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Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation

How Pasco Schools is navigating through COVID-19

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Heading up one of Florida’s largest school districts is certainly a tall task on its own merit — let alone when a world-altering pandemic shocks the system from March onward.

So, it’s understandable if Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning tries to bring some levity to the whole situation.

His humor showed through at a speaking engagement before the Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce Oct. 20 breakfast meeting.

Pasco Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning was guest speaker at the Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting last month at Scotland Yards Golf Club. (File)

“I always look for positive things. I think, ‘You know, I could be the supervisor of elections…’,” quipped Browning, before a crowd of dozens at the Scotland Yards Golf Club in Dade City.

Booming laughter, of course, ensued.

Browning held the Pasco County Supervisor of Elections position for 26 years, from 1980 to 2006.

He later joked and shared an anecdote how he once heard current Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley discuss his various responsibilities and lengthy work schedule.

Browning retorted to Corley: “I don’t ever want to you hear you talk about how hard you work, until you run a school district. You don’t know what hard work is, until you run a school system.”

More seriously, though, Browning told the crowd that the past six months or so have unquestionably been a stressful period for administrators, teachers, parents and students alike. “We have had a rough go,” he said.

The superintendent shared his personal experience of contracting the coronavirus in June.
The moment he received word of his positive COVID-19 test, Browning said, “it was all downhill from there.
“Probably the sickest I’ve ever been, sickest I’ve ever been in my life,” said Browning, noting he still feels some lingering fatigue even today.

“It was bad. It was bad, bad, bad. …I was too sick to even worry about what was going on in the office,” the superintendent said.

He discussed the hurdles that the district overcame to get teachers and students either back in the classroom or learning virtually.

The district gave families three learning options for the 2020-2021 school year:

  • Traditional brick-and-mortar campuses
  • Pasco eSchool virtual education program
  • mySchool Online, a hybrid virtual learning model where students follow a standard school schedule and bell times

One of the most challenging aspects of the first quarter has been the continuous indecisiveness by parents on which learning model to use for their child, he said.

Parents initially choosing a virtual model would flip back to traditional, and vice versa, mainly based on the latest news reports of whether COVID-19 cases were spiking or slowing.

“As we got closer to school, I mean people were just ping-ponging back and forth,” Browning said.

He said he had to plead with parents: “Don’t do that. Just pick a model and stick with it, because it’s not good for your student to keep going back and forth, because they’re going to lose instruction.”

Parent indecisiveness has “settled down a little bit,” but some parents are still “ping-ponging.”

The superintendent also noted that parents who intend to send kids back to brick-and-mortar campuses next semester need to inform his office soon, as preparations are already underway. A hard date for those second semester decisions will be set relatively soon.

“Keep in mind, it’s not as simple as moving kids into a classroom,” said Browning, the changes affect teachers and scheduling, too.

Other school district challenges amid COVID-19
Browning also touched on other challenges brought about by the start the pandemic, such as creating drive-thru sites to provide free meals for needy families.

The district served over 1 million meals, from March through the beginning of the school year in August.

Pasco Schools distributed over 1 million meals to needy families from March through the beginning of the school year in August, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of families who needed help increased drastically, Browning said, particularly among the district’s 36 Title 1 schools — campuses with large concentrations of low-income students.

Many of those students rely on school-provided breakfast and lunch, as oftentimes it’s their only meals of the day, “so it’s important we get the food to them,” Browning said.

The superintendent added the 1 million-plus meal figure is “much higher than we’ve ever served meals before, and I think a lot of that was due to folks having lost jobs, not being able to provide food for their kids.”

And, as students moved to remote learning, technology became a big challenge.

The district issued about 20,000 laptops and iPads to students for virtual learning purposes.

The school district primarily uses Apple equipment, but district leadership decided to distribute Dell laptops — in order to distribute more laptops. The district could buy three Dell laptops for the cost of one Apple laptop, Browning explained.

“We learned very quickly, if we’re going to get where we need to be with devices for our kids, we’re kind of switching over to Dell devices,” Browning said. “They’re not as sturdy as an Apple, but if a kid drops a Dell and breaks it, throw it in the garbage and buy another one. With an Apple, you have to fix it, and the investment’s too great to do that with.”

Getting remote internet access to students was another necessity and challenge — particularly at the end of last school year.

“You know how many kids in 2020 do not have internet service? A lot,” Browning said.

To solve the problem, the district equipped school buses with hotspots and set them up in school parking lots in remote areas with no internet service, such as Crystal Springs, Lacoochee and Shady Hills.

