The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Local News

Forest Service announces grant programs

By

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service announced it will offer $41 million through the 2023 Wood Innovations Grant and 2023 Community Wood Grant programs, to spark innovation and create new markets for wood products and renewable wood energy, according to a news release.

These grants expand wood products use and strengthen emerging wood energy markets, supporting sustainable forest management, and were made possible in part by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, the release said.
“These grant programs provide opportunities for communities and businesses to develop innovative uses and markets for wood, a renewable and economical resource. Previous Wood Innovations Grants are making a difference across the country, and we are pleased to continue supporting wood use ingenuity that helps our communities and forests,” said Forest Service Chief Randy Moore, in the release.

Eligible project examples for the Wood Innovations Grant Program include:

  • Architectural and engineering designs, cost analyses, and permitting to secure financing for commercial wood construction or wood energy projects development
  • Establishing or increasing wood products manufacturing to support forest restoration
  • Showcasing environmental and economic benefits of wood as a sustainable commercial building material to encourage growth in the industry
  • Establishing statewide wood use teams or wood energy teams
  • Developing wood energy projects that use residues from wood products or woody biomass
  • Developing commercial woody biomass and wood product industrial parks
  • Overcoming market barriers to stimulate wood energy expansion
  • Purchasing wood processing equipment to create markets supporting forest management

Eligible submissions for the Community Wood Grant Program’s shovel-ready projects include:

  • Community wood heating, cooling, or electricity systems that replace fossil fuels
  • Purchase and installation of manufacturing equipment at a mass timber production facility
  • Expanding sawmills with innovative technologies, cost-cutting measures and higher value production lines
  • Equipment purchase and installation at new facilities producing forest products biofuels

To apply for either grant, applicants must be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM).

Applications should show a clear benefit to underserved or historically marginalized people, communities, and the forests they value.

For-profit entities, state and local governments, Indian Tribes, school districts, nonprofit organizations, higher education institutions, public utilities, and fire and conservation districts are eligible to apply.

For more information and details on the 2023 Wood Innovations funding opportunity, visit tinyurl.com/y78j8ct6.

For information on the 2023 Community Wood Energy and Wood Innovation Program, visit tinyurl.com/3hynet5j.

Applications for both grants may be submitted via email to the Forest Service Regional Wood Innovations coordinator listed in the instructions. The application deadline is March 23, 2023 at 5 p.m.

Published February 08, 2023

This staple — peanut butter — offers lots of options

By

Did you know that peanut butter has a day of its own?

I didn’t, but it turns out that it was just last week — Jan. 24.

It’s such a staple in my house that every day is peanut butter day.

Peanut butter has so much to recommend it.

It’s budget-friendly, shelf-stable, and a healthy plant food to include in your diet.

It’s true that its health benefits have been questioned at times given its fat content, but let’s take a look at its entire nutritional profile.

First of all, a peanut is technically a legume being that it grows in the ground; however, the dictionary definition classifies it as a nut.

It also is nutritionally similar to other nuts and is therefore categorized as such.

Peanuts are a plant-based protein that also supply healthy unsaturated fats in our diet. According to the American Heart Association, when it comes to fat, peanut butter is rich in monounsaturated fats, which help reduce your blood cholesterol and contain antioxidant properties.

When comparing the nutrition label of several brands, a standard jar of creamy peanut butter contains, in a 2 Tbsp serving of peanut butter, roughly:

  • 180 calories
  • 8 grams of protein, the equivalent of 2 ounces (most of us should get 5-6 ounces of protein a day)
  • 16 grams of fat
  • 5 grams of carbohydrates, with 2 grams coming from naturally occurring sugar
Homemade nut butters have a different taste than commercial ones. They are nuttier and usually less sweet and salty, unless you add your own flavorings. (Courtesy of Unsplash.com)

These numbers can vary slightly, depending on the brand.

Choose a brand of peanut butter that fits your taste and budget preferences.

Pay attention to the nutrition label and ingredients list, however.

Natural peanut butter must be at least 90% peanuts, with the only other allowable ingredients being salt, sweeteners, and hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Anything else, such as palm oil (a big clue), flavorings, or other ingredients, would make it a peanut butter spread, even if it does have at least 90% peanuts, according to the National Peanut Board.

While similar nutritionally, they technically don’t meet the FDA’s (Food and Drug Administration’s) definition of peanut butter.

