Keeping up with the Hillsborough County Board of Education has been rather interesting. Beginning in August the Tribune made it look like they were closing three schools. Those three schools are part of a program related specifically to Title I schools, which are schools that receive additional federal funding for having high poverty student population. Although each school’s tests scored made gains, they did not make enough gains. They have also expanded things into each school. In Middleton, the School Board is identifying specific resources they will need, and targeting the community resources and groups that support Middleton. They stated that it is extremely important to look at every school in terms of instruction, attendance, and connecting with parents. In Franklin, they are looking for qualified teachers and they are stressing this to the parents in a personal way and lastly in Sulphur Springs, they are stating that the parents have great need for support and the importance of being on time and attendance needs to be understood. They will have a partnership with the United Way to bring resources into the community. They will also have Saturday school available. These three schools are what I saw most coverage about in the Tribune. There was a worry and an understanding that these three schools were closing down, and they are not. The School Board is doing everything they can to improve the schools.
Later on there was update out in the Tribune that Superintendent Elia discussed what they are doing at three “intervene” schools. So I was able to get an update on the three schools that were possibly closing according to the Tribune. Elia states that in Middleton they are adding: EXCELerator, AVID program, magnet program, Urban Teaching Academy, Urban Debate League, Cosmetology program; additional units in math, reading, and ESE; Math mentoring etc. In Franklin, they are adding rolling workshops to increase scientific thinking and understanding, enhancing reading comprehension and writing, CRISS, theme integration, academic rigor, data driven instruction, and technology infusion. Lastly, I was update on Sulphur Springs, they are adding before and after school tutorials, Saturday school, additional staffing training, highly qualified teachers, TA added in science Spectrum lab, and HOST program.
In October, three local students were acknowledged; they represented the school district at their national competition in Orlando, hosted by Disney World. They were Alfred Sheppard from Blake High School 10th grade; he won a gold metal in a music competition, $2,000, a computer, and a $20,000 scholarship to the Berkley College of Music. Second was Jasmine Roberts from Wharton High School 10th grade; she won a silver medal in microbiology, also $1,500, and a computer. And in third is Jasmine Myers, from Stewart Middle Magnet School 6th grader, she was one of the four in the nation selected to attend the Maryland Institute of College of Art next summer.
In November The Board of education elected Carol Kurdell chair and Susan Valdes vice chair. They also sore in elected and re-elected Board members, they were: The Honorable E.J. Salcines: Susan Valdes, Jack Lamb, Doretha Edgecomb, and Carol Kurell. Over all Hillsborough County Board of Education had a lot of interesting things going on from October through November and looking forward to finding out what else is to come.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Pat Bean
Patricia Bean is the Country Administrator. She became the County Administrator in 2003. She has a B.A. degree in sociology from Winthrop University and also has her Masters in Public Administration from the University of South Florida. Pat has served for many different programs, organizations, and groups. Some are: A two-year term as the President of the National Association of County Administrators. Pat also served on a National Advisory Board for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and she also served as an evaluator for the Kennedy School at Harvard’s “Innovations in American Government” Program. She served as a Deputy County Administrator for twelve years. She was in a little over thirty years experience in Hillsborough County government. Twelve of those years in county’s human services, including health care, Children’s issues and programs for the elderly. She was also a part of the development of the national award winning Health Care Program, and she served as Assistant County Administrator over Public Works, Fire Rescue, Planning and Growth of Management, and Solid Waste.
After searching the Hillsborough county Tax Collector website, I found information on Pat’s Real Estate and Tangible property Tax information. Pat is up to date on paying all her taxes, from 2001-2007. Her property location is 2805 W Morrison Ave, and the assessed value of her property is $222,456, the Just Value of Pat’s property is $417,907, the exemption amount is $25,000, the Ad Volorem Taxes is $4,229, Non-Advalorem is $59.76. Her total tax due for the year is $4,289.54 which she is also up to date on and paid. With the information provided by the Hillsborough County Tax Collector website, I see that Pat Bean’s property taxes are complete year to date. I also searched the Hillsborough County Sherriff’s office and Pat Bean has a clean record.
