The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Education

Pasco schools adopt tentative budget

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The Pasco County School Board has adopted a tentative budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year, with a final public hearing set for Sept. 18.

The proposed general fund budget for 2018-2019 is $630,860,337. That’s a $15.2 million increase over last year’s general fund, which represents roughly a 2.47 percent increase.

The capital projects funds in the budget for 2018-2019 total $244,516,610, which reflects an increase of $31.5 million or 14.78 percent above the 2017-2018 budget.

Capital Projects Funds are used to account for expenditures on acquisition or construction of major capital facilities and improvements to existing facilities. The funds also are used for the maintenance of approximately 2,400 buildings across the district, to purchase land and to pay for equipment, technology equipment, buses and vehicles.

Under the proposed rate, the owner of a $125,000 home, after deducting the $25,000 homestead exemption, would pay $627.90 in school taxes — a decrease of $28.60 from last year.

The state’s basic student allocation for the 2018-2019 school year is $4,204.42. That’s 47 cents more per student than last year. But, since the state applies a cost of living adjustment, Pasco’s base student allocation for the coming year is $4,144.72.

Here are some big-picture highlights of the proposed budget:

  • Teaching makes up 61.78 percent of the district’s expenditures
  • Teaching combined with other school-level programs, including transportation, media, counseling, psychological services, school administration, capital outlay, community services, and operations and maintenance, makes up 92.38 percent of the operating budget
  • Curriculum development and staff training make up 3.26 percent of the operating budget.
  • Human resources, finance, purchasing, warehouse, data processing and mail services
    make up 4.36 percent of the operating budget.

While the state provides funding for schools, it also dictates how much of that money is spent.

For instance, during the 2018 session, the Florida Legislature passed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which addresses gun violence on school campuses and promotes school safety. The bill requires armed security guards at every school. Each of those officers is required to undergo training, a background check, drug screening and psychological evaluation.

Pasco already has School Resource Officers at its middle schools and high schools, and is adding school security safety guards at its elementary schools this year.

The public safety act also requires the development of a mental health assistance plan, which will establish or expand school-based mental health care, through assessment, diagnosis, intervention and treatment.

The Safe Schools allocation of $3,725,606 will be used for school resource officers, school safety guards, traffic control and year-end security.

The Mental Health allocation of $1,721,460 will be used to expand school-based mental health
care.

In another area, the district must provide an additional hour of intensive reading beyond the normal school day, for the entire year, at 10 schools that were identified as low-performing schools.

The district also intends to spend its Digital Classrooms allocation of $1,419,851 for computers, iPads and digital devices to support the district’s classrooms.

The budget also includes $80,459,730 for debt service, which is an increase of $5.9 million or nearly 8 percent higher than 2017. The district must repay debt service before making other expenditures.

The budget also lists scores of capital projects, including several in central and east Pasco.

They include:

  • Major renovation/remodeling of Land O’ Lakes High School, Woodland Elementary School and Zephyrhills High School
  • Construction of the new Cypress Creek Middle School
  • Design of a kindergarten through eighth grade school at Starkey Ranch
  • Cafeteria renovations at several schools, including Denham Oaks Elementary, Chester W. Taylor Elementary and Lacoochee Elementary
  • Replacement/repairs of heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems at Centennial Elementary and Sand Pine Elementary
  • Site improvements at Wendell Krinn Technical High School, a new technical high school that is opening this fall in the former Ridgewood High School, which was closed and refurbished, in New Port Richey

Published August 15, 2018

Chalk Talk 08/15/2018

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Al Hernandez

Three reappointed to district board
Gov. Rick Scott announced the reappointment of Al Hernandez, Lee Maggard and Robin Schneider to the District Board of Trustees for Pasco-Hernando State College. All three have been reappointed for a term ending May 31, 2022.

Alvaro “Al” Hernandez, of Odessa, is vice president of marketing at Humana, and received his bachelor and master degrees from Nova Southeastern University.

Lee Maggard

Lee Maggard, of Zephyrhills, is the assistant vice president and commercial relationship manager for CenterState Bank in Dade City. Maggard received his associate degree from PHSC in 2007 and a bachelor degree from the University of Florida in 2009.

Robin Schneider

Robin Schneider, of Spring Hill, is marketing coordinator at Medical Center of Trinity. Schneider currently serves as the PHSC District Board of Trustees vice chair.

“We are very pleased with the reappointments of our board members and look forward to their continued leadership and commitment to higher education in our communities,” said Timothy Beard, PHSC president, in a release.

