Special to The Laker/Lutz News

After a lengthy delay, state finally delivers test scores

By Suzanne Schmidt

With FCAT (Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Test) scores rolling in, many school principals are working hard to crunch numbers and make adjustments.
The Florida Department of Education experienced delays receiving scores from contractor NCS Pearson, and state officials have announced plans to seek millions of dollars in fines for the late scores.
Each school should have the individual student reports for distribution to students and parents by July 8, according to NCS Pearson. In the meantime, schools will be using electronic scores to start analyzing the results.
Garry Walthall, Sunlake High School principal, said getting the scores so late did cause him to have to shuffle some things around.

“It will impact us,” Walthall said. “Those students who did not meet district expectations will have to be assigned specific classes. They may have to be pulled from an elective course and put in a different class. It is still early, but those things need to be done.”
Based on the scores, students will be placed in classes that address their weaknesses. For example students, who scored at a Level 1 or Level 2 in reading, might get put into reading classes in lieu of an elective.
“We want to provide the students with some additional work in these areas so we can strengthen their skills,” Walthall said. “We have sufficient time to notify the students and we have enough teachers and courses to make it work.”
Students’ individual FCAT scores will be sent to the schools next week and the schools will stuff them into envelopes. They will then be sent back to the district office with students’ report cards for a mass mailing.
The state Department of Education has asked school districts to track costs related to the scores arriving late, so they can be reimbursed by the testing company.
“On the final report card, there will be the four areas and it will identify if they are meeting the standards,” Walthall said. “We will also include a letter if the students need additional assistance in a certain area.”
Carin Nettles, principal at Wesley Chapel High School, is working with the same issues.
“We had to hold off on a whole piece of the master schedule,” Nettles said. “The scores are an integral part of how we look at the numbers. The students who didn’t pass with high enough scores will have to be pulled from their electives.”
She said even though it was stressful, she is pleased with the scores she has looked up.
“It adds to the stress level,” Nettles said. “We want these scores to figure these things out. Overall I am very pleased with what I have looked at so far. We still have to look at a lot of things though.”
Nettles said she is happy with some of the scores she has looked up like how the scores in reading for her 9th and 10th graders went up by two percent.
She was especially pleased with her students’ writing scores. She said there were 11 students who achieved the highest score where last year she only had two and there were 52 students who achieved a five where last year she only had 20.
The next step is to identify the students in the lowest 25 percent and see if their scores went up or down.
She said she is looking forward to seeing the school’s new grade later this year.
“We won’t know our school grade until they add in some other information like the graduation rate and the AP scores,” Nettles said. “We won’t have all of that information until November.”
Throughout Pasco County, the District School Board reported students are excelling and outpacing the state average in several areas. There was an overall increase of six percentage points in 10th grade mathematics scores, with 85 percent of high schools maintaining or improving their performances from last year.
Every high school in Pasco showed increases in the percent of students scoring a 4.0 or higher on the writing assessment. The district’s 10th-graders also showed an overall improvement of four percentage points in reading with nine of the 11 general high schools maintaining or improving their performance.
The district also reported 92 percent of elementary, 95 percent of middle and 94 percent of high school students earned a score of 3.0 or higher.
Pasco students also showed an improvement in all grade levels on their science assessment with middle school students performing above the state average while
76 percent of elementary schools and 75 percent of high schools maintained or improved their science performance compared to last year.
In addition to helping counselors determine course placement and the state assign letter grades, test scores also determine which schools qualify for state bonus money.
For more information, visit www.flboe.org.

By Karen Rodriguez

The recent death of two Tampa Police officers, David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab, has shocked and saddened residents throughout the Bay area, but law enforcement personnel feel a special kind of pain.