What’s the difference between the peanut butters with the oil on top and those without?

The hydrogenated oil, such as cottonseed, rapeseed, soybean, or palm oil, prevents the natural oils in peanuts from separating and rising to the top of the jar, and extends the shelf life.

If you prefer the type of peanut butter with the oil on top, then it won’t have this hydrogenated oil (and therefore, has less ingredients, usually only peanuts and a dash of salt).

One tip to reduce the stirring: store the jar upside down in the refrigerator.

Peanut butter has countless recipe options from breakfast to dinner, sweet to savory.

  • Pairing peanut butter with apples, pears, whole wheat crackers or celery, creates great snack combinations that include plant-based protein and complex carbohydrates.
  • You can boost this nutritional combo with additional antioxidants and other micronutrients by sprinkling flax, chia or pumpkin seeds on top of your nut butter for an added crunch.
  • Adding peanut butter to granola bar recipes provide a sweet and salty combination while giving your snack bars a chewy yet crunchy texture.
  • Peanut soup, sauces and dressings are a great swap for your traditional cream or milk-based staples, which typically contain high amounts of fat with little nutritional value.
  • Peanut butter cookies are a quick and easy treat to satisfy a sweet-tooth craving.

Of course, not everyone enjoys, or is able to eat, peanut butter.

If you prefer nut butter with a lighter taste, you can use cashew or walnut butter; walnuts are actually a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, which supports brain health.

For those with a nut allergy, some suitable alternatives to nut butter include sunflower seed butter, flax seed butter or even tahini, which has grown in popularity and is nutritionally similar to peanut butter.

Just be cautious, as the tastes of these substitutes are very different.

If you have the time and own a high-powered blender or food processor, you can even make your own nut butter.

Just choose your favorite type of nut, such as peanut, almond or pistachio (or combine them for a fun flavor combination!)

It’s easy but can take a bit of time; some nuts blend up easier than others.

If you make it yourself, you can even flavor your nut butters with cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon, salt and/or sweetener of choice to suit your taste.

Toast them in the oven for about 10 minutes for deeper flavor prior to processing.

Shari Bresin is the Family & Consumer Science Agent for the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Cooperative Extension Pasco County.

Pasco County Extension Intern, Syreeta McDonald, contributed to this column.

RECIPE
Homemade Nut Butter, courtesy of University of Illinois Extension:

Ingredients
2 ½ cups nuts
Yield: 1 ½ cup nut butter

Directions
In a 7-cup food processor with the chopping blade attached, pour nuts into work bowl.
Press the on button to process continuously.
Process until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes to 3 minutes.
Transfer to bowl, cover and refrigerate.

Published February 08, 2023

Overpass Road interchange opens at Interstate 75

By

Interstate 75 now has three exits to Wesley Chapel.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) announced on Jan. 18 that the new interchange with exits to I-75 at Overpass Road in Wesley Chapel were open. The new Overpass Road also now connects Old Pasco Road, all the way east to Handcart Road.

An aerial shot of the new interchange at Overpass Road in Wesley Chapel, which now features a ‘flyover’ ramp for westbound Overpass Road traffic entering southbound Interstate75. (Courtesy of Florida Department of Transportation)

The $64.4-million project began in Feb. 2021, with Overpass being closed completely as construction crews removed the previous two-lane bridge and installed the new four-lane overpass.

Located about halfway between the State Road 54 and State Road 52 interchanges, the new Exit 282 provides an alternative commuting option to area residents, especially those who live in older established communities on Old Pasco Road, as well as newer communities headed east on Overpass, such as Epperson Lagoon and Watergrass.

The interchange includes exit and entrance ramps to both directions of I-75 and features a “flyover” ramp for westbound Overpass Road traffic entering southbound I-75.

Drivers are advised to be alert to new traffic signals that are now active at the ramp intersections with Overpass Road. Workers also will continue to be in the area over the next few weeks completing the project, such as opening both lanes of the flyover and calibrating the digital road signs positioned before the interstate on ramps that give traffic updates.

Additionally, FDOT recently proposed a tentative five-year work program that includes about $433 million worth of roadway improvements in Pasco County.

That figure includes about $258 million worth of projects to expand roadway capacity, but also includes resurfacing, pedestrian and bicycle safety enhancements, and other work, too, according to Jensen Hackett, of FDOT.

