Special to The Laker/Lutz News

By Kyle LoJacono

The Wesley Chapel High football players took a break from offseason workouts to encourage reading at two area elementary schools to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday March 2.

Damian Garvey, Alex McGough, Keegan Tanner and Hunter Robinson, along with their coach Ben Alford visited New River and Quail Hollow elementary schools.

“It shows those kids that there is more to football than just football,” Alford said. “You see these kids light up today when they’re being read too. Just something simple like reading a book is the world to them. So being able to give back like this is not just great for us, it’s great for the community of Wesley Chapel.”

Robinson, a sophomore, read Great Day for Up to the students.

“I remember when older kids would come into my classroom and read to me,” Robinson said. “It’s good to give back.”

Tanner, a junior, read And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street and I can Read With My Eyes Shut.

“I have both books in my house right now,” Tanner said. “I used to read them both, but my favorite Dr. Seuss book was Green Eggs and Ham.”

The day seems to have been a hit with the students.

“It makes it really special for the football team to read to us for Dr. Seuss’ birthday,” said New River fourth-grader Andrew Casdaneda.

Alford approached his players about two weeks ago to see if they would be interested in reading to the elementary school students.

“Our principal Ms. (Carin) Nettles has done a terrific job promoting literacy at the high school, and I thought this would be a good way to continue that in the lower grade levels,” Alford said. “We want to show them how important reading is. You want them to start early and if they see football players reading, hopefully they’ll want to read too. I think it can do wonders for the kids.”

The students had questions for every player about the books, but they also wanted the football player’s autographs. Two even had Tanner sign their hats.

Despite the adoration showered on them, the football players so accustomed to the bright lights on Friday nights were a little anxious about reading to the kids.

“I was a little nervous,” Robinson said. “I didn’t think I was going to be that nervous.”

Tanner said of the anxiety, “I could feel my hands shaking. Once I got used to it, I was fine. … In football, the pressure is focused on the team. Here it was just on me. It was different, but a good kind of different.”

The reading event is just one in a long line of community service projects for the Wildcats football program since Alford took over last spring. The squad also went and painted the old San Antonio Boys Village.

“We’ll continue to do those things,” Alford said. “They mentioned to me here at New River about us coming out and helping with their fair day. We’re going to do whatever we can. If someone calls and asks for help, we’re going to do what we can.”

The players think it will also help the program’s unity in the long run.

“It’s good for the community,” Robinson said. “We want to become closer to the community. They are the ones who show up for our games and show us support. It’s all about just reaching out to let people know we’re here.”

Meghan Keough makes area basketball history

By Kyle LoJacono

No Pasco or northern Hillsborough county high schools won a basketball state title this season, but Land O’ Lakes still has a Class 3A champion.

Tampa Catholic senior guard Meghan Keough led the Crusaders to the 3A state crown, their second straight, by defeating Coconut Creek North Broward Prep 48-37 Feb. 24.

“It’s really amazing,” said Keough, of Land O’ Lakes. “It hasn’t really hit me yet. In a couple of months I’ll probably just stop and think about everything that has happened in the last two years.”

No other Hillsborough girls basketball team has won back-to-back titles. In fact, county schools have only taken home five state championships, including Tampa Catholic’s, since the sport started in Florida in 1976.

If girls basketball championships have been rare in Hillsborough, they have been only a dream in Pasco. Zephyrhills in 1986 is the only squad to represent the county in a state title game.

Keough attended Land O’ Lakes High for her freshman and sophomore years.

“The decision to leave Land O’ Lakes was a really hard one,” Keough said. “To pick up and go to a new school where I didn’t know anyone. That was a big sacrifice, but I felt the academics would be better for me at Tampa Catholic.”

Last season Keough was the Crusaders point guard, but was moved to shooting guard this year. Tampa Catholic coach Nancy Kroll said the team needed her to score more this season because the squad lost its two top scorers to graduation.

The shift to shooting guard was easy for Keough, as she has played the position for most of her life, but her year running point gave her new insights into the game.

“I saw the whole floor differently after being the point guard,” Keough said. “Just understanding the angles and everything else it takes to win.”

Keough was the Crusaders team leader in points this season, scoring 679, 21.2 per contest. She still led the team with 105 assists and had the second most steals, 103, and blocks, 23, while also pulling down 143 rebounds.

