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Quick Links
Top Stories
Donohue is TOY!
In The News
Art for a Cause
New
Parent Involvement Website
Teen Book Club
Book Bash
Look Around BPS
Holtrop Honored
Fuel
Up to Play 60
ExxonMobil Teachers
Edgewood Good News
Odyssey of the Mind
Did You Know?
McKay
Kdg Pre-Registration
Magnet Survey
Foundation
Entertainment Books
Wellness
Quit Smoking
Prescription Cost Savings
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It's March
Madness Time!
 I'm
not a huge basketball fan, so
March Madness never made sense
to me - until now. No, I'm
still not talking about
basketball. What I am
referring to as "March Madness"
is this month's challenges and
surprises. Everything from the
budget to FCAT has come our way
and we still have a few more
weeks until spring break!
Therefore, I say, "If you can't
beat 'em, join 'em!" And
jump head first into this March
Madness theme by looking at
what's happening in the district
this month.
Sincerely,
Christine A. Davis, Ed.S.
Editor, Brevard Notebook
P.S. Please tell me how
you feel about the Notebook by completing the customer service survey
(link located at the bottom left). In addition, please let
me know what your school, class
or department is doing so it can be featured in upcoming publications.
Submit your
story idea and photos using the link on the left below. This link may be used to submit ideas for
the electronic employee newsletter, the electronic parent newsletter, or the
district's printed publication, the Mark of Excellence.
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Top Stories |
 Atlantis
Elementary’s fourth grade teacher, Christina Donohue has
won this year’s coveted title of Brevard Public Schools
(BPS) Teacher of the Year. Donohue was presented with
the award Thursday, March 4, before an audience of over
400 people at the Radisson Resort in
Cape Canaveral at BPS’ annual awards event
hosted by Brevard Schools Foundation.
As
Brevard
County’s Teacher of the Year,
Donohue receives prizes including a $500 check from
Brevard Schools Foundation, a Teacher of the Year ring
presented by Jostens, and a Florida Humanities
Scholarship for a week-long stay at a summer workshop.
She also receives a laptop computer from GovConnection
and the use of a vehicle from Space Coast Honda. Clear
Channel Outdoor-Daytona Beach-Melbourne donated a
billboard located on Hwy 520 in Cocoa and signage at The Avenue in Viera
honoring Donohue as The Teacher of the Year.
Click here for more information.
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In The News |
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Art for a Cause!
Brevard County students and
teachers are invited to submit their artwork for the
inaugural Art for a Cause fund-raiser at the Melbourne Art
Festival. Health First Health Plans, Inc. (HFHP) in
collaboration with Brevard schools and the 26th Annual
Melbourne Art Festival, is presenting the fi rst-ever Art
for a Cause fund-raiser. Judges will select donated art to
be displayed and sold at this year’s Melbourne Art Festival
on April 24 and 25. Health First Health Plans is donating
all proceeds to support art education, the United Way of
Brevard, and Brevard schools through the Brevard Schools
Foundation. Click
here for more information
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Brevard Public Schools announces the launch of its new
Parental Involvement web site. This site will
provide announcements, meeting dates, parenting tips, Parent
Leadership Team agendas, handouts and presentations, and a
variety of valuable media links and resources for parents.
You
can access the new web site from the home page of the
Brevard Public Schools’ website at
www.brevardschools.org by clicking on Parent
Involvement on the left navigation bar or by
going directly to the following link:
http://middleschoolprograms.brevardschools.org/parents/default.aspx
.
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Florida
Teens Read Book Club Gatherings
Submitted by Sharon Reynolds, Library
Media Resource Teacher
The month of April is designated by our Governor as School
Library Media Month. To encourage reading throughout the
year, Brevard’s high school media specialists promote books
selected by the Florida Association for Media in Education
known as the Florida Teens Read books. This
voluntary reading program engages teen readers and invites
them to post their thoughtful comments about the books on
the district's blog site dedicated to this purpose. You can
read this year’s blog at
http://media.brevard.k12.fl.us/florida_teens_read_2009_2010/.
This year the Florida Teens Read Book Club Gatherings are
scheduled from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday, April 9th
in the media centers of Viera High School and Palm Bay High
School. These events allow students who have read this
year’s titles to meet fellow readers from other high schools
in the district and to engage in activities and discussions
related to the books. Your school library media specialist
has all the details about how to participate.
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Book Bash Is Coming Soon
Submitted by Sharon Reynolds, Library
Media Resource Teacher
 More
than 1,200 students in grades 3-8 will be celebrating
the joy of books at Brevard Public Schools ninth annual
Sunshine State Young Readers’ Award Book Bash.
