the district's financial system.   Back in the 1800s the Tates Watch Company wanted to produce other products and, since they already made the cases for watches, they used them to produce compasses. The new compasses were so bad that people often ended up in Canada or Mexico rather than California. This is the origin of the expression, "He who has a Tates is lost".   Larry E. Hughes Parent, Citizen LarryHughes@ourflorida.info (321) 724-4203   No public resources were used in the creation or transmission of this email.   Please distribute to friends or neighbors who are interested in Public Schools. If they would like to subscribe, please send an email to LarryHughes@OurFlorida.info with the word "subscribe" in the Subject line. If you do not wish to receive this information, please reply with the word "unsubscribe" in the Subject line. I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused you.