One of the many projects in that budget proposal is adding lanes leading from the State Road 56

interchange heading south toward I-75 and toward I-275. When complete, the project will be similar to the lengthy exit from I-75 toward State Road 56. The idea is to make it easier for motorists to get over to I-75 or over to I-275. Right of way acquisition is proposed for fiscal year 2024 and construction for fiscal year 2026.

Published February 01, 2023

Brushing up on a children’s book

By

Kurt Weber fought tooth and nail to finish his children’s book.

While it took nearly a decade to complete and get published, the 63-year-old longtime Lutz resident and dentist knew he wanted to finish writing it before neck surgery in 2016. Even if he did end up rewriting in 2018.

He meticulously drew every illustration on every page.

Tooth Buddy and the Golden Toothbrush by Kurt Weber, DDS, is on display at his St. Petersburg and Seffner practices and available for purchase on Amazon. (Mike Camunas)

“I really just wanted to make Charlie Brown, but as a tooth,” Weber said. “I wanted him to tell a story, I wanted him to have adventures and an interesting life that children will want to read about, and if he teaches us a few lessons along the way, all the better.

“You want a simple message for children and sometimes that’s incredibly difficult to do, but I also feel very strongly that you don’t talk down to children,” he added. “They’re not going to listen to a lecture, but if it’s a cute story, and they see the pictures of him brushing or flossing, that will stick.”

That is how Weber invented his Charlie Brown.

In his book, “Tooth Buddy and the Golden Toothbrush,” Tooth Buddy and his new friend, Dentina Decay, teach lessons not only of the importance of brushing and flossing, but of respect toward others.

“I feel it is a very unique children’s book,” said Weber, who has dental practices in St. Petersburg and Seffner. “I really like the indirect message, but you have to distill down those lessons for oral care and for life to the bare minimum because if you say too much, eyes will glaze over — kids won’t pay attention.

“They’re not going to absorb dentistry if it’s too complicated.”

After years of writing and drawing and discussions with his wife of 39 years, Karen, an administrative medicine physician at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Weber’s book was published on Dec. 6, 2022.

Weber, who was an award-winning editorial cartoonist at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and has always been “a doodler” since he was a kid, said both writing and illustrating were quite the task.

When it came to writing, Weber knew he couldn’t be too complicated with story and lessons, even if the book introduces many of the top 250 vocabulary words children need in the book’s 3 to 8-year-old age range.

“There are people in their 80s and terrified of the dentist or adults who are not educated on how to care for their teeth,” he said, “so the importance of teaching these (dental) skills early was my goal.”

As for drawing the illustrations, Weber said each picture, or page — such as the one of Tooth Buddy flossing with the caption, “Tooth Buddy flossed every day to keep cavities away, his breath fresh, and his smile healthy,” — took about 20 hours.

Lutz resident Kurt Weber, DDS proudly displays his book, ‘Tooth Buddy and the Golden Toothbrush,’ at his St. Petersburg practice, where he has been treating patients for more than 30 years. Weber spent nearly a decade writing, and meticulously illustrating, his children’s book featuring Tooth Buddy, who he calls ‘Charlie Brown, but as a tooth.’

“Children’s books are incredibly complicated to look simple,” Weber added.

Which is remarkable since Weber, while a father to his kids, Kurt II and Katarina, isn’t a pediatric dentist. He does see a few kids, but his practice isn’t solely for child patients.

“If you teach a child to break up that colony bacteria that’s on their teeth at least every 48 hours, you’re not going to have issues getting older,” Weber said. “Just trying to teach them to get that brush or floss in there about once a day, that will work.”

Weber knew this message would need to be straight to the point, especially since the rule of thumb is children’s books should not be more than 500 words.

Tooth Buddy and the Golden Toothbrush is 498 words.

And so, with good reviews and online sales, including in Australia, Canada, Asia and Europe, a sequel is already in the works: “Tooth Buddy and the Magical Lost Tooth Adventure.”

“I’m happy with the response to it,” Weber said. “Kids don’t buy these books though, grandparents do. They see them in the lobby, and one lady bought five and then sent them all over the place, so that’s great, especially when you hear that one of my friends, her grandson is carrying the book around the house or another who said her son named her toothbrush ‘Tooth Buddy.’

