Steve Hegarty

Pasco Schools begin ramping up ‘engagement’ efforts

May 17, 2022 By B.C. Manion

When it comes to engaging with families and the community, there are some bright spots in Pasco County Schools — but there’s no consistency.

The issue exists throughout the district, and at every level, those are some of the key findings in a report shared with the Pasco County School Board at a workshop in April.

The district has identified community engagement as one of its top priorities and, as it attempts to make improvements, it has been working with TNTP, a national consulting company.

A Landscape Analysis has been done to get to know Pasco and its needs.

“Every community is unique,” said Janet King, of TNTP.

“So, we really need to start by understanding the place’s unique history, needs and priorities.

“Even within a district, communities are not monolithic, so it’s really important to look across a county and to understand that different parts of a county have different ways of accessing information, and different challenges and different resources that we need to understand before we build any kind of plan or solution.

“Finally, without this understanding, any improvement efforts are not likely to last because it’s not responsive to what families and community members most want and need, and works for them,” she said.

The Landscape Analysis included:

Market research: Taking a deep look into Pasco’s unique history, demographics, landscape and growth patterns
Asset mapping: Peeling back the layers of who’s doing great work in Pasco and who could be great potential partners
Insights Survey: Surveyed 38 representative schools, using TNTP’s survey, to enable the results to be benchmarked nationally
Listening Tour: Conducted focus groups, one-on-one sessions and superintendent-led sessions. In short, the sessions asked: “What are your experiences? What’s working? What can be improved?”

The efforts included:

5,397 caregiver/stakeholder surveys
Eight parent/caregiver focus groups, including two conducted in Spanish
42 community stakeholder interviews
Five student focus groups
Four teacher focus groups
Five superintendent-led listening tour sessions

In total, the efforts have included more than 70 hours of listening, said TNTP’s King, who shared findings from TNTP’s work during an April workshop with Pasco County School Board.

Vanessa Hilton, the district’s chief academic officer, said TNTP was brought in to help the district to develop its capacity to improve its efforts regarding community engagement.

The district also formed its own Community Engagement Task Force, made up of district personnel representing different departments, roles and responsibilities. The task force includes school board member Alison Crumbley and assistant superintendent Dr. Kim Moore.

Hilton said the district realizes “we have lots of bright spots around the district in regards to our school efforts, but not yet, an intentional, meaningful strategy from the district level.”

Efforts to establish authentic engagement are important because it has a real impact on student achievement, King said.

“Research shows that when families and communities are engaged, it makes a real difference for students. Increased family engagement has been linked to higher test scores, increased school readiness, better attendance and decreased suspension rates for students,” she said.

Assistant Superintendent Moore noted that some of the school system’s challenges stem from its rampant growth. In the 1999-2000 school year, the school district’s enrollment was 46,458; now, its 82,377.

“That growth puts a strain on our resources. It puts a strain on how we operate as a school district,” Moore said.

“We have to look at putting in systems so our community feels that they can come in and interact with us, and be an authentic partner with us,” Moore said.

“Many of our community leaders, they want to partner with us. They don’t know how. They don’t where to go, to connect with us,” she said.

They call the district and they get passed from one person to the next.

“That increases their level of frustration and then they give up. They want to work with us. They want to support our students,” Moore said.

Steve Hegarty, public information officer for Pasco County Schools, said, in general, the district pushes out information. And, when it seeks feedback, it doesn’t routinely reach back and let people know what it did with the feedback it received.

The lack of systemwide expectation for school-based family engagement has resulted in inconsistent experiences for families, Hegarty said.

One of the issues is the variety of tools that is used to communicate with parents.

The variety of communication methods and styles can be confusing.

“If you’re a parent with three kids in the system, you might have three different ways that you’re being communicated with,” Hegarty said, adding that can be frustrating for parents.

School board member Crumbley said improving community engagement is crucial.

“This is really such important work because it touches everything we do in the school district. Everything. It really does. It has so much to do with the success of our students and our families,” Crumbley said.

She’s particularly alarmed by the survey results that reveal the connection in secondary is far below the national average.

School board member Colleen Beaudoin said she wasn’t surprised by the findings, noting these issues have persisted for years.

She suggested the district build on what’s working.

Beaudoin also pointed out the need to devise training that is focused and avoids wasting staff time.

