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By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE, Times Correspondent
Published August 23, 2007

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It began a little later than in past years, but the new school year has arrived. Four days into it now, students and staff members have had time to settle in and start all that educating.

New this year is, well, me. I have assumed the Top of the Class role vacated by Maryan Pelland. It is my job to inform you of special projects, new programs, and exceptional students, teachers and school-related employees.

I am also responsible for publicizing events, in particular those to which the public is invited. I hope to list spaghetti dinners, car washes, concerts, theater productions, golf tournaments and other fundraisers in the Class Notes column. I want to highlight successes. I plan to list students/citizens of the month, award winners and other outstanding students and school workers in the Newsmakers column.

From time to time, I think it's fun to write about graduates who have done spectacular things such as becoming a corporate executive of a major company; the chief physician of a hospital; a top chef; a screen star; or some kind of hero since leaving our schools. I suspect the Hernando County School District has produced quite a few of these, and I invite teachers, parents and grandparents to tell me about them.

I'll need some help with all of this. I ask the public and private schools to let me know what's going on. I prefer to be e-mailed. Send events, newsmakers and story ideas to eduritchie@yahoo.com.

If I get more than I can put on a page, I will have to decide what to run and what to leave out. I will write about as much as I can, but please don't be discouraged if a story idea doesn't run immediately. Keep reading and sending news tips.

I do have a deadline and would appreciate having information sent to me as soon as possible. The page runs on Thursdays, and I have to have all of my material ready by the preceding Friday.

I like covering events as they are happening, rather than talking to people after the fact. It's a lot more fun, and it makes for a better story and photos. So if your students or children are creating some kind of classroom project, let me know while it is happening.

I look forward to meeting students, teachers, administrators and school workers from all over the county.

Happy new school year!

[Last modified August 22, 2007, 20:40:08]