Participating students will gather at various schools
throughout the district to play memory games, design book
jackets, and participate in dramatic readings of scenes from
the 15 novels they have read. The school library media
specialists promote these Sunshine State Young Readers Award
books throughout the year. The celebration marks the 25th
anniversary of School Library Month and will occur at our
schools on the mornings of April 14th and 15th. The
elementary schools currently scheduled to be hosting the
activities for grades 3-5 on April 14th are
Andersen Elementary, Apollo Elementary,
Enterprise Elementary, Harbor City Elementary, Lockmar
Elementary, Meadowlane Intermediate, Roosevelt Elementary,
Sherwood Elementary, Tropical Elementary, Westside
Elementary, and Williams Elementary. Students in
grades 6-8 will participate in activities at these same
schools (with the exception of Williams Elementary) on April
15th, along with students at Clearlake Middle and
Edgewood Jr/Sr schools. A total of 63 of the 70
eligible schools will participate this year. The activities
for students provide support for development of student
literacy in a series of engaging, fun events including
strengthening writing and critical thinking skills through
online blogging. Talk with your school’s library media
specialist to learn more about these exciting events.
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Look Around Brevard |
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 Holtrop
Honored with Star Award
Mrs. Jennifer Holtrop from Manatee Elementary was honored
with a Star Award
at the Hidden Potentials award dinner. The Star Award
provides recognition for teachers and other individuals who
have made a significant impact in the life of children with
special needs in Brevard County. We are all very proud of
her!!!
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Fuel Up To Play 60
Submitted by Laura Brown, School
Counselor/Wellness Teacher
Enterprise Elementary and Apollo Elementary are
participating in the national Fuel Up To Play 60 program
sponsored by the NFL and the National Dairy Council.
Currently our schools are the only 2 elementary schools
ranked in the top 10 in Florida with Enterprise in 6th
place and Apollo in 9th place. In fact, for most
of the first half of the contest, we were ranked 2nd
and 4th place even though our students were
competing primarily against much older students at other
schools.
This program is an online contest where students in grades K
– 12 log in their daily healthy eating choices and active
play time to earn points. The contest encourages students
to make healthy lifestyle changes by eating 3 servings of
fruits, low fat dairy and whole wheat grains and 5 servings
of vegetables each day as well as engaging in 60 minutes of
active play daily. Many of our students have been logging
on to the Fuel Up To Play 60 website since October and are
making healthy choices daily. You can visit the website at
www.fueluptoplay60.com.
We are very proud of our students hard work and just wanted
to let you know what they are doing!
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Local Teachers Selected to Attend 2010 Mickelson ExxonMobil
Teachers Academy
Three
BPS teachers were selected from more than 1,200 teachers
nationwide
Robin Robb,
a gifted teacher at Indialantic Elementary, Shannon Daly a
fifth grade teacher from Manatee Elementary, and Randi Ondo
a fifth grade teacher from Atlantis Elementary have been
selected to attend the 2010 Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers
Academy at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J.
Robb, Daly, and Ondo are three of 200 highly-qualified
third- through fifth-grade teachers from around the country
selected to attend the intensive one-week, all-expense paid
professional development program this summer.
Click here for more information
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Here is some feel good news about Edgewood Jr/Sr High School
Senior Projects
With the effort
of the school Senior Project Coordinator, Sheri Willingham,
and the support of the Targus Corporation, Edgewood Jr. Sr.
High School will be receiving a generous donation with a
value of over $2200. The Targus Corporation has offered to
provide twenty wireless presenters to the 12th
grade students at Edgewood for their Senior Project
Presentations later this spring. In addition to the
wireless presenters, each student will also receive a
computer backpack for their personal use and for the storage
of their laptops. Targus Corporation’s main goal is to
support Edgewood’s Senior Project Program and provide
students with the opportunity to make formal presentations
with more advanced technology. The students will be making
their presentations to small panels of community judges on
April 23 on the school campus.
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Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the
Mind
had its district competition at Bayside High School on March
6, 2010. Dedicated students, parents, and teachers began the
day at 7 am with the first competition and ended the day
with the awards ceremony at 6:00 pm. It was a wonderful day
filled with problem solving and creativity.
Approximately 800
Brevard County students, representing 114 teams participated
in this challenging competition. The following schools
had teams progress to state competition at University of
Central Florida on April 10:
Elementary
Schools:
Roy Allen, Challenger 7, Creel, Endeavor, Enterprise,
Gemini, Imperial Estates, Indialantic, Lockmar, Manatee,
Palm Bay, Quest, Sunrise, and
Suntree
Middle
Schools:
Clearlake, DeLaura, Johnson, and Southwest
High Schools:
Eau Gallie, Edgewood, Space Coast, and West Shore.
Thank you to the
two Brevard Teachers who coordinated this awesome event at
Bayside for our Brevard school children--- Laird Parsons
(Quest Elementary) and Sharmaine Schenck (Manatee
Elementary).