Tampa Catholic went 28-4 this season, but started the year 3-4.

“We might have thought we were better than we were, and that put us in a hole early,” Keough said. “We recovered and worked harder and wound up winning 25 straight games to end the year.”

Keough will play at the University of Central Florida (UCF) next year with her older sister Kayli, who attended Land O’ Lakes while in high school. She credits Kayli for her love of basketball.

“I started playing at age 10 because that’s when Kayli started playing and I wanted to do everything with her,” Keough said. “She’s my best friend. The reason I worked so hard to get on varsity my freshman year at Land O’ Lakes was so I could play on the same team as her.”

Keough plans to major in premed at UCF. She currently has a 4.2 weighted grade point average and is a member of the National Honor Society, the National Beta Club and the Science National Honor Society to name a few.

Keough said her championship medals are right now in her room, but she suspects her mother will soon frame them. State basketball titles are so rare in Pasco, she might want to consider putting them under lock and key.

“We’ll always be able to say we won two championships,” Keough said. “When people look at the banners in the gym, that will be our accomplishments.”

Keough’s career stats

Points: 1,955

3-pointers: 135

Assists: 334

Steals: 317

Rebounds: 514

Blocks: 47

Record: 95-25

Story by Gary S. Hatrick

Zephyrhills Municipal Airport Manager Trina Sweet was fired Friday afternoon after five years in the head office at the B.F. Parsons Terminal in Zephyrhills.

City Manager Steve Spina confirmed Monday morning that he had sent a disciplinary action notice to the City Council notifying them that Sweet was terminated.

In the notice, Spina wrote, “I am terminating the services of Trina Sweet as airport manager, effective immediately. Reasons for this termination include abuse of leave privileges, excessive tardiness, failure to maintain city property, failure to adequately maintain proper time sheets. As a stand alone department, it is imperative that the manager be on site and available to airport users, staff and other customers and public.”

A notation on the bottom of the form records “refused to sign 3/4/11 2 pm.”

City Council president Lance Smith offered his reaction to the news.

“It’s not good anytime you have to terminate anybody,” he said. “I think that this was an accumulation of things that happened over time. I think she was given the opportunity, but she wasn’t trying to correct anything. I like her personally, but if she wasn’t doing the job then you have to make a change.”

Whether that change will include hiring a new manager could be in question. Smith said that in light of the current budget projections, it may be wise to hold off on filling the position until the council has a chance to finish next year’s budget.

Sweet became airport manager in 2006, replacing Jim Werme, who resigned in 2005 after Spina threatened to fire him following an often-strained relationship with the city manager and the City Council. After Werme’s departure, Sweet worked as interim airport manager until she was hired to fill the position.

Sweet could not be reached for comment.

By Kyle LoJacono

Wesley Chapel High played host to half of the Pasco County Summer Special Olympics games Feb. 25 for the second straight year.

All athletes and teams from central and east Pasco, a total of 18 schools, competed in almost 20 different events. One of those defending his home track was Wesley Chapel freshman Carlos Ortiz.

“I like to do Special Olympics because it’s fun and I get to meet new people,” Ortiz said. “You get to do a lot of cool things.”

Ortiz won the 5K bike race this year with a time of 19 minutes and 55 seconds. He also competed in the county games the previous three years while at Weightman Middle. However, this year he got to hear a pep talk from a gold-medal winning track star.

Stewart Middle teacher and Zephyrhills High girls track coach Jason Rouser was part of the U.S. 4×400 meter relay team that brought home the gold in 1996. He wished all of the athletes good luck during the opening ceremony.

“When I was asked if I wanted to come speak at the Special Olympics and help out, I said of course,” Rouser said. “This is my first Special Olympics games and all the kids are having a good time and competing at their sports. It’s a great thing.”

While Rouser was taking in his first county games, Land O’ Lakes High Special Olympics soccer coach Vicky King has been a part of more than 20.

“Winning is just as important to them as any other athlete,” King said. “They give it everything they have, and it’s amazing to see them out on the field.”

King is also the Gators girls soccer coach and coordinates Special Olympics soccer throughout Pasco.

The event is also special to the student volunteers. Wesley Chapel senior Marcus Crescentini volunteered for the first time this year and is glad he did.

“I thought that I should give back,” Crescentini said. “I had friends who always volunteered and I never really understood why. They said to me if I came out I would understand and they’re right. It’s really an amazing thing.”

