Neighborhood notebook

In magazine, teacher frowns on an old rule

Christie Gold, a former Teacher of the Year at Gaither High School, is featured in the current issue of NEA Today, the magazine of the National Education Association.

Gold, who now teaches English at Freedom High School in New Tampa, weighed in on an age-old academic debate: "Never smile before Thanksgiving -- is that a good policy?"

New teachers are often advised not to show much in the way of warm, soft emotions so as to keep their students in line. But Gold argued against the practice in the magazine's "Debate" section.

Even Gold's own brother, a teacher at the time, told her, "When you get your first class, remember not to smile until Thanksgiving."

"The notion that students will eat you alive if you appear kind and nurturing fosters an us-versus-them mentality," Gold wrote in the magazine. "Our role as nurturers is unquestionable; it is a responsibility we should accept with a smile from the time a student walks across the threshold of our classroom until the day he or she crosses the stage, diploma in hand."

Gold was Hillsborough County's top teacher for 2001-2002.

The magazine also ran a photograph on Gold at the bottom of her column. In it, true to her convictions, she is smiling.

Medical Drive shortcut to close during repairs

CARROLLWOOD -- Medical Drive will be closed between Sept. 30 and Oct. 11 for construction work that includes road resurfacing and stormwater drainage improvements.

During that period, motorists can use N Dale Mabry Highway and Handy Road to get to businesses in the Commons office complex, Northside apartment complex and the Grand Plaza shopping center.

Drivers have for years used Medical Drive as a shortcut to avoid traffic on N Dale Mabry Highway while traveling to and from Handy. Although it was used by the public, Medical Drive was actually a private road owned by members of a condominium association that runs the Commons office complex.

But when it became necessary to repair the wear and tear caused by all that traffic, the private owners did not want to pay for $75,000 in improvements. About two months ago, Hillsborough County commissioners voted to foot the bill and assume responsibility for all future maintenance, said Steve Valdez, a county spokesman.

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