TOLD YOU SO

from Inweekly Aug. 10 2023 Issue

winners losers

In May, I wrote about the intended and unintended consequences of the "anti-woke" laws passed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Last week, we saw another consequence when the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) tried to get the College Board to drop lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from its Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology. Students, parents, teachers and school districts were left scrambling for alternatives with school opening less than a week away.

By late Friday, the crisis appeared to be resolved, but the melodrama made parents, students and teachers unsure what the future holds.

The mess began when FDOE notified school superintendents that AP Psychology could not be offered unless the lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity were deleted. When the College Board—which develops the AP courses—learned of FDOE's notification, it issued a statement Thursday, Aug. 3, reiterating its position that AP Psychology, which gives students college credit if completed successfully, would not be given to Florida public high school students if all 40 lessons weren't taught.

"This element of the framework is not new: gender and sexual orientation have been part of AP Psychology since the course launched 30 years ago," stated the College Board. "As we shared in June, we cannot modify AP Psychology in response to regulations that would censor college-level standards for credit, placement and career readiness."

In 2022, the Florida Legislature passed its "Don't Say Gay" law, which prohibited the instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in grades kindergarten through third grade. This spring, the lawmakers expanded the ban to cover all grades. In May, FDOE instructed the College Board to review all its courses to ensure they comply with Florida law. The College Board refused to alter the AP psychology course, which had been taught at 562 Florida high schools.

The Escambia County School Board did a horrible job communicating what was happening with the course. Last week, rumors began to fly as students and their parents scrambled to find other alternatives. Our reporter tried to run down a rumor that the school board had voted to eliminate the class. Then, the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday afternoon broke the story that the AP Psychology was being dropped statewide, not just in Escambia County.

In a statement on the College Board website, the AP Psychology Development Committee explained that the AP course is developmentally appropriate for students and families choosing college-level work.

"College-level introductory psychology students will encounter gender and sexual orientation as topics of study," according to the committee's statement. "Psychology graduates go on to pursue a range of careers and must be able to successfully navigate professional environments that will require familiarity with these concepts."

FDOE, of course, blamed the College Board.

FDOE spokeswoman Cassandra Palelis told The News Service of Florida that her department didn't 'ban' the course and accused the College Board of playing games.

The Escambia County School Board didn't know how to handle the crisis. The district announced Friday afternoon that it would temporarily remove AP Psychology as a course option "to avoid putting our employees in an untenable position in which they would potentially have to choose between jeopardizing their certification for violating state law and offering a course which would not be endorsed for the opportunity to earn college credit."

But later Friday, Education Commissioner Manny Diaz blinked and issued a statement, "AP Psychology can be taught in its entirety in a manner that is age and developmentally appropriate, and the course remains listed in our course catalog."

Is the crisis really resolved? The College Board was still seeking more clarity as I wrote this column. I expect FDOE will eventually come up with an alternative to AP courses and require all state universities to accept it. State lawmakers may even ban gender and sexual orientation lessons at the college level.

And none of it will make gender and sexual orientation discussions disappear from the rest of the world. {in} rick@inweekly.net

Port Gets Another Grant

The Port of Pensacola was awarded an additional $2.625 million in state funding for the Maritime Center of Excellence, marking the final funding piece needed to complete the project that will serve as the permanent headquarters for American Magic.

This funding is in addition to the $3.9 million from Gov. Ron DeSantis' Florida Job Growth Grant Fund and $8.5 million approved by Triumph Gulf Coast for the design, renovation and completion of the partially finished Warehouse 10.

"This is another exciting step toward making Pensacola the sailing capital of the United States, and I can't wait to see this world-class facility come to life at the Port of Pensacola," said Mayor D.C. Reeves.

The $2,625,000 was awarded to the Port of Pensacola through the Florida Seaport Transportation Economic Development program to construct a dock complex for use by the Maritime Center of Excellence and other port users.

