ST. LUCIE COUNTY — After weeks of police officer training in a classroom, Indian River State College students move on to a small platform that provides a high-tech simulation of how they react in a real-life situation.

They’re given a weapon that only emits lasers and equipped with a belt that zaps them if they put themselves in danger.

“It teaches consequences if they make bad decisions,” Stephen Huntsberger, associate dean of Public Service Education for IRSC, said of the VirTra Systems simulator at the complex.

The simulator is one of the planned demonstrations at Friday’s public open house at the new Indian River State College Public Safety Complex.
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Though the summer brought tough budget cuts to Treasure Coast schools, a push into the digital age and environmental consciousness will be top priorities for the school year that begins today as thousands of students head back to classrooms.

St. Lucie County school officials closed Port St. Lucie Elementary and Southbend K-8 School, both in Port St. Lucie, at the end of the last school year and eliminated middle school and junior varsity sports districtwide.

Martin County also made cuts in sports and tightened individual school budgets for expenses like field trips and school supplies, but the fact that two schools this year became Title I schools also brought extra federal money to the district.

Martin Schools Superintendent Nancy Kline on Friday said this year will be the first for the Martin Virtual School, which will provide online instruction to students at all grade levels.

“It’s particularly helpful for students who will have to take extended absences from school, though virtual schools in general are becoming more and more popular,” Kline said.

Some students in St. Lucie County will get a taste of the high-tech at two new charter schools — The Nau Charter School and Renaissance Charter School, both in Port St. Lucie.
Renaissance Principal Eric Lewis said teachers at the new school spent the last few weeks reviewing curriculum and learning how to navigate around high-tech classrooms inside the $10 million building, which will include five laptop computers in each classroom.

“We used to think of the average classroom supplies in terms of papers and pencils, or glue and glitter, but now there are so many other tools at our disposal,” Lewis said.

And though the St. Lucie County school officials made significant cuts to the district’s after-school programs, some administrators still found ways for expansion.

Leaders at Village Green Elementary, for example, responded to news that their after-school environmental program would be cut with plans to integrate the program into their day-to-day curriculum. They unveiled plans for the school’s Global Environmental Studies Center magnet in June, a plan St. Lucie Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon said will actually save the district money.

“What they’ve been able to do is remarkable,” Lannon said.

DETAILS BY COUNTY
St. Lucie
Charters: Two new charter schools, The Nau Charter and Renaissance Charter, open today.
Sports: Budget cuts mean no junior varsity or middle school athletics unless the schools are able to pay for them.
Transportation: Transportation hotline is 772-340-4849. The phones will be manned from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, with bilingual staff available. Transportation to magnet schools will be more limited this year, with fewer stops.
Supplies: Supply lists for individual schools, open house schedules and sports release forms are available online.
For more information, visit www.stlucie.k12.fl.us

Martin
Funding: Though school officials had to make cuts, the naming of two schools as Title I schools brought extra funding to the district.
Virtual School: Students for the first time will be able to receive instruction online through the Martin Virtual School. Eligible students had until August 12 to enroll.
Academics: Academically advanced middle school students in Martin this year will have more opportunities to take high school courses like Geometry, Integrated Science and Algebra. The 8th grade academic intervention program, which last school year helped 148 students in danger of failing pass through to the 9th grade, will be expanded to also target 6th and 7th graders.
Transportation: For transportation questions, call: 772-219-1287
For more information, visit www.sbmc.org.

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Law enforcement agencies are working to get rid of the hundreds of backlogged DNA cases to make for a safer Treasure Coast.

The Indian River Crime Laboratory hired a DNA criminalist through a $94,922 forensic science improvement grant with the Port St. Lucie Police Department from the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice.

Lab Director Dan Nippes said the backlog for St. Lucie, Indian River, Martin and Okeechobee counties at the end of June was 646 cases.
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VERO BEACH — Local amateur fossil collector James Kennedy appears to have made an unprecedented archaeological discovery that might help confirm a human presence here up to 13,000 years ago.

A prehistoric bone fragment found near Vero Beach contains a crude engraving of a mammoth or mastodon on it.

“It is humbling to realize that we are seeing what the hunter saw more than 13,000 years ago,” Purdy said.
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Port St. Lucie’s next biotech institute is one step closer to reality.

Oregon Health & Science University’s Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute signed a deal this month to design and build its new $30 million laboratory in the Tradition development west of Interstate 95.

The institute tapped Baltimore-based Whiting Turner Contracting Co. to oversee construction of the 105,000 square feet of laboratories and offices. The building is on target to be completed in May 2011, said Andrew Favata, vice president for Tradition’s developer, Core Communities LLC.

VGTI Florida, as the local campus has been dubbed, will be built on eight acres at Core Communities’ Florida Center for Innovation at Tradition, a fledgling research park that’s now home to another biotech outfit, the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies. (more…)

STUART — J.D. Parker School of Science, Math & Technology will soon generate enough solar electricity to power five classrooms.

On Tuesday, Florida Power & Light announced it would install a new solar array at six schools in its service territory to help teach future generations about the benefits of renewable energy.

When FPL’s Next Generation Solar Education Station is complete, it will provide 5 kilowatts of solar electricity and provide students with a hands-on tool to learn how solar power works, according to a news release. The solar installation will save the school about $800 each year in electricity costs.

In May 2007, Palm City Elementary had a solar electricity array installed as part of the “SunSmart Schools” program, which generates enough energy to power the lights in the science building.

TCPalm.com

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Budget cuts have hit the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test again.

On Tuesday, the Florida Department of Education announced it would eliminate all FCAT summer retakes and a portion of the science FCAT. Sample test materials also will be eliminated and schools will no longer receive printed score reports.

“As you are aware, all aspects of education are facing budget reductions, and the statewide assessment program is no different,” Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith wrote in a letter to school superintendents.

In November, the state made about $18 million in cuts to the statewide assessment program. It discontinued the FCAT Parent Network that allows parents to look up their kids’ scores on the Internet, eliminated 10th-grade FCAT retakes and is not placing sticker seals on certain test documents.

Students need to pass the reading and math sections of the 10th-grade FCAT to graduate high school with a standard diploma.

Last April, the state cut the multiple choice portion of the FCAT writing test at a cost-savings of $2.5 million and the norm-reference test — which compared Florida students to their peers across the nation.

In Smith’s memo “Changes to FCAT in 2009 and Beyond,” he wrote that no changes were being made to the 2010 FCAT reading and math tests and that the writing test would be administered in February and reading, math and science would be administered in March.

When the new FCAT is implemented in 2011, testing will be later in the year and performance tasks or constructed-response questions will not be included, leading to faster turn-around time and an easier transition to computer-based tests, Smith wrote. (more…)

TRADITION — Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies is in the process of moving to the $40 million complex in Tradition this week and should be up and running fully in February.

Employees have boxed items and movers are transporting things to the Port St. Lucie location from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce, where they have been working since May 2007.

Some employees will start work in the new building early next week. Others will continue in Fort Pierce until February. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — Moving day is getting closer for Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies.

The last checklist items are being completed as the research institute prepares for a phased move from their temporary home at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce to the new $40 million complex in Tradition in early January.

While Torrey Pines administrators are expected to occupy their offices when the doors open, the scientists may wait another month or two before settling into the new lab space.

“In reality there is work going on that would create dust and noise and it’s easier to time our move so ongoing (chemistry and molecular biology) experiments are not disrupted,” said Torrey Pines President Richard Houghten.

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