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SRQ DAILY Aug 18, 2018

"Many members of our community have started college but stopped due to many reasons, including economic, employment or family. It is never too late to come back to the classroom or find an on-line program and complete your education."

- Carol Probstfeld
 

[Gulf Coast]  Love Our (Civility) Squad!
Mark Pritchett, mpritchett@gulfcoastcf.org

These days, we hear frequent pleas for a “return to civility.” Amid 24/7 hyperpartisan politics, trending extremism, and online echo chambers, we seem to have lost the ability to communicate with others who don’t hold our same viewpoint—to disagree without being disagreeable. Just about any issue can quickly morph into a “life or death” debate.

While we can pine for simpler times, we must remember that our children are in their formative years. Our current moment, with its cyber-bullies, Twitter trolls and “fake news,” is their ground zero for developing the values and behaviors that will shape their civic lives. There seem to be fewer role models in whom our kids can see the positive results of bipartisanship and compromise. That’s why I’m so excited about the comprehensive commitment to civility that the Sarasota County school district announced last week.

Sarasota County Schools declared that civility is the gold standard for communicating across the entire school community, now and into the future. From teachers and students in the classroom, to staff members in transportation and food services, to administrators at The Landings, everyone will be given the tools and inspiration to put positivity first.

The groundwork for this ambitious campaign is “The Civility Squad,” a memorable cast of characters created by talented Ringling College students last year for Gulf Coast’s reimagined Because It Matters initiative. Because It Matters is a regional effort to improve civil discourse, increase civic engagement and build social capital by encouraging people to communicate in more respectful and effective ways. Through a variety of media, The Civility Squad promotes positive and civil actions such as respecting others, making a difference, listening and saying thank you. And the school district is taking those messages and empowering everyone to run with them.

According to Student Services Supervisor Deb Giacolone, who spearheads the district’s campaign, civility will become “our way of work” at Sarasota County Schools. The principles of civility and the characters of The Civility Squad will be incorporated into schoolwide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support plans. Each month of the school year, the district will focus on a different “key to civility”—a simple behavior that can profoundly impact how we treat one another—integrating it into classrooms, cafeterias, buses and district offices. There also will be plenty of engaging activities for students, and even some friendly competition, as well as opportunities to extend the message to their families.

The initiative supports the belief that all students should be able to come to a safe, positive and civil school every day. And it’s deeper than a mere “politeness” campaign. Because It Matters is rooted in the documented brain science of human connections and the biological implications of our interpersonal relationships. As we’ve learned from experts like Daniel Goleman, emotions are contagious, and our daily interactions literally affect our cells, down to our genes. (Brush up on your Goleman for an eye-opening reminder of where we get phrases like “that makes my blood boil.”)

For Sarasota County Schools, nurturing civility on such a scale helps to serve some big, measurable objectives: decreasing dropout rates, suspensions and discipline infractions while increasing student attendance, relationships and achievement, so that every student can graduate college or career-ready—the ultimate goal. “A positive climate and a culture that promotes civility are the foundation for the highest levels of academic achievement,” according to Giacolone.

The Civility Squad’s slogan is “saving our community one good deed at a time.” It’s starting in our school district. I hope you will join in this movement too. Because it matters.

Dr. Mark S. Pritchett is president/CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation. 

[The Detail]  Don't Buy Free Market Education
Cathy Antunes, cathycantunes@gmail.com

A “free market” approach to education can bring negative unintended consequences. We need wise stewardship for Sarasota’s A-rated school system. August 28 is election day (not a primary) for the school board. The health and vitality of our school system is on the ballot. At least two school board seats will be decided in the nonpartisan races. These nonpartisan elections will determine Sarasota’s future regarding corporate charter schools.

Corporate charter schools have been hailed as the fix for what is wrong with public schools. Give a private company local tax money for a school and let them compete with the public school. Education will improve! The corporate charter school will be more customer oriented! Is that true? A look at the policies and performance of some corporate charter schools indicates otherwise.

A 2008 internal memo written by Imagine School president Dennis Bakke demonstrates disregard, even contempt, for the input of parents and school board members. Advising Imagine’s executives and school principals, he wrote: “… you can protect yourself from board members that you chose, by getting undated letters of resignation from the start that can be acted on by us at any time.” He said of the individual school boards: “I do not mind them being grateful to us for starting the school (our school, not theirs), but the gratitude and the humility that goes with it, needs to extend to the operation of the school” and “It is our school, our money and our risk, not theirs.”

Financially, corporate charter schools have been compared to Enron. Citing the corporate practice of setting up two companies, one which runs the school, the other an acting landlord which leases the building to the charter school, reports of financial gouging via leases are troubling. According to one study, an average charter school rent is about 14 percent of the school budget, whereas Imagine Schools can charge up to 40 percent of the school budget.

Here in Florida, the Imagine Schools in St. Petersburg and Land O’Lakes each paid 2016 rents of $649,312 and $757,989 respectively to their affiliated corporate landlord. That’s $133 and $121 per student per month. In contrast, Plato Academy, a local, homegrown charter school firm in the Seminole-Clearwater area, paid rents ranging from $12.15 to $32.99 per student.