In Pasco County, the death has caused officers to reminisce about their own lost colleague, Lt. Charles “Bo” Harrison, who died in 2003.
“The recent preparations of the funeral for the two Tampa officers have brought back many memories of when I had to prepare Harrison’s funeral,” said Sgt. Jason Marques of the Pasco County Sheriffs Office. Marques played his bugle at the funeral of Harrison, the last Pasco officer to die in the line of duty. “You see the pictures of the family mourning and I remember being in their shoes.”
Curtis and Kocab died early Tuesday. Police say they were both shot in the head by a suspect who remained on the loose last week.  Harrison was shot while on overnight surveillance near a nightclub on U.S. Route 301 in Lacoochee, near Dade City. He had been with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office for 31 years, and his retirement date was only 15 days away.
Capt. Jack Armstrong from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said the recent Tampa officer deaths have had the same impact on the Pasco Sheriff’s office as Harrison’s death.
“It affected the entire Pasco police community,” he said. “I feel like we are bound by an invisible string that has once again connected us.”

“Law enforcement is a brotherhood,” explained Det. Chad Tadlock, also of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. “Anytime an officer dies, especially in the line of duty, everyone feels for the family and shows their respect.”
This brotherhood stands together when one of their own is slain and doesn’t care if they knew the dead officer or not.
Marques only knew officer Kocab’s face from being in the guard. But even though he didn’t know him personally, his first thought was, “How can I help find his killer?”
The suspect in the shooting of Curtis and Kocab, Dontae Morris, was still at large Friday afternoon, more than 72 hours after their fatal encounter in East Tampa.
“A lot of people don’t realize how hard a death of an officer hits home,” said Marques. “It’s hard to carry and say goodbye to one of your own.”
Marques relates to the current eagerness to find the man who killed Kocab and Curtis. However, his fervent impulse to join the search for Harrison’s killer was subdued by the necessity to properly honor him with his bugle at the funeral.
“I practiced 12 to 16 hours a day for weeks knowing I had a job to do and meanwhile I was grieving,” Marques said.
Luckily, within the week of the funeral, Harrison’s killer turned himself in, bringing closure to the Pasco law enforcement community.
“In this line of work you never know when it’s your time.  But you have to be proactive and treat things as if it’s your last time doing it,” Marques said. “We have to live with the reality that our job is dangerous.”
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office is one of many who offer counseling services that help individuals with any problems they may have.  Along with the Central Florida Police Stress Unit, two of the most known services are The Chaplain Cure and COPS.
The Chaplain Cure, run mostly by volunteers, provides spiritual comfort to those who seek it.  “All religions are represented and it is available at anytime, ” Tadlock said.
COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors) is a program that supports law enforcement survivors helping them to move on, forming a network of aid.
“These events make you realize that as an officer, you may think you are prepared to lose a colleague, but in reality you are not,” Marques said. “Even if you don’t know an officer who dies personally, the reminder that it can happen to any of us shakes up the police community as a whole.”

By Kyle LoJacono

The 63rd Lutz Independence Day Celebration at Bullard Park continued the traditional gathering of people from across the town and surrounding communities.
The highlight of the event was the naming of the new Lutz Guv’na, which is Stephanie Ensor. Ensor has lived in Lutz for 15 years and was sworn in with one hand on a copy of “Green Eggs and Ham” as is tradition. She was also given the Guv’na hat and key to the town of Lutz for the next year.

“I’m really excited,” Ensor said. “I really wanted to get involved with something that was bigger than myself that would help the community.”
Ensor is the winner because her campaign for the position brought in the most money for area charities. Colin Cook, of Land O’ Lakes, finished second. An accurate total of the amount raised was not available by press time.
Departing Guv’na Suzin Carr was not quite ready to give up the sash and title. She had a duplicate sash made that she gave to Ensor before revealing her trick by pulling off the first of two shirts she was wearing. Underneath was the true Guv’na sash.
“The last year has been the highlight of my life,” Carr said. “I wanted to support local businesses and our community and I got to meet a lot of great people doing it.”
Ensor said of succeeding Carr, “She’s been incredible with everything she’s done the last year. I just want to keep the momentum going.”
The day also included a 5K race, local vendors selling various foods and holiday related items, a parade and a cake bake contest and auction.
The parade had floats from groups like the scouts, youth sports organizations, churches, politicians and the Lutz Patriots.
The award for the most patriotic float in the parade went to the Lutz Patriots. The most comical float went to the Lutz Civic Association’s Lutz Tea Party interpretation. The judge’s favorite went Boy Scout Troop 86 for their costumes.
The cake that went for the most money was baked by Lutz teenager Alexa Gardner, which sold for $55.
“It’s a red velvet cake,” Gardner said. “It’s called Southern Pride Magnolia Cake. It won first place for the Guv’na’s favorite and Judges’ favorite.”
All the money went to the Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Women’s Club, which will use the money to fund local charities like the Boys and Girls scouts and scholarships for area children.