I also found a letter to Pat Bean from Pat Frank Clerk of the Circuit Court/Comptroller. It was written May 1, 2008. It was in regards to the 2009 Budget for the Clerk of the Circuit Court. Pat Frank also included performance measures and proposed budget reductions submitted by the Clerk of the Board Departments. Pat Frank stated to Pat Bean that the revised 2009 budget represents a 3.45% increase over the 2008 budget and an average annual increase from 2007 budget of 2.56%. Pat Frank also mentioned that because Amendment 1 passed in January, she advised all department directors of the cuts they would be making and the impact if 5 percent and 10 percent reductions to the director’s budgets were necessary. They were also able to reduce the planned budget by almost $300,000 by accepting the certain proposals. According to Pat Frank in her letter these are a few of the proposals mentioned in her letter to Pat Bean: 1. Elimination of the Clerk’s Facilities Director position and reassigning the duties to other staff in Clerk’s Administration. While the duties will be shared, one position will be designated as the facilities issues liaison with your Real Estate Department. 5. Reduction in Banking Service Fees of thirty eight percent. Our new banking partner, Wachovia, has lower fees than our former banking partners, Bank of America. In addition to all the reductions Pat Frank stated that two administrative support positions were also eliminated. Due to the alignment of duties and increased cross training, three positions were eliminated in Clerk to the Board Departments-one each in System Support, BOCC Finance, and Mail Services. Pat Frank stated to Pat Bean that it was important that she understand the assumptions used in the development of this revised budget for the office. If there were any assumptions that needed to be changed, Pat Frank would have to revise the budget first. Over all Pat Frank’s letter to Pat Bean was extremely detailed and informative on the budget for 2009.
The next public record, were the minutes of a meeting of the National Association of County Administrators. This is one of the Associations that Pat Bean served in for two years. The meeting was called to order by the President who is Pat Bean, She welcomed everyone to the NACA General Membership Meeting. Pat mentioned on the successful idea Exchange that took place the day before they met. There were thirty-nine people in attendance. Everyone participated in the meeting, but the section that Pat Bean interacted was when she made a suggestion membership for ICMA and NACA. IT was determined that is was feasible. Pat suggested that everyone should help with affiliate membership recruitment. Then there was a motion to accept and approve the membership report. Motion was approved. Pt Bean ended with, stating that she was pleased with the accuracy of the roster of members as it is being brought up to date. This is being accomplished by Barbara Yuhas. She felt there is a need for the entire membership of NACA to assist with affiliate membership recruitment. The results of the meeting are listed as: List Serve option for members was approved. Information will be able to be shared or gathered by participants. The project is planned to be operational within the following months. Creation of a website, it will create organization. With this document I found that Pat Bean was involved, she did and does attend meetings and she does express her opinion on how she feels things should work.
The next public record that I found is an article about the Hillsborough County Communicator. The title of this article is “Keeping you informed about County Government”, published in November of 2004. The Hillsborough County Communicator is yet another organization that Pat Bean served. This is published every month by the Communications Department to inform residents about the programs, services and activities of their County government. In this article she wrote a letter addressed to Hillsborough County Residents in regards to the four hurricanes that hit Florida. Throughout the letter she thanks the residents and businesses for heeding the requests in making all the preparations for the hurricane. She also mentions that Hillsborough County was fortunate compared to other counties. Pat also reassured all residents by stating that the Citizen Action and Citizen Response Centers were there for them during the storm. If anyone had any questions about county government services, they can contact the Citizen Action Center.
On the Clerk of the Circuit Court website I found a record stating the 2008 Lobbyist Activity Report. According the website Hillsborough County Lobbying Ordinance 07-8 requires that all lobbyists register the time of any private meeting with a member of the Board of County Commissioners, the County Administrator, any Assistant County Administrator, any Department Head, the County Attorney, or any Chief Assistant County Attorney, regarding any item which is pending before the Board of County Commissioners or being considered by the aforementioned county employees for presentation or recommendation to the County Commissioners. A first violation of this ordinance shall result in the issuance of a warning by the County Attorney's Office. Each subsequent violation shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed $500. For the 2008 report Pat bean was registered under Faye Boatright for the subject of finance/financial transactions, and principal Morgan Stanley & Co, also under Pegeen Hanrahan for the subject ELAPP Funding and the principal Trust for Public Land. Pat was also registered under William Lorenzen and Vincent Marchetti.
Finally, Pat Bean’s Campaign Contributions and Donations that I found were on The Huffington Post states that Pat Bean contributed to Hilary Clinton in 2008 for $425.
After searching the Hillsborough county Tax Collector website, I found information on Pat’s Real Estate and Tangible property Tax information. Pat is up to date on paying all her taxes, from 2001-2007. Her property location is 2805 W Morrison Ave, and the assessed value of her property is $222,456, the Just Value of Pat’s property is $417,907, the exemption amount is $25,000, the Ad Volorem Taxes is $4,229, Non-Advalorem is $59.76. Her total tax due for the year is $4,289.54 which she is also up to date on and paid. With the information provided by the Hillsborough County Tax Collector website, I see that Pat Bean’s property taxes are complete year to date. I also searched the Hillsborough County Sherriff’s office and Pat Bean has a clean record.
