Do you know a STEM teacher in your community who goes above and beyond for their students? Nominate them for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST)! Click this flyerfor more details on the award and the link to make your nomination. Please be sure to review the eligibility criteria on the nomination form. Nominations close on March 1, 2019. Please email Arti Lele the name of your school’s nominee(s) so that we can recognize them at a future School Board meeting.

We are pleased to announce the submission window has opened for the 2019 Sunshine State Scholars Program.  Scholar submissions will be accepted starting January 8, 2019 and will remain open until January 31, 2019.  The 2019 Sunshine State Scholars event will be held June 13-14, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. Each of Florida’s school districts selects their top 11th grade students in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM). Each of the scholars, along with their parents, will travel to Orlando for an extraordinary two-day program. This year’s program will bring 100 high school STEM scholars together to conduct a “think tank” on tough Florida challenges. Pasco County is allotted 2 Scholar nominations. Schools may submit up to two names.  Schools wishing to submit students for consideration of this prestigious award should use the requirements listed below and submit nominees using the nomination form linked here.

You will need the following information to submit:

1. School contact information for submission – name, job title, email, phone
2. Scholar information –  name, school, address, phone and email
3. Scholar parent names, phone and email
4. GPA & Community Service Hour information

Nomination form linked here. 

Minimum State Requirements:

• The student has achieved junior class status and has an interest in pursuing postsecondary education opportunities in Florida.
• The student has expressed and/or demonstrated an interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related studies.
• The student has a weighted grade point average of 3.9 or higher.
• Based upon information available at this point in time, the student should be on track to qualify for the Florida Academic Scholars Award according to the current guidelines established for the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program(http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/SSFAD/bf/bfmain.htm). Specifically, the student should have documentation to support a minimum of 25 hours of approved community service.

Additional Requirements (Can be used to help further narrow candidates):

 Advanced Coursework:

• Student has taken or is currently enrolled in advanced courses.

• Dual credit mathematics and/or science courses
• Advanced Placement mathematics and/or science courses
• Advanced technology and/or career and technical education courses
• AICE or International Baccalaureate mathematics and/or science courses

 Assessment and Testing:

• Student has consistently scored well on statewide assessments.

• Combined score of 1300 or higher on the SAT (based upon the Critical Reading andMathematics sections only)

• Composite score of 30 or higher on the ACT (excluding the writing section)
• Score of 3.0 or higher on one or more Advanced Placement Tests
• Consistently scored Level 4 or 5 on Mathematics and Science End-of-Course assessments

Competitions and Contests:

Student has actively participated in STEM-related competitions or has shown leadership in STEM-related activities such as the following:

• State Science and Engineering Fair sponsored by Florida Foundation for Future Scientists (FFFS):http://www.floridassef.net/
• International Science and Engineering Fair sponsored by Intel and Society for Science & the Public:http://www.societyforscience.org/ISEF/
• Mu Alpha Theta: http://www.mualphatheta.org/Default.aspx
• Florida MATHCOUNTS State Competition sponsored by the Florida Engineering Society: http://www.fleng.org/mathcounts.cfm
• Math League sponsored by Stanford University: http://www.mathleague.com/
• FAU Internet High School Mathematics Competition:http://www.math.fau.edu/outreach/InternetComp.html
• American Mathematics Contest sponsored by University of West Florida:http://uwf.edu/mathstat/amc/
• Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology: http://www.siemens-foundation.org/en/competition.htm
• Dropping In a Microgravity Environment (DIME) sponsored by NASA:http://spaceflightsystems.grc.nasa.gov/DIME/
• Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision science competition: http://www.exploravision.org/
• Florida Science Olympiad: http://www.floridascienceolympiad.org/
• Florida Envirothon: http://flenvirothon.com/
• National Science Bowl (NSB) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy:http://science.energy.gov/nsb/ 
• South Florida FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition: http://firstinflorida.com/
• Emerald Coast BEST Robotics sponsored by University of West Florida: http://uwf.edu/ecbest/
• National STEM Video Game Challenge: http://www.stemchallenge.org/

 If you need any assistance with the nomination process please contact Mark Butler.

Please complete the DE Course Approval Form to get official approval from PHSC to offer DE courses for the 19-20 school year. Below are the rolling deadlines established for our district to turn in the forms and be notified of approval/denial. Please submit the form to Samantha Del Valle 24 hours prior to the deadline in order to be considered in the window.

• February 15^th Pasco deadline – notified by PHSC on March 15^th
• March 15^th Pasco deadline – notified by PHSC on April 15^th
• April 15^th Pasco deadline – notified by PHSC on May 15^th
• June 15^th Final Pasco deadline – notified by PHSC on July 15^th

Due to the PHSC accreditation guidelines, the maximum number of credits that can be offered in a 4-year period is 29 credits to ensure that a student can earn only 49% of the AA degree on the high school campus. Please review this document to see how many credits your school has offered over the last 3 years to determine your available number of credits.  If you have any questions, please contact Samantha Del Valle or Tonia Shook.

The course adoption process for the 19-20 school year will take place through the Secondary Design Team meetings. The final meeting for this process is February 7^th.  To have a course reviewed at the February 7^thmeeting please complete this form by January 25^th. OLL has worked with the Secondary Design Team to create course progressions in each content area.  Please reference these documents prior to submitting a course adoption request to ensure this course would be needed in the content area. We welcome any feedback schools have on the new course progressions. For courses outside of these subject areas (CTE, ESE, AICE, IB, etc.) please reference the course catalog in myStudent to see what is currently adopted. The course is only adopted for use in brick and mortar schools if there is a Z suffix on the end of the course code number and it is listed as active in the system.  If you are unsure of how to access the course catalog reference these directions.  Please contact Tonia Shook or Samantha Del Valle with any questions you may have.

