Three major Florida universities have branch campuses or partnerships with industry on the Treasure Coast and elsewhere in Florida there are more such academic satellites.

But remote site expansion of higher education on the Treasure Coast and across the state has been without guidance, said Frank Brogan, chancellor of the State University System of Florida. Brogan spent last week appearing before House and Senate education committees in Tallahassee. The former lieutenant governor and Florida Atlantic University president said he told lawmakers a plan is needed to grow higher education in the state. (more…)

Students from two local schools may soon be learning issues and sharing cultural values with peers from around the globe, using cutting-edge computer technology.

The Dawn Project is described as an international network of students and teachers. Current plans are to make it available to some or all high school students at Lincoln Park Academy, and to Forest Grove Middle School students who are enrolled in the school’s Marine Oceanographic Academy preparatory program.

“This is an opportunity to engage students in a global learning community,” said Owen Roberts, assistant superintendent of accountability and assessment for St. Lucie County Schools. “You could be talking to people in the U.S., students in Europe or Asia.” (more…)

STUART — The public records at the center of a lawsuit were not removed in the middle of the night, Martin County Schools Superintendent Nancy Kline said Wednesday.

Florida Mechanical, which has filed two lawsuits including one filed Monday claiming the district is not complying with public records laws, alleged that the records were removed from Martin County School Board Attorney Doug Griffin’s computer “surreptitiously, under the cover of night and without notice to Mr. Griffin.”

But Kline said the records were remotely taken from Griffin’s office during office hours on Sept. 11, and district staff tried to tell Griffin beforehand. The records were related to a public records request from Florida Mechanical.
(more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — One of the nation’s top film schools may be headed to the Treasure Coast to work with a Hollywood digital production spin-off and a cast of local college students.

Florida State University’s award-winning film school released a letter of intent Tuesday to partner with the Hobe Sound-based Wyndcrest Holdings LLC., which continues to work out a $30 million state and city incentives package for a 150,000-square-foot digital production studio that would be within the Tradition development.

“The direction they plan to take with the new studio in the development of innovative technologies and storytelling techniques is directly in line with the educational goals of The Film School,” said Frank Patterson, dean of the Florida State University College of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts. “It’s a perfect match.”
(more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — Police investigated a report of two juveniles engaged in a sex act witnessed by students at Port St. Lucie High School, according to a report released Thursday.

An officer on Tuesday received a complaint about the Sept. 17 incident, which, the report said, happened outside a 62-year-old teacher’s classroom.

The report gave this account:
(more…)

You would think that the Martin County School Board would be thrilled that Superintendent Nancy Kline, who has been in office less than a year, is cleaning house after both internal and independent investigations revealed long-standing shoddy, wasteful practices in the district’s finance, construction and maintenance departments.

You would be wrong.

According to memos from the state auditor general, the district paid bills without checking their accuracy, paid to repair equipment already under warranty, and time and again handed out contracts without seeking low bids. In response, Ms. Kline fired several employees, accepted the resignation of at least one other and ordered adherence to improved procedures. That and other reforms have saved the public $2 million so far.

Read the rest of the Post’s opinion piece here.

A driver who died in August along with his two friends in a high-speed crash south of Stuart had a blood alcohol content three times higher than the legal limit, authorities said this morning.

Nick Coady, 18, of Stuart had a blood alcohol content of .251 percent when he drove a speeding 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee head-on into a front-end loader on Cove Road about 2 a.m. on Aug. 4, killing himself and passengers Christopher Briglio, 18, of Tequesta and Connor Graver, 16, of Hobe Sound, according to a Florida Highway Patrol statement.

Briglio’s blood alcohol content was .129 percent, or one-and-a-half times the legal limit. Graver’s blood alcohol content was .152 percent, or nearly twice the legal limit. He also tested positive for marijuana use, the statement said. (more…)

The Martin County School District motto is “Where Learning Has No Boundaries.” Given the war between the school board and superintendent, it’s also a place where pettiness and intrigue have no boundaries.

Fortunately, the district is small and affluent, blessed with parents who send their children to school well-equipped to learn. If the A-rated district were judged on civility and cohesion, it would be lucky to eke out a D. It’s a school district where:

School board members want the superintendent to shut up during board meetings;

Employees who try to expose misspending in the construction and maintenance divisions find themselves excoriated in public and their jobs placed in jeopardy;

A James Bond wannabe uses an e-mail alias to solicit help from school board members in an attempted coup against Superintendent Nancy Kline.

Read the rest of the Post’s editorial opinion piece.

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon announced Wednesday he will retire Sept. 30 and ask the school board to re-appoint him to the same job 30 days later.