School board member Megan Harding asked: “If we’re trying to engage the community, shouldn’t we have some parents on that task force as well? We need to be sure that we are listening to those groups.”

Harding likes the idea of holding town hall meetings, to add a forum for engagement.

Board Chairwoman Cynthia Armstrong said when people want to know more about a school, they’ll visit its website.

She’s visited nearly all of them and she’s not impressed by the inconsistency she found.

“There’s nobody in charge of the websites at the schools. It’s whoever has an interest in it.

“That just doesn’t work, from what I saw,” she said.

While one school may offer a plethora of information; another might just say when lunch money is due.

Both Armstrong and member Allen Altman also said greater efforts are needed to inform the general public — who do not have children in school — about accomplishments within the district.

When he talks to people who don’t have students in the district, Altman said that many have no clue about the positive things that are happening. Instead, they only know the negative news they’ve read or heard.

Shifting mindset
Superintendent Kurt Browning agrees that much work lies ahead, and added that establishing authentic community engagement will require a broad-scale commitment.

“It cannot be just a small group of people in this district running, managing the community engagement work. It has got to be a districtwide effort. Not only that, but I’ll also say, community-wide.

“Beyond setting clear expectations, the district needs to develop tools and provide training, to shift the mindset,” the superintendent said.

The effort needs to involve “all district staff, whether you’re a bus driver, an entry operator, a school teacher, a principal, a superintendent,” Browning said.

Efforts to develop a plan of action are under way and more details are expected in June.

Community Engagement in Pasco Schools

Some key findings

Many community leaders want to partner with the district, but don’t know where to go or what the district needs.
District communication practices with community leaders tend to be one-way; stakeholders want more transparency and opportunities to provide feedback.
Where there are bright spots, there are not system-wide expectations for school-based family engagement, resulting in inconsistent experiences for families.
A lot of information is provided to caregivers at the school level, but it is not streamlined, consistent or focused on how they can support their student.
Parents want to know what their children are learning and how they can help.

Issues identified
Comments contained in TNTP’s report reveal the school district has myriad issues, when it comes to communication and engagement.

Here are some comments from the report:

“It is great to know that it is blue T-shirt day, but I want to know what my children (are) learning and how they are doing.” (Elementary and middle school caregiver)
“I left voicemails and never got a response. As a community partner, that is disappointing. I hope that they are not missing other opportunities.” (Community organization staff member)
“Sometimes community input and engagement is more of a ‘checking a box’ exercise, rather than meaningful participation.” (Community Engagement Task Force member)
“Each teacher communicates differently. There are many portals, that we, as parents, have to access.” (Elementary school caregiver)
“The communications from teachers are inconsistent.” (Elementary school parent)
“I wish the teachers all shared a cohesive communication standard.” (Caregiver)
“We should have town halls and be asked: ‘What do you think?’” (Community leader)

Source: TNTP Community Engagement report

Published May 18, 2022

Pasco Schools to end courtesy bus rides

April 12, 2022 By B.C. Manion

Pasco County Schools has decided to end courtesy bus rides for middle and high school students beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, as the district continues to grapple with issues posed by a shortage of bus drivers.

Steve Hegarty, public information officer for Pasco County Schools, said the district has decided to drop the rides for middle and high school students living within 2 miles of their schools because the state doesn’t cover the cost of transporting those riders.

There are about 3,000 bus riders that fall into that category, Hegarty said.

Discontinuing those services will take some of the strain off the bus driver shortage, which in turn should help with getting students to school on time and reduce wait times for students to catch a bus after school to head home.

The district is not dropping the courtesy rides it provides for elementary students, Hegarty added.

Hegarty said the district is getting pushback from parents whose children are losing their bus rides. However, he suspects there also will be parents who will be pleased when the district can improve being on time with its buses.

He also noted the district put the word out as soon as it could, to give parents more lead time to prepare for next school year.

While acknowledging the issue is an operational decision, some school board members said they’d been hearing from parents who are worried about safety, and they share those concerns.

At the school board’s April 5 meeting, board member Megan Harding said she understands that dropping those courtesy rides will free up many runs.

But Harding added: “I see people zooming through school zones and students not crossing at proper crosswalks.”

She rattled off a number of roads that she said are potentially dangerous for walkers.