“That’s really cool! I like that — a lot! (laughs).”

Tooth Buddy and the Golden Toothbrush by Kurt Weber, DDS
Synopsis: A fun adventure involving Tooth Buddy, his soon-to-be friend, Dentina Decay and, of course, the Golden Toothbrush. They teach four important lessons for children, ages 3 to 8. These include the importance of brushing and flossing, as well as the unstated larger-than-life lessons of nonviolent conflict resolution and respect for others and their property. Eventually, there will be a companion website to the book, which will include an interactive section for kids.
Cost: $18.59 for hardback on Amazon, Target, and Barnes and Noble

Published February 01, 2023

Pasco department wins national honors, again

By

Pasco County’s Community Development Department has brought home the 2023 Audrey Nelson Community Development Achievement Award for the third straight year.

The award, which was presented by the National Community Development Association, recognized Pasco’s department for its collaboration on the Family Services Center, according to a county news release.

The Family Services Center “helps families stay together until they get back on their feet,” Pasco County Commission Chairman Jack Mariano explained in the news release.

“We’re proud of the collaborative work by our Community Development team and our local partners to make this happen,” the board chairman added.

The Family Services Center consists of two buildings – a Family Services Shelter and a Housing Resource Center. More than 30 families have been helped there since it opened in 2021, according to the release.

Homeless families are referred through the county’s partnership with the Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County.

The center helps families who are going through difficult times, by allowing families to get meals, receive case management services and keep their children in school, according to the release.

Pasco County owns the property, and the county has a 15-year lease agreement with Catholic Charities to operate the Family Services Center.

The county’s Community Development team was scheduled to receive the honor on Jan. 27 (after The Laker/Lutz News went to press), at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The Audrey Nelson Award recognizes exemplary local projects and programs funded through the HUD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and other HUD Office of Community Planning and Development funding.

The county’s Community Development also received the Audrey Nelson Community Development Achievement Award in 2021 and 2022 for its collaboration on the Vincent House and Rosalie Rendu Residences Project, respectively.

Published February 01, 2023

National economy appears to be transitioning toward ‘normal,’ economist says

By

Richard Moody, chief economist for Regions Financial Corporation, provided a deep look at the various levers that are affecting the U.S. economy, during a luncheon meeting organized by the Pasco Economic Development Council Inc.

The gathering, held on Jan. 19 at Heritage Springs Country Club in Trinity, attracted a wide range of business executives, entrepreneurs, government leaders, elected officials and others.

Moody began his remarks by telling the crowd: “If I had to kind of pick a theme for the U.S. economy this year, maybe even the global economy, it would be rediscovering normal.

“Think about all that we’ve been through in the past three years. There’s been virtually nothing normal about the economy since February 2020, when the pandemic hit.

Richard Moody, chief economist for Regions Financial Corporation, said his firm isn’t predicting a recession, but is estimating that growth in gross domestic product this year will be 1%. (Courtesy of Pasco Economic Development Council Inc.)

Not only the pandemic itself, but the policy response. The fiscal monetary policy created a lot of distortions in the economy. The policy measures have largely run their course. The distortions in the economy, not so much.

“That’s why we think this year may not necessarily be what we remember as normal, but at least more of a transition to normal,” he said.

Distortions in the market are seen in the labor market, the housing market, in consumer spending patterns and in inflation, he said.

Because of this, “We have a lot of business owners, representing a lot of different industry groups, who are telling me they don’t know what they should be doing,” he said.

“They don’t understand: ‘What’s a normal level of demand I should be planning for?’”

That lack of understanding is affecting how many people they hire and how many they keep and also is influencing capital expenditures, he said.

“I can guarantee you, when we get to the end of this year, the economy is not going to look like I think it will now. That’s just based on what we’ve been through the past three years. What I don’t know right now is why that’s going to be the case,” he said.

He expects the U.S. economy to have a challenging year, predicting a growth rate of just 1%. With such a thin margin, it’s hard to absorb external shocks, Moody said.

Unlike its counterparts in other shops, Regions Financial Corporation is not predicting a recession. Among those who are, Moody said, “virtually all of them, they describe it in the exact same manner: ‘short and shallow.’”

The chief economist talked about employment trends.

In terms of labor force participation, there are two large missing groups: people between 18 and 24, and people over 55, he said.