Lannon said the move is designed to both give him one month to deal with “personal family matters” and to collect between $100,000 and $125,000 in sick leave and vacation time accrued since he began working at the district.

School Board Chairwoman Judi Miller said the sum was already on the district’s books as being owed to Lannon and would not add or subtract anything from school coffers. That amount would be paid out whenever Lannon retires unless he used the sick and/or vacation time before he retires.

Lannon said if his health is good and the board chooses to re-hire him and keep him as superintendent he could see himself working another five to seven years.

Lannon will not enter the Deferred Retirement Option Program that allows a state employee to retire, return to work one month later and collect both salary and pension. Lannon, 63, said he missed that window of opportunity for that program when he moved from Monroe County to St. Lucie County in 2003.

Deputy Superintendent Sandra Wolfe will be interim superintendent during Lannon’s absence, if school board members approve Lannon’s request at their Sept. 22 meeting.

Lannon said Wolfe would not receive any extra pay for her work as interim superintendent.

“It is my desire that this be a short-lived retirement,” Lannon wrote Miller in a letter dated Monday. “I petition you to consider re-appointing me as the district school superintendent effective Nov. 1, 2009.”

Lannon, whose annual salary was last reported at about $191,000, said he individually informed school board members beginning Monday. He also spoke with representatives of the St. Lucie County Classroom Teachers Association/Classified Unit, the union for county teachers and clerical workers, before contacting media Wednesday.

Lannon cannot be in communication with school district officials during his month-long retirement.

October was chosen because it is the month that usually has the least work, he said.

Vicki Rodriguez, union vice president, said she knows of teachers who have retired from the school system and were later rehired, much as Lannon is proposing.

Wolfe returned to work as district deputy superintendent after retiring for several months earlier this year under the state’s deferred retirement program, and Lannon said about three dozen other school district workers have similarly retired and been rehired.

Miller declined to say whether she would support Lannon’s request to be rehired, but the board gave Lannon a positive performance review several months ago.

“I believe (St. Lucie County schools) are on the right track at this time,” Miller said.

School board member Carol Hilson said Lannon’s request was a “personal choice” and said the matter would be discussed at the next board meeting.

“I’m very pleased that he’s not retiring and leaving us,” Hilson said.

Board member Kathryn Hensley said what Lannon proposes is “totally within the law.” She referred to Indian River State College President Edwin Massey’s brief retirement and rehiring in summer 2008, so did Lannon’s letter to Miller.

Lannon said the school board would not be obligated to advertise for other superintendent candidates when he retires for the 30 days, the minimum time allowed by state law.

“If they want to go on a search, they can,” he said. “If they say they feel comfortable with the candidate they have now, they can make that decision.”

By James Kirley, TCPalm.com

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

STUART — The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is looking into fraud allegations regarding the Martin County School District’s facilities and maintenance departments, officials confirmed Wednesday.

But whether criminal charges will be filed based on the alleged violations to Martin County School Board policies has not been decided, said Richard Piccininni, resident agent in charge for the department of law enforcement.

“There’s a possible fraud case that’s involved,” said Piccininni said, whose department started investigating about a month ago. “We’ve really just begun to look into it.”

The investigation was first made public at Tuesday’s Martin County School Board meeting after School Board Attorney Doug Griffin asked board members to excuse him from responding to a public records request from Riviera Beach-based Florida Mechanical because the district’s education technology department removed documents related to the records request from his computer.

“The concern is that the computer files were absolutely removed from my office computers, actually making it impossible for me to do my job,” Griffin said. “They were just gone from my office’s computers.”

Schools Superintendent Nancy Kline said the documents were related to the ongoing law enforcement investigation, which makes them protected information. The investigation stems from an anonymous complaint related to purchasing, contracting and procurement by the facilities and maintenance department. Two employees were fired after the district looked into the matter.

Florida Mechanical was mentioned in the Martin schools’ investigation as a company the district allegedly overpaid for maintenance and repair services for cooling, heating and ventilation systems.

The Florida Auditor General’s Office has also conducted an audit of the school district’s operations but has not released a final report yet.

Board members agreed to excuse Griffin from dealing with the request, but expressed concern with how the issue was handled. Some board members also said they were unaware of the law enforcement investigation until Tuesday.

“It gives the appearance of wrongdoing,” said longtime board member David “Doc” Anderson. “If I get on the stand I’d say this place is a mess and I’m not surprised by it.”

The files removed from Griffin’s computer are in a secure location and have not been “destroyed, modified or deleted,” said Steve Weil, the district’s executive director of educational technology.
Kelly Tyko, TCPalm.com