She asked if the district could request traffic studies at intersections on particularly busy roads, to determine if crossing guards are warranted.

“I know that our families are really worried about their children’s safety, and I really am, too,” she said.

Board member Alison Crumbley said she feels empathy for parents and students who are concerned, but said she believes the district is doing the best that it can, with its resources.

On another matter, board members approved adding a job description for a program director for academic tutoring.

Vanessa Hilton, the district’s chief academic officer, explained the position relates to a state grant the board approved in January, and the position will be funded through the grant.

“This position would lead the effort of school-based tutoring that is going to be developed because of COVID. The grant provided by FDOE (Florida Department of Education) requires districts to implement a specific tutoring program using the state resources. It requires specific training, specific procedures, specific implementation.”

Board members wanted assurances that the position would not be funded beyond the grant.

Superintendent Kurt Browning said the position goes away, once the grant funds run out. If the district wants to continue with someone in that role, it will come back to the board for its approval, Browning said.

There are numerous positions in the district, now paid for with federal funds, that will go away once those COVID-19 related funds disappear, Browning said.

“We’re not going to be falling off the financial cliff,” Browning said.

In other news, school board member Colleen Beaudoin told her colleagues that she was delighted to hear that the district is expanding its early childhood programs to four additional elementary schools beginning next school year.

The additional schools are Connerton, Veterans, Trinity and Seven Springs, which will bring the district’s total number of schools with early childhood programs to 38.

On another item, the board voted to increase the price for some meals for the upcoming school year. These are the categories that increased: Elementary school breakfast, up from $1.35 to $1.60; elementary school lunch, up from $2.50 to $3; middle school breakfast, up from $1.50 to $1.75; high school breakfast, up from $1.50 to $1.75; high school lunch, up from $3.25 to $3.50; adult breakfast, up from $1.75 to $2.

Published April 13, 2022

Moffitt and Pasco Schools have big plans

October 12, 2021 By B.C. Manion

Pasco County Schools and Moffitt Cancer Center envision great possibilities of working together when the school district builds its planned 6-12 magnet STEAM school on land near Moffitt’s planned campus in Land O’ Lakes.

Ray Gadd, deputy superintendent for Pasco County Schools, recently updated the school board about a meeting between school district and Moffitt staff members.

“We had our first real, live, meeting with the administrative staff of Moffitt Cancer Center. And, it went really very, very well,” Gadd told the school board on Oct. 5.

“On the Angeline property, as the crow flies, is kind of back behind Land O’ Lakes High School, Moffitt is putting in a hospital and a big research center, and we have a school right across the street,” Gadd said.

“That school, we’ll start construction on that, I think, about mid-October. We’ll probably be the first building up out there. And, we are currently working with Moffitt and Pasco-Hernando State College to develop a very unique school setting.”

The campus will serve students in grades six through 12.

“More than likely, the upper classmen will have an opportunity to interact in the Moffitt hospital, with Moffitt researchers; (and) participate in apprentice programs and internships.

“It would be something that is very unique to the Pasco school system,” Gadd said, noting that Dr. Kim Moore, assistant superintendent who oversees the district’s career and technical programs, was at the meeting, as well as Dr. Monica Ilse, assistant superintendent for high schools, and Steve Hegarty, public information officer.

“We had a very, very positive reception from the Moffitt folks,” Gadd said.

In remarks to her school board colleagues, Cynthia Armstrong said it’s exciting “that we’re going to have a magnet school right next to their campus, which is going to be huge. So, we’re very excited about that.”

That meeting was a follow-up to a previous session between Gadd and Dr. Patrick Hwu, president and CEO of Moffitt.

Gadd previously briefed school board members about his meeting with Hwu.

During that briefing, Gadd told board members that he’d “heard through the grapevine that he (Hwu) was a big supporter of education, public education.”

But Gadd added: “My meeting with him was beyond expectations. I went there with a few ideas and he had hundreds of ideas about how our new STEM magnet in the Angeline area could be a partner with Moffitt.”

Gadd noted: “We’d have to work through all kinds of legal issues, as he and I discussed, but having students actually sit in, participate in procedures, surgeries, internships. Having graduate students and doctors actually come to the school building and teach courses and work with us, district-wide on virtual programs for kids, who are in nursing programs, health programs, biomedical engineering and those kinds of things.

