04/07/2014

Miami Palmetto Senior High School PTSA

March 7th, 2014

Upcoming Events:

• April 9 - Shrek opening night 7:00pm in auditorium - tickets $10
• April 12 - Senior Prom
• April 16 - Blood Drive
• April 18 - Teacher Planning day - no School
• April 21 - MADD - PowerTalk 21
• April 24 - PTSA General Membership Meeting and Elections

Shrek:

Come see Shrek the Musical, at Miami Palmetto Senior High School (MPSH) in the auditorium Wednesday April 9th at 7:00pm, Thursday April 10th at 7:00pm and Friday April 11th at 3:00pm. Don't miss MPSH upcoming performance of Shrek the Musical, with music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, based on the 2001 DreamWorks film "Shrek." Come support the performing arts department!!!

                      When: April 9th (7:00pm), April 10th (7:00pm) and April 11th (3:00pm)

                      Where: Palmetto Senior High Auditorium

                       Tickets: $10 during lunch or at the door

Legislation:

The 2014 Florida Legislative Session is now more than halfway over, and action is beginning to shift from committees of reference to the House and Senate floors. At this point, any bill that has not already passed through at least one committee of reference is essentially dead for the year. In one significant move this week, SB 1512, the voucher bill for students with disabilities, underwent such major revisions that it no longer bears great resemblance to its former close companion bills in the House. This is becoming a pattern: Senate and House education bills on controversial topics are becoming more, rather than less, divergent as the Session draws to a close. How matters will be resolved in Conference Committee is anyone's guess, with members and the public left with little advance notice before individual bills come to a final vote.

In other news, the US Department of Education has signaled its displeasure with Florida legislative proposals to hold schools harmless with respect to accountability grading during a one-year transition period to new Florida ( = Common Core) Standards, and also to allow certain students with severe disabilities exemption from standardized testing. Florida was awarded Race to the Top monies, as well as a waiver from compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act, on the basis of its agreement to implement certain accountability measures, and to require statewide standardized testing of all public school students. The Feds have suggested that proceeding with the current, more lenient, legislative proposals will trigger forced repayment of the RTTT funds and strict enforcement of the NCLB standards that require that every child in every school test as "proficient" by 2014--or else...

Campaign for Excellence:

Thanks to our PTSA Campaign for Excellence donors!

FEMBI Mortgage Brokers

Dorothy Lewis/EWM

Vega & Oprandi Wealth Advisors

Prime Air & Ocean Cargo

MDW Insurance

Tim Hasty/EWM

The Corradino Group

Let's cultivate excellence in our own back yard!

This year MADD is trying something different for PowerTalk 21. PowerTalk21 is the national day to encourage parents to start or continue conversations about alcohol with their teens. We are offering free online parent programs in English and Spanish throughout

www.palmettohighptsa.org.

Thanks so much

Helen Witty

Program Specialist/Victim Advocate

Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Miami-Dade County

Palmetto Alumni Association:

If you are a Palmetto High grad or know someone who is, please contact Lynn Daniels Smyth at lynndanielsmyth@gmail.com, Betsy Myers Poepping at betsypoepping@gmail.com, or Teri Kulikowski-Fisher at Terif21@aol.com. Please join us as the Miami Palmetto High School Class of 1974 celebrates its 40th Reunion, May 2nd to May 4th, 2014. All graduation classes are invited!! Friday, May 2nd, 2014 from 6:00pm til...we will meet at the Rooftop Bar at the Mayfair Hotel & Spa, in Coconut Grove. There will be a cash bar (serving 2 for 1 drinks from 6:00 to 8:00), a DJ until 11, some light munchies, beautiful views of Biscayne Bay and best of all--lots of old friends to share it with....the charge for this event is $15.00 pp. Saturday, May 3rd, 2014 from 7:30pm to 12:00am we will meet once again for more drinking, eating and visiting with old friends in the Havana Room at the Mayfair Hotel. There will be stations for eating and music for dancing. Two premium drink tickets are included in the $135.00pp charge for this event.