Clean And Green: Barrineau Park Clean Up Is Saturday
April 16, 2010
Residents of the Barrineau Park Community are invited to take part in a Community Clean Up on Saturday.
Residents on the west side of Hwy 29 along Molino Road, Barrineau Park Road, Crabtree Church, Chestnut, Schifko, Sunshine Hill, Highway 99 (south of Luth Rd), Barrineau Lane and adjacent areas are invited to meet at 8:30 at the Barrineau Park Community Center, 6055 Barrineau Park School Road to pick up trash bags, safety gear and area assignments close to your residence).
The residents will then fan out across the community, trash bags in hand, to clean up the roadsides around Barrineau Park.
Volunteers will return to the Community Center at 11:30 to drop off their trash and join in a lunch hosted by the Barrineau Park Historical Society and Honeysuckle Garden Club. Residents in the area that are unable to attend are invited to just pick up litter in front of their property and leave it in a plastic bag. Volunteers in the area will pick up the plastics bags.
The fifth annual Community Cleanup is sponsored by the Barrineau Park Historical Society, Clean & Green, The Honeysuckle Garden Club and Fran’s Diner.
Jay Beats NHS; Royals And Chiefs Tied In District
April 16, 2010
Northview and Jay are now tied for number one spot in District 1-2A after the Royals defeated the Chiefs 12-10 Thursday night in Jay.
Jay started the sixth inning with a 12-6 lead, but the Chiefs rallied with four to close gap to 12-10. But the Chiefs were held scoreless in the seventh by Jay.
Dabney Langhorne was 2-4 for the Chiefs with two doubles; Brandon Sheets and Austin Lowery were both 1-4; and Hunter Black was 3-4 with a double.
For the Royals, Rush Hendricks was 1-2, Kevin Stanton was 1-3 and Dakota Smith was 2-2 with two RBIs.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Ransom Band Competing In Atlanta Today
April 16, 2010
The Ransom Middle School Symphonic Band and Jazz Band , under the direction of Janie Walker; the Ransom Concert Band, under the direction of Patricia Maness; and the Ransom Orchestra, under the direction of Cathy McConnell, will compete in the Southern Star Music Festival in Atlanta on Friday, April 16.
They will compete with other bands and orchestras from across the Southeast.
Register Your Team: NHS Diamond Club Reschedules Tourney
April 16, 2010
The Northview High School Diamond Club has rescheduled their baseball tournament to Saturday, April 24 at Showalter Park in Century.
The entry fee is just $50 per team for the round-robin two game guarantee tournament. Space is limited on a first come, first served basis.
For more information about the tournament and contact information, click here. All proceeds benefit the baseball program at Northview High School.
Gov. Vetoes Teacher Merit Pay Bill
April 15, 2010
Calling it “significantly flawed,” but saying he believes in the goal, Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a highly controversial teacher merit pay bill on Thursday.
The measure was a top priority of many of his fellow Republicans in the Legislature. “This bill has deeply and negatively affected the morale of our teachers, parents and students,” Crist said. “They do not believe their voices were heard.”
Crist said he knew that his critics would say the move was politically motivated, and Crist denied that. “This thing was rushed through,” Crist said. “It has everything to do with the children of Florida.”
The legislation would link teacher salary increases to student performance on standardized exams, essentially abolishing any form of tenure. Representatives of the teachers’ union, the superintendents association and the school board association have all said they agree with the measure in concept, but its implementation could create major problems for districts around the state and cause major divisiveness between administrators and educators.
Opponents of the legislation have said repeatedly that external factors affecting students, such as socioeconomics or a bad family situation, could have major impacts on a child’s ability to perform and could hurt a teacher’s ability to earn a higher salary over time.
Pictured: Gov. Charlies Crist announces his veto of SB6, a teacher merit pay bill, at a news conference Thursday morning in Tallahassee. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
The News Service Florida contributed to this report.
BREAKING NEWS: Governor Vetoes Teacher Merit Pay Bill
April 15, 2010
Calling it “significantly flawed,” but saying he believes in the goal, Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a highly controversial teacher merit pay bill on Thursday.
The measure was a top priority of many of his fellow Republicans in the Legislature. “This bill has deeply and negatively affected the morale of our teachers, parents and students,” Crist said. “They do not believe their voices were heard.”
Crist said he knew that his critics would say the move was politically motivated, and Crist denied that. “This thing was rushed through,” Crist said. “It has everything to do with the children of Florida.”
The legislation would link teacher salary increases to student performance on standardized exams, essentially abolishing any form of tenure. Representatives of the teachers’ union, the superintendents association and the school board association have all said they agree with the measure in concept, but its implementation could create major problems for districts around the state and cause major divisiveness between administrators and educators.
Opponents of the legislation have said repeatedly that external factors affecting students, such as socioeconomics or a bad family situation, could have major impacts on a child’s ability to perform and could hurt a teacher’s ability to earn a higher salary over time.
The News Service Florida contributed to this report.
School Bus Driver, Students Burned When Hose Bursts
April 15, 2010
A school bus driver and four students were injured when a heater or radiator hose failed on bus this morning in Oak Grove.
The bus driver was transported to Atmore Community Hospital to be treated for burns primarily to her legs. Four students received very minor burns and were evaluated by emergency personnel. The students were not transported to the hospital after the 8:45 a.m. accident.