The permanent relocation of American Magic will create 170 jobs in the advanced manufacturing, engineering and design, and high-tech research and development sectors.

state courts alleged negligence by the company in not properly securing the barges.

Attorneys from Levin Papantonio Rafferty; Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz; and Beggs & Lane represented the claimants in the case.

Skanska sought to limit its liability by filing petitions in federal court under a law first passed in 1851, known as the Limitations Act. That law was designed to help ship owners limit damages from alleged negligence if they could show they had "neither privity nor knowledge of the negligent acts at issue." The law limits damages to the value of ships and cargo.

In December 2021, Federal Judge Lacey Collier ruled that Skanska should not be shielded by the law, which allowed state-court lawsuits to move forward. The contractor appealed the decision, claiming Judge Collier should have decided whether the company was liable for each claim before determining a right to limit liability, and the businesses' claims about economic losses should be dismissed.

The three-judge panel wasn't impressed with Skanska's arguments.

He expects Skanska to continue to fight the lawsuits. Barr said, "They have video of their barge hitting the Pensacola Bay Fishing Pier, knocking it down. I mean, it's clearly them, and they're clearly liable. They won't even talk to us about it."

He added, "I have multiple cases like that where it's clearly their barge. We found a barge in the person's backyard after it hit their house. They won't talk to us about that case. This is not a company that's in a good place as far as taking care of the wrongs."

WE'RE NO. 1 Pensacola Medical Examiner District has the state's highest per capita opioid death rate. The district includes Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties.

On Wednesday, Aug. 2, Attorney General Moody and law enforcement leaders held a press conference in Pensacola to warn residents about the dangers of using illicit substances and what local and state agencies are doing to combat it.

from about 5,000 cars a day in 2019—when the Florida Department of Transportation studied the traffic flow—to closer to 12,000 four years later, according to the most recent study.

"In my opinion, at the very least, we have to be able to understand why we went from 5,000 to 12,000, if we really did," said District 1 Councilwoman Jennifer Brahier. "Was it a mistake in data, or is there a trend that we need to pay attention to before we go changing roads? Those are the simple questions right there. So I agree that there needs to be more shaken out of this so that we understand what has happened."

She pointed out that Langley Avenue, which had 13,000 cars daily in 2019, has added a roundabout and stop signs. She wants to know if that has sent more drivers to Summit Boulevard.

At his presser Aug. 1, Mayor Reeves said he is waiting for city staff to compile the input from the city's two input sessions concerning Summit Boulevard. He wants to review and analyze it, along with the Active Transportation Plan—which the city paid $200,000 to complete, before making any decision about Summit Boulevard.

SKANSKA LOSES

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Skanska USA's attempt to limit liability after its barges broke loose and damaged the Pensacola Bay Bridge during Hurricane Sally in 2020.

Locals consider the 40-page decision a victory for those who have filed lawsuits in state courts against the construction company. Some of the lawsuits involve property damaged by the barges, but most cases are businesses, such as Bagelheads, Flowers by Yoko and The Dog House Deli—claiming they lost money because of the bridge closure.

Hurricane Sally made landfall in September 2020 as a Category 2 storm near Gulf Shores. At the time, Skanska USA Civil Southeast Inc., part of Skanska USA, Inc., had a state contract to build a new Pensacola Bay Bridge. Twenty-eight barges broke free during the storm, causing damage to the bridge and bayfront properties, according to court documents. The lawsuits filed in

"Under the Limitation Act, Skanska had a right to have the issue of limitation litigated by a federal court," according to the decision, written by Judge Britt Grant and joined by Judges Elizabeth Branch and Harvey Schlesinger. "That's exactly what Skanska got. The claimants now have the right to determine where any subsequent litigation about the damage caused by Skanska's barges during Hurricane Sally will occur. And Skanska has failed to show any other reason why the district court's dismissal of its petitions should be reversed."

