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Briefs

By Rita Farlow
Published March 14, 2007

Learn new requirements for entering high school

ST. PETERSBURG - Pinellas County Schools will host a parent meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at Thurgood Marshall Fundamental Middle School, 3901 22nd Ave. S, to explain the new rules that require all incoming ninth-graders in 2007-08 and beyond to select a major area of interest before entering high school.

Also, each public middle school will have an evening or Saturday parent meeting in March or April to explain the new requirement to current eighth-graders and their parents. All students entering high school next school year must earn one credit in a chosen major during each of their four years in high school. Students can change their majors if their interests change.

For information, visit the district's Web site at www.pinellas.k12.fl.us/home.html, click on "News" at the top of the page, then click on "News Releases."

Languages Field Day takes place Saturday

ST. PETERSBURG - Several hundred students, teachers, judges and community volunteers will take part in the Pinellas County Schools' World Languages Field Day from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Meadowlawn Middle School, 6050 16^th St. N, St. Petersburg. The theme this year is "Let Language Be Your Compass."

The annual event offers workshops on topics like salsa dancing, origami, Italian cooking and tai chi. Schools can enter banners, posters and 3-D design projects in theme-based competitions. Students will be judged on recitation of poems and participation in extemporaneous speaking in English, Spanish, French, German, Greek, Latin or Italian. Also, schools can participate in a dramatic presentation competition in which school groups present a short play in a foreign language. Information: Jan Kucerik, world languages supervisor, at 588-6066.

Magnet schools win national awards

ACHIEVERS - Campbell Park Elementary, Douglas L. Jamerson Elementary and James B. Sanderlin Elementary have been selected as 2007 Magnet Schools of America (MSA) Magnet School of Excellence. This is the highest category of awards bestowed by MSA and is based on a commitment to high academic standards, curriculum innovation, successful desegregation/diversity efforts and consistent delivery of quality services to all school stakeholders. The award is the third consecutive Magnet School of Excellence honor for Campbell Park. Jamerson and Sanderlin both won in their first year of eligibility. Lakewood Elementary, which has not been a magnet long enough to be eligible for the award, was named the 2007 winner of the New and Emerging School of Merit Award and will receive $1,000 for the honor. Awards will be presented May 1 at the 25^th Magnet Schools of America Conference in Las Vegas.

Fourth-grader's poem to be published

ST. PETERSBURG - Ryland DeGregory, a fourth-grader at Ridgecrest Elementary, was notified recently that his poem Dogs will be published in the 2007 Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans.

[Last modified March 14, 2007, 07:09:34]