“We saw a significant exodus of older workers at the onset of the pandemic, most of them probably retired and are not coming back,” Moody said.

“So, the question is, when and to what extent will the younger people return to the labor force,” he said.

A third significant gap in the labor force is made up of married females, he said.

“Schools were shut down. Kids were learning at home. The provision of day care services really declined dramatically. Many of them were simply not allowed to operate.

“Females took on the primary responsibilities for filling those gaps. Overseeing at-home education, caring for children who otherwise would have been in day care.

“We’ve started to see female participation (in the work force) come back, but it’s still meaningfully lower than it was prior to the pandemic.”

The mismatch between labor force and available jobs has resulted in wage growth. The availability of more jobs also has spurred workers to change jobs, leading to higher pay.

Although tech layoffs have been in the headlines, Moody said that’s more indicative of the tech sector, rather than the broad economy.

Moody also discussed consumer spending, noting that the demands for goods “has been largely sated” and now consumers are spending  more on services, such as travel, dining out, recreation and entertainment.

He expects spending on services also will level out.

When it comes to housing, Moody said “we think there’s still a lot of untapped demand out there for home purchases.”
He also noted that applications for mortgage loans have been “very responsive to declines in interest rates, even at these high rates that we’re seeing now, relative to what they were a year ago.”

Regarding inflation, Moody said, “what we are seeing is that inflation is decelerating and some of the leading indicators that we watch — whether it’s shipping costs, commodity prices, energy prices, even growth in labor costs — they tell us that inflation is going to continue coming down.”

He concluded his remarks much the way he started.

“There are a lot of things that we know that we should be worried about and we should be mindful of them, as we make our baseline forecast. But the one thing that keeps me up at night is: ‘What don’t I know, that I don’t know? The known, unknowns are fine. They don’t keep me up at night. It’s the unknown, unknowns that worry me. And, after the experience of the last three years, it would be foolish to just presume, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get through this year.’”

Note: Next week, we’ll explore a closer look at Florida and Pasco County’s economics, based on a presentation from Zachary Smith, assistant professor of economics and finance at Saint Leo University.

Published February 01, 2023

Resolving bad behavior by students is no easy fix, officials say

By

Pasco County School Board members and union president Don Peace have cast a spotlight on a persistent problem on district campuses that they think requires more action.

They want the school district to increase its efforts and try new approaches to address disruptive and sometimes dangerous behavior by students.

During the school board’s Jan. 17 meeting, Peace, president of United School Employees of Pasco (USEP), reported that the union has been hearing about “quite a few situations where students are acting out in such a manner as to cause harm and injury to employees.

United School Employees of Pasco president Don Peace

“One of the things that we collaboratively can, and should, work on is student behavior.

“No employee comes to work with the expectation of being bitten, kicked, hit or spit upon by their students.

“Together, the district and the union must take a stand on this type of behavior and protect employees and their right to perform work in a safe environment.

“As you have your district staff meetings, I would ask that student behavior, especially outbursts against employees, be examined,” Peace said, during the portion of the meeting when USEP offers remarks to the board.

School board member Cynthia Armstrong told her colleagues that she’d done an extensive review of comments in a Thought Exchange that the school district did on school safety.

Pasco County School Board member Cynthia Armstrong

Thought Exchanges are used to help the district to get a big picture look on various topics.

Armstrong noticed that concerns were raised about student behavior.

“The discipline issue is really quite disturbing to me,” Armstrong said. “I know we’ve talked about the discipline issue before. You know, discipline — it’s just getting harder and harder. I just want to make sure we don’t give up because it’s hard to do.

“It’s too important to say, ‘That’s just the way it is. That’s just the way kids are.’

“It’s not acceptable. We’ve got to figure out and not lose sight, so that students can feel safe, students can learn. And, I know we’ve reached out, saying we’ve got to get parents’ help in order to be successful.

“We can continue to do that, but whether the parents are on board or not, we have to figure out a way that we can get a handle on the discipline.”

School board member Colleen Beaudoin added: “Especially with these large class sizes, teachers really need support.”

Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning

School board chairwoman Megan Harding agreed that teachers need the district’s backing.

Armstrong added: “I know it’s resources. It takes time. It takes people to work through all the discipline issues but we just might have to make that a priority.”

Superintendent Kurt Browning noted that the district has 86,000 students and that these problems are being caused by a small fraction of students.