 

 

Backpack blessing
Keystone Community Church, 21010 State Road 54 in Lutz, will host a Back to School Dedication Aug. 19 at 10:30 a.m., with a special service in support of and to pray for children and teachers as they begin another school year.

Children are asked to bring their backpacks for a special blessing.

Following the dedication, there will be a festival, including lunch, bounce houses, a dunk tank for a teacher, and more.

For information, call (813) 948-4522.

Childhood center course
Pasco-Hernando State College will offer a course for child care directors to become credentialed.

The new course, Operation of an Early Childhood Center, meets Florida Department of Children and Families requirements for the director credential.

Interested child care workers can enroll for the course, which runs Aug. 20 to Oct. 10 at the Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, 2727 Mansfield Blvd., in Wesley Chapel.

The class will meet on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6:45 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.

A second course will be offered on Oct. 16 to Dec. 6, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., at the West Campus, 10230 Ridge Road in New Port Richey.

For information or to enroll, visit PHSC.edu/academics/continuing-education.

Saint Leo ready for students
Saint Leo University will welcome close to 700 first-year students, as they officially move into their residence halls Aug. 16. Classes will start Aug. 21.

Move-in day for those first-year students will run from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., at University Campus, 33701 State Road 52 in St. Leo.

The new Lions, and parents, can take part in a reception Aug. 16 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., in the Marion Bowman Activities Center gym. For students, there will be a mini pep rally at 4 p.m.

Orientation for international and Honors Program students, as well as Emerging Mathematics and Computer Science scholars will be Aug. 14 to Aug. 16.

Incoming biology students can take part in Bio Boot Camp. The camp is a pre-semester primer, and students can get familiarized with the laboratories, attend lectures and learn study skills.

All students can join in a sing-along with the movie, “The Greatest Showman,” Aug. 20 at 7 p.m., in Selby Auditorium in Lewis Hall, hosted by the Department of Language Studies and the Arts.

On the first day of classes, Aug. 21, Student Activities will host a welcome back event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., near the Student Community Center. Students can get shirts spray painted, take first-day-of-school photos, and have smoothies and ice pops.

Throughout the first week of school, various campus groups will host events.

For more information, visit SaintLeo.edu.

Free college workshop
Patel Conservatory at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts will offer “College Bound: Figuring It Out, Part 2” Aug. 23 at 7 p.m.

The free workshop is for students interested in musical theater, music, theater and dance programs, at the college and university level.

Students and parents will be provided with the tools and knowledge to navigate the performing arts programs, submit a solid application, and prepare for prescreen and entrance auditions.

For information, call (813) 222-1040, or visit PatelConservatory.org.

Back 2 School campaign
Eckerd Connects, which helps vulnerable and troubled children, is hosting a “Back 2 School” campaign in an effort to support local programs: Project Bridge, Raising Hope, E-Nini-Hassee, Challenge Youth Academy, and foster children in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties.

To support the campaign, school supply donations can be made at any drop-off center. Locations can be found at Eckerd.org/Back2School.

Monetary donations can be made on Eckerd.org. A $25 donation can support a child with either one school uniform or one backpack full of supplies.

The campaign runs until the end of August.

Pasco Schools’ Citizens Academy
Pasco County Schools is launching a Citizens’ Academy to educate the public on the operation of the public school system.

The academy will consist of seven monthly meetings: three during the day and four in the evening.

The mornings will be school visits around the county, while evenings will be classroom lessons on budget, school choice, planning, construction and maintenance, transportation, school safety and more.

Each academy class will have 30 to 50 members from the community.

For information, visit PascoSchools.org, and click on the Citizens’ Academy banner at the top.

Students ring in the 2018-2019 school year

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As a new academic year begins, students heading to Florida public schools will be welcomed to campuses that are now protected by armed security.

The Florida Legislature mandated the armed guards at public school campuses across the state in response to the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 students and staff members dead, and 17 others injured.

But, the additional security is just one of many changes awaiting students at schools across The Laker/Lutz News coverage area.

Some students will be heading to entirely new campuses.

The North Tampa Christian Academy, is opening at 5619 E. County Line Road in Wesley Chapel. It will serve students from age 2 through 12th grade.

