LAND O’ LAKES – Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning acknowledged Oct. 15 that plans to reopen schools following Hurricane Milton were met with some criticism.
But that’s par for the course for decisions involving such storms.
“It doesn’t matter what the decision is that you’ve made,” Browning said. “You will have people over here that think you are a rock star. And there are people over here that if they saw you in the produce section of Publix, they would drag you out of that store and beat you about the head and shoulders.”
Staff returned to work Oct. 15. Students returned to class Oct. 16.
Browning explained that he believes consistency and routine are important for children to have a sense of normalcy.
“They’ve lost their homes. They’ve lost their clothes. They’ve lost the roof over their head. They’ve lost their automobile. And they need a place to belong,” Browning said. “Oftentimes, that place they belong is their school.”
Browning said storm-related decisions are vetted multiple times by his amazing team at Pasco County Schools. He described his top-level staff as selfless.
“I continue to be amazed when we get into a situation of not just one storm but back-to-back storms,” Browning said. “People are dead-dog tired but they don’t hesitate to step up and do what’s right for this community – mainly our students and our families.”
Elizabeth Kuhn, assistant superintendent for support services, told the school board Oct. 15 that Pasco and Zephyrhills high schools sustained the most damage from Hurricane Milton.
“The fortunate thing is in both situations, we were able to reopen without making huge changes,” Kuhn said.
Pasco High School had roof damage to Building 6 and the gym. The district is putting a temporary roof on Building 6 but the gym is going to take time to fix.
Zephyrhills High School experienced heavy flooding. Staff discovered water in the band room and a couple of classrooms. The city has helped by pumping water into two retention ponds. School leaders have had to make adjustments related to student drop-off and parking.
“We’re monitoring water all over the county as everyone,” Kuhn said. “The biggest challenge with this storm is that it changes. Today there were roads that might have been OK and now they’re not.”
Transportation staff has been evaluating roads daily to ensure they’re unobstructed.
Kuhn said as many as 44 schools were without power. Power returned for all schools by the end of Oct. 15.
“We’re very happy that you’re back at school,” said Megan Harding, chair of the school board. “That’s all our hearts want is for you to be at school but we also understand this is a very difficult and stressful and traumatic situation. So,if it’s not safe or if you’re having (trouble), please contact your administrator, contact your school, because we’re all in this together.”
