ACCREDITED VIRTUAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS COMING NEXT YEAR IN FLORIDA

Believed to be the most wide-ranging virtual mandate in the US, a new Florida state law requires districts to create full-time virtual schools, collaborate with other districts, or contract with providers approved by the state. Your children and grandchildren who live in Florida will be able to go to school entirely online from kindergarten through 12^th grade, never setting foot in a classroom, but about 20% of the curriculum may be taught online and parents must commit to walking their children through the rest of the lessons. School superintendents must be ready by August with details from how to provide the needed technology to how to engage kindergartners attention spans as they sit at the computer for many hours in a row. While this program may eliminate the need to build more schools, the districts still must pay teachers, revamp their curriculum appropriately, and purchase new technology. Districts can choose to pay a state-approved private company to do that . Two online schools are already funded, one for students from kindergarten through eighth grade, and the Florida Virtual School offering middle and high school courses. During last year’s school year, 57,000 students took at least one Florida Virtual School course, but very few committed to an all-online experience. The new Web-based education is expected to attract many students. This year the district will start with 12 students, kindergarten through 8^th grade, who are registered for online school through a state program. Students and parents will be asked for input. For accountability, virtual students must meet state standards and take the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. There is concern that the virtual experience cannot be provided to students whose families cannot afford home computers and internet access. Opening school computer labs is one alternative being considered. The North American Council for Online Learning will be watching, as will the rest of us, to see how it goes. For more details see http://www.flvs.net/. Online courses are available for adults too. Check it out!

READ THEIR LIPS: NO BOCA TAX INCREASE, BUT….

There will be additional fees including $5 per month trash fee, $10 increase in fire assessment fee for homeowners, water and sewer rate increase of 5.8% and 2% water and sewer electricity surcharge. The new library project has been moved to the 2009-2010 fiscal year in the city’s capital improvement budget. Beginning the library now, the city manager said, would cause next year’s tax to go up by 2%, counting debt service and library operations.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES - LACK OF FINANCING AND BUDGET CUT PROBLEMS

DAYJET CEASES SERVICE to 60 regional destinations. Lack of growth capital was the reason for shutting down, according to the President of the firm. The company was unable to arrange financing. PALM TRAN HAS REDUCED its schedule and trimmed some routes in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach. THE BOCA COMMUNITY HOSPITAL HAS PUT A HOLD ON plans to build a new facility on the FAU campus. Let’s remember that the economy WILL improve in due time, and perhaps then some of these plans will be revived.

FAUs BOCA RATON CAMPUS GETTING NEW THEATERS

Eligible for matching funds, Living Theaters Inc. has gifted FAU with $1.5MM to fund building of a state-of-the-art movie theater complex with four theaters and a café on campus. Groundbreaking is planned for December. The gift is eligible for matching funds from Florida’s Alex P. Courtelis Capital Facility Enhancement Challenge Grant Program. Students will have use of the theater during the day. Evenings and weekends will feature screening of foreign and independent films for community patrons.

FLAGER'S PERSONAL RAIL CAR ON DISPLAY IN PALM BEACH

Henry Morrison Flagler’s personal rail car, built in 1886, is now on view, and you can walk through the new 8100 sq ft Pavilion at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach to see it. The railway car has been restored to its original appearance, using records from the National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian, the Delaware State Archives and the Hagley Museum and Library in Delaware. See the salon, master bedroom and bath, guest quarters and kitchen. The car is called “A Palace on Wheels.” See the fine appointments, including the oak paneling and desk. Flagler traveled by this railcar in 1912 along the Overseas Railway to Key West to celebrate completion of the FEC Railway, a phenomenal engineering feat. This is the first public Beaux-Arts style building built in the US in 60 years. Its design is consistent with Whitehall, which was completed in 1902. The Museum’s Pavilion Café is also in the building. Flagler owned much of the land along both sides of the hundreds of miles of track, and has been called “Florida’s Godfather.” For more information, go to http://www.flaglermuseum.us/ or call 561-655-2833.