The bus, number 18-06, was on North Highway 99 near Gobbler Road at the time of the incident. The bus driver was able to bring the bus to stop and call for help. An unknown number of Ernest Ward Middle School students were on the bus; the uninjured students were transported to school on another bus.
Students said when the hose burst, it sent hot antifreeze into the bus passenger compartment. The injured students were all near the front of the bus. Antifreeze could be seen running down the stairs of the bus and dripping onto the ground after the incident.
The parents of the injured students were all contacted by emergency personnel or Ernest Ward Principal Nancy Gindl-Perry. Perry arrived at the scene shortly after the accident, even loaning her shoes to one of the injured students.
Atmore Ambulance, the Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to the incident. North Highway 99 was closed for about 30 minutes as victims were evaluated.
Pictured top: The driver of this bus was burned by hot antifreeze Thursday morning in Oak Grove. Pictured inset: Antifreeze can be seen running down the stairs of the bus. Pictured bottom: Emergency personnel evaluate injured students while Ernest Ward Principal Nancy Gindl-Perry (right) calls parents. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Escambia Students Send Veterans On Honor Flight (With Photo Gallery)
April 15, 2010
The World War II veterans on the sixth Emerald Coast Honor Flight were welcomed back to Pensacola last night by thousands, including members of the Ernest Ward Middle School cheerleaders.
The students and staff in the Escambia County School District raised $114,000 to sponsor the flight to Washington for the veterans to tour the World War II Memorial and other monuments in the nation’s capital. Almost 100 veterans were on Wednesday’s flight.
During “mail call” on the flight from Pensacola, each veteran received mail — cards and letters — from students and school staff from every school in the district.
Each school in the district raised funds for the trip, including $2,580 contributed by Ernest Ward.
For a photo gallery, click here. (Photos submitted by Ramona Fischer.)
Pictured top: Members of the Ernest Ward Middle School cheerleaders welcomed veterans on the sixth Emerald Coast Honor Flight back to the Pensacola airport Wednesday night. Cheerleaders pictured are: (back L-R) Lily Townson, Tamara Green, Mallory Ryan, Anna Fischer, Katelynn Calloway, Chelsea Ward Front, (front) Morgan Ward, Hannah Gibson, Mallory Wiggins and Paeton Hadley. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia Textbook Losses At $1.6 Million In Three Years, $163K From North Escambia Schools
April 15, 2010
Escambia County has lost $1.6 million worth of textbooks over the last three years — including $163,284.59 at North Escambia schools.
$1.6 million is a staggering number to Jeff Bergosh, District 1 Escambia County School Board member. “Do you know how many teacher salaries that represents? We need to find a way to collect this money,” he said.
Bergosh has collected itemized school by school numbers that he plans to present to the school board today. His data shows the number of text books at each school classified as lost or damaged — 18,710 books with $1,585,940.07 in unpaid fines — and the amount of fines actually paid — just $31,029.44.
High school numbers are the worst, with fines ranging from $205,640.10 for 2,379 books at Escambia High to $109,004.11 at Tate High for 1,906 missing or damaged books. Just one high school in the county had less than $100,000 worth of fines during the three year period — Northview.
At Northview, there were 116 missing or damaged books over the three year period, with fines of $10,242.43.
“They must be doing something right at Northview,” Bergosh said.
NorthEscambia.com found that Northview has a strict plan in place to make sure textbooks are returned — and they will even go looking for their books.
“We enforce our textbook policies,” Northview Principal Gayle Weaver said. “It’s something that we take very seriously.”
If a student at Northview owes textbook fines, they don’t march at graduation. They still receive their diploma, Weaver said, because that cannot be withheld. But with outstanding fines, there’s no pomp and circumstance.
When a student transfers out of Northview, or quits school, they still work to collect the books. Even if that means sending the visiting teacher/social worker directly to the former student’s home in search of textbooks.
“We diligently stay after the books,” Weaver said. Most of Northview’s lost textbooks, she said, actually end up in Alabama as students transfer across the line. “There’s no district system in place that allows us to pursue the books outside of the state.”
Bergosh said he is looking to the rest of the school board for a textbook fine collection procedure — perhaps a pay to play plan.
“If you want to pay sports or take part in extracurricular activities, you need to pay your fines,” he said. “You want a transcript? You need to pay.”
“Collecting these fines needs to be a priority; we just can’t afford to lose $1.6 million every three years,” Bergosh added.
The total three-year fines at the county’s middle schools range from a low of $3,756.08 for 46 books at Ernest Ward Middle School to $74,766.29 at Warrington Middle for 884 books. At Ransom Middle School in Cantonment, there were 147 books missing or damaged during the period with fines of $33.489.05.
At the elementary level, fines totaled $4,211.29 for 149 books at Bratt, $1,263.42 for 134 books at Jim Allen and $1,318.21 for 26 books at Molino Park.
Pictured top: A set of sixth grade books from Ernest Ward Middle School. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Last Minute Tax Info: Post Offices, Extensions
April 15, 2010
It’s tax day, with the deadline at midnight tonight to file you federal income taxes. If you are last minute filer, we’ve got some info need to know:
The tradition of running to the post office for the last minute postmark will be a bit harder this year — the only two post offices in Northwest Florida open until midnight are the main post office at 1400 Jordan Street and the Nobles Station at 7150 Tippin Avenue, both in Pensacola. No Alabama post offices are scheduled to stay open until midnight.
Even if you can’t get the forms completed today, you still need to pay Uncle Sam if you owe. You need to file an extension form by midnight. Click here for more info.