The concept allowed families to park their cars into school lots for several hours and have children complete necessary schoolwork from there.

“We bought hotspots by the hundreds,” Browning said.

New technical high school underway
Browning went on to discuss the district’s forthcoming technical high school — Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation, being built at 9100 Curley Road in Wesley Chapel.

The Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation is being built at 9100 Curley Road in Wesley Chapel. The 184,000-square-foot technical school is expected to serve 1,000 students and is scheduled to open for the 2022-2023 school year. The school will prepare students for high-salary, high-skill careers in high-demand areas, such as digital multimedia, engineering and robotics, biomedical sciences, building construction, and cyber security, according to district officials.

The 184,000-square-foot technical school is expected to serve 1,000 students and is scheduled to open for the 2022-2023 school year.

The school will prepare students for high-salary, high-skill careers in high-demand areas, such as digital multimedia, engineering and robotics, biomedical sciences, building construction, and cyber security, according to district officials.

A groundbreaking ceremony was celebrated in early September.

Browning believes it’ll be a win for the school district, underscoring the importance of technical and vocational training programs, as well as dual-enrollment opportunities.

“We want our kids to have options, we want our kids to be successful,” said Browning. “We want them to be exposed to diesel mechanics. You know what a good diesel mechanic is paid? You know what a great welder gets paid? Sometimes six figures.”

The school, Browning said, is being constructed “with a lot of non-fixed walls” to allow for ever-changing learning programs that may require more or less space in the future.

“It’s going to be a very functional facility for our kids, and I believe East Pasco deserves that and needs that for our kids,” Browning said.

Kirkland Ranch will primarily pull students from Pasco, Zephyrhills, Wesley Chapel and Wiregrass Ranch high schools, but also will be available to “any other kid” from the county that wants to take advantage, Browning said.

Published November 11, 2020

New schools coming to Pasco County

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A groundbreaking was held Sept. 9 to begin work on a new career and technical school off Curley Road, in East Pasco County, across from a sizable development called Epperson.

Then, at the Sept. 15 Pasco County School Board meeting, a contract was approved for preconstruction work on a new 6-12 School in the emerging Angeline community in Land O’ Lakes.

Dignitaries gather to fling shovels of dirt during the ceremonial groundbreaking for Kirkland Academy of Innovation, which is scheduled to open for the 2022-2023 school year. (Courtesy of Pasco County Schools)

Meanwhile, work continues on the construction of the new Starkey Ranch K-8 in the Starkey Ranch development, a growing Pasco County community.

During the groundbreaking ceremony and at the board meeting, Pasco School Board members and school district officials expressed enthusiasm about expanding educational opportunities for district students.

The 184,000-square-foot Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation, being built at 9100 Curley Road, is expected to serve 1,000 students and is scheduled to open for the 2022-2023 school year.

The school will prepare students for high-salary, high-skill careers in high-demand areas such as digital multimedia, engineering and robotics, biomedical sciences, building construction, and cyber security, according to district officials.

School board member Allen Altman is delighted with the new school, as he has been pushing for years to expand educational opportunities in East Pasco.

“That just warms my heart,” Altman said, at the board’s Sept. 15 meeting.

“I can’t tell you how many years that I’ve tried for that. The Recession kind of put us behind,” he said, then it was one thing after another.

The new facility, he said, is “just a tremendous thing for the entire county, but especially that community.”

After pushing for years to expand opportunities for East Pasco students, school board member Allen Altman is delighted about the construction of Kirkland Academy of Innovation, a new high school being built off Curley Road.

In a video of the groundbreaking, posted on Twitter, Altman put it like this: “Things came together, I believe, in almost divine intervention, with the right property, at the right time, with the right people in place to make this a success.”

In the same video, Superintendent Kurt Browning said “you know, technical education is so important. We’re excited for what it means for our students and our community.”

Deputy Superintendent Ray Gadd, who also made an appearance in the video, said: “The school will sit right here, on top of this big hill, overlooking the ponds below and the oak trees. And then, behind us, on the back side of the property will have a K-8 STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) Academy, at some point, opening probably in ’24. This school will open in ’22.

“We’re literally going to put a technical school right in the middle of what will be a future suburbia for Pasco County,” Gadd said.

While the district proceeds on construction of Kirkland Academy of Innovation, it also is embarking on another project for a school known on as School LLL, which is planned for Central Pasco County.