By Kyle LoJacono

A $2.7 million extension of Sunlake Boulevard should be open in the next two weeks, but drivers will have to wait several years to reap any benefit from it.
That is because this new 3,000-foot extension, south off SR 54, connects to nothing.
“The current improvements will not access neighborhoods at this time,” said Deborah Bolduc, Pasco County’s program administrator of Engineering Services.
Eventually, the county plans to construct Loop Road, a new street that will connect neighborhoods and link Pasco and Hillsborough counties.
“Phase 1 will result in the initial two laning of this roadway segment from Loop Road to the Hillsborough County line and Phase 2 will expand the roadway to four lanes,” Bolduc said. “Phase 1 is programmed to start construction by December 2013 and Phase 2 is programmed to start construction by December 2015.”
Or maybe later, warned Pasco County Commissioner Ted Schrader.
“Even with so many projects being under funded, we are still seeing progress in Pasco County,” said Pasco Commissioner Ted Schrader. “Because of the economy being down we’ve had to re-evaluate this project like many others. The commissioners will need to take a closer look at funding any more projects.”
When it does open, the eventual connection of Sunlake through SR 54 and the future Loop Road into Hillsborough will likely reduce the confusion of people trying to find Sunlake High.
“I’ve had people tell me that they got lost trying to find the school because they got on the Hillsborough Sunlake and couldn’t find us,” said Sunlake principal Garry Walthall previously. “Apparently when they try and find directions online it takes people the wrong way. It should help people find the school once it’s done.”
But for now, the current project does nothing to make travel easier in Pasco or increase the connectivity with Hillsborough. Tampa-based RIPA & Associates is completing the project.

Sunlake Boulevard extension
Extending Sunlake 3,000 feet south
Cost: $2.7 million

COLLIER PARKWAY
The Pasco County project to extend Collier Parkway north to Parkway Boulevard has been at a standstill since WDG Construction Inc. was fired by the county in February.
Pasco County Chief Project Manager Robert Shepherd said he expects RIPA & Associates to be named the replacement company by the beginning of July. The bonding company that insures the project’s contract still has to finalize that selection.

The extension would be finished in May according to the original plans, but WDG had only completed 40 percent of the work when it was fired. The company’s contract was terminated because it was behind schedule and had let its workers and vehicle insurance expire, according to Pasco Chief Engineer Jim Widman.
Shepherd said the extension should be around the end of this year.
The original contract with WDG was worth $4.3 million. No additional county money will be needed to finish the extension to Parkway as all Pasco projects require the bonding company to pay for any additional cost beyond the contract.
The extension of Collier to Parkway is the first half of a larger project. Collier will eventually be taken north to Ehren Cutoff. The overall project is meant to ease traffic on US 41 by allowing those living in the area to take Collier south to bypass the congested highway. The contract for the second step has not gone out for bid yet.
Deborah Bolduc, program administrator for Pasco County Engineering Services, said the second part will not be planned until 2013 or 2014 and will not be completed until at least 2015 or 2016.
Some places besides neighborhoods affected by the extension include Pine View and Lake Myrtle elementary schools, Pine View Middle, Academy at the Lakes, the Land O’ Lakes Branch Library, the Land O’ Lakes Recreation Center and Our Lady of the Rosary Church.

SR 56 CONNECTION
Construction to complete the extension of SR 56 and Mansfield and Meadow Pointe boulevards in Wesley Chapel began again June 22.

