May 2009 Update
May 1, 2009
The Council’s Teachers’ Initiative (TI), generously funded by the Helios Education Foundation, is underway. The Initiative is designed to develop and retain new secondary teachers in the critical subject areas of Science and Math. It will serve teachers in the Tampa Bay area, starting with 10 Hillsborough schools. It is based on the best practices and experience of the Council’s former program which had a 97% retention rate for new teacher participants, exceeding state and national averages. The Council wishes to thank the Helios Education Foundation and its CEO & President, Paul Luna, for funding the Initiative and Hillsborough Superintendent Mary Ellen Elia for partnering in this important work. Continue reading for more information about the Initiative.
On April 27th, the Council held an Orientation Meeting for Principals who will participate in the Helios Education Foundation’s Teachers’ Initiative. At the meeting, the Initiative’s goals, and implementation activities were shared. Peter Bucholtz, Director of the Initiative, Ralph Hewitt, Director of Mentoring, and Sherry Clarke, PASS Coordinator, represented the Council at the meeting.
The Council will hold its seventh annual Florida Leadership Academy© this June 21-26 in Tampa, Florida. The weeklong Academy is sponsored by Akerman Senterfitt, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Publix Super Markets Charities, and Etraffic Solutions. Three person teams from across the state—Principal, Assistant Principal, and Teacher Leader—attend the Academy to develop their leadership skills and learn strategies to raise student achievement. The interactive learning is presented by experts, such as Pam Robbins, who work with participants. While there, teams develop instructional leadership plans that they implement back at their schools. The Academy is partnered by the FLDOE. Peter Bucholtz is the Academy Director.
Accountability, through evaluation, is central to the Council’s mission. The Florida Leadership Academy Historian Project, in its second year and led by Dr. Ed Iwanicki, will continue to gauge the impact of the Academy experience on school improvement.
Based on feedback, the Council’s Master Scheduling Forum on March 24th, was a great success. Some results: 100% of participants said they would use the Forum information in their scheduling process and said the opportunity to network and share ideas was useful. Forum sponsors are: Carnival Cruise Lines, the Lennar Foundation, and Publix Super Markets Charities.
The Council thanks Dick Lobo, PASS© CEO and President and CEO of WEDU, for hosting the Council’s Annual PASS and Semi-Annual Board Meetings. The meetings were held at Mr. Lobo’s WEDU studio and the PASS meeting included students from Leto High where Mr. Lobo is the PASS CEO. Attending were PASS CEO’s, Principals and Coaches, and Council leadership, including Board Chair Steve Saiontz, President Dr. Elaine Liftin, Board Members, and PASS Coordinators Sherry Clarke and Dr. Pat Dixon, who planned the event. At the meeting, PASS CEO and Council Co-Chair Jeffrey Miller led a roundtable discussion and PASS CEO Chuck Blumenkamp led a networking activity. In addition to CEO’s and funders, PASS is funded by the Florida Legislature. Raymond James Financial is the statewide PASS sponsor and the Wachovia Foundation also supports PASS.
A special networking meeting was hosted on April 29 by the Education Foundation of Osceola Public Schools to introduce the Council’s PASS and Executive PASS© models to business and community leaders. The Osceola District and the Council are working together to recruit partners for these programs for area schools. District leadership and Council President Dr. Elaine Liftin attended the meeting. Currently, there are PASS models throughout Florida and Executive PASS models in Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Orange, and beginning in Broward. Executive PASS is generously sponsored, in different locations by the following Foundations: BankAtlantic, Nemours, Harris Rosen, John S. & James L. Knight, South Florida Youth, and SWS Charitable.
Upcoming: United Automobile Insurance Company (UAIC) will host the South Florida Regional PASS CEO-to-CEO Meeting, followed by the South Florida Regional PASS Team Meeting on May 20, at their offices in Miami Gardens. UAIC sponsors a PASS model at Crestview Elementary in Miami Gardens. The company’s Executive VP, Beau Parillo, is the PASS CEO at Crestview. An Executive PASS meeting for Orange County partners is planned for May 1. It is sponsored by the Rosen Hotels and Resorts and Rosen CFO Frank Santos, who is also an Executive PASS sponsor. The Harris Rosen and Nemours Foundations sponsor Executive PASS in the Orlando area. Another Executive PASS meeting will be held for Hillsborough area program participants, on May 4 at JPMorgan Chase, hosted by Mary Ann Fullerton, VP of JPMorgan Chase Treasuries. JPMorgan is a longtime Council partner and is sponsoring a New Teacher Development and Retention Program at Sulphur Springs Elementary in Tampa.
For more information on the Teacher's Initiative, download the attachment below.