Pasco County Schools’ professional development program for aspiring leaders, is open through Friday, January 18^th. Classes will begin Tuesday, February 19^th. LEAD is a 6- night program focused on maximizing leadership potential by enhancing skills, knowledge, and experiences. It is open to both instructional and non-instructional aspiring leaders of all levels.

• Access the LEAD flier here
• Find out more detailed information and register here

There will be trainings for New Teachers in Year 1 and Year 2 in January.  New Teachers can select one of the date options to attend.  Please share with your new teachers and have them register in myPGS.  Please refer to the Upcoming PD section below for more details.  If you have questions, please reach out to Jenny Rinck. 

Nearpod is providing a series of webinars from January to April designed to address content in our K-12 curriculum. These webinars will highlight content that Nearpod provides in support of relevant curricular topics, engagement strategies, differentiation strategies, and assessment data from Nearpod reports.

The following is January’s webinar schedule:  

January 2019

Participants can click on the link to register.  All teachers with Nearpod access will  be sent an email with the webinar offerings.  The webinar series will also be recorded so that participants can view when convenient.

Attached is the draft schedule for secondary math and ELA learning walks (day 2 of Core PD) for your review.  Learning Walks are an optional opportunity for teachers who attended Day 1 of Core PD this past fall.  Please contact Ben Aguilar (math) or Rachel Hatten (ELA) if you see any problems with the schedule.  This draft schedule has not yet been shared with teachers or coaches.  We appreciate your review and input!

A current senior can only make a request for part-time status during their last year of enrollment in high school. The student must also be experiencing a hardship or have an extenuating circumstance that makes the request necessary. If a request is made the following process will be utilized:   

• The administrator and/or school counselor will complete the part-time status request form and send it to Samantha Del Valle and Lynn Young.    
• The email will include the reason the request is being made.    
• Samantha and Lynn will review the requests weekly and then will send the information and their recommendation to Superintendent’s Staff for final review.     

• Once this process is completed the school will be notified of the approval or denial of the request.   

Please remind students who request part time status that students must be enrolled full-time (6 courses/3 credits) in the same Pasco County high school during each of the last four semesters prior to graduation to be eligible for Valedictorian or Salutatorian status. Please contact Samantha Del Valle with questions.

This a reminder that the Val/Sal verification process will continue this school year. District office personnel will work alongside schools to determine and verify the Valedictorian, Salutatorian and Top 10 students at each high school. It is important that during the school year when administration and school counselors meet with students to discuss their GPA and class rank, that students understand the class rank is unofficial until it is announced on March 11th. Schools should follow FERPA guidelines when discussing GPA and class rank information.  This information should never be shared with other students, parents or media outlets.

The timeline set for this process will be:

1. February 15th- Schools have everything finalized in myStudent, i.e. NX flags entered, grades entered, no duplicate grades, etc.
2. February 18^th-27^th– District personnel and school admin/counselors work to determine the preliminary top 10 seniors and the Val/Sal at each high school. Schools will be contacted immediately if any issues or concerns arise during the review.
3. February 28th- 7th semester senior GPA is frozen.
4. March 4th – 8th- District personnel and school admin/counselors determine the final top 10 seniors and the Val/Sal at each high school. Each school will be contacted by March 8th to verify the final result.
5. March 11th- Schools announce top students and Val/Sal.

We are aware that most schools recognize more than their top 10 students. If any issues arise as the top 10 are verified district personnel will work with the school to determine if other students are impacted by the errors before they are announced. Please contact Samantha Del Valle with any questions.

We are excited to announce that Vaughnette Chandler will join the Office for Leading and Learning as our new Leadership Development Program Coordinator. Vaughnette brings a wealth of experience in leadership in both instructional and instructional realms and has amazing ideas for how to continue to evolve all of our aspiring leader pathways here in Pasco county. Please join me in welcoming Vaughnette to the team and thank you in advance for your continued willingness and enthusiasm to partner with us in the creation and implementation of all of our leadership development programs and structures. 

Thanks so much to school based and district based staff who engaged in the materials adoption process. We are pleased to share that consensus has been built throughout the system around each adoption area. Below are the titles that will be recommended to the school board for adoption. This process includes public hearing, two readings and final approval along with a public challenge process prior to purchasing of materials begins. After board approval, we will have follow up conversations related to budgeting, ordering and purchasing procedures.

K-5 Mathematics: Great Minds Eureka Math

M/J Mathematics: Illustrative Math, Open Up

M/J World History: Cengage, World History Ancient Civilizations

M/J Theatre 1: Perfection Learning, Basic Drama Projects

M/J Theatre 2: Perfection Learning, Drama for Reading and Performance Book 1

M/J Theatre 3: Perfection Learning, Drama for Reading and Performance Book 2

Theatre 1: McGraw Hill, Theatre Art in Action

Theatre 2: Stage Agent

Theatre 3: Perfection Learning, Drama for Reading and Performance Book 1

Theatre 4: Perfection Learning, Drama for Reading and Performance Book 2

Acting 1: McGraw Hill, Theatre Art in Action

Acting 2: Stage Agent

Acting 3: Perfection Learning, Drama for Reading and Performance Book 1

Acting 4: Perfection Learning, Drama for Reading and Performance Book 2