THE CSUSA DIFFERENCE

of Student Services, Equity and Access for the Palm Beach County School District.

Why did he join CSUSA?

"For me, it's always been about students," Ruiz said. "My whole career, I was a science teacher in district school to the dean, assistant principal, principal and assistant superintendent. We did some great work in the districts and the schools I was in."

He continued, "I wanted to be a superintendent and started looking at the options. Charter Schools USA came about, and I met with the CEO (Hage) and really started looking at its core values and the difference that I could make."

Ruiz became interested in taking on WMS when he visited the campus, he said. The school was much like the one he attended, the ones he taught in and the ones CSUSA has worked with. He felt CSUSA could in Charter Schools USA, the better the students do. That's proven. If we can get the students early and have them with us for a period of time, they grow and do better." maybe not for one of the largest school man agement companies in the country.

He cautioned, "We believe in the K-8 model and then eventually high school, but I'm not worried about any of that. I'm worried about year one."

He points to two successful schools with similar challenges, the Renaissance Charter Schools in West Palm and Plantation. The West Palm school was formed in 2012 and earned a D grade in its first year but has improved steadily.

"It has similar demographics, similar socioeconomics," Ruiz said. "It has been an A school for four years. That doesn't happen overnight. That takes good leadership, good instruction and the systems in place. That's one school that has done really well."

The Renaissance Charter School at Plantation in Broward County was a D in 2017 and jumped to an A the following year but has tottered over the years, earning a C last year.

But Warrington has reasons to be leery. Escambia County School District let Newpoint Education Partners operate three charter schools. Its owner is sitting in jail after being convicted in the largest charter school fraud case in state history.

And WMS has had two previous outside consultants—The Rensselaerville Institute and Learning Science International's School Turnaround Applied Research Center. Both failed to raise the school's grade above a D. After a decade of being Florida's lowest-performing middle school, the Escambia County School Board had only two choices—close WMS or hand it over to a charter school operator.

Florida

But the school board balked, and the negotiations got so contentious that the board made plans to close WMS. However, the Florida Board of Education intervened and threatened to dock the board's pay if they didn't approve a contract within 48 hours. The school board relented.

Meet Csusa

Eddie Ruiz, the Florida state superintendent of CSUSA, sat down with Inweekly last week to discuss the challenges at WMS. Dr. Ruiz oversees the 65 Florida schools managed by CSUSA. Before joining CSUSA five years ago, Dr. Ruiz was the assistant superintendent of the Division

"It looked like some of the schools early on that we had," Ruiz said. "The difference that we're able to make there, and that we have made, is the impetus of why we really said this is something we could do. The students deserve better, to be honest."

Ruiz said CSUSA's methodology of teaching the students is different than what district schools do.

"We have a proven set of systems that we operate," he said. "We are held to the same standards the district schools are, but how we do what we do is different. I think those little differences, those systems help us get our results."

A point of contention with the school board was gradually converting the school to K-12, but CSUSA saw it as non-negotiable—especially adding the lower grades.

"We have mainly K-8s in 55 of our schools," Ruiz said. "The longer we have students with -

"It's hard to bounce back when you make those big jumps," Ruiz said, "That's why we don't promise that we're going to make it an A in one year because that's hard. You have to do incremental growth to do what's needed, but those are two examples."

Warrington parents have heard all the promises—from Superintendent Malcolm Thomas boasting he would make the school the best middle school in Florida back in 2009 to Principal Denny Wilson begging parents to keep their children enrolled two years ago. CSUSA has to prove Warrington Preparatory Academy will be different.

"I know we are going to have to earn people's trust, and I get that 100%," Ruiz said. "It's going to be a monumental task to do this, and so we're going to work really hard, again, for students, to make sure that the facilities, that everything's ready for them on day one."

He continued, "This is not just us coming in. We need the community. We need parents, and we need everybody to do this because it will be an effort that all of us will be proud of when we look back." {in} ty Commissioner Mike Kohler intends to bring pickleball to Lexington Terrace Park in Warrington. He previewed the plans with Inweekly before his community meeting scheduled for Wednesday, June 7.

"We're going to put pickleball courts out there—six of them, because there's none on this side," Kohler said on WCOA's "Real News with Rick Outzen". "More than likely, we're probably going put a disc golf course in there—nine minimum, maybe 18."

The community center will be repaired after termite damage was uncovered. The basketball courts have already been refurbished.