“We need to keep in mind that we have so many more kids in our classrooms that want to be there, that want to learn,” he said.

That being said, the superintendent agreed that the small number of students creating the problems are disruptive.

“We do need to problem-solve,” Browning said.

He said it may shock some to learn that the grade level that’s most problematic in Pasco Schools is kindergarten.

The superintendent’s theory is that these children have not been in a structured environment and when they get to school, they think they can rule the roost.

“We do need to partner with our parents. We cannot do this without Moms and Dads. We just cannot,” Browning said. “We continue to problem-solve. It’s probably the most frustrating issue that I’ve had to deal with as the superintendent in the last 10 years that I’ve been here.”

Harding noted: “It’s not even fighting at elementary. It’s disrespect and disruption.”

She added the district needs to nip those behaviors in the bud.

“If we don’t catch those behaviors in kindergarten, it’s just going to spiral, spiral, spiral, spiral. (If) We want to keep our teachers in the classroom, we need to have that backup for them,” Harding said.

Armstrong emphasize the need to take action, to make the issue a priority.

“It’s great that we’re saying it’s not a tremendous number, then maybe we can find the resources to address those kids, whether it’s alternate punishments — maybe we have to get more creative.”

Published February 01, 2023

Superintendent forums focus on school safety issues

By

Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning recently hosted two family forums, with a focus on school safety.

One event was set for Jan. 31 at Fivay High School, 12115 Chicago Ave., in Hudson (after The Laker/Lutz News went to press). A similar event was held at Pasco Middle School on Jan. 24.

In the runup to the forums, the school district conducted a Thought Exchange on the issue of school safety. In a Thought Exchange participants are asked to respond to a question that’s intended to encourage a broad range of responses. The Thought Exchange also allows participants to indicate if they agree with thoughts that are expressed by others.

Steve Hegarty, public information officer for Pasco County Schools, said, in this case, “The question that we asked was: ‘What thoughts, concerns or suggestions do you have to enhance safety in our schools?’”

Pasco County Schools has taken steps to improve safety on campuses, through increased security at school entry points. (File)

The Thought Exchange was open to the community, to students, to staff and to parents.

During the Pasco County School Board’s Jan. 17 meeting, Hegarty shared some of the feedback that was submitted.

About 4,000 responses were received, he said.

“The way that Thought Exchange works is that you can put a thought in there, you can put a concern.

“You can also rate some idea that somebody else put in there, something that resonates with you, something that you agree with. So, you can rate it as high as a five or as low as a one.

“We learned the things that were most top of mind with folks and the things that resonated with folks.

“What we learned was there’s a lot of different ways you can look at safety.

“Some people think in terms of crosswalks and traffic,” he said.

Others think about bullying or mental health issues.

“Nearly 400 mentioned something about cameras and fencing and things at the physical plant to make it safer at our schools,” Hegarty said.

“The next one is misbehavior.

“The way I look at it, cameras, metal detectors, etc., is sort of outside threats to our safety.

“The second one is more internal.

“There are a lot of parents, students, staff, etc., that weighed in and thought there are some students that are perhaps creating an unsafe environment with their behavior in our schools, so that is a concern that rated pretty highly with parents, students and staff,” Hegarty said.

School Resource officers and School Safety got a big thumbs’ up from respondents, he added.

“They want to see them. They want them to be visible. Many would like to see a lot more in our schools. “That came up again and again.

“We wanted to hear from folks,” Hegarty said. “If they had ideas, we wanted to hear them. If they had concerns, we wanted to address them.”

More information on a variety of safety-related issues was available at the superintendent’s forums.

Published February 01, 2023

Pasco celebrates its 90.2% graduation rate

By

Pasco County school officials recently celebrated news of the school district’s 90.2% graduation rate.

“It’s higher than the surrounding counties. It’s 2.9% higher than the state average,” said Kurt Browning, the school district’s superintendent, during the Pasco School Board’s Jan. 17 meeting.

“I want to thank folks in our district that worked very, very hard to ensure success of our students, being able to get across the line. But also some things, such as the way we code things in our system, making sure that the data is clean, the data is correct.

“It’s a collective effort on a lot of people’s part,” Browning said.

“I just could not be more proud of the work this district put in to make sure that our kids were successful,” he added.

School board members also chimed in, sharing congratulatory remarks and expressing appreciation for district staff.