Union Park Charter Academy, a charter public school, is another new school. It is opening, at 32775 Oldwoods Ave., in Wesley Chapel. It is a kindergarten through eighth grade school, but this year will be serving only students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Meanwhile, in Land O’ Lakes, students and faculty arriving at Land O’ Lakes High School will continue to see a campus in the midst of a major makeover. There’s still a considerable amount of work left to do, but the project involves a substantial upgrade of the facility.

Students and staff at Woodland Elementary School in Zephyrhills will find a campus that has already undergone a massive makeover.

And, while it’s not noticeable yet, Zephyrhills High School is gearing up to begin a renovation that also will breathe new life into the facility.

There are changes on the academic front, too.

Cypress Creek Middle High School, in Wesley Chapel, for instance, will have its first senior class.

And, Pine View Middle School, at 5334 Parkway Blvd., is starting the new school year as Pasco County’s first authorized IB Middle Years Programme World School.

The middle school has worked long and hard to achieve the distinction, dating back to May of 2015 when it became an IB candidate school.

In addition to that new distinction, Pine View also has been named a magnet school, which means that students who live outside of the school’s attendance zone can apply to attend the school.

On another front, Pasco County Schools offers a variety of enrichment programs before and after school for elementary-age children.

The district’s afterschool enrichment department also manages five other programs.

Two of those programs are funded through 21st Century Community Learning Centers federal grants. Those programs are the STAR Academy, for elementary students; and DELTA Academy, for middle school students, according to the district’s website. Both are free and are aimed at academic enrichment.
The STAR Academy programs are located at Gulf Highlands, Quail Hollow, and Rodney B. Cox elementary schools. The DELTA Academy programs are located at Gulf, Hudson, and Raymond B. Stewart middle schools.

Two afterschool fee-based programs also are being offered at some district schools.

Beyond the Bell is an afterschool program for middle school students that incorporates homework assistance, sports, music, dance, leadership development and community service activities, the district’s website says. It will be offered at Charles S. Rushe Middle School, in Land O’ Lakes and River Ridge Middle School in New Port Richey.

Explorations will be offered at Wiregrass Elementary School, in Wesley Chapel. The program operates Monday through Thursday, from 4:10 p.m. to 5:10 p.m. The program includes a variety of enrichment activities for children, such as coding and robotics, dance, Spanish, and sports drills and skills.

School’s back in session: Drive safely
As school bells ring in another academic year, motorists and pedestrians are reminded to be cautious to help keep everyone safe.

Here are some tips for drivers from AAA, North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization:

  • Observe the speed limit. School zone speed limits are purposefully set low. Children are unpredictable, and may have difficulty gauging the distance and speed of an approaching car.
  • Look for AAA School Safety Patrollers. They’re a sign you are approaching a school zone.
  • Stop completely at intersections with stop signs.
  • Always stop for school buses that are loading or unloading. Going around a stopped school bus is not only dangerous, it’s against the law.
  • Eliminate driver distraction. Keep your eyes on the road. Put your phone down, and keep an eye out for other drivers and pedestrians.
  • Plan Ahead. Build in extra time for congestion.

Published August 8, 2018

Chalk Talk 08/08/2018

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(Courtesy of Florida Hospital)

Christian academy will open for new school year
North Tampa Christian Academy, on East County Line Road in Wesley Chapel, will open its doors this month for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Orton Varona, who previously served as the Head of School at North Dallas Adventist Academy, has been named as the school’s president. To learn more about the school, and to take a visual tour, visit SeeThisSchool.com.

Teacher lists available
Parents from local schools can access supply lists online for the 2018-2019 school year.

With just one or two clicks, parents can find their child’s exact supply list and then click right over to prefilled shopping carts on Target, Walmart, Office Depot, Amazon and more, to purchase the list and have it shipped right to their home.

Store pickup also is available.

More than 50,000 schools have now posted lists on the website, which include required and requested items, as well as specific notes and clarifications from teachers and school staff.

Complete details and all the lists are available at TeacherLists.com/parents.

Academy ribbon cutting
New L.E.A.P.S. Academy will host a ribbon cutting Aug. 9 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., at its new location, 21754 State Road 54 in Lutz.

Festivities will include food, drink, music, raffles and prizes.

Hawaiian shirts and hula skirts are optional.

For information and to RSVP, call Megan Carrillo or Terie Alonso at (813) 973-7938, or email or .

New start times for Hillsborough schools
Changes in start times take place for the first day of school in Hillsborough County on Aug. 10.

All campuses open 30 minutes before the first bell for free breakfast and a range of enrichment activities.

