Tuesday, October 11, 2011
WE MEET AT RIVER CITY BREWING COMPANY
Lunch begins at Noon - Meeting begins at 12:30 pm
Meet William C. (W.C.) Gentry
W.C. Gentry and
his wife Susan are graduates of the Duval
County public school
system. Before entering law school, Mr.
Gentry taught and coached high school in Jacksonville. He received his Juris Doctorate magna cum laude from the University of
Florida College of Law in 1971 and for over thirty years has handled trials and appeals in
complex litigation, including constitutional issues. Mr. Gentry has been named one
of America’s Leading Trial Lawyers
by several national and state publications and has been profiled by Florida
Trend Magazine as one of Florida’s
“Top Trial Lawyers”. From 1995-1998, he
was principally involved in representing the State of Florida in landmark litigation against the
Tobacco Industry. Since that time, he
has primarily devoted his time to children’s and education issues. From 2004 to 2007, he served as pro bono
counsel to the Florida Senate in successfully defending legal challenges to
education appropriations under the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) and
worked with legislative leaders and staff in addressing co-teaching and class
size reduction issues.
In 2001, Mr.
Gentry became a founding director and later served as Chair of the Schultz
Center for Teaching and Leadership which is a public-private partnership dedicated
to providing high quality, standards based professional development for
teachers and leadership training for principals and aspiring leaders. He was appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to the
State of Florida Council
on Education Policy, Research and Improvement (CEPRI) in 2002 and served as Chairman,
2004-06. He has been a member of the
Board of the Early Learning Coalition of Duval since 2006 and has served on the
Executive Committee and as Vice Chair of that organization. In December 2007, Mr. Gentry was appointed by
the Mayor of Jacksonville to Chair the Education Subcommittee of the
"Jacksonville Journey" to deal with crime and community issues. He was subsequently appointed to serve on the
Jacksonville Journey Oversight Committee, on which he continues to serve. Mr. Gentry was appointed by Governor Crist to
the Florida Race to the Top Working Group in April 2010, was elected Vice Chair
and assisted that group in crafting an MOU among education stakeholders which
permitted the State of Florida
to submit a successful application for the second round of Race to the Top
federal funding. In June 2010, he was
appointed to the State of Florida
Task Force on Excellent Teaching and served as Vice
Chairman of that task force which studied and made recommendations regarding teacher
assessment and evaluation under the Race to the Top grant.
Mr. Gentry taught
at the University of Florida College of Law in 2000. He is a past Chairman of the Board of
Trustees, University of Florida College of Law (2005-07). In November 2008, Mr. Gentry ran for and was
elected to the Duval County School Board and presently serves as Chairman of
the Board. He is a member of the Florida
School Boards Association and Chairman of its committee to analyze and identify
the elements of a quality education and review state budgetary issues.
Mark Your Calendar October 25th Meeting Sports Theme
Wear your team colors to the October 25th meeting. Dan
Hicken and Chris Porter will be at the meeting to talk about the Georgia/Florida game. Also "A Challenge" is being issued by Maury
Pilver. All retired or semi-retired members, you are being challenged to bring a guest (the person who took your place when you retired or the person who may be
taking your place once you retire) to lunch on October 25th. The sports theme day is a perfect time to invite others to share in good fellowship! So accept the challenge and bring a guest.
Blood Drive
Wear your team colors to the October 25th meeting. Dan
Hicken and Chris Porter will be at the meeting to talk about the Georgia/Florida game. Also "A Challenge" is being issued by Maury
Pilver. All retired or semi-retired members, you are being challenged to bring a guest (the person who took your place when you retired or the person who may be
taking your place once you retire) to lunch on October 25th. The sports theme day is a perfect time to invite others to share in good fellowship! So accept the challenge and bring a guest.Blood Drive
A call to service. Please participate in the Blood Drive on October 11th. The Blood Alliance provides a safe and adequate blood supply to the regions it serves and is a member of America's Blood Centers, a national network of independent community blood centers responsible for nearly half of the nation's blood supply.
Rotary Literacy Project
"Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations." Henry David Thoreau
During the month of October, the Rotary Club of South Jacksonville is partnering with Books A Go Go to provide books to disadvantaged children. A box for donations will be near the entrance of our meeting area each week in October. New or gently used books are appreciated. Monetary gifts are also welcome.
Service Project for Rotary Youth Exchange
The Fall Weekend for the Rotary Youth Exchange includes a service project. The weekend of October 22nd they will be packaging toiletries for a shelter in St.
Augustine. The St.
Augustine shelter helps women and children who are victims of violence by
giving them temporary housing and help finding permanent places to live so that
they no longer are abused and beaten. Many of
the women and children escape from abusive situations with no clothes, money or
anything but what they are wearing. They need
help with many things, including basic necessities.
We can help by donating toiletries such as
shampoo, soap, lotion, hair products and sanitizer for these victims. They can be full sized or the products
provided in hotels as long as they are unopened.
