West Jax Rotary

Ed Pratt-Dannals
Superintendent, Duval County Public Schools

Ed Pratt-Dannals was appointed as Superintendent of Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) in November 2007 and is responsible for operating the nation’s 20th largest school district, with 160+ schools, 125,000+ students and 14,000+ employees.

Ed is a 32-year veteran of DCPS, beginning his career in 1976 as a math teacher and coach at John Gorrie Jr. High School and rose through the ranks as vice principal and principal at various Duval County public schools, Regional Superintendent, and Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Instructional Services. He was appointed as Chief Academic Officer in 2006.

Ed is completing a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Florida, which he expects to finish in 2009. He holds a master’s degree in education from the University of North Florida, and a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University.

Notes
President Mike reminded the club about the upcoming Clays Shoot on April 23rd. He asked that everyone consider buying raffle tickets to support this cause.

Bill Howey announced that he had sold 276 raffle tickets so far with a goal of 500.

Paul Mohrman announced that his committee was reviewing open classifications and encouraged members to take a look at these with new members in mind.

Ham Cooke announced that the club would begin signing up to serve at the Sulzbacher center on Saturday, April 18th.

Clayton Riley announced the arrival of more twins in his extended family.

Phil Voss became a grandfather.

Rob Overly brought pendants from Rotary clubs in Turkey.

Frank Surface announced that new members needed to make time to have Phil Murphey take their photos for the membership roster.

Randy Thornton reminded everyone that next week is the Youth Awards.

This is the last week for charities to submit Charity Grant applications. If you know of a charity that may be interested, please have them download the information document and the application.

Judge Del Wallace introduced this week’s speaker, Matthew Shirk, Public Defender, Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida. Mr. Shirk talked about how the budget cuts are affecting his ability to run the Public Defenders office (he has reduced dept expenses by $630,000 to a paltry $8.8M) / year - he further expounded on the fact that he could have to close his office for two weeks at the end of the year due to cut backs. He said that there were approx 60,000 arrests in Duval county last year and of those 80% were represented by his office. he has 129 lawyers on staff and when they get overloaded they sub out work to a network of lawyers throughout the county. There was a lively discussion on the Baker Act and what might happen if the Public Defenders office was forced to close.

Visiting Rotarians:
David Dunlap — Ponte Vedra Bch
John Noseworthy — Wilmington, DE
Lori Richards — Orange Park Sunrise

Rotary Guests:
Leslie Fronczak — guest of Nina Sasser
Josh Harrison — guest of Philip Murphy (son-in-law)
Bob Baughman — guest of Jim Overton

Birthdays
April 3 — Shep Colledge
April 8 — Jim Marlier

Next Meeting - April 15, 2009
Greeters — Bill Andrews, John Runion
Invocation — Andy Hariton
Pledge — Mike Pendergast
Four-Way Test — Stanley Kantor
Speaker — Jeff Goldhagen MD, Infant Mortality