Crescentini was a little out of his comfort zone for part of the day. He is a pitcher on the Wildcats baseball team, but was the goalkeeper for the unified soccer team at the games. Unified squads have Special Olympics and traditional athletes on the same team.

Fellow Wesley Chapel pitcher Brandon Mumaw, a senior, also volunteered at the event. He said he helped at the games when he went to Weightman Middle and wanted to do it again his senior year.

“We’re proud to have a lot of the schools in Pasco County competing at our fields,” Mumaw said. “Last year, I’m told, it was great and I know firsthand it is this year.”

By Kyle LoJacono

It is no secret the population of east Pasco County is on the older side of the age scale, which is why Florida Hospital Zephyrhills opened its Primary Stroke Center Feb. 28.

The hospital’s CEO and president Doug Duffield said the project has been in the works for a few years, but it really got going in earnest last fall.

“It fits in with everything we’re trying to do here at Florida Hospital Zephyrhills,” Duffield said. “Giving the best and the fastest care to our community with an eye on what programs will give the greatest impact.”

Dr. Amabel Cabatu is the medical director of the new center, which is located within the hospital’s emergency department. She has been practicing medicine for five years.

“Strokes are very common, and in fact they are the No. 3 cause of death in the United States and the No. 1 cause of long-term disability in this country,” Cabatu said. “Every 40 seconds, someone has a stroke in the United States. Most of them are in people 65 or older, but they can happen in all ages.”

Cabatu said a stroke is an interruption of blood floor to the brain, causing tissue to die.

“The most common reason one happens is a blockage. That accounts for 80 percent of strokes,” Cabatu said. “Most of the others happen when blood starts seeping out of the arteries, so blood isn’t getting to where it needs to.”

Cabatu said strokes and heart attacks are very similar, as both happen because of an interruption of blood flow. She added the same risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, being overweight and high cholesterol, can also increase the chance of having a stroke.

“The biggest difference is the brain is a lot more unforgiving than any other part of the body,” Cabatu said. “After a heart attack, the heart can get stronger again. If you remove half of someone’s liver, it will grow back. If you remove a kidney, the other one takes over. The brain doesn’t bounce back like that.”

Cabatu said the long-term effects include loss of movement on one side of the body. The only real way to prevent that is to get to a hospital as fast as possible. She said there are medications and surgical measures, such as stents and removing a blockage, but they do not work more than three hours after a stroke begins.

“They can do some therapy to retrain someone to do things, but the motor function is almost always permanently gone,” Cabatu said.

Cabatu said the chance of having a stroke doubles for every 10 years once someone reaches the age of 55.

“That means a stroke center is critical here in Zephyrhills,” Cabatu said. “Not only do we have an older population, but we have a very healthy and active elderly population. We have people who travel around, go see their friends, play shuffleboard and other active things. If you take someone who is used to cooking for their family or going out dancing with their wife, it would be devastating to be permanently disabled by a stroke.”

The hospital has the distinction of being a primary stroke center, which means they can start treatment within an hour of someone having a stroke.

“Speed is so important, and a lot of that speed comes from the Pasco County Fire and Rescue personnel,” Cabatu said. “They’ve been trained to recognize the signs of a stroke and they are now allowed to take people to stroke centers like we have here, even if it means going past another hospital.”

As a primary stroke center, the hospital has a specialist always available to give the medications to help treat a stroke, but Cabatu said the facility has bigger plans for the ailment.

Cabatu said the center will likely become a comprehensive stroke center in the coming months. That means there would always be a doctor available to perform stroke treatment measures like opening clogs with stents or removing them with surgery.

There are currently 17 comprehensive stroke centers in Florida. Cabatu said the nearest to Zephyrhills are in Tampa or Orlando.

“Having a comprehensive center closer to home is so important given how critical speed is to treating strokes,” Cabatu said. “Our plan is to also have all the therapy and rehab treatment right here at the center.”

Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, 7050 Gall Blvd. in Zephyrhills, will also begin having stroke identification and prevention classes in its wellness center. The first is March 10 from 1-2 p.m. For more information on the center, call the hospital at (813) 788-0411.

Early signs of a stroke

–Slurred speech

–Severe headache

–Vision loss in one eye

–Difficulty speaking

–Unable to move body parts

If you suspect someone is having a stroke, call 911 as soon as possible.

