To Our Crooms Family,

It is with a heavy heart that I report that Mark Fraser passed away this past Friday, January 25th, at his home in Winter Springs, Florida after his battle with cancer. Mr. Fraser was a member of the Seminole County Public Schools Information Services staff for over 12 years. As some Croomies might remember, Mark Fraser was a manager at the Seminole County Public Schools I.S. Annex and mentored groups of Croomies each summer during their internships. Over the last couple of years, Mr. Fraser had moved to the SCPS district office to serve as the Information Services Customer Manager. In his capacity at the district, he had the opportunity to speak to Crooms AoIT students during tours and job shadowing sessions. Some of our alumni even worked with him at the district office.

On a personal note, several of our older alumni from the classes of 2005, 2007, and 2008 interned with Mark as one of our direct supervisors at the SCPS Annex. I personally spent two summers working under him. Mr. Fraser was a gentleman and mentor to all of us, and he will surely be missed. You may read his obituary online at http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/orlandosentinel/obituary.aspx?pid=16270....

A Memorial Service is planned for Thursday, January 31st, at 4:00 PM at St. Luke's in Oviedo. Thursday would have also been Mark's 50th birthday. Please dress casual (no suits and/or ties; please no flip-flops until after the service). A Jimmy Buffet themed reception is planning afterwards in the gym. Mark asked that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Mark's name to a trust account for Mark and Nancy's children at Suntrust, St. Luke's Lutheran Church of Oviedo, The American Cancer Society, or Vitas Hospice of Orlando.

With care and concern,

Frank C. Bracco
Class of 2006

This December, Crooms Academy of Information Technology was highlighted on CompTIA's IT Careers Blog. CompTIA is the Computing Technology Industry Association and is a trade association and a provider of professional certifications for the information technology. You can read the entire post about Crooms AoIT, and the career benefits it provides students, at http://certification.comptia.org/news/12-12-20/Florida_s_IT_Career_Academy_Strategy.aspx

To all interested individuals,

The Crooms AoIT Alumni Association, Inc.'s Board of Directors voted this evening to amend its By-Laws to include a provision regarding expenditures. The provision provides further transparency into the expenditure of funds. The full amendment is included below and the by-laws can be read in full here.

ARTICLE IX
FISCAL POLICIES
…
Section 7. Expenditures and Encumbrances
a) Any expenditure over fifty dollars ($50) shall be subject to approval by the Board of Directors prior to being expended unless the expenditure is for regularly occurring operational expenditures such as an annual state registration fee, annual PO Box fee, or annual website registration fee. An expenditure is considered to be over fifty dollars when the amount spent in a single payment is greater than fifty dollars or when the amount spent on a program (even over multiple payments) exceeds fifty dollars over the course of any yearlong period for which the payments will occur.
b) Furthermore, expenditures under the threshold outlined in subsection (a) shall be approved – either in writing or electronically – by the President prior to being expended unless the expenditure is for regularly occurring operational expenses such as payment processing or previously approved donor gifts at approved donor levels.
c) Approval of an encumbrance or set-aside of funds by the Board – in the case of subsection (a) – or the President – in the case of subsection (b) – shall be considered the approval needed to properly expend Association funds under this section of the by-laws.

High school grades were released yesterday by the Florida Department of Education, and Crooms Academy of Information Technology received an early Christmas present: an 'A' grade for school year 2012! For the second year in a row, students at Crooms AoIT rose to the occasion and earned the school an 'A' grade for 2012. Crooms AoIT is one of only two high schools in the county to have received an 'A' grade for four out of the last five years, and it is the only high school to have received an 'A' grade for six out of the last seven years.

Last week, the Crooms AoIT Alumni Association held our Winter Meet-Up at Hollerbach's Willow Tree Cafe in downtown Sanford. Over a dozen alumni attended the lunch event. Several even expressed interest in volunteering for Crooms AoIT events like Tech Fest and Teach-in Day. The event was open to ALL alumni. Attendees enjoyed great authentic German food and drink.