Pasco County Chief Project Manager Robert Shepherd said there is 20 to 25 days of construction left to be finished when the work restarted. He said he expects it to be completed by the end of July.
RIPA & Associates replaced WDG Construction Inc. in finishing the project after the latter was fired by the county in February. WDG had its contract with the county terminated after it allowed its workers and vehicle insurance to expire, according to Pasco Chief Engineer Jim Widman.
Shepherd said much of the road construction has been completed and most of what is left is work on signage and traffic signals.
The connection will give people an alternative route for people during the widening of SR 54. Instead of driving through that construction site, people can drive south through Meadow Pointe until it connects with SR 56 or vice versa. Meadow Pointe was recently repaved as part of normal maintenance of the road, which has strengthened the boulevard for the increased traffic.
Once the connection is complete, new bus routes will be drawn up by the Pasco School District. Students who live in and around Meadow Pointe are zoned for Wiregrass Ranch High and Dr. John Long Middle, which are located on Mansfield.
The connection will change 18 bus routes, according to Pasco School District spokeswoman Summer Romagnoli. She said the new road will cut time and miles from these routes.
The road will also bring increased traffic by the Shops at Wiregrass.
Greg Lenners, general manager at the shops, has said the opening will be perfect for the businesses because it is right before the back-to-school sales. Lenners also lives in Meadow Pointe and said he thought the connection would cut about nine miles from his driving each day.

By Sarah Whitman

The line for Helping Hands Food Pantry forms early Wednesday mornings outside Atonement Lutheran Church of Wesley Chapel.
Helping Hands, a weekly outreach of the church, has served more than 3,000 Pasco County families since opening last March. Some are homeless or living below the poverty line. Others have been hit hard by the economy and need a place to turn until things get better.

“So many people come now who just need help getting back on their feet,” said Helping Hands administrator Carla Haberland. “When they find work they come back and say thank you. Sometimes they bring something to donate as a way to give back.”
When Helping Hands first started, only a few people took advantage. Within a few months, a few turned into more than a 100. Now, 140 to 160 visit each week to pick up groceries, household staples and even clothes.
Mary Spittka and her two daughters, ages 11 and 8, drive from Zephyrhills every week to collect items. Spittka is unable to find work, so her family relies on her husband’s modest paycheck. She said they visit Helping Hands because the economy is tough and every little bit helps.
“The food selection is good and my oldest daughter likes to pick out clothes,” Spittka said. “It’s a blessing.”
When people arrive at Helping Hands, they sign in before going into the pantry.
There, canned goods, produce, breads, household items and clothes donated by the public are presented in a general-store-style atmosphere.  Anyone in need is welcome to come and fill up a bag. Some things, like toiletries, are limited to one per household.
The pantry receives donations from the community and from local businesses. Sweetbay donates bread and produce weekly. Bagelicious donates bagels.
Helping Hands is also partnered with USDA, which serves families requiring government-funded assistance. USDA donated foods are bagged ahead of time and given to families who qualify. Applications are available on site.
So far, no one has left Helping Hands empty handed.
“We have never run out of food,” Haberland said. “It’s amazing. On Tuesday night, the storage shed will be completely full and by the end of the day Wednesday it is completely empty, but we always have enough for everyone.”
Atonement Lutheran Church senior pastor Scott Linder said he is continually humbled by the success of Helping Hands.
” In the beginning we weren’t sure our small church could handle it, but every time there was a question the volunteers and the donations just kept pouring in,” he said.
Volunteers, including Haberland and director Caroline McKinney, help set up the pantry on Tuesdays. They distribute the items on Wednesdays and carry bags out for pantry users. Volunteers come from the church, the community and local schools.

Retiree and Wesley Chapel resident Jean Butler volunteers whenever she can.
“I’m so glad I found this place and I can help,” she said. “I think it’s a good thing what they’re doing. People helping people is what life is about.”
Violet Moore, a Wesley Chapel resident raising teenage grandchildren, came to Helping Hands after her husband passed away. She needed assistance but also became a volunteer.
“I needed some help and I found it,” Moore said. “I also wanted to give back because the people here are wonderful. This place has made a big impact on the community. It reaches so many people, especially families in need.”
Helping Hands needs more volunteers to help pick up and transportation large food donations.
“We need someone with a pick-up,” Haberland said. “A lot of the volunteers that helped with that were only here for the winter, so we need help getting the food to the church. We pick up the USDA foods at Suncoast Harvest Food Bank in Land O’ Lakes once a week.”
Haberland said as long as people keep helping, no one will be turned away that lines up Wednesdays mornings.
Helping Hands is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays at Atonement Lutheran Church of Wesley Chapel, 29617 SR 54. For information, call (813) 973-2211.