At its Sept. 15 meeting, the board approved a $235,000 contract with Ajax Building Company for pre-construction work relating to a new 6-12 school planned for the Angeline community of Land O’Lakes.

The school will be designed for 1,694 student stations, which at 90% capacity translates to about 1,530 students.

The school will be designed on an 18-acre site within Angeline.

Construction is scheduled to begin in September 2021, with substantial completion expected in July 2023.

Meanwhile, the district has begun the boundary process for the new Starkey Ranch K-8.

A parent-night workshop is planned for Oct. 6  from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Odessa Elementary School, 12810 Interlaken Road in New Port Richey. New boundaries must be drawn to assign students to the school.

A public hearing for the boundaries proposal is planned for Nov. 17 at 6 p.m., with final school board action on Dec. 1.

Published September 23, 2020

Pasco County School Board approves $1.5 billion budget

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The Pasco County School Board has adopted a budget of more than $1.5 billion for the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

That’s an increase of more than $122 million over last year’s budget, Superintendent Kurt Browning said, during the board’s Sept. 15 meeting.

Browning outlined some key points about the budget.

It includes:

  • $704.3 million in the general operating budget
  • $401.4 million in the capital budget

The total tax millage is 5.922 mills, a decrease of .179 mills. Under the proposed rate, a homeowner of a $175,000 house, after the deduction of the $25,000 homestead, would pay $26.85 less per year than last year.

The general operating budget increased from $666.6 million to $704.3 million. The district received additional funds totaling $24.1 million in state funding.

Out of the $24.1 million:

  • $10.1 million is set aside for School Choice, that is charter schools and scholarships
  • $4.9 million for retirement increases
  • $1.3 million for insurance increases
  • $3.4 million for 68.91 personnel allocations for schools and 5.17 personnel allocations for the district
  • $1.2 million for the continuation of costs related to Project Rise, general paper and dual enrollment
  • $500,000 for property insurance, utilities and school resource officer contract increases

The operating budget includes costs for allocations and operating costs for Cypress Creek Middle School and the midyear opening of Starkey Ranch K-8.

The budget also includes $4.7 million to implement the teacher salary increase allocation. The district will use that allocation, along with funds from fiscal year 2019-2020, of $7.3 million for the Best and Brightest program, to increase the minimum base salary for full-time classroom teachers to approximately $45,000 per year.

The budget also includes raises of approximately 1.5% for all remaining staff.

The proposed capital budget of $401.4 million includes:

  • Construction of Starkey Ranch K-8 and Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation
  • Major renovations to Northwest Elementary and James M. Marlowe Elementary
  • Construction of a new bus loop at San Antonio Elementary School
  • Cafeteria renovations, replacement of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems and infrastructure upgrades at various schools
  • Lease-purchase computers and school buses
  • Completion of the remodeling of Zephyrhills High School

The budget does not reflect the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security, CARES funds, totaling more than $14.4 million, which is being used to pay for expenses related to COVID-19.

There was no public comment or board discussion about the budget, which was approved unanimously by the board.

Published September 23, 2020

Pasco Schools passes preliminary budget

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The Pasco County School Board has given first-round approval to a total school district budget approaching $1.5 billion.

Superintendent Kurt Browning detailed some of the budget’s highlights, during the board’s first public hearing on the budget, held on July 28.

The board approved the tentative tax rate and budget, following a public hearing. There was no public comment. The final public hearing on the budget is set for Sept. 15 at 6 p.m., in the board room at the school district’s headquarters, 7227 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., in Land O’ Lakes.

Browning covered some of the budget’s high points.

The proposed total tax millage for 2020-2021 fiscal year is 5.922 mills, which is a decrease of 0.179 mills, Browning said. A mill equals $1 for every $1,000 of assessed taxable value.

“Under the proposed rate, a homeowner of a $175,000 home, after the deduction of the $25,000 homestead exemption, would pay $26.85 less per year than last year,” Browning said.

Olga Swinson, the district’s chief finance officer, explained the reduction.

Each year, the state sets a required local effort amount that local districts are mandated to levy, she said. This year, it was 3.664 mills. Last year, it was 3.853 mills.

“Had we been able to keep the same millage that we did last year, we would generate about an additional $6.3 million, in fiscal year 2020-2021,” she said, but that is not an option.

The district’s proposed budget, a 7.3% increase over last year’s budget, includes a general operating budget of $699 million and a proposed capital budget of $415 million.

“The district received additional funds totaling $24.1 million in state funding to accommodate a predicted growth of 1,933 students,” Browning said.