“Right up to the last minute, we had teachers and administrators working with kids, getting them across that finish line,” said school board member Colleen Beaudoin.

Don Peace, union president of the United School Employees of Pasco, congratulated the district for its performance.

He added: “I’m sure all of us would like to see the rate higher in the upcoming year summary. It’s important for us to keep the bar high, but attainable, for our students.”

While celebrating the moment, Browning expressed a word of caution.

“We will see what happens this coming year,” Browning said, referring to a potential state change that could increase a score needed for students to meet graduation requirements.

“We’re not sure what we’re going to see this May. That will be the benchmark year. But we are going to have to be creative and really problem-solve,” Browning said.

During a staff meeting on the morning of Jan. 17, Browning said that Dr. Monica Isle, the assistant superintendent for high school, shared some “staggering figures” regarding the number of seniors who do not currently meet graduation requirements.

“Raising the requirement could have ‘a dramatic impact’ on the district’s graduation rate,” Browning said.

Efforts will continue to ask the state to give more consideration to its required score, Browning said. At the same time, district staff will be making every effort to ensure its students are successful, regardless of the score required by the state.

Published February 01, 2023

Pasco County Schools continues to struggle with teacher vacancies

By

Pasco County Schools has submitted a class size appeal with the Florida Commissioner of Education, as the district lacks a sufficient number of teachers to fully staff its schools.

Superintendent Kurt Browning and the Pasco County School Board discussed the problem during the Jan. 17 board meeting.

Browning said the district has complied with state class size requirements for years, but hasn’t been able to achieve that this year.

“We cannot find the teachers to staff these classrooms,” Browning said.

School board member Cynthia Armstrong said the district is diligently searching to fill the vacancies.

“In the past, class size has been a budget issue. We didn’t have the money to hire the teachers. “We’re in a totally different situation now. We would love to hire the teachers. We are just having to look behind every tree to find them,” Armstrong said.

Board colleague Colleen Beaudoin agreed.

“We’re trying really hard to fill these positions. We don’t want to go over class size. Nobody wants to do that. We’re doing everything we can to hire highly qualified teachers.

“It’s not acceptable to have kids sitting in a classroom without a highly qualified teacher. And sometimes having a class size a little bigger to have a student have a highly qualified teacher is what we have to do. It’s not ideal, but our students need highly qualified teachers,” she said.

Board chairwoman Megan Harding added: “I’ve heard from a lot of my peers who actually have really big class sizes, especially in kindergarten. Really big.”

Pasco isn’t alone in its inability to fill all teacher vacancies, the shortage is being experienced across the state and nation.

While the school district awaits word on the state’s decision regarding its class size appeal, it also has submitted a class size compliance plan to the Florida Department of Education for consideration, in case its appeal fails.

The compliance plan explains how each school plans to meet the class size requirement for the October 2023 Full-time Equivalent (FTE) student survey.

Browning told board members that he appreciated the discussion around the district’s class size compliance plan.

“The state’s process is a little backwards,” Browning said. “We had to file the appeal by the sixth of January, which is the week we returned from Christmas break. So you file your appeal regarding class size, but they don’t make a determination regarding whether they’re going grant the appeal until after the deadline for the compliance plan to be brought to the board and approved.

Although he appreciates the district’s substitute teachers, Browning said, “there’s nothing like having that highly qualified teacher, in front of those students, every day. That’s what makes a difference.

“I’m hoping the department (Florida Department of Education) will grant us our appeal because that would mean significantly less penalty for us. But we will wait and see. We have done everything the state has asked us to do. We’ve made our case to the state. Now, we sit and wait.”

Both Harding and Beaudoin reported that requests have been made to the state legislators to amend the Florida Retirement System to enable retired teachers to return to become substitute teachers. As it stands now, there’s a mandatory waiting period.

Changing the state’s retirement system would enable the district to address staffing shortages.

“They would be highly qualified.” Harding said.

Don Peace, union president for the United School Employees of Pasco, said beyond finding new teachers to fill openings, the district needs to consider ways to retain teachers.

He pointed to comments in a Gallup survey that “include concerns with teacher workload, communication and data collection.”

Plus, Peace noted:  “We need to continually look at removing add-ons to our teachers and let them concentrate on delivery of instruction to students.”

Published February 01, 2023