Press freedom advocates say that proposal is not needed

By B.C. Manion

State Sen. Jim Norman has filed a bill that would make it illegal for anyone to take photographs or video recordings on farms or of farm operations without the consent of the property owner or the owner’s authorized representative.

The bill is intended as “protection for farmers, from A to Z,” Norman told a group of agricultural industry representatives at a meeting at the Pasco County Fairgrounds last Friday, March 4.

It would protect the intellectual property rights of farmers who are working on patents, Norman said. It also would allow them to keep their competitive operational methods private and would prevent people from misrepresenting themselves to obtain images when they come on a farmer’s property, Norman said.

“I just believe that to go on somebody’s property, you need their permission,” Norman said, adding he wouldn’t want someone to come into his house and begin filming.

The bill is only intended to cover only people who are physically on the farm’s property, Norman said. It is not aimed at restricting people from obtaining images as they fly over a property or from doing so from the road.

The bill doesn’t apply to state inspectors or law enforcement officials, either, Norman said.

Ray Crawford, with the Florida Farm Bureau Federation, called Norman’s bill important. He said it is very easy for someone to create an unfair portrayal of a farming operation.

“I can follow you around for a month,” Crawford said. “I can take a snippet here and a snippet there, and make you look bad.”

By the same token, it doesn’t take much to hurt the agriculture animal industry, Crawford said.

“Let’s face it, if you put something out on YouTube or 60 Minutes or something like that, it reflects on animal agriculture,” Crawford said.

“We want the industry to be humane and we want the industry to be productive,” Crawford said. “It is to our advantage to take the best possible care we can with our animals.”

“Ninety-nine point nine percent of our guys are fantastic,” Crawford added. “If you’ve got a situation where somebody is not doing what they’re supposed to do, they don’t survive,” he said.

Jeff Kerr, general counsel for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said, “Sen. Jim Norman should be ashamed of himself.”

Instead of restricting cameras, Norman should be pushing to install cameras so people can witness the mistreatment of the animals that ultimately wind up on their dinner plates, Kerr said. He also calls the proposed legislation “blatantly unconstitutional.”

Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, based in Arlington, Va., said she doesn’t understand why a special law is necessary.

“There’s more than enough law out there to accomplish what these guys are trying to achieve,” Dalglish said.

Ben Parks, director of state legislative affairs for the Florida Farm Bureau Federation, said the bill that has been filed is not in its final form.

“Right now, it’s a working document,” Parks said.

“This is mainly a private property rights bill,” Parks said. “We want to make sure everything is legal and constitutional.”

The bill is generally aimed at people who go onto a property “with the malicious intent to destroy the reputation of a farming operator,” Parks said.

Dalglish said that trespass laws are designed to keep people off of private property.

“To make it illegal to take a photograph on a farm property — it’s ridiculous,” Dalglish said.

Sam Morley, general counsel for the Florida Press Association, said “the kind of behavior the bill is intended to prevent such as unauthorized secret filming or trespassing on agricultural or farming operations is already subject to criminal or civil penalties or lawsuit or firing in case of an employee.”

By B.C. Manion

On the surface, they look like any group of young professionals meeting after work to catch up on things and have a drink or two.

But this collection of women, gathered at The Vine Restaurant and Wine Bar in Lutz, had a much more meaningful agenda. They’re engaged in a quest to help conquer breast cancer.

As the early arrivals chatted, a woman flashing a megawatt smile came bounding into the restaurant.

It was Darby Steadman, a Lake Magdalene woman who has refused to shed her upbeat attitude despite her diagnosis of Stage IV metastatic breast cancer.

She doesn’t know how much time she has left on this earth, but she is determined to make the most of it.

As she joined her friends, the focus wasn’t on Steadman. They were gathered to work out details for a benefit on March 19-20 at the Emerald Greens Country Club to raise funds for the Driving Miss Darby Foundation

The nonprofit foundation aims to “reduce the burdens that trial patients face during their treatment commitment by defraying the costs associated with travel, lodging and medical expenses,” according to the foundation’s website.

The foundation also provides funding for clinical trials.

Steadman and some of her friends launched the foundation when she was living in Baltimore three years ago.

She was in a breast cancer vaccine trial under the direction of Dr. Leisha Emens at Johns Hopkins.

