Remembering Caitlin and Amber

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It’s been four months since the tragic deaths of middle school students Caitlin Brondolo, 12, and Amber Wilson, 11. The best friends died of carbon monoxide poisoning during a sleepover at Amber’s home west of Boca Raton on May 31.
On Tuesday, family and friends gathered to honor their memory. In a sunset ceremony at Loggers Run Middle, two trees were planted in the front of the school.
Teachers spoke of the two bright students, a poem was read by friends of the girls, and butterflies were released to the Miley Cyrus song, Butterfly Fly Away.
The trees, donated by David Strickland, owner of Plant Kingdom, will stand as a place of reflection for students and friends. A remembrance plaque was donated by Scott Vickery.
Caitlin’s family has created a foundation in her memory. The foundation will be used for charitable purposes such as children in need, increasing public awareness about carbon monoxide, [...]

Source: South Florida Education Blog

Hope confirms she is unidentified School Board member in Gallagher complaint

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Broward School Board member Phyllis Hope said Wednesday that she was the second School Board member identified in the criminal complaint against suspended board member Beverly Gallagher, but said she wasn’t the only elected official on a boat staffed by FBI agents as part of the corruption investigation.

She said she brought friends with her, but didn’t identify them. She identified Sunrise city commissioner Sheila Alu as one of the other elected officials on the boat at the party. We’re awaiting a call back from Alu for comment.
“Seriously, it was a Christmas party. I did bring friends,” Hope said. “I was not the only elected official on there. I am worried that someone is trashing my reputation because I went to a Christmas party.”
The Dec. 10 Christmas party is referenced in the criminal complaint against Gallagher. She was asked to invite “influential persons who could assist” the undercover agents posing [...]

Source: South Florida Education Blog

Northwood to host Slovakian leader

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Some students and employees at Northwood University in West Palm Beach will get a chance to meet an eastern European leader Thursday.

Northwood is collaborating with the World Trade Center Palm Beach to host Dusan Caplovic, the deputy prime minister of the Slovak Republic. A ceremony with Caplovic and other dignitaries will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday on campus.
The Slovakian dignitaries are interested in learning about biomedical science, tourism, education and other important industries in the area.
“Northwood University is dedicated to preparing the future leaders of a global, free-enterprise society,” said Rose B. Bellanca, provost of Northwood’s West Palm Beach campus. “With the goal of fostering increased trade and promoting cross-cultural awareness while providing essential Palm Beach County insight to the international community, we look forward to working together toward nourishing this objective.”
Northwood is a private college focusing on business. In addition to West Palm Beach, it also has locations [...]

Source: South Florida Education Blog

Facebook leads to poor grades, neurosis, one study finds

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Does Facebook make you dumber and more neurotic?
It does, if you believe a study from Covenant College, a Christian school in Lookout Mountain, Ga.
Three undergraduate psychology students surveyed 61 college students and found that students who use the social networking site generally have lower GPAs than those who don’t. Facebook users also display more neurotic behaviors, such as anxiety, depression, anger and impulsivity, the students report. The study purports that social networking may actually be “anti-social” behavior.
That’s troubling if that’s the case, since another study, one from the Harvard University Institute of Politics, found that 86 percent of all college students use Facebook.
The findings of the Covenant students were published in Modern Psychological Studies, a journal of undergraduate research published by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The article, “Facebook Usage in Relation to Personality,” appeared in a recent volume of the journal.
The students also presented their research at the [...]

Source: South Florida Education Blog

Dinnen: “It has been a very difficult time for us”

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Broward School Board members had their first workshop since the arrest of suspended board member Beverly Gallagher on federal corruption charges.

Tuesday’s workshop was routine, with discussions including rules on gifts to personnel and board members, strategic plan highlights and on the job description for the executive director for professional standards and Special Investigative Unit.
But board chairwoman Maureen Dinnen referenced the week since Gallagher’s arrest at the start of the meeting, though without naming the board’s former colleague. “It has been a very difficult time for us,” Dinnen said. “We are hard-working people. We work together, and we are a great board. We are going to work like that today and in the future.”
Three people have applied to Gov. Charlie Crist for consideration as an interim appointee to Gallagher’s seat. Those applicants include Patricia Good, a Miami-Dade County Public Schools administrator who previously ran against Gallagher in 2004; Joel Smith, formerly [...]

