The class is for those who already have basic sign language skills.

Class fee is $70 and $30 for the book, “A Basic Course in Sign Language.”

Participants must be at least 18 years of age.

The location of the class is in Moore Hall Room #126, 207 N. San Marco Avenue in St. Augustine. Moore Hall is located in the building on the northeast corner of Macaris Street and San Marco Avenue.

For more information or to register, contact Michele Love, Parent Services, at (904) 827-2622 or e-mail at lovem@fsdb.k12.fl.us.

“This is a great opportunity for our community members to see the outstanding educational programs and services for our students,” said Rick Coleman, FSDB Parent Services.

The event features performances by students of the Blind Department’s OuttaSight Band, and students from the Deaf Department’s Dance Troupe will perform a show in American Sign Language. The activities will also include an orientation and mobility demonstration by the Blind Department students.

Seating is limited and reservations are required for this event. Please contact Rick Coleman at (904) 827-2227, or e-mail colemanp@fsdb.k12.fl.us.

For those who cannot visit the school for the open house, or for families with deaf/hard of hearing or blind/visually impaired children who are interested in visiting the school, tailored educational tours can be arranged through Mr. Coleman.

The breakfast meeting turned out for him to be a recognition ceremony hosted by members of the Kiwanis Club of Historic St. Augustine to honor him as “Student of the Month, where he received a $50 savings bond and $25 gift certificate.

“I am very happy and proud,” Turnsplenty said about the recognition. “I have studied hard and worked very hard to make good grades.”

Turnsplenty is a senior at FSDB and has attended the school for six years.

“He is focused on his academic studies and takes much pride in his studies,” said Karen Kolkedy, FSDB School Guidance Counselor. “His hearing impairment has not held him back and he handles adversity with great perseverance.”

Turnsplenty has excelled in many areas. His strengths lie in FSDB’s Career Education and Transition High School Work Program, said Kolkedy. This program provides enrolled high school students with internship opportunities at businesses within the community to develop their job skills and experiences. Through this program, Turnsplenty has interned in job positions at locations such as the Council on Aging, Second Harvest, Tibbs Tees, Bealls Outlet, Winn Dixie and the Hilton Hotel. He also continues to excel in FSDB’s Horticulture Program where he is working towards his certification as a nursery specialist.

During the school year, he also served as a manager for the school’s varsity basketball team.

His community involvement has included working with the Adopt-a-Highway cleanup program and preparing meals for the homeless at the St. Francis House in St. Augustine.

After graduation, Turnsplenty plans to attend FSDB’s Continuing Education Program and First Coast Technical College where he will study carpentry.

The Kiwanis Club of St. Augustine holds the monthly “Student of the Month” event for students attending the St. Johns area schools. “This event recognizes a student at each school for their outstanding achievements in the community and their scholastic achievement,” said Bob Braden, Kiwanis Club Secretary and Youth Services Chairperson.

(Photo and article by Miki Kristina Gilloon)

DATE/TIME: Friday, Feb. 10, 2012 at 9 a.m.
LOCATION: Moore Hall, Center for Learning Development Room #126, Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind
SUBJECT MATTER: Matters pertaining to the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind.

A copy of the agenda may be obtained by clicking HERE.

A copy of the meeting minutes from the Dec. 9, 2011, meeting may be obtained by clicking HERE.

For information on board reports and meeting minutes from previous meetings, please click HERE.

***
If you have additional questions, please contact Ms. Frances Keaton at the contact information below:
Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind
207 North San Marco Avenue, Saint Augustine, FL 32084
Phone: (904) 827-2210, E-mail: keatonf@fsdb.k12.fl.us

Pursuant to the provisions of the Americans with Disability Education Act, any person requiring special accommodations in order to participate in this meeting is asked to advise the agency at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting by contacting Frances Keaton at (904) 827-2210 or e-mail at keatonf@fsdb.k12.fl.us. If individuals are hearing or speech impaired, please contact the agency by using the Florida Relay Service at TDD (800) 955-8771 or voice (800) 955-8770.

If any person decides to appeal any decision by the Board with respect to any matter considered at this meeting or hearing, he/she will need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceeding is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence from which the appeal is to be issued.

Future Board Meeting Dates:
Friday, March 23, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Friday, June 1, 2012

The students entering their science projects are:

• Ashley Distler, 7th grade, with her project “Are You Telling a Lie?” Her project focuses on whether an individual’s strength falters if the truth is not being told.

• Emely Reyes, 7th grade, with “Taste Buds.” The science project focuses on how taste buds respond to different foods and how the sense of smell plays a part in how food is tasted.

• Jake Tessar, 8th grade, with his project “Fruit and Veggie Power.” His project focuses on how ordinary fruits and vegetables, such as potatoes and lemons, can produce electrical power.

Judging and interviews are to take place Feb. 1 from 8 a.m. to noon at the First Coast Technical College in St. Augustine. The awards ceremony takes place Feb. 2 at the St. Augustine High School auditorium at 6 p.m.

Please save the date and R.S.V.P. upon receipt of your invitation.

For more information, contact Michele Love, FSDB Parent Services at (904) 827-2622 or e-mail at lovem@fsdb.k12.fl.us.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (Jan. 24, 2012) — The Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind is holding a Board of Trustees emergency meeting on Jan. 27 at 9:30 a.m. in which the public is invited to attend.