That experience opened Steadman’s eyes into how clinical trials work.

“Clinical trial researchers are almost like missionaries. They have to go out and get their own funding,” she said.

Steadman was lucky. She only lived about 20 minutes away from the clinical site and could drive herself back and forth.

Others weren’t as fortunate. They were coming from all over the country and were paying for their own meals, lodging and travel. Astounded and horrified, she and some friends decided to try to do something about it. They formed a foundation.

“When we first started doing “Driving Miss Darby,” actually we wanted to get them from the airport to the hospital and we wanted to give them a bag of goodies. That’s how it all started. And then, it just got really big,” Steadman said.

As her efforts began in Baltimore, other efforts were getting off the ground in Tampa.

“It kind of started with the love of a group of classmates of Darby’s from Chamberlain High,” said Jennifer Juranko, who lives in Wesley Chapel.

“We, here in Tampa, wanted to do something to show support,” Juranko said. A golf tournament, suggested by their friend Joey Larson, was born.

They put the word out to their friends. About 120 golfers played in the tournament and about 200 people attended the evening benefit.

“It kind of has just blossomed and grown each year,” Juranko said.

Organizing the event is much like tracking down money for research: It requires a certain amount of tenacity, creativity and energy, too.

“I think originally, it was, “Hey, let’s get some friends together and let’s raise some money for Darby,” Steadman said.

“And then it turned into, “Wow, Darby has been doing some stuff with clinical trials and this is actually going to turn into something bigger than we thought.”

In its three years of existence, the foundation has raised $100,000. Of that, $60,000 has gone to Johns Hopkins to support the clinical trial, including $25,000 to be used strictly for the vaccine.

The other $40,000 is being used to support clinical trial participants.

“We have now sponsored six girls through the clinical trial,” Steadman said. There also are a dozen applications out.

When she met with the group last week, she told them: “I was just on the phone with a young woman today. It just broke my heart. Yesterday, she sent me three e-mails in the span of about 10 minutes. Each one of them was progressively more scared: “I just got my diagnosis. I have an 8-year-old daughter. I am a principal. I shut my door. I’m freaking out. I don’t know what to do”. ”

Steadman moved back to the area with her husband, John, and their two children, 11-year-old Liam and 8-year-old Audrey, to be near family for her final years. She said she knows how lucky she is to have her dear high school friends in her corner.

“I think that it shows you just the heart of people you grew up with. It is just incredible. It’s been a humbling experience and I am definitely blessed to have each one of these girls participate,” Steadman said.

“Everybody here brings a special skill or talent to the table,” Juranko said, citing specific contributions being made by each of the women seated around the table: Lisa Pierce of Lutz; Chris Wandembergh of Lutz; Kelly Mikes of Lutz; and Michelle Horan of Original Carrollwood.

Steadman’s appreciation for their efforts was obvious, as she glanced lovingly at her friends: “I joke around, I call it the “Darby vortex” and essentially once you get in, you can’t get out.”

They all seem quite willing to hang on to her – tight.

GIVE BACK NIGHT

What: The Vine Restaurant and Wine Bar, 17667 N. Dale Mabry Highway is hosting two give back nights to benefit Driving Miss Darby Foundation (The restaurant is on the east side of North Dale Mabry Highway, just south of Van Dyke Road).

When: 4 p.m. to close March 9 and March 16

How it works: Those going to the restaurant on the give back nights and mentioning they are there to support the Driving Miss Darby Foundation will have 10 percent of  the bill donated to the cause by the restaurant.

GOLF TOURNAMENT AND BENEFIT

What: The Driving Miss Darby Foundation 3^rd annual Golf Tournament & Benefit

When:

Benefit: 7 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, March 19

Golf Tournament: 11:30 a.m. registration and 1 p.m. shotgun start on Sunday, March 20

Where: Emerald Greens Golf and Country Club, Tampa

Why: To benefit the Driving Miss Darby Foundation

For event details and ticket information go to www.drivingmissdarbyfoundation.org

The Driving Miss Darby Foundation also has a page on Facebook.

By B.C. Manion

Walk into Dallas Smith’s home in Wesley Chapel and you’ll see a small shrine to magicians and escape artists of the past.

Posters, photographs, handcuffs and other devices and photographs are on display to proclaim his affinity for the craft. One of those photographs is of Bob Hutchins, a former Vaudeville performer who was Smith’s early teacher.