Most schools will operate on these schedules:

  • Elementary: 7:40 a.m. to 1:55 p.m. (12:55 p.m. on Mondays)
  • Middle: 9:25 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. (3:20 p.m. on Mondays)
  • High: 8:30 a.m. to 3:25 p.m. (2:25 p.m. on Mondays)
  • Magnet elementary: 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. (2 p.m. on Mondays)
  • Magnet middle and high: 8:30 a.m. to 3:25 p.m. (2:25 p.m. on Mondays)

To confirm school bell times, and to check out before and afterschool care options, visit SDHC.k12.fl.us.

Back-to-School celebration
Bank of the Ozarks, 4/One The Gentlemen’s Quarters and Goin’ Postal will host a Back-to-School Celebration Aug. 12 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 4/One, 38435 Fifth Ave., in Zephyrhills.

Students can receive a free haircut, and a bag of school supplies (while supplies last).

On-site activities will include a bounce house, giant games and puzzles, corn hole, a baseball pitching contest, hockey and soccer goal contests, chalk art, hula hoop contests and more.

School supply donations will be accepted through Aug. 10 at 4/One, and at the Bank of the Ozarks branch, 7435 Gall Blvd., Zephyrhills.

Share-A-Haircut
Hair Cuttery will support underprivileged children with its Back-to-School Share-A-Haircut program.

For every children’s haircut (up to age 18) purchased before Aug. 15, a haircut certificate will be donated to a child in need.

For locations, visit HairCuttery.com.

Back 2 School drive
Eckerd Connects, which helps vulnerable and troubled children, is hosting a “Back 2 School” campaign in an effort to support local programs: Project Bridge, Raising Hope, E-Nini-Hassee, Challenge Youth Academy, and foster children in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties.

To support the campaign, school supply donations can be made at any drop-off center. Locations can be found at Eckerd.org/Back2School.

Monetary donations can be made on Eckerd.org. A $25 donation can support a child with either one school uniform or one backpack full of supplies.

The campaign runs until the end of August.

Saint Leo appoints vice president
Dr. Jeffrey D. Senese, president of Saint Leo University, announced the appointment of John Nisbet as vice president of business affairs and chief financial officer, effective July 1.

Nisbet will be responsible for the university’s financial staff, Human Resources, and University Technology Services. He also will create a five-year fiscal plan, including operating and capital budgets, revenue, and strategic investments.

Previously, Nisbet served as vice president for finance at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

Prior to Creighton, he had leadership roles in finance and administration at Ohio State University, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, OhioHealth, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Nisbet has a Master of Business Administration from Ohio State University, and a Master of Science in molecular and cellular physiology from the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine.

He also has a Bachelor of Science in zoology from Ohio State University.

Pay raises elusive in Pasco schools

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Pasco County school officials are still searching for ways to provide some sort of raise for district employees — although the prospect did not appear promising at a board meeting last week.

At the board’s July 24 meeting, numerous teachers and other support personnel took turns urging the Pasco School Board to make employee pay a budget priority.

The current budget proposal does not include pay raises for any district employees.

Christine Goddard, a Spanish teacher at Land O’ Lakes High School, urged the board to make salary increases a budget priority.

Pasco County School Board member Colleen Beaudoin

She loves teaching in the district, she said, but is disappointed that her salary hasn’t improved much in the past couple of years.

“You can’t put your students first, if you continue to put your teachers last, in budget considerations,” Goddard said.

Sue Jenkins, a bus driver who lives in New Port Richey, said she loves her job and the kids she drives, but has to work two jobs.

“I’m too old to work two jobs for very long, so please make us a consideration,” she said.

Cheryl Vinson, of Lutz, noted that Pasco’s pay is not keeping pace with its neighboring counties.

“At my school alone, we have lost seven teachers who have moved to go back to their home states of New York, of Ohio, have gone to other districts because they can’t afford to live in Pasco County anymore. I have numerous friends who work second jobs.”

Beth Vogel, of New Port Richey, who works as registrar for the district, urged board members to take another look at the pay rate for registrars. She said the starting pay for them is $9.25 an hour.

“Our pay does not reflect the work that we do,” Vogel said. Registrars have extensive responsibilities, handling massive amounts of confidential information.

“It’s an endless, endless task. We are not compensated for what we do,” Vogel said.

Don Peace, president of the United School Employees of Pasco, called for the union and school district to work together to seek solutions.

“I implore all of you to be creative and innovative in your thinking this year, as together we seek to provide meaningful salary adjustments for all employees,” Peace said.

