Free Dental Care Available Saturday During Give Kids A Smile Day
March 11, 2011
Children from low income families can receive free dental care at a Saturday clinic.
An estimated 400 or more children will receive free dental services ranging from preventative care such as cleanings, sealants and fluoride treatment, to fillings and extractions as part of National Give Kids A Smile Day.
Give Kids A Smile is a nationwide program sponsored by the American Dental Association (ADA) and locally implemented by members of the Escambia-Santa Rosa Dental Society. Approximately 30 local dentists, over 100 dental hygienists and dental assistants, and numerous student and community volunteers will donate their time and skills to provide these free services to eligible children between the ages of 4 and 18 who cannot otherwise afford dental treatment.
The event will take place at the Pensacola State College Warrington Campus located at 5555 U.S. Highway 98 West .Treatment is on a first-come first-served basis.
ECAT will provide free rides on regular routes to the Pensacola State College campus for patients and their families. For a flyer that will serve as your ECAT ticket, click here.
For more information, contact Amy Smith, coordinator, at (850) 478-884 or email amy@shehee.com.
Flood Warning: Escambia River
March 10, 2011
The National Weather Service in Mobile has issued a flood warning for the Escambia River near Century The flood warning is in effect from Friday evening until Saturday evening.
At 11 a.m. Thursday the stage was 14.8 feet. The NWS said minor flooding is forecast.
Flood stage for the Escambia River near Century is 17 feet. The river forecast to rise above flood stage by late Friday evening and continue to rise to near 17.1 feet by early Saturday morning. The river will fall below flood stage by early Saturday afternoon.
At 17 feet, considerable flooding of lowlands will occur, according to the National Weather Service.
National Weather Service To Determine If Damage Was Tornado
March 10, 2011
Officials with the National Weather Service Office in Mobile will survey damage in McDavid today to determine if a tornado was responsible for destroying several homes Wednesday.
Even with all of the technology available to meteorologists today, the weather service still relies on a personal visit to ground zero to analyze the damage to make a final determination. The technical data will be combined with the eyes-on-the-ground observations, using the criteria of the Fujita Scale, to classify the strength of a tornado – or determine if the damage was from just thunderstorm winds.
They will work to determine if all of the debris is running in one line or scattered. With the damage in a line across McDavid preliminary data would lean toward a possible minor tornado.
Once the National Weather Service determines the cause of Wednesday’s damage, we will post their findings here on NorthEscambia.com.
Today’s Jay, Northview Baseball Game Moved To Jay
March 10, 2011
Today’s planned baseball games between Northview and Jay high schools have been moved from Bratt to Jay.
The games were scheduled to take place at Northview, but school officials were unsure if Northview’s field would be ready for play after Wednesday’s rains. The JV game between the Chiefs and the Royals will begin at 4:00, while the varsity game will begin at 6:00 in Jay.
An April 15 game between Jay and Northview has also been moved — the game will now be played at Northview rather than Jay at 6 p.m.
Teacher Merit Pay Bill Ready For Senate Vote
March 10, 2011
The Florida Senate is likely to approve a bill this week that offers sweeping changes to how Florida pays and evaluates its public school teachers.
The measure (SB 736), brought to the Senate floor on Wednesday and put in position for a vote as early as Thursday, sets up an evaluation system for teachers that depends on student test scores and eliminates the use of multi-year teacher contracts.
“Our current teacher evaluation system is broken,” said Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, the sponsor of the bill.”We need to measure effectiveness of a classroom teacher based on what a student learns.”
It is expected to easily win approval in the Senate and with approval also expected in the House, it could be one of the earliest measures to go this year to the desk of Gov. Rick Scott, who has indicated his willingness to sign it.
The Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers’ union, opposes the bill because it eliminates teacher tenure, requires one-year contracts, mandates more tests and gauges teacher performance on those tests “using some value-added model that is untrustworthy,” said FEA spokesman Mark Pudlow.
The bill reverses a long tradition in public schools of basing salary on seniority.
Senators spent hours on Wednesday discussing the measure on the floor, though formally, debate is scheduled for Thursday.
Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, pressed Wise on whether Florida could afford a plan that requires the development of more tests and promises better salaries for test score improvement.
Wise said the cost of developing new tests would be paid for with money from the federal Race to the Top program. Florida was awarded $700 million in Race to the Top funds.
Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, tried to amend the bill so that teachers who are rated highly within a certain time frame are allowed to receive three-year-contracts.
His amendment was voted down. “To me, this was a good compromise that allowed those teachers who have been highly effective to be given a sense of job security over a three-year period,” Montford said. “We need to recognize that the vast majority of teachers do a great job.”
This teacher merit pay bill is similar to a controversial measure passed by the Florida Legislature last year that tied teacher pay to test scores. That bill was vetoed by then-Gov. Charlie Crist after his office was inundated with calls, e-mails and letters from thousands of angry educators and Crist expressed doubts about the fairness of linking pay to the test scores of students whose difficulties may be beyond the control of the classroom teacher.
This year, there has been a more muted response from teachers and the FEA.
That’s due in part to the participation of the FEA and local school districts in submitting Florida’s Race to the Top application. Part of that application included attaching more significance to a teacher’s performance through test scores. There is some overlap between what Race to the Top and the teacher merit pay bill are trying to achieve.
The bill would grandfather in current teacher pay plans, but set up a new merit-based plan for teachers hired after July 1, 2014. More immediately, teachers hired after July 1, 2011 will not be able to receive multi-year contracts and instead will have one-year contracts.
The bill also establishes an evaluation process in which 50 percent of a teacher’s performance evaluation is based on test scores and whether students had “learning gains” from previous school years. Teachers are ranked anywhere from “highly effective” down to “unsatisfactory.”