What happens to these outrageous rent payments? They are bundled and sold as financial instruments to real estate investment trusts—another way Wall Street is siphoning money from Main Street.

Do charter schools outperform public schools? Not necessarily. A search for independent information on Imagine schools performance yields surprisingly little information. In 2016, Corporate charter school performance in Duval County showed charter school pass rates were behind their public school counterparts in 17 of 22 tests in math, science, reading, history and civics.

Take a good look at the school board candidates running in August, and beware of those who tout the benefits of a “free market” approach to education. The ones who benefit most may be their corporate donors.

Cathy Antunes is host of The Detail on WSLR. 

[Argus]  Figure What Candidates Stand For Beyond Slogans
Christine Robinson, Christine@argusfoundation.org

It is election time again. It is time to hear about the platforms of candidates, what they stand for and why they are running. There is a lot to wade through.

For new candidates who are not incumbents, you frequently hear general platitudes or a lot of “I’ll look into that” or “I am looking at all sides of this issue.” 

I recently watched a Facebook video interview where one local government candidate seemed enthusiastic and happy to be interviewed. But he did not answer one single question on a local issue that would come before the government body he was seeking to be elected to. Instead, the candidate repeated his stance, with snark, on a state issue he would never vote on if elected. He clearly did not know anything about any local issues, but he would sound good to those who cared about that one state issue.

It can be hard for a voter to know if the candidate bothered to educate themselves on issues or if they are just promising things without history or an understanding of how to pay for things. It is important for voters to look past slogans and to get that history. What would the candidate cut to get their platform accomplished? Why has this issue not been solved in the past? Can the candidate actually describe in detail the issue or are they just telling you what you want to hear?

For incumbents, election year can be a year of behaving like Santa Claus. Despite the stances of elected officials in off-election years, election years are a time to give every constituency everything they want in the hope the constituency will forget the previous three years of votes, which were different than their votes this election year. Voters should examine an incumbent’s entire term and see if they have consistently held a stance. Are they putting the government into a budget hole in an election year?

Voters should also determine if the incumbent has a history of just blindly following every staff recommendation out of laziness. Have they protected and defended the bureaucracy or the taxpayer? Are they just enjoying the title of the elected position and blindly reading from scripts? Are they actually reading their packets and making independent decisions?

Have they always advocated for transparency, open government and listened, or is this something that just happened this year so it did not become an election issue?

Finally, the most important issue is responsiveness. Did the elected official acknowledge you when you brought an issue forward and provide a welcoming attitude to diverging thoughts or did he or she just issue one-word responses or not respond at all? Did the incumbent try to solve the issue or is he or she more interested in what tee time is available?

Early voting starts one week from today. Start doing your homework and making sure that you have analyzed every race and thought about the future and the past. Voters should make sure the candidates have earned their vote and will continue to do so past the rhetoric of an election year.

Christine Robinson is executive director of The Argus Foundation. 

[Higher Education]  Helping Florida Rise to 55
Carol Probstfeld, presidentsoffice@scf.edu

Florida’s greatest economic resource is a population educated to match the state’s workforce needs. An appropriately educated workforce will keep business and industry in Florida and attract out of state companies to relocate here.

A recent Tampa Bay Times article highlighted the untapped potential in the 1.3 million Floridians between ages 25 and 55 that have earned some college credits, but have not completed an associate’s degree or higher.

This does not mean that 1.3 million Floridians are unemployed or not contributing to the state’s economy. It does, however, likely predict that many residents are not reaching their earning potential in the labor force and are more at risk in economic downturns. This also creates mismatches in the job market, where jobs go unfilled because potential candidates do not have the certificates or degrees necessary for the position.

College graduates generally earn more than individuals with only a high school education and most of the jobs created after the recession require postsecondary education. Workers who have not completed a college degree or certificate may also be more vulnerable to losing their jobs to automation.

To meet this challenge and develop potential solutions, the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, has joined with the Florida College System and the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Council in the Rise to 55 initiative. The goal is to raise the number of Florida residents who have completed some form of postsecondary education—industry certifications, two-year and four-year degrees—from 47 percent to 55 percent by 2025. A key component of Rise to 55 is getting individuals with some college classes to return and complete their higher education.

SCF, like its partner institutions in the Florida College System, is the ideal institution in its region to help the state meet the Rise to 55 goal. Our College specializes in the kind of high skill, high wage workforce programs that match the employment needs of our region. SCF’s 29 Associate in Science degree programs, 28 workforce certificate programs and 6 Bachelor of Applied Science programs support working adults looking to move up in their current career field or create an opportunity in a new profession. Graduates from SCF’s workforce programs enjoy a very high placement rate and competitive salaries.

Many members of our community have started college but stopped due to many reasons, including economic, employment or family. It is never too late to come back to the classroom or find an on-line program and complete your education. Economists project that 40 percent of Florida households are struggling to make ends meet. We know that education is the pathway to higher earnings and greater job security.