“I would also like to ask for the district to consider forming a joint task force with USEP to investigate the possibility of a ballot initiative and to investigate the processes needed to accomplish that task.

“We should be partnering together to message our legislators both here in the district, who obviously have not been working for us, and also in Tallahassee, to implore changes to public school funding, and to educate the public on the need for properly funding public schools and programs,” Peace said.

School board members Colleen Beaudoin and Alison Crumbley responded to the speakers.

“Your pleas are not falling on deaf ears,” Beaudoin said.

“Every board member here, we did set our priorities months ago, and every one of us said that salaries is our priority,” she said.

“We all know that the quality of the people we want to keep is paramount, and it needs to be commensurate to the pay. We want the best people teaching our kids. We know people are leaving. I was heartbroken last week when somebody asked me for a reference to leave the county,” she added.

“I’m sorry you’re in this position, that you are coming here feeling that you have to beg,” she said. “We’re trying. Staff is working on it.”

Crumbley thanked those who came forward to address the board.

“We’re very determined to do what we can and get employee raises,” she said.

“We know this is essential. We know, from the bottom of our hearts. This isn’t over,” she added.

New safety, mental health programs required
It remains unclear how the district would pay for an employee pay raise.

It costs about $4.1 million to provide a 1 percent raise for district employees, said Olga Swinson, the district’s chief finance officer.

The district won’t know its total enrollment until October, at which point it can take another look at the numbers, she said.

There’s a chance enrollment could exceed projections, or that projected enrollment at public charter schools could be lower-than-expected.

In either case, the district revenue picture would improve.

It is true that this year’s student allocation was at its highest rate, but that figure fails to account for inflation, according to Swinson’s budget presentation to the board.

In 2007-2008, the base allocation per student was $7,306. That compares to a base allocation per student of $7,408 for 2018-2019.

When cost-of-living increases are included, however, the allocation per student needs to be $8,528, Swinson said.

Superintendent Kurt Browning also noted that the Florida Legislature tied local districts hands by refusing to allow growth to pay for itself.

The required local effort, which was certified by the state, is 4.031 mills, Swinson said. That’s a reduction from the 4.317 mills that it was last year.

If legislators had allowed local districts to keep the same millage rate for required local effort as they had last year, the district would have $8.2 million more to use to support pay raises, Browning said.

That would essentially equate to a 2 percent pay raise for district employees.

Also, although the Legislature provided more dollars to local districts, they also mandated that most of that new money be spent on school security and mental health services, district officials said.

The school board is scheduled to vote on the tentative tax rate for schools at its July 31 meeting at 6 p.m., after The Laker/Lutz News’ press deadline.

Based on the proposed tax rate, the owner of a $125,000 home, assuming a $25,000 homestead exemption would bay $627.90 in school taxes in the 2018-2019 fiscal year. That compares to $656.50 for 2017-2018, a decrease of $28.60. If the Legislature had allowed districts to levy the same millage rate as they did last year, Pasco County would have generated an additional $8.2 million in revenues.

Published August 1, 2018

Pasco school district adopts new mental health plan

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The Pasco County School Board has approved a plan that allocates additional funding provided by the Florida Legislature to address youth mental health needs.

The Legislature’s decision to provide more money to address mental health issues came in response to the Valentine’s Day shooting spree at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

Ray Gadd, deputy superintendent of Pasco County Schools

The Pasco school district was allocated slightly more than $1.7 million in mental health funding, according to Melissa Musselwhite, director of student support programs and services for the district.

Ninety percent of the funding must be spent to provide mental health services and 10 percent can be spent on prevention, she said.

So, the district has designated $1.4 million for services for at-risk youths and slightly more than $150,000 for prevention services. It also has allocated $123,000 for public charter schools.

The district’s plan calls for contracting with Central Florida Behavioral Network to help the district manage access to mental health services and help the district with data reporting.

It also will help the district with wraparound services for students.

“Many times we refer kids out and parents don’t go. We need to be sure that we’re diligent about tracking those kids and following up,” Musselwhite told the Pasco County School Board during a workshop on July 24.

The district’s plan, which required school board approval, was due to the state by Aug. 1.

Board members approved the plan at their evening meeting on July 24.

“There hasn’t be a comprehensive approach to referring kids out for services and support, and the follow-up and the wraparound with the family,” Musselwhite said, noting she would spend close to $100,000 in general fund money every year for a limited number of students.