The allure of making magic attracted Smith when he was about 8.

He’d gone with his dad to the bowling alley and a man there showed him a card trick.

The man wouldn’t reveal how the trick worked, so Smith spent the better part of the next three days trying to figure it out.

He did, and his obsession with magic began.

Smith took weekly lessons for years from Hutchins and by the time he was 13, Smith was hiring himself out to work birthday parties.

“When Bob passed away, he left his old powder blue tuxedos to me,” Smith said.

For the most part, Smith did magic as a hobby.

“I dabbled in it. I was an amateur, but that was my passion.”

While doing magic on the side, he followed his father’s footsteps into the construction industry.

For a while, he put aside his hard hat and got back into magic — working all over the country performing at adult gatherings and trade shows. But he returned to construction and had a management job in recent years, before getting laid off last year.

Now, Smith specializes in magic for two types of audience: He does an anti-bullying campaign for schools and an outreach program for churches.

He also performs at birthday parties, special occasions and at various venues.

He began doing the anti-bullying program because his daughter, Loryn, was bullied verbally a few times. Loryn was born in China and was adopted by Smith and his wife, Patti.

He said some people made fun of Loryn because she is from China.

He uses a nationally approved curriculum for his anti-bullying magic show and hands out comic books that reinforce the lessons. He uses a variety of magic tricks to help bring home the points. During the act, he tells children: “Words do hurt.”

But he adds: “You’re not by yourself. You have support, whether it be a friend or a teacher or an adult.”

He reminds children they are not powerless.

“They’re not alone. They can go and get help.

“Telling on someone who is bullying is not the same as tattling. It’s actually helping,” he said.

He also tells the children: “We’re all different. Some of us are short, some of us are tall. Some of us are skinny, some of us are heavy.

“Some of us are from a different country, some of us speak different languages.

He demonstrates that by showing children three pieces of rope, which are of different lengths. He then does a bit of magic and makes them all the same.

“On the inside, we’re all the same,” he concludes.

“If we have glasses, if we have braces, it doesn’t matter. We all want to be happy.”

“It’s not like a lecture, so they remember it,” Smith said.

In his Christian illusion show, he uses magic to illustrate points being made in the parables.

“Some people have different talents. They can sing. They can dance. It doesn’t matter how many talents you have … What matters in Jesus’ eyes is if we use those talents to glorify him.”

Having a new business has its challenges, Smith said. But he believes he is on the right path.

For him, there is magic in magic.

“For a few minutes, you can cast all of your cares away and live in a magical moment and be a kid, and not worry about anything.”

About Dallas Smith

Dallas Smith offers anti-bullying programs and Christian illusion programs. He also will perform at birthday parties and special events.

For more information call (813-494-1484) or visit www.DallasSmithMagic.com

By B.C. Manion

Academy at the Farm is full of surprises.

For one thing, the school isn’t at a farm, although it does have a few chickens and some parakeets.

The school doesn’t look like a traditional school, either. It’s a collection of modular classroom buildings on a 10-acre tract in the Farmington Hills subdivision in Dade City.

The most striking differences between this charter school and traditional schools, however, is the way that Academy at the Farm operates.

Academy at the Farm is an inclusion school, meaning special education students and the other students who attend the school learn side by side. Roughly 20 percent of the 380 kindergarten through eighth-grade students at the school qualify for special education services.

Another difference? When any student needs extra help, he or she gets it — whether or not they qualify for special services, said Ray Polk, the school’s director.

Besides being a much smaller school than a typical public elementary or middle school, the staffing model at Academy of the Farm is quite different, too.

Polk and a team of lead teachers make up the school’s administration. They follow policies set by the school’s board. There is no assistant principal.

Most of the school’s funding comes from the state and is administered through Pasco County Schools, with the school district keeping 5 percent, Polk said.

“Over the years, as the state has cut back on funds — given us less money — our board has decided to raise the difference,” Polk said.

This year, it must raise $200,000.

Parents make voluntary donations and the school holds several fundraisers each year, including the annual “Make a Difference Walk” scheduled for March 5.

One reason the school costs more to operate is because every classroom has a teacher and a paraprofessional.

“We have extra hands on deck in that classroom every day,” said Polk, adding he is not aware of any other school in the state that can make that claim.

There’s no down time when a teacher is out, either.

