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GAINESVILLE – Santa Fe College will be hosting a “Fall Focus for Families” virtual event Thursday, July 16, 2020, starting at 3 p.m. This event will cover information about the upcoming Fall semester and what resources are available for students, parents and family members.

Santa Fe College is aware of the growing concerns that parents and family members face surrounding the upcoming semester. SF invites all parents and family members to join this free virtual event that will cover information about the Fall semester, resources for parents and family members, and will highlight student services. Parents, family members, and students are to register online at bit.ly/fallfocus.

“We are looking forward to previewing the fall semester to those who will join our SF family in the fall during this event,” said Corry Moore. “Please register in advance at bit.ly/fallfocus, let me know if you have any question.”

The event will begin with an introduction from SF’s Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Naima Brown, followed by information on how the college will hold classes and practice safe physical distancing. Attendees will also learn about academic advising, the Learning Commons, which offers free online tutoring and academic coaching, and financial aid and other ways to pay for college. There will also be breakout discussions for students, for families, and the event will conclude with a panel to address remaining questions among participants. 

For more information, contact Corry Moore at corry.moore@sfcollege.edu.

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ALACHUA COUNTY – Alachua County Public Schools has sent emails, phone messages and texts to all families with information about their educational options for the fall of 2020 and a request that they select an option by July 19.

The district plans to offer families three options for educating their children when school reopens. They include the traditional, in-person, five-days-a-week model mandated by the state of Florida and two online options, including the Alachua Digital Academy and Alachua eSchool.

The Digital Academy will be online but will follow the regular school day schedule with live instruction provided by the student’s assigned teachers. This option will have to be approved by the Florida Department of Education and meet FDOE requirements.

Alachua eSchool has been in operation for nearly a decade and currently serves more than 3000 full- and part-time students. This is a much more student-directed option than the Digital Academy, with more flexibility in terms of the schedule, pace and learning style.

More information about all three options and the option form are available on the district’s Choose Your School Option website at https://www.sbac.edu/Page/29815. The site, including the option form, is mobile-friendly. It also includes a Frequently Asked Questions document with more information about the options and the reopening of schools.

The deadline to submit the option form is July 19 at 11:59 p.m. This will allow the district to plan for the reopening of schools and to meet a new state mandate.

Families are being asked to commit to their choice for the first nine weeks of school, although schools will work with families if they need to make a change. If a family does not select an option, the child will be placed in the traditional, in-person option.

A special meeting of the School Board about the reopening of schools is being scheduled for July 15. It is expected that the board will vote on some key issues at that meeting, including a policy on making masks mandatory and a later start date. The calendar approved by the School Board in February has an Aug. 10 start date for students.

On Monday, the Florida Department of Education issued an order requiring all public schools to offer in-person instruction five days a week beginning in August. That order and subsequent communications from the state also require all districts to submit their plans for reopening schools by July 31, using a template provided on Wednesday. Those plans will have to be approved by the state, which will be reviewing them based on when they are submitted. The plans must include an estimate of the number of students who will be learning online.

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GAINESVILLE — Alachua County’s most current health data and leading health concerns are featured in the recently released "Alachua County Community Health Assessment 2020" by WellFlorida Council, the local health planning council of North Central Florida. The purpose of the community health assessment is to uncover or substantiate the health needs and health issues in Alachua County and better understand the causes and contributing factors to health and quality of life in the county.

 The comprehensive health assessment effort is based on a nationally recognized model and best practice for completing health assessments and improvement plans called Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP). Use of the MAPP process and tools helped assure a collaborative and participatory process with a focus on wellness, quality of life and health equity that led to the identification of shared, actionable, strategic health priorities for Alachua County. Copies of the report can be downloaded from the WellFlorida website (www.WellFlorida.org) under “County Publications.”

 Conclusions and trends in the assessment were drawn from survey data, state and national database findings, and community stakeholder discussions.

The top five most important factors that contribute to a health community as identified by Alachua County residents are: 1) Access to health care including primary care, specialty care, dental and mental health care; 2) Access to convenient, affordable and nutritious foods; 3) Job opportunities for all levels of education; 4) Affordable housing; and 5) Healthy behaviors. The majority of residents rated the health of the county as “somewhat healthy” to “healthy.”

Immunization rates among kindergartners and seventh graders in Alachua County have seen positive trends over the last decade, surpassing state averages (94.2 percent of kindergartners and 97.4 percent of seventh-graders in 2019). The county also reports consistently lower rates of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) cases (16.3 per 100,000 population in 2018) over a decade.

Despite having a wealth of medical resources concentrated in the city of Gainesville, only 69.5 percent of Alachua County residents reported having a personal doctor, slightly lower than the state average of 72 percent. Inappropriate utilization of Emergency Department for dental or oral health reasons remains high at 2,793 preventable visits from January to September 2018.

Health disparities, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines as “preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations,” were evident in maternal and infant health data, as well as in other categories such as morbidity and mortality, wealth and quality healthcare.

Rates of teen pregnancy have trended downward among White, Black and Hispanic populations. Black residents, however, continued to experience a higher teen pregnancy rate (2.1 percent) relative to White counterparts (0.3 percent) from 2016 to 2018.

 Infant mortality and low birthweight (LBW) births among the Black population in Alachua County is an area of particular concern. In the time period of 2016-2018, the infant death rate was almost fourfold higher among Black residents (15.8 deaths per 1,000 population) relative to White (4.2 deaths per 1,000 population) and Hispanic (4.3 deaths per 1,000 population) counterparts. The average infant death rate among Black residents in Alachua County is also higher than the average infant death rate among Black residents in Florida (11.2 deaths per 1,000 population). LBW birth trends since 2013 demonstrate a similar pattern with disparities widening in recent years.

The disparity in all-cause mortality rates between the White population and Black population in Alachua County has improved in recent years. All-cause mortality in the Black population decreased from 978 deaths per 100,000 population in 2014 to 909 deaths in 2018. However, this remains higher than the all-cause mortality rate among the White population of 749 deaths per 100,000 population in 2018.

White residents had much higher median household incomes ($54,112) compared to Hispanic residents ($42,410) and Black residents ($30,132) in the county. Income inequality by racial group was worse at the county level than the state level.

Considering all findings throughout the assessment process, community stakeholders identified the issues with the highest priority in Alachua County as access to affordable housing and utilities, health disparities, access to mental healthcare and access to nutritious foods, according to the report.

The project is funded by the Florida Department of Health in Alachua County and UF Health Shands Hospital.

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