At SCF, we offer an economical and convenient way to complete your education. We have the programs that match the employment needs in our region and the guidance you need to complete your certificate or degree. Our goal is to provide you the education you need at the time and place that best suits your lifestyle. If you are looking to complete your education, expand your skills or set out on a new employment path, please contact us or check out our College at www.scf.edu.

Florida’s economy is strong and will only grow as its residents take full advantage of their capabilities. Higher education is the pathway for the state and its people to reach their full potential. SCF will help Florida Rise to 55.

Carol Probstfeld is president of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. 



[SCOOP]  Discover Sarasota Citywide Trolley Tour

Join Discover Sarasota Citywide Trolley Tours in exploring the important people, beautiful places and interesting events that shaped Sarasota. They are looking for a few big, bold and fun personalities who are comfortable presenting to a group of 20-35 people on each tour and can tell stories. The tours will run on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10:00 -11:15 AM and on Thursday nights from 5:30-7:00 PM. Additional daytime and special evening tours will be offered as demand increases. Tour guides will be compensated at $50 per tour + tips (range is $50-$100 for tips).  Auditions will be at 1826 4th Street (behind the Breakfast House on Fruitville) on Saturday August 25th from 10:00am - 12:00pm. Please prepare a story – maybe about Sarasota or another place, perhaps about a building or a section of town.   

Discover Sarasota

[SCOOP ]  Aaron "Spud" Hobbs Benefit

Community members of Myakka City invite the public to attend a fundraiser benefiting Aaron “Spud” Hobbs, recently diagnosed with cancer. The event, taking place tat 4pm this afternoon will be held at Horse Creek Camp located at 8491 State Road 64 West in Ona. The live auction, performed by local auctioneer Joe Davis, will feature items including an Everglades Python Hunt donated by Bill Booth Outdoors, a Peace River airboat tour donated by Seminole Wind Airboat Tours, a guided gator hunt with B&B Outfitters, guided quail hunts with Richie Tharpe, Goodtime Charlie Charters offshore and Fish the Flats with Captain Janson Ramsey, inshore chartered fishing trips, a guided hog hunt with B&B Outfitters, use of the Horse Creek Camp venue and more. In addition to music by local DJ Chad Young, $10 raffle tickets will be sold for the opportunity to win prizes including a SIG Sauer-P238 380 Automatic Pistol donated by the High Noon Guns shop and a Henry-Golden Boy 22 Mag Lever Action Rifle. Meal tickets will be sold for $10 and the meal includes pulled pork, green beans, corn on the cob and a roll. 

Aaron "Spud" Hobbs Benefit

[SCOOP ]  National Honey Bee Day

Celebrate National Honey Bee Day today from 10am-3pm at the Bazaar on Apricot & Lime. Enjoy free samples from Bee Blessed Honey, complimentary Bumble Margaritas at noon and live music throughout the day. The first 50 people will receive a "Thank you for bee-ing here" chapstick. Coloring contest with prizes, and so much more! 

Bazaar on Apricot and Lime

[SCOOP]  Goodwill Manasota Donates Clothing to Horizons Academy

Goodwill Manasota recently donated gift certificates to Bradenton's Horizons Academy so that clothing could be purchased for students returning for the new school year. Trisha Davis, who works in the ESE department of Horizons Academy, used the certificates at Goodwill's North Bradenton Clearance Center to buy the clothes, which will be given to students in need. Horizons Academy, which serves students in grades 2-12, is the Manatee County school district's alternative school. Its mission is to "help students identify and learn how to cope and overcome their academic and behavioral challenges in order to become functional members of the School District of Manatee County population and our community." 

Goodwill Manasota

[KUDOS]  Sue Wetzel To Lead Sarasota Area For United Way

Following a thorough national and local executive search, United Way Suncoast announces Sue Wetzel has been named Sarasota Area President effective August 13, 2018. Wetzel’s background in operational excellence and change management was honed over her previous 10+ year as an executive with Johnson & Johnson, where she most recently served as Medical Device Transformation Leader and Vice President US Customer Service prior to moving to Sarasota. Wetzel’s transition will be swift due to her current familiarity with the work in progress in Sarasota.  Wetzel is a long-time supporter, including serving on the Sarasota Area board for United Way Suncoast, as well as Chairperson for Women United locally. In addition, Wetzel has leadership history with United Way, having served as Vice President for United Way of America and president of United Way of Somerset County (New Jersey). 

United Way Suncoast

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SRQ DAILY is produced by SRQ | The Magazine. Note: The views and opinions expressed in the Saturday Perspectives Edition and in the Letters department of SRQ DAILY are those of the author(s) and do not imply endorsement by SRQ Media. Senior Editor Jacob Ogles edits the Saturday Perspective Edition, Letters and Guest Contributor columns.In the CocoTele department, SRQ DAILY is providing excerpts from news releases as a public service. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by SRQ DAILY. The views expressed by individuals are their own and their appearance in this section does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. For rates on SRQ DAILY banner advertising and sponsored content opportunities, please contact Ashley Ryan Cannon at 941-365-7702 x211 or via email

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