[Enterprise 2 Teacher
Melvin Amey
The CASAS Teacher Portal is an easy-to-use, web-based tool for teachers that communicates seamlessly and simultaneously with your agency data in TOPSpro Enterprise (TE). Using the Teacher Portal, teachers can generate reports for their classes and students, review demographic data, and even take attendance at any time, all through an intuitive and colorful user interface.
Compounding typical disagreement about schools is the rise of polarization across the social and political spheres of our country. Echo chambers reinforce singular perspectives, quash dissent, and make it nearly impossible to hear reason from an opposing viewpoint. Even worse, our attention-based media ecosystem prioritizes the loudest voices and the hottest takes. So, when you do hear the opposing side, you tend to get the version that gets the most clicks.
A new series of interviews prepared by my organization, the Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI), provides some insights into how educators see polarization affecting the work of schools. We conducted interviews with 14 public school teachers from diverse regions and grade levels, and they offer snapshots of classrooms, school board meetings, teacher interactions, and communications with parents.
I was born in Florida but grew up in New England where I attended and graduated from a small school of just 150 students. After graduation, I moved back to Florida to attend Clearwater Christian College. During that time, I had the opportunity to travel to Ecuador and China to teach English as a foreign language which led to my desire to pursue teaching full time after college. Prior to working at Enterprise High School, I volunteered as a mentor for incarcerated youth, taught community English classes, and tutored undergraduates in English grammar and literature.
Born and raised on Long Island, New York. I have lived in California, Georgia and now Florida. I have a degree in Early Childhood, Psychology, School Counseling and Educational Technology. I like going to concerts, eating out but also like to cook and of course being with my family. I am married and have one daughter. I look forward to helping students reach their goals.
My name is Lidia Sanchez, the part-time math teacher at Enterprise High School. I have lived in Clearwater area since 2016. I have also lived in California, Mexico, Texas, Peru, New Mexico and Arizona before moving to Florida. I graduated in May 2012 with a bachelor of science degree in secondary education and mathematics. After graduation, I moved to Arizona to work as a full-time math teacher. I have been teaching Algebra and Geometry for the last six years. I enjoy working here at Enterprise High School because the staff is very friendly and helpful. They care about each student in the school. During my free time, I like traveling and spending time with my family.
I relocated to Florida after working as a principal for four years in Upstate NY. I live in Tampa with my wife and two teenage children. Outside of work, I am a huge Carolina Panthers fan! I also enjoy doodling, public speaking, and learning about other cultures.
I am originally from Iowa. After my parents divorced, I moved with my Mom to Independence, Missouri where I completed my High School education. After graduating high school, I returned to Iowa and attended Hawkeye Community College to work on my AA degree in Police Science. I truly thought I wanted to be a police officer, but later changed my mind.
I have dedicated my entire career to working with youth and helping them realize their educational and career goals. I truly believe that education is the key to better opportunities. My hope is for every student to believe in themselves and realize their potential. I believe they can accomplish anything if they work hard and challenge themselves. I am thrilled to be working for Enterprise High School.
I am married, and my wife works for St. Petersburg College. I have two grown daughters who live in this area. In my spare time, I like to spend time with my family, work in my yard, ride my motorcycle, and watch movies.
My name is Mrs. Grabowski or Mrs. G.. I teach Algebra and Florida College Math courses at Enterprise. I have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics and a Master of Arts in Computer Education. I taught Algebra for a few years at a high school in Connecticut. My husband and I moved to Florida in 1994, have been married for over 20 years, and have two children and a dog. I also worked in business for 15 years in the following departments: finance, billing, and training. I returned to teaching math in 2008. I was teaching part time at some local colleges and was tutoring and substituting in Pinellas County Schools. I was hired as a full time math teacher in March 2009 at Enterprise High School.
I was born outside of a small suburb of Dayton, Ohio and grew up there my whole life. I attended Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio and graduated in May 2014 with a degree in Integrated Mathematics. I decided to finally break away from the cold and move to the Sunshine state in August 2014. Prior to working for Enterprise High School, I worked as a substitute teacher and tutor for Hillsborough and Pinellas county schools. In my spare time I enjoy spending time outside, breakdancing and playing video games.
Welcome to Enterprise High! I am a native of lovely Greenville, SC (Accent? What accent??) I have also
lived in the small village of Sawtry, England; Alexandria, Louisiana and Atlanta, Georgia before moving to
Florida. During my free time I enjoy traveling, reading and spending time with my wonderful family and
our two crazy cats, Ozzy and Evvie. I love working here at Enterprise. The teachers and staff truly care
about each student and it shows. I feel extremely fortunate to be part of such a great team of people.
I was raised in a small town in northeast New Jersey. I came to Florida to attend the University of Tampa in 1984. I met my husband there but did not complete my education. Fifteen years and three kids later I received a Bachelors degree in Secondary Education and History from the University of South Florida. I was fortunate to find a flexible position at the Hospital-Homebound program that allowed me to work with teenagers with unique circumstances while raising my family. I believe it is important to connect with students on a personal level so they will be invested in their education, despite their circumstances. With a good attitude and proper support, anyone can be a successful student. Enterprise High School offers this support and I am excited to be part of the team. The school mission aligns with my own philosophy of education. I have always enjoyed spending time with teenagers. I have been a volunteer in my church youth program since 2000. Additionally, in my free time I like to read, garden, scrapbook, attend baseball games and concerts, visit museums and play with my granddaughter.
When he was in elementary school, my dad attended a one-room school house in the Fairmount community, about three miles southeast of Gentry, Arkansas. As I understand it, the students of that school were taught by a single teacher. I'm not sure about how that teacher handled the education of children who ranged from the first to the eighth grade but I'm guessing his methodology was effective, if sometimes a little unorthodox.
It might come as a surprise to some folks but when my dad was 14 he was not the paragon of virtue he was later in life. He told the story of the time a friend of his brought a roll of caps from a toy cap pistol to school. My dad and his friend decided to conduct a "science experiment" and, when the teacher was engaged with other students, my dad put a cap under the metal foot of the desk leg and brought the foot down hard on the cap.
The result was impressive. My dad described the sound as similar to a "50 caliber buffalo rifle." And pandemonium ensued. There was screaming, and crying, and then abrupt silence as the teacher strode up to the desk where my dad sat, the sound still reverberating off the walls.
For some reason my dad neglected to tell his parents about the event. They found out about it months later and asked him about it. When he confirmed the story, they just shrugged their shoulders and went about their business. (Draw your own conclusions.)
I was reminded of this story when I read a while back about a lawsuit being filed against a math teacher and the Bentonville School District. Seems that some students were making fun of the way the teacher pronounced the word "quadrilateral" so he got annoyed, made a fist and threatened to pop a student in the nose. One young lady suffered so much psychic angst that her family filed the suit.
Case in point: One day, many years ago, I was teaching a class when a particularly talkative young lady just couldn't shut up. "Sis," I said to her, "if you don't ratchet back a little bit, I'm gonna turn you into toothpaste."
Know what she did? She laughed. She laughed because she was well adjusted enough, and intuitive enough, to know that I wasn't even likely to inconvenience her, let alone physically harm her. So she laughed. And I laughed. And we finished the class period in relative peace.
Doug Chastain is a retired teacher and is currently a large-vehicle transportation specialist for the Siloam Springs School District. (Okay, he drives a bus.) He is also a grass maintenance technician at Camp Siloam. (Yeah, he mows the lawn.) You can contact him at [email protected] . The opinions expressed are those of the author.
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