Levin Papantonio Rafferty partner Brian Barr expects Skanska to either ask the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear its case or appeal it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, he and the other law firms will move to have their lawsuits heard in state court.

"Skanska needs to be careful going back and forth to the Supreme Court, because we've seen in recent history that the Supreme Court doesn't care as much about prior precedent as it used to," Barr said.

"The national opioid crisis, bolstered by deadly fentanyl from Mexico and China, continues to claim lives in Florida—with the Pensacola Medical Examiner District being hit the hardest on a per capita basis," Moody said.

She encouraged anyone struggling with addiction to seek help immediately. Resources can be found at DoseofRealityFL.com.

The statistics she shared were a year old, from January-June 2022. In August 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis launched the CORE (Coordinated Opioid Recovery) network of addiction care in Escambia County.

The Medical Examiner's interim report showed the state average per capita opioid-related death rate was 21 deaths per 100,000 residents, while Pensacola District's rate doubled that, at 42 deaths per 100,000. Of the 349 opioidrelated deaths in the local district, 60% involved fentanyl. The Pensacola Medical Examiner District was second only to Daytona Beach District in fentanyl deaths per capita.

SUMMIT TRAFFIC COUNT At the District 1 town hall last month, citizens questioned how the traffic count for Summit Boulevard increased

"I think it's prudent for us, before we make any decisions on Summit or Ninth Avenue or anywhere else, to look at what is the greatest need of investment in terms of creating an active transportation plan, and where are we having the most fatalities and injuries."

GAETZ'S FAKE BATTLE Last week, Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Fort Walton Beach) sent out a request for campaign contributions, claiming he has been targeted by The Lincoln Project, a political action committee made up of former and current moderate Republicans.

He wrote, "A Super PAC being run by the Lincoln Project's Leftovers has even launched a sixfigure effort to take my seat!"

Ryan Wiggins, the chief of staff for The Lincoln Project, responded, "This is the first I had heard about it. I wrote my team, 'Hey, are we launching the six-figure campaign to take Matt's seat? It's going to take more than six figures, and it'd be nice for y'all to tell the chief of staff these things.' It turned out, no, not at all."

Wiggins added, "We don't know who would be. It's funny, we get people fundraising off of us all the time, but the way we operate, we are trying to move between 7-12% of the voting population. I'm not trying to take Matt Gaetz's seat. I'm trying to make Matt Gaetz irrelevant by taking back the House and taking his president away."

RIP MALCOLM YONGE CENTER Mayor Reeves isn't ready to say that the Malcolm Yonge Center should be demolished, but he's close.

"I'm not going to say anything definitive, but what I'll tell you is, logically speaking, it's hard to envision a different track than that," he told Inweekly. "I mean, just given the fact of the immense amount of work that it would need to fix it up."

He continued, "We have not fully committed to that until we get that price. We're trying to be smart about this, but I just don't, at the end of the day, think that's probably the direction we're going to end up going."

MORE THAN A RED LINE Michael Carro, founder of the America's First Settlement (A1S) Trail, is much more than the red line people see in downtown Pensacola.

"The red line depicts where the trail is and helps guide people through our downtown and history," he said. "But we are working with Ross Pristera of the University of West Florida. Historic Trust is working on the education plan for the Florida school systems."

He continued, "We are planning a classroom study from fifth through eighth grades so that those teachers can have their field trip on the trail, and each grade will probably do a different part of the trail that they can learn about our rich history."

READY FOR SCHOOL YEAR Escambia County Public Schools (ECPS) are bucking the national and state trends of teaching vacancies. At the end of the last school year, ECPS projected they would need to fill 340 teacher vacancies. District officials report that only 47 openings remained by July 31, and administrators say they're confident those remaining positions would be filled by the time students return to the classroom Thursday, Aug. 10.

The Florida Education Association reported 5,294 teacher vacancies in January, a stark increase from 2,219 four years ago. At the national level, nearly three-fourths of principals and district officials said that the number of teaching applicants was insufficient to fill their open positions, according to a summer survey by Education Week.

