The Sarasota County Schools earned an A grade for the school district from the Florida Department of Education, keeping up a 12-year record of the district earning the top score. But Manatee County Schools saw the district score in the county drop from a B to a C, and plans to appeal parts of the assessment.

Even more important to Sarasota leaders than the district earning an A was that no individual schools in the county were graded with a D or an F. Emma E. Booker Elementary, which earned a D in 2015, pulled its grade up to a C this year. “We always try and do better each year,” says Scott Ferguson, communications specialist for the district. Sarasota and St. Johns County remain the only school districts in Florida to earn an A every year since the current grading system was instated in 2004. Of course, the school grades weren’t all great news, with Alta Vista Elementary, Glenallen Elementary and Sarasota Military Academy all seeing grades drop from As to Cs. 

Statewide, grades overall were lower this year than in 2015, with only three school districts earning an A. Only one school district, Gadsden County, saw its district grade go up.

Manatee County Schools saw its grade drop from a B in 2015 to a C this year, and did see some F schools including James Tillman Elementary Magnet, Sara Scott Harlee Middle, School of Academic and Behavioral Learning Excellence, Just for Girls Academy and Visible Mens Academy. But both Orange Ridge-Bullock Elementary and Palmetto Elementary saw grades rise from Fs in 2015 to Ds this year, and Palm View Elementary pulled its grade from an F to a C.  

The biggest issue district officials take with Manatee’s score is what is not yet included. “Right now, the District has received a “C” grade—which includes an “Incomplete” given to both Bayshore and Manatee High Schools,” says Melissa Parker, communications specialist for the district, in a statement to SRQ. “The District is appealing those submissions, to the Florida Department of Education, which could change the overall outcome.” 

Photo: Kindergarten graduation at Emma E. Booker Elementary on June 3.

Himalayan salt doesn’t just make for a gourmet, tickled-pink sprinkling alternative to your run-of-the-mill Morton: the striking, sunset-colored blocks, bricks and slabs can now season your home décor thanks to Historic Downtown Village Keffie’s EcoChic Boutique. Keffie Lancaster—a 2016 SRQ Women in Business Nominee—stocks her newly opened Earth-conscious emporium with a number of Himalayan Salt products, including elegant tequila shooters resembling pink Tennessee marble and rose quartz-like lamps that will give your bedroom its own private sunset glow. This hunk of geological luminescence—which owes its coral hue to iron oxide—emits light from a small bulb on the inside and claims to offer a number of health benefits, including relieving allergy symptoms and purifying the air. Whether or not you believe in the salty powers that be, bathing your home in warm pink light is one way to beat hurricane-grade rainy days. 

Pictured: Himalayan salt lamp at Keffie's EcoChic Boutique. Photo by Heidi Stone.

Keffie's EcoChic Boutique, 1837 Fruitville Rd., Sarasota, 941-365-0159.

Are your Google Ad Words or Facebook advertising campaigns performing as well as you planned? If not, have you evaluated the creative (images/ad copy) you are using to drive the campaign? Often, businesses try to cram so much information into one small ad it creates a very confusing and hard to read ad that customers just ignore.

Here are some simple steps you can take, which will help you maximize your advertisement's impact:

Step 1. MESSAGE: What is the one most important point you are you trying to make?

Step 2. AUDIENCE: Who are you speaking to?

Step 3. VEHICLE: Is your desired audience using the advertising platform you have chosen? Answering these simple questions may seen obvious, however more often than not, in the rush to meet ad deadlines, we sometimes miss the most essential point of advertising in the first place. Who we’re trying to advertise to and what are we trying to say. Remember the K.I.S.S. rule: “keep it simple silly.” Using pull quotes or a direct call to action statement along with an engaging image or graphic will always interrupt the reader and deliver your message more effectively.

Now consider your audience's age group as well as cultural differences, religious backgrounds and online habits. Millions of dollars get spent every year trying to figure out how to make the better mouse trap. Everything from online purchasing habits to eye tracking technology plays a vital role in creating the optimum environment for your online advertisement campaign to succeed.

For example, results of eye tracking technology indicates that in most cases, when pop-ups appear the user immediately looks for a way to turn off, cancel or close the window. Eye tracking technology also tells us where people’s eye movements flow around advertisements on any given page the advertisement is placed.

Pay attention to the platform that will be displaying your advertisement and try to cater your advertisement to that audience. Not everyone is interested in your product and not everyone consumes information the same way. Consider a laser-sharp targeting approach with a very direct message aimed at a specific demographic. It may seem like you are limiting yourself, but in fact you’re creating a very impactful, easy-to-understand ad, which will have a large impact on your audience’s acceptance of its message. This means you may have to create different ads to reach each demographic you’re trying to attract, using custom messaging and imagery placed in the correct online platform targeting the correct demographic.

It’s not just creating another pretty ad. It’s about creating a meaningful experience for your customer. To get their attention, create a relevant call to action, high-impact advertisement for the specific demographic and link it to the appropriate page on your website.

In most cases, you’re only allowed to link to your homepage, so this last step has to do with the platform of choice and that platform’s advertisement guidelines. Investing time and effort in understanding what message you’re trying to convey and who you are trying to attract will make the process a little easier and your advertisement much more impactful. 

Nuevo Advertising

Fitch Ratings and Standard and Poor’s Rating Services (S&P) both announced that Sarasota County’s financial stability remains strong with a stable outlook. New York based Fitch Ratings, affirmed the county’s ‘AAA’ issuer credit rating (IDR), which reflects ample revenues and expenditure control and sound financial operations. S&P also affirmed ‘AAA’ issuer credit rating (ICR) for Sarasota and the county’s limited ad valorem tax bonds rating was raised from ‘A-‘ to ‘AA+’. 

Sarasota County

Pierian Spring Academy (PSA) will begin its 19^th and last season as an independent adult educational organization. PSA will consolidate into the Ringling College Lifelong Learning Academy (RCLLA) and the newly named academy formed this year by the merger of Lifelong Learning Academy of Sarasota (LLA) and Ringling College’s Continuing Studies and Special Programs (CSSP) department.  

Pierian Spring Academy

Home and Castle TV®, a Florida luxury real estate television show and The Real Estate Channel, Canada’s largest real estate TV network, are partnering to bring the show that provides tours of listed Florida luxury homes to approximately 6 million viewers in Canada through the networks SaskTel, Rogers and Novus. The Real Estate Channel will launch Home and Castle TV® on its 24-hour network Oct. 1, 2016.  Host and producer Tia Castle and The Real Estate Channel will broadcast the show throughout all of Canada on Sasktel Channel 995, Rogers Channel 260 and Novus Channel 68. 

http://homeandcastletv.com/