• The agenda may be obtained by clicking HERE.
• In accordance with s. 120.525(c ), Florida Statute, the Proposed Findings of Fact can be obtained by clicking HERE.
• More information can be found HERE.

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss security issues related to the Collins House property.

The location of the meeting is at Moore Hall, Room #126, located at 207 N. San Marco Avenue in St. Augustine.

Individuals may also participate in the meeting by telephone conference call via the following instructions:
1. Dial toll-free dial-in number, (866) 503-4605
2. At voice prompt, use the conference code 9048272614
3. At voice prompt, state your name and then press the pound(#) symbol.

“This is a big deal for them,” said Sandy Serventi, FSDB Off Campus Academic Coordinator and Braille Specialist. “We are so very proud of our students.”

The 35 students from the blind department’s elementary, middle and high schools are honing their skills in speed and accuracy, reading comprehension, proofreading charts and graphs and spelling. The categories they are competing in are: Apprentice (1st and 2nd grades), Freshmen (3rd and 4th grades), Sophomore (5th and 6th grades), Junior Varsity (7th, 8th and 9th grades) and Varsity (10th, 11th and 12th grades).

FSDB has held the Braille Challenge for the past 10 years and has had 13 students qualify for the final competition in California. FSDB’s top eligible students will be included in a larger pool of students from across the nation. If selected, the students are invited to Los Angeles where they will compete in the National Braille Challenge that tests the literary skills of blind and visually impaired students from across the nation.

The tournament is sponsored by the Braille Institute of America and is the only national academic competition for K-12 blind students designed to motivate students in Braille literacy.

Notifications for selection to the national competition will be announced around May 1.

Elisha Zuaro, Blind Department High School teacher, was honored as the 2012-2013 FSDB Teacher of the Year. Also honored was Helen Washington, Food Service Food Support Worker, as the 2012-2013 FSDB School-Related Employee of the Year.

“FSDB is blessed to have so many staff members who are dedicated and committed to the education of our children,” said L. Daniel Hutto, FSDB President. “Elisha and Helen have exemplified leadership in their respective areas, and the characteristics they demonstrate every day were recognized by their peers who nominated them.”

Both Zuaro and Washington will move forward to represent FSDB in the Florida Department of Education Teacher of the Year and School-Related Employee of the Year programs.

Zuaro, a reading specialist for the Blind Department who is also visually impaired herself, has taught at FSDB for 11 years. She teaches literacy, reading and writing to students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Through her leadership, she has helped implement literacy initiatives in order for students to be confident readers regardless of the type of tools used such as Braille, large print, auditorial or optical devices. Her desire to become a teacher for blind or visually impaired students was inspired by her excellent teachers, she said. “My teachers believed in my abilities despite my disability, and I wanted to share that with others and inspire them to be courageous and meet the challenges no matter how difficult.”

Washington serves as a support aide, cook and baker and has been at FSDB for 16 years. “Very surprised” was how Washington described her reaction upon being selected for the School-Related Employee of the Year.

Ask any student what they like best about their school lunches, and the cookies are their favorites. Washington, through her exceptional work ethic, bakes more than 400 cookies from scratch each day. Recently, she baked about 1,800 cookies for the December Holly Jolly Trolley event at FSDB. “I never get tired of baking cookies,” she said. “It is a great honor to be selected for this award.”

FSDB also recognized the following departmental teacher of the year finalists during the ceremony:
Lia Ferrante, Deaf Department High School
Monica Griffey, Career Education and Transition High School
Donna O’Neill, Deaf Department Middle School
Carey Roberts, Deaf Department Elementary School
Lanya Roberts, Physical Education
April Wallace, Blind Elementary Department Middle School
Elisha Zuaro, Bind Department High School (overall campus)

Under the direction of VSA Florida teacher artist Jordan Foster, the students have learned various painting and blending techniques that they have applied to their art pieces.

“This is the first time that these children have done anything with the arts,” said Kathy Michaelson, FSDB teacher for the visually impaired. “They think it’s so cool.”

The students have made various art pieces, ranging from landscape murals to three-dimensional clay hearts.

For one of the lesson plans, Foster incorporated tactile elements to the landscape art project she taught. Each student worked with a piece of poster board that had taped string separating the piece into thirds so that the students could feel each section.

Foster also played classic music that the students could paint along to.

“When the music played short, choppy strokes, it was symbolic of grass,” she said. “It sounds like that, and it feels like that.”

The program, which started at FSDB in October and scheduled to end this month, is the first time that the Blind Department has partnered with this organization.

Michaelson said that she took the opportunity to get her students involved in the arts.

“I believe in art and I believe that our visually impaired children need to appreciate art,” said Michaelson. “The students are very appreciative of the projects they made.”

VSA Florida is an organization that provides arts and education for youth and adults with disabilities. Foster, who is from Jacksonville, attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pa., and holds a bachelor of fine arts from the University of North Florida.

“This is my first teaching experience at FSDB and St. Johns County,” Foster said. “It’s been a really neat experience.”

(Story and Photos by Miki Kristina Gilloon)