05/05/2014

Miami Palmetto Senior High School PTSA

May 5, 2014

Upcoming Events:

• May 6 - EESAC Meeting
• May 7 - Volunteer Breakfast
• May 14 - New Student Orientation
• May 15 - Take Your Child to Work Day
• May 20 - Silver Knight ceremony
• May 22 - Senior Awards
• May 30 - Graduation
• June 4 - Teachers "End of Year Luncheon"

Legislation:

It's over. The 2014 Florida Legislative Session ended late Friday evening, and the action now shifts to the Governor's Office. No controversial vetoes are expected, although a few legislative pet projects may fall victim to the Governor's line item veto pen. Here are the highlights of the session with respect to education and child-related legislation:

- There will be more money for schools, in the form of an increase in per-pupil funding to $6937 (still less than the 2008 amount), a $50 million allocation (the first in three years) to traditional public schools for capital construction and maintenance needs, and a special $40 million allocation for technology needs.

- The budget shortfall that Miami-Dade expected to face due to a backlog in the property tax appeals process has been mitigated thanks to a technical adjustment in the state budget language.

- School districts which exceed class size minimums will now be penalized financially to the full extent that the original statute permits, as opposed to the half-penalty that had been imposed over the past few years.

- Monitoring of at-risk middle school students will increase.

- Parents will now have a designated role in the school district's textbook selection process.

- Parents will now be notified annually with respect to their rights regarding student data collection and dissemination; collection of student biometric information (fingerprints, retina scans, etc.), and use of student social security numbers as identifiers will be banned.

- The formula for grading schools has been simplified, eliminating both bonus and penalty factors and schools earning poor grades the first year after Florida's new standardized tests are administered will be held harmless. At the same time, no change will be made to the schedule for implementation of the new teacher evaluation process.

- Certain undocumented students attending Florida post-secondary institutions will now pay an effective tuition equivalent to the in-state student rate.

- In a controversial eleventh-hour parliamentary move that Florida PTA and a number of other organizations sought in vain to oppose, the corporate tax credit scholarship program for low-income students intending to enroll in private schools was expanded to include families (of four) earning up to $62,010. Of the close to 60,000 students currently receiving such vouchers, 81.5% are enrolled in religious schools. Slightly more than 43% of students enrolling in the program in 2011 previously attended an "A"-rated public school.

- The same bill created a new education voucher to reimburse parents of certain special-needs students for education-related out-of-pocket expenditures, provided that such students are not enrolled in public schools.

- With respect to student health, those under 18 may no longer "vape" and those providing "nicotine-dispensing devices" to minors will be subject to penalty.

- A significant bill strengthened child welfare provisions, and legislators allocated additional funds to bolster the child welfare system.

- Legislators increased the age requirement for mandated use of child booster seats in vehicles.

- A number of bills sought to decrease incidents of child sexual abuse, including by school authority figures and coaches in community youth athletic leagues.

- Significant steps were taken to prevent human trafficking and to protect its victims.

With the Legislative Session now over, legislators can take some time to relax, and then, for those up for reelection, hit the campaign trail. On the local scene, neither Senator Margolis nor Senator Bullard will be on the ballot. No one has yet filed to oppose incumbent Michael Bileca in House District 115. In House District 114, incumbent Erik Fresen will face Amory Bodin in the Republican primary, while in the Democratic primary Daisy Baez will run against Ross Hancock. For Miami-Dade County District 8 Commissioner, Daniella Levine Cava will oppose incumbent Lynda G. Bell. The primary election will take place on August 26th, 2014.

PTSA:

PTSA supports Creative Writing at Miami Palmetto Senior High. One of the Special Projects that PTSA supported this year was the publication of a Creative Writing magazine under the direction of English teacher, Jason Meyers. Last year, the students fundraised for the full cost of the publication. This year PTSA contributed $1000 towards the project. Check out the Creative work of our students by visiting: http://ensoulmagazine.wordpress.com. Congratulations to all students for a job well done.

This week is Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week:

PTSA honors and appreciates our staff at Miami Palmetto throughout the year. This week, staff will receive tokens of our appreciation along with a breakfast on Thursday May 8th in the Teachers' Lounge. Why not take a moment and write a thank you note to a favorite teacher or counselor? If you want to assist our parent volunteer, please contact Ivette Miranda at yautrique@yahoo.com

Campaign for Excellence is going strong:

Lexus of Kendall and Kendall Toyota have joined the Campaign for Excellence with a $1000 donation. Let us welcome them to our community of giving.

Volunteers Needed:

Dear parents, we are preparing for our favorite event of the year, "The End of Year Luncheon" when we, the parents, give thanks to everyone at Palmetto High School for everything they do for our kids. There are many ways you can be part of this event as we need your support to make it memorable. The following are items that we need and that you can help with...We need 2 liter bottles of the following:

+ 10 - Cokes

+ 10 - Diet Coke

+ 10 - Sprite

In addition:

+ 15 Gallons of Water

+ 15 sliced lemons

+ 6 sliced oranges

+ 6 Flavored Coffee Matte Liquid Creamer Large size (32 or 64 oz. of Vanilla, Hazelnut or any other you like)

We also need desserts; i.e.: pies, cakes, brownies, etc....

+ Strawberries and other berries

+ 3 Hersey Syrup

+ 4 whipped cream

Volunteers are needed on June 3rd to help set up and decorate the Media Center starting at 12:20pm after early release day (students would be given volunteer hours). Volunteers are needed on June 4th (day of event) at 10:15 am to prepare last minute things, in addition to serve at 12:20pm and / or cleanup.

Finally we would love to give every one of our 220 teachers and school staff a gift of appreciation; we are looking for gift certificates that can be given to males or females such as Trader Joes, Starbucks, movies, restaurants, massages, department stores, wine, sports, etc.

Please mail your donations or drop them off at:

Mercedes Sorensen

6200 SW 112 ST

Miami, Florida, 33156

Miami Palmetto Senior High

Attn: Mercedes Sorensen (PTSA Membership Chair)

7460 SW 118 ST

Miami, FL 33156

Thanks for your support!