By working with Central Behavioral Florida Network, the district will be expanding its reach to community resources that it didn’t know about before, Musselwhite said.

The mental health plan also includes:

  • Contracting with behavioral analysts to work one-on-one with students most at risk
  • Training in youth mental health first aid
  • Training in trauma-informed care
  • Training in Positive Behavior Intervention
  • Increased funding for alternatives to suspensions program
  • Additional adult assistance to help with students who are severely at risk for various reasons
  • Increased data collection to help the district make more informed decisions
  • Refining threat assessment procedures to be sure the law enforcement and district personnel are speaking the same language
  • Adding a high-performing school nurse, school psychologist and school social worker who will serve in a coaching/mentoring role for district staff

The district also plans to incorporate Social Emotional Learning across the curriculum, to help kids to learn how to effectively deal with anger, disappointment and difficult situations that arise.

Ray Gadd, deputy superintendent, is a proponent of the approach.

Social Emotional Learning helps kids “deal with the emotions of maybe not being the best player on the team, or not being able to play nine innings every game, or maybe having to sit on the bench for the good of the team,” Gadd said.

“Those things are upsetting to some folks, but how do you learn to handle that because those things that happen in life.

“SEL is trying to help teachers understand how to help kids to build foundational skills so they learn to manage those troublesome behaviors,” Gadd said.

Musselwhite said the district is looking for ways to embed SEL across the curriculum, “so that it’s not something stand-alone, and that it can be holistically done throughout the district, not in one subject or during your time with your school counselor.”

Gadd put it like this: “What we need is more SEL and less people with guns. If I had my choice, I would have rather have seen the Legislature fund a lot of SEL programs all around the state to help kids build those foundational skills so they never get to a point where they want to shoot people.”

Also, the district plans to add another Crisis Intervention Team.

It has four teams and will be adding a fifth.

“There was a huge increase, a 46 percent increase, in our crisis callouts for the crisis intervention team over the last year,” Musselwhite said. “It was pretty taxing last year on the four teams that we had.”

The teams are voluntary and are made up of student services team members and school counselors, who receive additional training to respond to crisis situations throughout the district.

Published August 1, 2018

Land O’ Lakes High to get more parking spaces

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Land O’ Lakes High School is undergoing a massive renovation project that is essentially giving the high school a new look and expanding its capacity by more than 400 students.

The Pasco County School Board voted last week to approve $1.2 million in changes to the project.

Providing 60 additional parking spaces was among a list of items that Betsy Kuhn, assistant superintendent for support services, presented to the board for approval.

“Parking has become a serious issue at Land O’ Lakes High School,” Kuhn said, and more parking will be needed as the school expands.

Pasco County School Board member Colleen Beaudoin said the additional parking is needed.

“I get lots of calls about parking at Land O’ Lakes High School,” Beaudoin said.

Other items included in the change order are:

  • Remove and replace existing flammable storage building and resurface an adjacent roadway to improve access for emergency vehicles
  • Update interior finishes such as paint, flooring, lighting, wall base and acoustical panels in the Music and Exceptional Student Education Rooms, to bring those areas in line with the balance of the remodel
  • Remove and replace two air handling units and heaters for the gymnasium, including modification of electrical, as required, and provide new controls connected with the central control system
  • Provide new metal exterior doors, frames and hardware for the gym.

Even though these items were not part of the original scope of the project, they can be completed within the project’s original construction budget, Kuhn said.

Published August 1, 2018

Work to get started on makeover of Zephyrhills High School

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A major overhaul is planned at Zephyrhills High School, and the Pasco County School Board approved a contract last week to get started on the project.

The board approved a contract not-to-exceed $396,846 with Creative Contractors to complete the early site package for the project.

“We will be bringing a full presentation in the fall on the entire project,” said Betsy Kuhn, assistant superintendent for support services. “This is just what gets us started.”

The construction phase will be split into two contracts: One for the renovation work and one for the addition.

The first phase will involve building a new classroom building, Mike Gude, director of construction services and code compliance, told the The Laker/Lutz News in a previous interview.

When the new building is completed, students can be shifted into that building and another phase of the project can begin, Gude said.

When the project is finished, the high school’s capacity is expected to increase by about 500 students.