“We do not hire subs because our teacher assistants take over that classroom when the teacher is not there. They already know the children. They’ve been doing the curriculum with the teacher and the children every day. The classroom instruction continues on, as if nobody has been out for the day.”

Kim Ladd has been involved with the school since it opened in 2002.

At that time, she was teaching in a Pasco elementary school and her three children were attending Academy at the Farm.

Since then, she has joined the charter school’s teaching staff. Two of her children still attend Academy at the Farm and another has graduated and gone on to Pasco High.

Ladd teaches middle school intensive reading and language arts and is the school’s department head for reading. She loves her job and the school.

The teachers have a true bond with the students, she said.

“They start with us in kindergarten and go through eighth grade,” she said.

The teachers get to know students on a personal level. They know which sports a student likes, what their interests are and all about their families, she said.

“We’re really like a family. All of the teachers work together with the parents and the administration to give the students what they need.”

The school also has high expectations, Ladd said.

The school day is longer, students wear uniforms and they are required to complete their class work and homework.

If they don’t finish their work, they must go to Saturday School — which Polk supervises.

Saturday School starts at 8 a.m. and students must finish their work before they can leave. Polk said the latest he has been there with a student is 4 p.m.

Academy at the Farm is focused on helping each child achieve his or her potential, Polk said.

The school’s staff acknowledges that children learn at different rates and in different ways.

And, when a student is struggling, it seeks to single out what is blocking progress and to help the student overcome the obstacle, Polk said, noting he was a slow reader during his school years.

When his peers finished reading, he’d pretend he was done, too. Then, when a teacher asked him a question, he didn’t know the answer because he had not read that portion of the text.

Polk said he didn’t gain confidence in his reading until a teacher noticed that he understood what he was reading but simply read at a slower pace.

“You can teach all day long, but if that kid doesn’t connect with what you are trying to teach him, you’re blowing hot air,” Polk said.

When students are struggling, Academy at the Farm staff seeks to isolate the problem.

“You can say you have a reading issue, is it fluency? Is it comprehension?” Polk said.

Once the school diagnoses a learning issue, it attempts strategies to intervene and keeps a close eye on the results, Polk said.

The school has a Learning Center where students go to get extra help.

Polk points to a filing cabinet in the center that contains records tracking the progress of individual students.

“Are they getting better with what we’re doing? If they’re not getting better, the game plan has to change.”

The school also uses considerable technology, with Smart Boards in every classroom and sophisticated software in its Learning Center.

When used properly, technology can help children who are lagging behind to catch up, can provide challenges for students who are zooming ahead and can meet the needs of students at every stage in between, Polk said.

Something at the school, apparently, is working.

The school earned an A from the state this year.

Parents give it high praise, too.

“It’s a wonderful atmosphere,” said Kelly Smith, whose son, Ty, attends the school and whose daughter, Makenna, graduated from the school and now attends Pasco High.

“We’ve got a tremendous group of teachers,” she said, noting they offer all sorts of extra help for students.

“Our learning lab is unbelievable,” added Smith, president of the Parent Teacher Organization. “They can tailor learning to each child’s needs.”

Some people think the school succeeds because it hand selects its students, Polk said.

In a way, that is true: It has a lottery every year — selecting names from a hat to fill the available slots.

This year, the school had 38 openings and more than 200 applications.

Its students come from Lutz, Land O’ Lakes, Zephyrhills, New Tampa, Wesley Chapel, Dade City, San Antonio, Lacoochee and Blanton.

Despite the school’s popularity, it’s not for everyone, Polk said.

“It’s almost hot or cold. Either this works out really well, or it doesn’t fly at all,” Polk said. “We don’t let up when we think the child needs extra support either from here or home.”

MAKE A DIFFERENCE WALK

What: Students, staff and supporters of Academy at the Farm will take part in the school’s fourth annual “Make a Difference Walk” to raise funds for the school.

Where: The walk begins in the parking lot of the Dade City Courthouse on Live Oak.

When: The walk begins at 9 a.m. After the walk, everyone is invited to lunch in downtown Dade City at Beef O’ Brady’s, which is donating 20 percent of the proceeds to the school. Lunch usually begins between 10:30-11 a.m.

Anyone is welcome to take part in the walk or come to the lunch.

For more information about the school or to find out how to make a donation, go to www.academyatthefarm.com