I also found a letter to Pat Bean from Pat Frank Clerk of the Circuit Court/Comptroller. It was written May 1, 2008. It was in regards to the 2009 Budget for the Clerk of the Circuit Court. Pat Frank also included performance measures and proposed budget reductions submitted by the Clerk of the Board Departments. Pat Frank stated to Pat Bean that the revised 2009 budget represents a 3.45% increase over the 2008 budget and an average annual increase from 2007 budget of 2.56%. Pat Frank also mentioned that because Amendment 1 passed in January, she advised all department directors of the cuts they would be making and the impact if 5 percent and 10 percent reductions to the director’s budgets were necessary. They were also able to reduce the planned budget by almost $300,000 by accepting the certain proposals. According to Pat Frank in her letter these are a few of the proposals mentioned in her letter to Pat Bean: 1. Elimination of the Clerk’s Facilities Director position and reassigning the duties to other staff in Clerk’s Administration. While the duties will be shared, one position will be designated as the facilities issues liaison with your Real Estate Department. 5. Reduction in Banking Service Fees of thirty eight percent. Our new banking partner, Wachovia, has lower fees than our former banking partners, Bank of America. In addition to all the reductions Pat Frank stated that two administrative support positions were also eliminated. Due to the alignment of duties and increased cross training, three positions were eliminated in Clerk to the Board Departments-one each in System Support, BOCC Finance, and Mail Services. Pat Frank stated to Pat Bean that it was important that she understand the assumptions used in the development of this revised budget for the office. If there were any assumptions that needed to be changed, Pat Frank would have to revise the budget first. Over all Pat Frank’s letter to Pat Bean was extremely detailed and informative on the budget for 2009.
The next public record, were the minutes of a meeting of the National Association of County Administrators. This is one of the Associations that Pat Bean served in for two years. The meeting was called to order by the President who is Pat Bean, She welcomed everyone to the NACA General Membership Meeting. Pat mentioned on the successful idea Exchange that took place the day before they met. There were thirty-nine people in attendance. Everyone participated in the meeting, but the section that Pat Bean interacted was when she made a suggestion membership for ICMA and NACA. IT was determined that is was feasible. Pat suggested that everyone should help with affiliate membership recruitment. Then there was a motion to accept and approve the membership report. Motion was approved. Pt Bean ended with, stating that she was pleased with the accuracy of the roster of members as it is being brought up to date. This is being accomplished by Barbara Yuhas. She felt there is a need for the entire membership of NACA to assist with affiliate membership recruitment. The results of the meeting are listed as: List Serve option for members was approved. Information will be able to be shared or gathered by participants. The project is planned to be operational within the following months. Creation of a website, it will create organization. With this document I found that Pat Bean was involved, she did and does attend meetings and she does express her opinion on how she feels things should work.
The next public record that I found is an article about the Hillsborough County Communicator. The title of this article is “Keeping you informed about County Government”, published in November of 2004. The Hillsborough County Communicator is yet another organization that Pat Bean served. This is published every month by the Communications Department to inform residents about the programs, services and activities of their County government. In this article she wrote a letter addressed to Hillsborough County Residents in regards to the four hurricanes that hit Florida. Throughout the letter she thanks the residents and businesses for heeding the requests in making all the preparations for the hurricane. She also mentions that Hillsborough County was fortunate compared to other counties. Pat also reassured all residents by stating that the Citizen Action and Citizen Response Centers were there for them during the storm. If anyone had any questions about county government services, they can contact the Citizen Action Center.
On the Clerk of the Circuit Court website I found a record stating the 2008 Lobbyist Activity Report. According the website Hillsborough County Lobbying Ordinance 07-8 requires that all lobbyists register the time of any private meeting with a member of the Board of County Commissioners, the County Administrator, any Assistant County Administrator, any Department Head, the County Attorney, or any Chief Assistant County Attorney, regarding any item which is pending before the Board of County Commissioners or being considered by the aforementioned county employees for presentation or recommendation to the County Commissioners. A first violation of this ordinance shall result in the issuance of a warning by the County Attorney's Office. Each subsequent violation shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed $500. For the 2008 report Pat bean was registered under Faye Boatright for the subject of finance/financial transactions, and principal Morgan Stanley & Co, also under Pegeen Hanrahan for the subject ELAPP Funding and the principal Trust for Public Land. Pat was also registered under William Lorenzen and Vincent Marchetti.
Finally, Pat Bean’s Campaign Contributions and Donations that I found were on The Huffington Post states that Pat Bean contributed to Hilary Clinton in 2008 for $425.
*Documents turned in *
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)