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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    CONTACT: ERIN ISAAC
TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2007                                    (850) 488-5394
 

 
TALLAHASSEE – Governor Charlie Crist, Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp and the Florida Sterling Council announced today six organizations will receive the prestigious Governor's Sterling Award. They will honor Brevard Public Schools, the Division of Blind Services within the Florida Department of Education, Howard D. McMillan Middle School, Landrum Professional Employer Services, Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, and Quest Diagnostics at the Governor's Sterling Award Banquet at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes on June 1, 2007.
 
"I am honored to congratulate and recognize the 2007 Governor's Sterling Award Recipients," said Governor Crist. "The process required for receiving this award is recognized as one of the most comprehensive methods for any organization to improve performance and drive excellent results."  
 
For 15 years, the Governor's Sterling Award has recognized organizations and businesses in Florida that have successfully achieved performance superiority within their management and operations. Each winner has undergone an in-depth assessment and evaluation that included an expert team of examiners conducting an on-site review of the organization's management systems and organizational performance results.
 
Ÿ    Brevard Public Schools is the tenth largest of 67 public school districts in Florida. The school district serves nearly 76,000 students in 17 municipalities through 85 schools, 14 special centers and 13 charter schools. Brevard Public Schools ensure high levels of student achievement by proactively seeking community and parental involvement through formal advisory councils, district committees, community input meetings, an interactive Web site and televised board meetings. Brevard Public Schools have sustained high levels of performance on the state's A+ Plan, achieving an overall district grade of an "A" in each of the last three school years, with 82.9 percent of all schools in the district receiving an "A" rating, which exceeds the statewide average of 53 percent.
 
Ÿ    Division of Blind Services is a division within Florida's Department of Education with its central office located in Tallahassee. With more than 300 employees, 12 district and five satellite offices, the Braille and Talking Book Library, and the Orientation and Adjustment Center, the division serves blind and visually impaired Floridians in every Florida county and city. The Division of Blind Services' results demonstrate high levels of performance and sustained improvement trends in areas of product and service outcomes, customer satisfaction and human resources. Excellent current performance is evident in several customer measures while overall customer satisfaction results exceed the comparative best. The overall customer satisfaction with library services shows sustained performance. In 2002, 96 percent of the customers were satisfied, and that number has increased to 98 percent in 2006, which exceeds the best comparison.
 
Ÿ    Howard D. McMillan Middle School (Miami), with 120 employees, is one of the 62 middle schools in Miami-Dade County Public School System providing public educational services to students in grades 6 through 8. The school provides exceptional educational standards by addressing the unique needs of all students in its multi-cultural community. The current enrollment is 1,172 students; 51 percent are students who are on free lunches. The school became a Title 1 school in 2006. Howard D. McMillan Middle School has earned an "A" grade from the Florida Department of Education. One hundred percent of the staff surveyed from Howard D. McMillan Middle School said that they feel the students are safe at the school, compared to 88 percent of the staff district wide. Last year only nine students attended the "Saturday School Tutoring Program"; however, innovative practices in marketing to Level 1 and Level 2 parents and students led to 179 students attending this year. Howard D. McMillan is the first middle school to win the Governor's Sterling Award.
 
Ÿ    Landrum Professional Employer Services Inc. (Pensacola), with 78 employees, was founded in 1973 to provide human resource services such as management, staffing, benefits management, co-employment and professional employer organization services. The company provides Fortune 500 benefits and human resources services to more than 550 customers and 10,500 active employees in 18 states. Landrum Professional Employer Services has met or exceeded the national benchmark as a great place to work for the past two years. The organization has aligned its compensation, recognition and reward practices to directly support a customer and business focus. Landrum's factors for success are based on Five Foundations: Best People, Best Service, Highest Quality, Strong Financial Performance and Strategic Growth.  
 
Ÿ    Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System has the largest number and breadth of physician specialties in the national Veterans Health Administration healthcare system. With more than 2,290 employees, it offers medical care, surgical care, mental healthcare, and extended care. The Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System serves more than 55,600 veterans in South Florida, with more than 20 percent of its workforce being veterans. Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System has been recognized for establishing national benchmarks and has achieved role model status for its innovative approaches and success with targeting potential customers. It has also made incredible contributions in emergency preparedness, Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as various clinical outcomes such as long-term care and prescreening. Healthcare services associated with preventive prescreening all exceed national Veteran Health Administration targets, with alcohol screening being at 100 percent.
 
Ÿ    Quest Diagnostics (Deerfield Beach), with more than 920 employees, is the nation's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services. Quest Diagnostics is a $6 billion publicly traded Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In South Florida, Quest Diagnostics serves Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. The 42 patient service centers and two full service labs in Deerfield Beach and Miramar serve more than 5 million patients annually. Innovations helped the business unit maintain its market leadership and its physician customer satisfaction rates lead national corporate business units. Quest Diagnostics is currently doing an outstanding job with achieving better performance, reducing variability and defects, improving services and keeping processes current with customer and business needs.
 
Established in 1992, the Florida Sterling Council is a public/private not-for-profit corporation supported by the Executive Office of the Governor. Sterling's Annual Conference is exclusively designed to teach participants how to elevate performance and increase productivity. More than 1,200 executives and professionals gather at this event for a one-stop source for education, information, and inspiration. The conference concludes with the recognition of best practices, the Team Showcase Champion, and presentation of the Governor's Sterling Awards. For more information on the Florida Sterling Council, contact Dione Geiger at (850) 922-5316. For other information, visit the Web site at www.floridasterling.com.