"Our hiring process is ongoing and robust," said Melia Adams, ECPS director of human resource services, in the district's press release. "We have a strong pool of substitute teachers ready to step in as needed to fill any remaining vacancies."

The district is also filling vacant bus driver positions, even as many school districts struggle to do so. The FEA reported in January that Florida schools had 4,631 vacant support staff positions, a category that includes bus drivers.

Darlene Hart, ECSP director of transportation, said that the district had just 11 routes without drivers and was actively recruiting for these positions via job fairs, billboards and community events. However, existing employees and community members have volunteered to cover the routes.

"People from the community, as well as people in other positions throughout the district, are helping us to make sure that students are transported to school," she said. "On the first day of school, we're going to be covered."

First Turtle Hatchlings

On Tuesday, Aug. 1, Escambia County celebrated the first sea turtle hatches of the season on Pensacola Beach and Perdido Key. Aided by the full moon, more than 160 loggerhead hatchlings safely made their way to the Gulf of Mexico from the first of two nests on Perdido Key and 13 on Pensacola Beach.

While local numbers are lower than expected, the region overall is having a strong nesting year. A higher number of green and Kemp's ridley nests are being reported alongside the more common loggerhead.

The full moon contributed to a near-perfect hatch, as it guided hatchlings directly to the Gulf without disorientation by artificial light. Hatchlings use the reflected light of the moon and stars off the water to orient themselves toward the Gulf. Sixty percent of hatchlings on county beaches become disoriented by artificial light sources. Hatchlings that don't reach the water quickly experience a higher risk of starvation, dehydration and death.

If you see a nest hatching or encounter hatchlings turtles on the beach, stay a respectful distance away and call Escambia County Marine Resources at (850) 426-1257. For more information, visit MyEscambia.com/seaturtles.

UNITED WAY GRANTS United Way of West Florida is introducing mini grants for nonprofit organizations in Santa Rosa County and Escambia County. The new initiative will provide funding of up to $5,000 to agencies seeking to develop their organizational structure, pursue short-term organization development goals or execute a one-time project.

"We are particularly interested in supporting grassroots agencies making a positive impact on marginalized communities residing in hard-toreach areas with limited resources," said United Way of West Florida CEO Laura Gilliam. "We are committed to becoming more accessible to these types of nonprofit agencies in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties."

To be eligible, agencies must be registered as a 501(c)3 organization focusing on education, health and financial stability services. They must demonstrate financial trustworthiness, maintain an active board of directors and operate with an organizational revenue less than $250,000. The mini grant application period is open until Aug. 31, 2023. Visit uwwf.org/mini-grant-application for more information on the process and application.

For further information, contact Mary Zaledonis at mary.zaledonis@uwwf.org. {in}

If you're an Inweekly regular, you might have noticed we're publishing our annual Best of the Coast issue a little earlier this year. A lot of factors played into this change in our editorial calendar—but the biggest one was that we just couldn't wait to see what and who everyone is loving around town right now.

Thankfully, you still voted even though we switched things up, and tallying all 16,000 of your ballots gave us the perfect excuse to stay indoors the bulk of June and July. So thank you for that. If you're reading this issue in print, you've probably noticed it's about four times

Art by Poppy Garcia @thepoppygarcia / theartofpoppygarcia.com / etsy.com/shop/theartofpoppygarcia

the size of a typical Inweekly. Of course, we can only produce Best of the Coast because of ad dollars. So to each and every business that said "yes" to advertising, thank you, too.

You might also have noticed that this issue features some very special art by local creator, curator and collaborator Poppy Garcia. In addition to being voted Best Artist (again), Poppy is also one of the best people we know and we are thrilled to showcase these custom pieces.

And even 88 pages isn't enough, so make sure you tune in next week for Rest of the Best, where we celebrate the runners-up. {in}