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Did You Know? |
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John M. McKay Scholarships for Students with
Disabilities Program
Exceptional
Education students may be eligible to
participate in the John M. McKay Scholarships for
Students with Disabilities Program, commonly known as
the McKay Scholarship Program. This program was created to
provide enhanced educational options to parents of students
with disabilities. Currently, more than 19,000 Florida
students are participating in this program.
In order for a
child to be eligible for the McKay Scholarship Program for
this school year, he/she must meet the following
requirements:
● Your child must
have been enrolled in a Florida public school for the
2008-2009 school year;
● Your child must
be enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade;
● Your child must
have been reported by the school district for funding during
the October 2008 and February 2009 student membership survey
periods; and
● Your child must
have an IEP (Individual Education Plan)
If your child
meets these requirements, he/she may be eligible for the
program and you may:
-
Request a different public school within your district;
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Request a public school in an adjacent school district;
or
-
Receive a scholarship for your child to attend a
participating private school.
To learn more
about your child’s educational options, please visit the
Department of Education, Office of Independent Education and
Parental Choice website at
www.floridaschoolchoice.org or call the Parental Choice
Hotline at 1(800) 447-1636.
You may also
contact our school district’s Exceptional Education Office
at 633-1000 ext. 503 or visit our website
www.brevardschools.org :
There are two
ways to get the John M. McKay Scholarship information from
our website:
Click on Parent
Portal
Underneath Choice
Schools Portal, click on John M. McKay Scholarship Program
for Students with Disabilities
Or
Click on
Departments
Click on
Exceptional Education
Click on McKay
Scholarships
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Kindergarten
Pre-Registration
Kindergarten
pre-registration for the 2010-2011 school year is being held
at all Brevard County elementary schools April 12-16, 2010.
Children entering kindergarten for the first time must
comply with Florida Statute 1003.21 regarding age, which
states a child must be five years old on or before September
1, 2010.
To register
a child for kindergarten, parents must provide the
following:
-
child's
original birth certificate for proof of age
-
current
physical examination which must be performed within one
(1) year of the day of entry
-
current
immunization records which include five doses of DTP,
four doses of Polio, two doses of MMR, three doses of
Hepatitis B series and two doses of varicella vaccine as
required by Florida Statute 1003.22
Varicella
vaccine is not required if the child has documentation of a
history of chicken pox. Any student who does not have their
immunizations or a proper exemption on the basis of medial
or religious grounds will not be enrolled in school until
fully compliant.
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Brevard
Public Schools (BPS) would like parents and citizens to
share their thoughts and ideas on magnet schools themes.
Beginning Monday, March 8, and ending March 26, a special
community survey will be available on the school district’s
Web site.
Community
comment will help garner support for the need and interest
in establishing magnet schools within Brevard County. Magnet
programs in Brevard match students’ abilities and interests
with specific areas of study while integrating core academic
subjects with a theme unique to its curriculum. Brevard
County Magnet Schools attract students with focused
interests, those seeking greater challenges and students who
do not relate to traditional instruction.
Parents and
community members are encouraged to log on to
www.brevardschools.org and click on the link under
“News Room” to share their comments. Once submitted, parent
and community input will be included, aggregated and
analyzed to be considered along with other information in
the formation of the BPS Magnet School Grant. For more
information please contact the Office of School Choice at
321-633-1000, extension 395.
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Foundation |
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Entertainment Books
are still on sale! Just $25 each. Please contact
633-1000 extension 756 for more
information.
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Wellness |
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BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE BPS WELLNESS PROGRAM.
Lana M. Saal, M.S.
Smoking Cessation Options Through Programs and Quit Line –
 Tobacco
is the single greatest cause of disease and premature death
in America today. It is responsible for more than 430,000
deaths each year. Nearly 21% of adult Americans currently
smoke, and 3,000 children and adolescents become regular
users of tobacco every day. The societal costs of
tobacco-related death and disease approach $100 billion
dollars each year.
There is good news for people who currently smoke or use
smokeless tobacco and think they are getting closer to
quitting. Thanks to grants made available free options to
help people quit all forms of tobacco are available through
one-on-one or group class settings.
Click here for more information
Prescription Health: Pharmacy Cost Savings
…some assistance to help you save money at the pharmacy
 Prescription
drugs play a role in the daily life of more than half of all
Americans.
Between 20%-30% of people in the United States report having
skipped or stretched a prescription medicine during the
previous 12-months because of the cost.
In
response to employee concerns heard by the Department of
Compensation & Benefits regarding the recent doubling of
co-pays from $10, $20, and $35 to $20, $40, and $70
for prescription medications, the Wellness program has
created an informational
flyer
on programs and discounts within our community to help
employees make the best financial choices when purchasing
their prescribed medications.
Click here for more information
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