“He was exuberant, and we made arrangements to connect my staff with his staff. I am really looking forward to the potential we have to work with Moffitt,” Gadd said.

Funding for the construction of the district’s planned 6-12 school in Land O’ Lakes was approved on Oct. 5, when the school board adjourned, then reconvened as the Pasco County School Board Leasing Corporation to approve $85 million in financing that will pay for the lease‐purchase financing of that school, and projects Hudson and Gulf high schools.

The new Angeline mixed-use community — which is being billed as a wellness-themed community — will be developed on thousands of acres of land, east of the Suncoast Parkway and south of State Road 52.

Moffitt plans to create a massive research and corporate innovation district.

Site entitlements for Moffitt’s project, which encompass 24 million square feet, include plans for a hospital, research and development space, office, manufacturing, laboratories, pharmacies, educational facility/university, hotel, and commercial space. The multiyear, multiphase project is expected to create 14,500 jobs.

The school district’s new school in Angeline will be designed for 1,694 student stations, which at 90% capacity translates to about 1,530 students, according to a previous report in The Laker/Lutz News.

The school board hired Ajax Building Company at its Sept. 15, 2020 meeting to do pre-construction work at the 6-12 STEAM school site.

The school is planned on an 18.8-acre site within Angeline, south of State Road 52, north of the future Ridge Road extension and west of Sunlake Boulevard, according to Ajax’s website.

“Campus plans include a one-story administration area, a one-story dining and multipurpose area with a full kitchen, two-story media, band and art areas, and a four-story classroom wing, with all areas connected by a one-story and two-story atrium/central corridor, the website post says.

The site development also includes “walkway canopies, aluminum shade system, fencing, walking trail, sidewalks, chiller/generator plan, site lighting, underground utilities, landscaping and irrigation,” according to information posted by Ajax.

Harvard Jolly is the architect on the school district project.

Published October 13, 2021

Worker shortage takes a toll on Pasco schools

September 21, 2021 By B.C. Manion

Pasco County Schools has been struggling to fill bus driver, custodial, food service and instructional vacancies — prompting school board member Colleen Beaudoin to seek relief for overburdened workers.

Although the numbers fluctuate from day to day, a recent report showed that the district had roughly 155 instructional vacancies and 348 non-instructional vacancies, according to Steve Hegarty, the district’s public information officer. The non-instructional vacancies include 100 bus driver openings.

“Our folks are really under a lot of stress,” Beaudoin said, during the school board’s Sept. 14 meeting. “We must do something. Our folks need help”

Pasco County school board member Colleen Beaudoin is seeking relief for district employees who are feeling the stress of worker shortages. (File)

The district has added positions, but is having trouble filling them, she said.

“Grants that were supposed to provide for more nurses to help with contact tracing — people are not taking these jobs. It is stretching our folks too thin.

“On top of that, people are calling our schools and berating whoever answers the phone because they are upset that buses are late.

“Bus drivers have been yelled at. Please consider that you are yelling at the people who are showing up for our kids.

“This problem is not unique to schools, nor is it unique to Pasco County.

“I’ve been to restaurants where there are only two servers at work, and they’re understaffed too.

“We need to be thanking and supporting the people who are showing up,” Beaudoin said.

“Superintendent (Kurt) Browning, I know that you are aware of the stress on our employees.

“Please continue to brainstorm ways to take some things off their plates, prioritize, and let’s try to get them some relief.

“There’s a lot of smart people in this room. I’m just asking you to revisit and remove any unnecessary paperwork, or anything else you can do, to provide some relief,” Beaudoin said.

Don Peace, president of the United School Employees of Pasco(USEP), told school board members that he’s been hearing mixed reviews about how the school year is going so far, from school district employees.

“Some who were teaching MSOL (My School Online) last year are glad to be back with students; some teachers are scared to death to be in a classroom with unmasked students, but have no other prudent option.

“We all expected better for this year, but that hasn’t happened. Judgment and emotions have eroded to all-time lows in many cases, and people are at political war with each other.

“Some teachers have expressed that with quarantined students, political disarray and mental frustration running wild, delivering instruction is taking a severe hit in the classroom.

“There’s so much confusion about COVID and so much changing information, it is near impossible to make an informed decision on anything.