Source: South Florida Education Blog

Community activist applies for Gallagher’s seat

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Sallie Tillman-Watson said she’s making a bid to fill School Board member Beverly Gallagher’s now vacant District 2 seat. The spot opened up when Gov. Charlie Crist suspended Gallagher after her arrest on federal corruption charges last week.
This won’t be Tillman-Watson’s first attempt at public office. She twice ran for Florida’s House District 93—first in 2004 and again in 2006. She lost both times.
Tillman-Watson said she would make the ideal temporary replacement for Gallagher because she is a 35-year resident of Broward County and a mother of three children who attended local public schools. Education, she said, was one of her priorities when she ran for the State Legislature.
One thing, District 2 represents southwest Broward, including Miramar, Pembroke Pines and Southwest Ranches, and Tillman-Watson lives in Fort Lauderdale.
According to her bio, she is the president of the Lafayette-Hart Park homeowner’s association, which is an area [...]

Source: South Florida Education Blog

Battle over Palm Beach County academics

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The community debate over academic program changes in Palm Beach County schools shows no signs of letting up.
It’s been a wild week, as I described in my article today.

District administrators say the programs are designed to ensure that students learn required state standards. They insist there are plenty of teachers and parents in support of the initiatives: Classroom testing called “embedded assessments” and curriculum outlines for teachers called “frameworks.”
But are critics really in the minority? Opposition from parents and teachers is widespread, according to fans of a Facebook page called, Testing is not Teaching!, and a Facebook group called For Our Kids, United. There’s also a new website, www.parents4teachers.org.
Since I’m posting links, be sure to check out the district’s official website about these programs by clicking here.
Which side are you on?

Source: South Florida Education Blog

Palm Beach County student collects water supply for hurricane relief

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So far South Florida has been lucky this hurricane season. But one Delray Beach high school student used a class project as an opportunity to benefit Red Cross disaster relief efforts in the community, should they be needed.
Eric Lim, 15, a sophomore at Atlantic High, recently was able to get the Lowe’s home improvement store west of Boca Raton to deliver 44 cases of bottled water to the Count and Countess De Hoernle South County Service Center of the Greater Palm Beach Area Chapter of the American Red Cross.
“Water means life and the Red Cross is a life-saving organization,” Lim said in a news release about his project. “This water can be used during local disasters.”
The donated water is being stored at the center in Boca Raton and will be distributed, as needed, to disaster victims residing south of Hypoluxo Road, according to Rebecca Videtto, Red Cross branch specialist.

Source: South Florida Education Blog

Gallagher gone

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An empty frame hangs among the pictures of Broward School Board members at the district’s downtown Fort Lauderdale headquarters leaving gap where Beverly Gallagher’s smiling face used to be.

Also missing are her official nameplate from the board dais as well as the wooden carving of her name that high school students make for board members and the superintendent.
Gallagher, as you know, was suspended from office by the governor following her arrest on corruption charges.
On Wednesday—the day she appeared shackled in a federal court room—her photos, phone number and biography were still on the school district’s Web site. And, her picture hung with the eight remaining board members.
Today, that is not the case.

Source: South Florida Education Blog

Dolphins star Jason Taylor headlines Florida Memorial gala

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One of Florida’s oldest colleges is celebrating its anniversary in a big way.
Miami Dolphin star Jason Taylor will headline a gala for Florida Memorial University, a historically black college in Miami Gardens, at 7 p.m. Oct. 2. The event, celebrating the school’s 130 year history, will be held at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Resort on Collins Avenue.
The event will also feature gospel music vocalist Y’Anna Crawley, winner of season 2 of BET’s “Sunday Best” talent competition.
The 1,800-student Florida Memorial has a rich history in Florida. It started in 1879 as the Florida Baptist Institute in Live Oak in the state’s Panhandle. That school merged in 1941 with the Florida Baptist Academy, founded in Jacksonville in 1892. The school was in St. Augustine until 1968, when it was relocated to Miami. It was called Florida Memorial College from 1963 to 2006, when it changed its name to Florida Memorial University.
Tickets [...]

Source: South Florida Education Blog