Published August 1, 2018

Chalk Talk 08/01/2018

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(Courtesy of Benjamin Watters, Saint Leo University)

Girls Can! offers hands-on learning
For the fourth year, Saint Leo University hosted the Girls Can! Robotics Camp, aimed at increasing the number of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, in the hopes of opening young girls’ eyes to the opportunities in the STEM fields. The campers learned to build Lego Mindstorm robots and spent time learning programming. Destiny Sommer and Lydia Nystrom, students at Saint Anthony Catholic School in San Antonio, work on programming their robot to move.

Share-A-Haircut
Hair Cuttery will support underprivileged children with its Back-to-School Share-A-Haircut program.

For every children’s haircut (up to age 18) purchased between Aug. 1 and Aug. 15, a haircut certificate will be donated to a child in need.

For locations, visit HairCuttery.com.

Sales Tax Holiday
The annual Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday will run from Aug. 3 to Aug. 5.

Items exempt from sales tax include most school supplies that cost $15 or less, and clothing, footwear and accessories that cost $60 or less.

For more information, visit FloridaRevenue.com/backtoschool.

Back-to-school haircuts
My Salon Suite of New Tampa, 20707 Center Oak Drive, will provide free haircuts, in exchange for school supplies, Aug. 5 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

For every $5 to $10 of donated school supplies, a child will receive a free haircut. The donated supplies will be given to Quail Hollow Elementary and Metropolitan Ministries.

There also will be free food, face painting and more.

For information, call (813) 501-0600.

Life after high school
The Hope Ranch Learning Academy will offer “Finding Your Future: A Game Plan for Life After High School” Aug. 6 to Aug. 11, at First Assembly of God, 36322 State Road 54 in Zephyrhills.

This is a summer camp for students with IEPs or 504 plans, and includes classroom modules and community experiences on topics such as confidence building, communication, decision making, goal setting and problem solving.

For information and to register, visit HopeServicesOnline.com.

Eighth annual Stuff the Bus for Teachers
United Way of Pasco County is conducting its eighth annual Stuff the Bus for Teachers. The campaign is set for Aug. 3, Aug. 4 and Aug. 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Supplies that are collected will be distributed by Pasco County Schools.

A school bus will be stationed at Walmart shopping centers to collect donations at the following locations:

  • Walmart-Port Richey, 8701 U.S. 19
  • Walmart-New Port Richey, 8745 State Road 54
  • Walmart-Lutz 1575 Land O’ Lakes Blvd.
  • Walmart-Wesley Chapel 28500 State Road 54

Volunteers at all locations will hand out shopping lists and collect the donations.

On Aug. 6, volunteers will gather at the The Mike Fasano Hurricane Shelter, 11611 Denton Ave., in Hudson, to sort and pack the supplies.

Volunteers are needed at the donation sites and at the packing sites.

For information, contact Melinda Velez at or (727) 835-2028.

Students demonstrate skill sets
Career and technical students in Florida won one of the nation’s highest awards at the annual SkillsUSA Championships in June. The event is for students in middle school, high school or college/postsecondary programs.

More than 6,300 students competed at the national showcase, demonstrating their technical skills, workplace skills and personal skills in 102 hands-on occupational and leadership competitions. Areas of competition included robotics, automotive technology, drafting, criminal justice, aviation maintenance, public speaking and more.

Industry leaders from 600 businesses, corporations, trade associations and unions planned and evaluated the contestants against their standards for entry-level workers.

Skill Point Certificates were awarded in 72 occupational and leadership areas to students who met a predetermined threshold score in their competition, as defined by industry.

The certificate is a component of SkillsUSA’s assessment program for career and technical education.

William Isham, of New Port Richey and a student at Marchman Technical College, was awarded a Skill Point Certificate in electrical construction wiring.

Riley Klingensmith, of Hudson and a student at Marchman Technical College, received a Skill Point Certificate in cosmetology.

Help us share your ‘First Day of School’ photos
We know that you take them, so why don’t you share them?

“First Day of School” photos are an annual tradition for many families, and we’d love to share your priceless moments with our readers.

Liam Perkins celebrates his first day of fifth grade last year at New River Elementary in Wesley Chapel. (File)

So, whether your school is big or small, and whether your child’s in kindergarten, college or home-schooled, please send us your photos.

The number we will be able to publish depends how many we receive, the quality of the photos and whether we have enough information.

If you would like your submission to be considered, please email us a digital copy. Include the name or names of the student, the grade of the student or students, and the name of the school. If there is more than one student, please identify them from left to right.

Also, please include your contact information, in case we need to get back to you for additional details.

Finally, feel free to send us your photos whether you took them at home before leaving for school, or whether you took them at the school itself.