He detailed how the $24.1 million will be spent:

  • $10.1 million is set aside for School Choice, including charter schools and scholarships
  • $4.9 million will go for retirement increases
  • $2.1 million will go for insurance increases
  • $3.3 million will be used for 68.91 staffing allocations for schools and 5.7 staffing allocations for the district
  • $1.2 million will go for specific academic program initiatives, including programs aimed at supporting educational equity
  • $500,000 will go for property insurance, utilities and School Resource Officer contract increases

The district’s proposed operating budget includes allocations and operating costs for the opening of Cypress Creek Middle School, and mid-year expenses for the Starkey Ranch K-8 school.

The district’s budget also allocates funds to raise the minimum teacher salary to about $45,000, in accordance with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ requirement to improve teacher pay.

It is not clear yet what kind of raises will be provided for other district employees.

“Salary increases for additional instructional personnel and other staff will be provided as funding permits,” Browning said.

“The proposed capital budget is $415 million, an increase of $73.5 million over last year, Browning said.

Big-ticket items in that budget include the construction of Starkey Ranch K-8 and the construction of the Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation.

Other projects included in the capital budget include a new bus loop at San Antonio Elementary School, renovation and remodeling at Zephyrhills High School, cafeteria renovations, replacement of HVAC systems, infrastructure upgrades at various schools and lease/purchase of computers and school buses.

Published August 05, 2020

Pasco School District adjusting amid COVID-19 pandemic

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Whether its drive-thru feeding sites or widespread distance learning, the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created myriad logistical challenges for school districts nationwide.

Pasco County Schools is no different — operating as the state’s ninth-largest school district, and 49th largest in the nation.

Even so, Pasco Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning is maintaining an upbeat outlook in what has otherwise been a trying situation over the last two months or so.

Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning was the guest speaker during an East Pasco Networking Group virtual meeting on May 12. (File)

Speaking to the East Pasco Networking Group at a May 12 virtual meeting, Browning acknowledged the pandemic “really stretched the school district,” but credited district leaders and administration for “very quickly” pulling together a large-scale distance learning education program once it became apparent the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year would be remote.

Pasco Schools was more prepared than other surrounding counties, Browning said.

That’s because the district already had “a very robust virtual education program” known as Pasco eSchool, which typically serves more than 3,000 students in a normal year.

“It wasn’t easy, but we were better positioned than a lot of districts even surrounding us,” the superintendent said.

Unlike other districts, too, Browning added Pasco School instantly pushed out lesson plans for most courses to the virtual learning platform, rather than requiring teachers to develop a curriculum to post online, on the fly. “I think the teachers were appreciative of that because that was less on their plate that they had to work with,” he said.

As for how and when brick-and-mortar schools will open back up, Browning said district staff is having ongoing meetings to brainstorm various scenarios and possibilities, keeping in mind recommended social distancing health and safety protocols. Virtual learning will continue through summer school, he said.

At least one thing’s for sure — traditional schooling will “look different” compared to how things were before the pandemic, Browning said.

The superintendent observed, “Normally, you would have had 45 kids on a school bus, you can’t put 45 kids on a school bus anymore, if you’re going to social distance. How are you going to feed a school of 700 kids in a cafeteria, if you’re going to social distance? …We’re going to have to move and move pretty quickly, so we can let moms and dads know.”

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced Pasco Schools to adjust on the fly by providing virtual learning accommodations, feeding sites and so on. (Courtesy of Pasco County School District)

If there’s one positive result from the coronavirus pandemic, parents and families now have “a greater appreciation” for educators overall, Browning said.

Said Browning, “I think the teaching profession, over time, has been diminished and just had a rough go, but I do believe that parents will have a better idea what teachers have to put up with and deal with on a daily basis to ensure that their children are learning.”

With that, Browning noted Pasco School teachers have done a solid job engaging and interacting with students on Zoom calls throughout the pandemic. “I am so, so proud and pleased where our teachers and where our administrators have taken us,” he said.

However, the superintendent later acknowledged the virtual learning setup has proved tough for servicing the district’s special needs population.

“It is an area we’re really going to have to spend some time in to make sure those kids do not get shortchanged,” he said. “We’ve been getting through it but, I do think going forward, we’ve got to have a more sustainable process to deal with kids with special needs.”

Providing devices, Wi-Fi, meals and more
Maybe the largest hurdle to implementing distance learning to all schools was ensuring all students had access to computers and tablets.