A breakdown of each school’s teacher ratings will be posted annually on the Department of Education website and parents will learn the rating of their children’s teachers. The bill would also strengthen a principal’s ability to refuse to hire or not renew a teacher’s contract based upon unsatisfactory ratings.
Local school boards, are given some leeway in determining how teachers are evaluated. Unlike last year’s bill, other factors such as student attendance and disciplinary factors can be considered.
The bill is not only backed by many Republicans in the Legislature, but also powerful groups such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce and former Gov. Jeb Bush’s education advocacy group, the Foundation for Florida’s Future.
By Lilly Rockwell
The News Service of Florida
EREC Restores All McDavid Customers In Undamaged Homes
March 9, 2011
Power has been restored to all undamaged homes in McDavid following a possible tornado this morning.
Escambia River Electric Cooperative spokesperson Nick Jackson said all customers were back on by about 2 p.m., except for a few customers in damaged homes where it would be unsafe to restore electricity.
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TORNADO WARNING: North Escambia, Santa Rosa, Escambia, Ala
March 9, 2011
ornado Warning
Statement as of 9:26 AM CST on March 09, 2011
* Tornado Warning for…
northern Escambia County in northwest Florida…
this includes the cities of…Molino…century…
northern Santa Rosa County in northwest Florida…
southern Escambia County in south central Alabama…
this includes the cities of…Flomaton…East Brewton…
east central Baldwin County in southwest Alabama…
* until 1015 am CST
* at 921 am CST…National Weather Service Doppler radar indicated a
line of severe thunderstorms capable of producing a tornado along a
line extending from Flomaton to 10 miles northwest of Molino to 13
miles west of Molino…moving east at 55 mph.
* Tornado producing storms will be near…
Riverview…Jay and Molino around 935 am CST…
Dixonville and East Brewton around 940 am CST…
McLellan around 945 am CST…
Milton near whitin around 950 am CST…
TORNADO WARNING: Escambia Florida
March 9, 2011
Tornado Warning
Statement as of 9:10 AM CST on March 09, 2011
The National Weather Service in Mobile has issued a
* Tornado Warning for…
central Escambia County in northwest Florida…
this includes the cities of…Gonzalez…Ensley…
southern Baldwin County in southwest Alabama…
this includes the cities of…Spanish Fort…Robertsdale…
Loxley…Fairhope…Daphne…
* until 1000 am CST
* at 907 am CST…National Weather Service Doppler radar indicated a
severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado near Daphne…or
near Jackson Oak…moving east at 45 mph.
* The tornado will be near…
Loxley…Silverhill and Robertsdale around 920 am CST…
This includes Interstate 10 in Florida between mile markers 1 and 10.
This includes Interstate 10 in Alabama between mile markers 34 and
66.
Precautionary/preparedness actions…
The safest place to be during a tornado is in a basement. Get under a
workbench or other piece of sturdy furniture. If no basement is
available…seek shelter on the lowest floor of the building in an
interior hallway or room such as a closet. Use blankets or pillows to
cover your body and always stay away from windows.
If in Mobile homes or vehicles…evacuate them and get inside a
substantial shelter. If no shelter is available…lie flat in the
nearest ditch or other low spot and cover your head with your hands.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning Escambia, Florida And Alabama
March 9, 2011
Severe Thunderstorm Warning
Statement as of 9:02 AM CST on March 09, 2011
The National Weather Service in Mobile has issued a
* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for…
Escambia County in northwest Florida…
this includes the cities of…West Pensacola…Warrington…
Pensacola…Myrtle Grove…Molino…Goulding…
Pass…Ensley…century…Brent…Bellview…
western Santa Rosa County in northwest Florida…
this includes the city of pace…
southern Escambia County in south central Alabama…
this includes the cities of…Flomaton…East Brewton…Brewton…
Atmore…
Baldwin County in southwest Alabama…
this includes the cities of…Orange Beach…Gulf Shores…Spanish
Fort…Robertsdale…Point Clear…Loxley…Foley…Fairhope…
Daphne…Bay Minette…
* until 1000 am CST
* at 858 am CST…National Weather Service Doppler radar indicated a
line of severe thunderstorms capable of producing quarter size
hail…and damaging winds in excess of 60 mph. These storms were
located along a line extending from 7 miles southwest of Atmore
to 6 miles south of Bay Minette to 11 miles southwest of Dauphin
Island…and moving east at 50 mph.
* Severe thunderstorms will be near…
Atmore and mouth of Weeks Bay around 905 am CST…
Summerdale…Silverhill…Robertsdale and Loxley around 910 am
CST…
Oak Grove…Palmetto Beach…Cedar Grove and Oak around 915 am
CST…
Flash Flood Warning, Escambia Ala.
March 9, 2011
Flash Flood Warning
Statement as of 8:48 AM CST on March 09, 2011
The National Weather Service in Mobile has issued a
* Flash Flood Warning for…
western Conecuh County in south central Alabama…
this includes the city of Evergreen…
Escambia County in south central Alabama…
this includes the cities of…Flomaton…East Brewton…Brewton…
Atmore…
* until 245 PM CST
* at 842 am CST…National Weather Service radar indicated very heavy
rain from a line of thunderstorms moving across Conecuh and
Escambia counties Alabama. These storms have been producing up to
3 inches of rain in a short amount of time which will quickly lead
to flash flooding.
Most flood deaths occur in automobiles. Never drive your vehicle into
areas where the water covers the roadway. Flood waters are usually
deeper than they appear. Just one foot of flowing water is powerful
enough to sweep vehicles off the Road. When encountering flooded
roads make the smart choice…turn around…dont drown.