Please submit the photos by Aug. 17 by emailing them to .

 

Wilton Simpson reflects on Parkland in Dade City visit

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More than five months removed from being one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland is still a considerable talking point for legislators statewide.

At least that — and the state’s ensuing school safety actions — was at the forefront of discussion in State Sen. Wilton Simpson’s recent stop in Dade City.

Speaking before a standing-room-only crowd at The Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce July monthly breakfast meeting, the Florida Senate majority leader talked extensively about the Valentine’s Day shooting, where a lone gunman killed 17 students and staff members, and injured 17 others.

State Sen. Wilton Simpson was the featured guest speaker at a Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce July 17 breakfast meeting at Florida Hospital Dade City. (Courtesy of Richard K. Riley)

In response to multiple questions from the audience, the state senator outlined several “failures” that may have prompted the school shooting — which have been reviewed and investigated through the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission.

Simpson blasted the Broward County school district’s diversion program called PROMISE, which offers alternatives to arrests for some misdemeanors.

That initiative, he said, “did not use law enforcement appropriately to deal with children with bad behavior and bad activities.”

As an example, Simpson noted the accused gunman and former student, Nikolas Cruz, was visited by police “around 30 to 40 times” over the course of several years prior to the Feb. 14 Parkland shooting massacre.

“You had a child who was clearly mentally deranged in a school system that was causing major problems — they didn’t trust him to bring a backpack to that school — and we allowed him, as a society, to stay in that school. We allowed that. We put everybody at risk because of this one person’s rights to be in that school. We gotta rethink that, probably,” said Simpson, who represents Hernando and Citrus counties, and parts of Pasco County.

Simpson bluntly called out Broward school leaders and local law enforcement for not appropriately vetting all tips related to the alleged gunman’s continually disturbing behavior.

“The sheriff should’ve been fired, the superintendent of schools should be fired, (and) those school board members probably will be replaced in this election,” Simpson said.

He added: “When you look at our responsibility as adults in society, we failed, on so many levels, the Parkland kids.”

Simpson also set the blame on a lack of parental responsibility in the case, and other similar instances that have occurred nationwide: “(Many) parents don’t do anything anymore, don’t raise their kids. Kids get home, they get on a video game; they’re on a video game all day — and that’s what’s raising our kids,” he said.

Simpson also discussed the state’s response efforts in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting.

He, along with incoming Senate President Bill Galvano, visited the Parkland school the day after the massacre.

Simpson told the audience: “We saw the destruction — a very tragic incident. We had to work through that issue and make sure that doesn’t happen again, right?”

Out of it came the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which enacts several measures, including requiring all Florida school districts to provide one or more safe-school officers at each school facility beginning in the 2018-2019 school year.

In addition to permitting a school guardian program, the $400 million spending package allocates nearly $100 million apiece for mental health assistance, and improving and hardening the physical security of school buildings.

The legislation also tightened gun laws.

The new minimum age to purchase a firearm is 21, up from 18, with a few exceptions. A three-day waiting period is now required for most gun purchases. And, it’s now illegal to sell or possess “bump stocks,” which allow semiautomatic rifles to fire faster.

Simpson defended the legislation on the whole: “I think what we did was come out with something that I think will be long-lasting. Not perfect, but substantially good public policy to protect our kids and our school system, so we’re very proud of that.

“We were really working 20 hours a day on this stuff. We had folks coming from all over the state — families of the victims, sheriffs all over the state, counselors from all over the state. We were working day and night, putting those together and vetting those things.”

Also in response to the Parkland school massacre, Simpson noted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) has added a group of staffers whose sole job is to take and investigate complaints about possible suspicious or troubling behavior in schools, via a mobile app unit.

“A student now can go right into the system at FDLE and say, ‘This kid has got serious problems and is threatening gun violence or something in our schools,’” Simpson said.

The state lawmaker also touched on Florida’s economy during his speaking engagement.

He mentioned a handful of funding projects the Florida Legislature has tackled the last several years related to improving public education and transportation infrastructure, and also deepwater seaports and waterways — all of which he believes puts the state in an enviable position, long-term.

“Florida’s trajectory is much better than, I believe, the rest of the country, because of that economic investment that we’re making in our future,” he said.

Simpson also highlighted the state’s AAA bond rating, pointing out the state has paid off about $7 billion in debt over the last six years, while also cutting nearly that same figure in taxes during that period.

Published July 25, 2018