Update: this has been cancelled
Archive for February, 2007
JV Cheerleaders Spaghetti Dinner
February 28, 2007Garrett Bell is Male Athlete of the Week
February 28, 2007CBHS Senior Tennis Player Garrett Bell is Florida Today’s Pick for Male Athlete of the Week. Congratulations, Garrett!
It’s great to see a happy story about Garrett who less than 2 years ago was covered in Florida Today as one of 2 victims of a very scary accident at a school tennis match. You may remember the March 12, 2005 incident at the CBHS/Astronaut away match in which Garrett and a teammate were hit by a truck shortly after leaving the court.
07-08 Scheduling Manual Now Online
February 28, 2007The Guidance site has been updated and the new scheduling manual is available here. You’ll need MS Word to open it. This is the same as the white booklet with the Minuteman on the front that your child should soon be bringing home with a copy of his or her transcript (high school only) so you can plan classes for next year. You can also get your child’s transcript online at FACTS.org.
Board of Governors Seek Input
February 27, 2007A couple of weeks ago, the Florida Board of Governors, (the ruling body for Florida’s state university system) unveiled a controversial report that it had commissioned from an independent consulting firm. Today in Orlando the Board of Governors held its first public hearing related to developing a comprehensive plan for Florida’s colleges and universities.
University governors want your opinions – Orlando Sentinel : Education
Follow Up article -Poor Turnout
Forward By Design Website for your input
The Pappas Group Report (PDF)
Stay tuned…This process could have huge implications for Bright Futures, Florida PrePaid, UCF and BCC in the coming years.
Official Info Sources:Guidance Counselors
February 27, 2007Depending on what the guidance counselors did when and where you were in school you may have unrealistic expectations for the guidance staff in today’s public schools. CBHS has some highly qualified and energetic individuals holding the guidance counselor slots but if you do the math you’ll quickly realize that each one of them has over 380 students to shepherd.
On rare occasions there are parent meetings, but usually information is disseminated from counselors to students by grade level in their English classes (if your student is not enrolled in an English class he or she will have to make an extra effort to stay informed). Your student is supposed to fill you in on what was presented at these info sessions. (I can hear some of you laughing). If you never saw copies of the handouts from the start of the year briefings you can download the Powerpoint presentations here (right hand side of page). This is especially important for juniors and seniors.
Guidance counselors will usually bend over backwards to answer your questions and help your students complete the paperwork they need for various programs and scholarships but you and your student have to be proactive. In other words, you have to go to them, not wait for them to come to you. Encourage your student to listen for announcements regarding deadlines and the like. You can provide a safety net by keeping track of information from the various sources we discuss here.
Good News/Bad News
February 26, 2007As our kids take the 2007 FCAT Reading Test today perhaps some perspective is in order. In I-Team: FCAT’s Biggest Failures Exposed last May, WESH-TVs investigative report team featured Cocoa Beach High as the highest scoring Central Florida school on the 10th grade FCAT reading test. That was the good news. The bad news was that 36% of our 10th graders failed the 2006 test. (Keep in mind though, that many exceptional ed students are required to take FCAT, a fact WESH failed to mention.)
Now for the really bad news. At the poorest performing school, Jones High School in Orlando, only 4% of 10th graders passed FCAT reading. Scores from all the Central Florida schools are in this 2 page summary.
Students face major change
February 25, 2007This Orlando Sentinel story explains the changes legislated last year asking 9th graders to choose a major for their high school years. The changes go into effect for the 07-08 school year so current 8th graders will presumably be choosing majors now as part of their scheduling process for next year. Majors available at CBHS are available at this post.
CBHS Majors Posted
February 25, 2007These are the majors 8th graders will be choosing from as they schedule their classes for the 07-08 school year.
COCOA BEACH JUNIOR/SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
6111 AA Degree
4018 Advanced Placement Major
4019 Advanced Placement Scholars
0199 Arts – Visual Arts
4030 Athletic Trainer
6099 BUS ED – Academy of International Business
6085 BUS ED – Accounting Operations
4045 Business Supervision and Management
4049 Carpenter’s Assistant
4055 Child/Day Care Support Assistant
4060 College Studies
4062 COMM General Communications
4065 Commercial Foods Assistant
4079 Custodial Assistant
0400 Drama – Theatre Arts
6107 FAM CON – Fashion Design Services
4113 Family and Consumer Sciences Integrated
4117 Fine Arts
6003 Florist Assistant
4120 Food Service Assistant
0799 Foreign languages
0701 Foreign languages – French
0708 Foreign languages – Spanish
4142 Hospitality and Tourism Assistant
4144 Hospitality Support Personnel
6112 IB
4152 Integrated Academic Focus
1099 Language Arts
8800 Marketing Education
1200 Mathematics
4184 Medical/Health Services Support Personnel
1399 Music
4197 Office Support Personnel Assistant
1599 Physical Education
4209 Pressman Assistant
6002 Recreation Assistant
4215 Retail Trade Assistant
1899 ROTC and Leadership Training
2099 Science
2199 Social Studies
8600 Technology Education
Source: http://www.fldoe.org/HSMajors/ListSchoolMajors.aspx
CBHS students speak out in Fla. Today
February 25, 2007If you want to hear what is on the minds of at least some Cocoa Beach High students you have always been able to check out the student section of Florida Today, called the Verge, where CBHS students are regularly featured as writers and interview subjects. One CBHS student, Nikki Roberti, even has her own blog there, called Passing Notes.
In this VERGE feature about academic letters, Nikki interviews CBHS Senior Leslie Salas of the Robotics Team who makes a case for letters for activities other than sports.
$60,000 in college funds available from Brevard Schools Foundation
February 25, 2007According to this Florida Today article the Brevard Schools Foundation has $60,000 in scholarships available for seniors who meet various criteria and apply by the March 7th deadline. Application can be downloaded here. One CBHS-specific scholarship, the Bruce Bernard memorial, is mentioned in the article. And, yes, these are already listed on the CBHS scholarships page, along with many others.