Browning said the county loaned roughly 20,000 electronic devices to students districtwide, which were distributed curbside at various schools.

The superintendent admitted he initially felt uneasy on the thought of loaning expensive electronic devices to grade school students.

Said Browning, “I cringe every time I think of this, because we’re giving an $800 device to a student, and we’re hoping and praying it comes back to us in one piece. But, we knew we had to do it. Personally, I had to get beyond that because I knew that if we wanted to get kids to continue to learn, we had to provide them the device.”

Ensuring all students had a viable Internet connection at home created another obstacle, Browning said.

Pasco High School employee Diane Salas, of Dade City, passes out lunch bags to three of Ithzi Diaz’s children on March 26. Pasco High is one of the district’s sites distributing free breakfast and lunch foods to school-aged children, while area schools remained closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (File)

Even in this technological day and age, the superintendent came away “surprised at the number of our kids that don’t have Wi-Fi” at their home.

To resolve that, the district has issued home hotspots to families and organized a handful of community hotspot hubs in remote areas, such as Crystal Springs. Here’s how it works: The school district positions a mobile hotspot vehicle at a local church or community center, allowing parents to drive up and have their children do complete online schoolwork and lessons from inside their parked car, during predetermined dates and times.

“We know it’s not easy, but nothing about COVID-19 has been easy for us,” Browning said. “The fact is we want our kids to continue to learn, so at least by providing those hotspots in those community hubs, at least we’re giving them the opportunity to have them get their lessons done, get their studying done and be caught up as best they can during this really weird time we find ourselves.”

Besides technology offerings, ready-to-go, prepackaged meals is another service the school district has been offering amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The district hit the 1-million meal mark last week.

The district’s food nutrition services department initially offered meals for pickup five days a week, but since transitioned to distributing all 10 meals (breakfast and lunch covering five days) per student, picked up once per week. As an example, a family with four school-age children could swing by a particular curbside feeding site and pick up 40 free meals for the week.

Browning mentioned even under normal circumstances school-provided meals might be the only opportunity for many students to eat, particularly those coming from the county’s Title I schools (whereby a large percentage of a particular school’s student population is eligible for free or reduced lunch).

“It’s been a lot of work on the school district, but that’s what we do. We care for people, in addition to educating people,” said Browning.

Elsewhere, the superintendent also touched on a number of other district-related matters:

  • Pasco Schools graduation rate sits at 88.7 percent, “the highest they’ve ever been,” said Browning. “It’s not where I want them, but we’re moving in the right direction.”
  • Pasco Schools is one of two school districts in Florida named to the College Board’s AP (Advanced Placement) District Honor Roll, for increasing access to AP for underrepresented students while simultaneously maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher. DeSoto County was the other recognized school district in the state.
  • Browning said the district will make “a huge College Board announcement regarding the opportunities we’re providing our kids,” sometime after Memorial Day weekend.
  • The Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation technical high school in East Pasco will break ground this fall and will open in August 2022. Browning added the district also is building a K-8 school nearby that’ll feed into the technical high school, which is being built at the corner of Curley and Kiefer roads, in Wesley Chapel. “It’s going to be easy to get to from Zephyrhills, Dade City, Wesley Chapel,” Browning said of the forthcoming technical school. “Not only is it a pretty cool building, but there’s going to be some great programs in there that are going to be able to prepare our kids for jobs.”

Published May 27, 2020

New East Pasco school gets a name

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A new high school that will focus on technology, STEM and business programs on the east side of Pasco County will be called the Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation.

The Pasco County School Board approved that name unanimously during the board’s Feb. 18 meeting.

The school is located at Curley Road and Keifer Road in Wesley Chapel on the former Kirkland Ranch property.

Program plans for the school include academies for Business, Finance & Marketing; Digital Technology; Engineering Technology; Health Science & Human Services; Transportation Technology; and Building Technology, according to Pasco County Schools’ Facebook page.

The school will serve grades nine through 12 and offer industry certification in high-demand career fields with a focus on technology, STEM, and business, the Facebook page adds.

The name Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation encompasses both the area where it will operate, and in general, to the school’s mission.

Board members received about 100 suggested names for the school.

Board member Alison Crumbley said there were so many fine people on the list that she couldn’t narrow it down to just one.

Board member Cynthia Armstrong said the name — Academy of Innovation — is broad enough to cover the ever-evolving direction of career and technical education.

“As we know, CTE is changing daily,” Armstrong said.

The new school is slated to open in August 2022.

Published February 26, 2020