“I think it would behoove us all, superintendent, board members, staff, USEP and district employees, alike, to take a step back and see just exactly where we’re at.

“There are many states where schools have not been open for some time, and student learning has been halted. That is not so in Florida.

“We seem to have a balance of keeping our schools and businesses open, and moving our economy forward.

“Are things perfect? No, not at all. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely.

“And, much of that improvement can start with us.

“Instead of hollering at the bus driver for being an hour late, how about if we thanked them for being willing to go the extra mile to see that our kiddos get to school and home safely.

“Some of them are running three and four runs.

“Instead of railing at the teacher for not getting right back to the student on quarantine, why not exercise some compassion and restraint, and try to understand that providing makeup instruction for students has now become a full-time job.

“Maybe a thank you to the teacher or bus driver would be more appropriate,” Peace said.

Betsy Kuhn, assistant superintendent for support services, has been keeping board members informed about the district’s efforts to fill bus driver, custodial and food service vacancies.

And, she repeatedly expressed her gratitude for employees working in departments with significant staffing shortages.

“We’ve had a lot patience and partnerships at schools, as we work through all of this,” Kuhn said.

“We do have some silver linings. HR (Human Resources) has been a wonderful partner in helping us to recruit, and some new ideas, to help as much as possible. And our schools are stepping in,” Kuhn said, during a recent meeting.

“We also have a mini call center. We have started a mini one that involves district secretaries that are answering the phones for the garages because we have anyone who can drive a bus, driving a bus right now. It’s all hands on deck for the transportation department.

Kuhn said her own assistant, “has taken the brunt of those calls.”

Published September 22, 2021

Parent questions school quarantine policy

January 26, 2021 By B.C. Manion

When Mike Kidd’s daughter was exposed to someone at Sunlake High who tested positive for COVID-19, the school called to inform the family that she would need to quarantine.

Kidd took it in stride.

After all, the district has been asking families to do their part to help stop the spread of the virus.

In fact, he told the school that there were two other girls in the family that attend the same school, so his family would keep them home, too.

Initially, the school official agreed.

But then, the family was notified that the two girls who had not been directly exposed were deemed as being absent from school.

When the family tried to explain they were keeping the girls at home because their sister had been exposed to COVID-19, they were told that wasn’t the district’s policy, Kidd said.

The district’s practice follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance, Steve Hegarty, a spokesman for Pasco County Schools, said via email.

The Department of Health — Pasco County also follows the CDC’s guidance, according to an email from Melissa Watts, spokeswoman for the health department.

But that doesn’t make sense to Kidd, who said if his daughter was exposed at school and came down with the virus, it was very likely that the virus would be spread to his other two daughters, since they are frequently in close contact with each other.

“Obviously if students wearing masks and “socially distanced” at school would need to quarantine, my other daughters who sleep in the same room, lay in the same bed/couch and watch movies, hug, etc., should also quarantine,” Kidd told The Laker/Lutz News, in a letter to the editor, he sent via email.

It just seems practical to quarantine the student’s siblings, when another student in the family is required to quarantine, he said.

Hegarty explained the school district’s practice works like this: “The family would have received a call from the school, as well as an official letter from the Pasco Health Department informing them of the need to quarantine their daughter. That letter would not have instructed anyone else in the home to quarantine because there was no evidence that any other family members had been in close contact with a person who tested positive.”

Hegarty said the district requires quarantine only “for those students and staff members who were in close contact.”

He also noted: “What definitely would not be practical is requiring quarantine for anyone who came in close contact with a person who came in close contact with a person who tested positive.

The district has had thousands of students quarantining and the number would be much higher, if it followed the practice of quarantining all siblings, Hegarty wrote. In fact, that practice could result in entire school populations being sent home, in some cases.

A parent can decide to keep a student at home, Hegarty said.

“It will be marked as an absence. It could be an excused absence, but still an absence. It would be up to the school and the family to ensure that the students don’t fall behind academically – regardless of whether they are quarantined or simply absent,” the school district spokesman said.

Pasco County Schools, COVID numbers*
1,319 positive student cases; 16,999 students impacted
594 positive employee cases; 1,492 employees impacted
Impacted cases are those who were required to stay away from school due to a positive case that resulted in quarantine.

* As of Jan. 25

Source: Pasco County Schools

Published January 27, 2021