"The dog park, which was probably the biggest hit, is going to be completely redone," the commissioner said. "I think we'll probably have the nicest dog park in Pensacola."

The open item is whether multi-purpose fields or a BMX track will be built at Lexington Terrace Park. According to Kohler, Michael Rhodes, who heads the county's parks and recreation department, would like to put a BMX park in a different location in the county, possibly in the Cantonment area.

"I don't want people to think that we completely are getting rid of that," said Kohler. "We want to try to have that as well. We're just not sure this is the right place for it."

The county has budgeted $500,000 for improvements to Lexington Terrace Park. The commissioner explained, "There was $200,000 in the Parks and Rec budget, and when I got elected, I committed some of the LOST (Local Option Sales Tax) dollars there."

INTERIM MELODRAMA An impassioned speech by Deputy Superintendent Shenna Payne set the stage for Keith Leonard to be named interim superintendent during a contentious Escambia County School Board meeting in the Hall Center on May 30.

Leonard will serve as interim superintendent for Escambia County Public Schools voted to put him in the interim role after a significant number of speakers voiced support for Deputy Superintendent Payne during the public forum and questioned if the board violated Sunshine Law in firing previous superintendent Tim Smith.

"This is about 45,000—38,000 students and 7,000 employees," Leonard said. "You can rest assured every day when we come to work, that's who we're going to be committed to. We're going to give our students the best opportunity we can, and we're going to treat and support our employees every day like they are doing God's work."

A search committee pegged Leonard as the top choice for superintendent in 2020, but the school board ultimately voted in favor of Smith. Two weeks ago, Board Chair Paul Fetsko moved for Smith to be terminated and Leonard to be named interim superintendent. The motion caught many by surprise because it wasn't on the approved agenda, and the board approved it 3-2, with Patty Hightower and Bill Slayton as the dissenting votes.

A heated exchange occurred between Fetsko and Slayton on May 30, as Slayton criticized the chairman for his handling of the termination. Fetsko replied that the evaluation of Smith warranted his ousting.

Slayton voiced his support for Smith throughout a meeting that teetered with uncertainty until Payne spoke following a brief recess. Speaking as if delivering a sermon, she took the board to task for its treatment of Smith, called for unity for the sake of the students, and closed by endorsing Leonard as superintendent.

"I am disappointed because it's not always what you do; it's how you do it," she said. "I thank God for Dr. Timothy Andrew Smith. I thank God for the example that he set. He sat here many a day and many a night, and sometimes he was talked to like he wasn't a son, like he wasn't a father, that he wasn't a husband, that he hadn't worked, so we as a collective being have to do better, I believe."

She continued, "This was not designed, I don't believe. I believe Mr. Leonard got pulled in, I got pulled in, and now we have to find a way to pull together."

Payne noted the standing-room-only crowd that filled the Hall Center. She called on those in attendance to show the same support for the students before she concluded a speech that brought the group to its feet for a standing ovation.

"Now let's show up and show out for the children in this district, and then we don't have to talk about our neighbors because we'll be the A," Payne said. "But we can only do that one way, and that's on one accord."

Leonard has served at the district level for the past 20 years. Former Superintendent Jim Paul named Leonard the district's chief negotiator in 2003. Leonard served in that role for four years before accepting the human resources director position and eventually being promoted to assistant superintendent.

Leonard has left his mark in the athletic arena, too. He served as head coach of the Tate football program through 2003 and previously coached its baseball team. He also quarterbacked Tate to the 1980 Class 4A state championship.

Superintendents connected to Tate have held the position for 18 of the past 27 years, with the exceptions being Smith and Paul.

"We have a lot of work to do," Leonard said. "We have a very diverse community, and all of their points are important and need to be listened to, and then the bottom line, when it's all said and done, we have to make certain our students have the opportunity to be successful in life."

INTERESTING MOMENTS At a May 30 meeting, School Board Chair Paul Fetsko tried to convince the board Keith Leonard should not have "interim" added to his title.

Fetsko pitched, "According to Andrea Messina with the Florida School Boards Association, the State of Florida does not recognize the term 'interim.' Interim is mainly the length of the contract that's offered."

Board members Bill Slayton and Patty Hightower disagreed, and Leonard is the interim after they showed other districts have had interim superintendents. Fetsko didn't ask the Florida Department of Education for guidance.

School Board member Kevin Adams waved pages in the air that he said proved Leonard had a plan to turn around the school district.

"The only thing I would've mentioned because somebody in the crowd mentioned about Mr. Leonard's plan, I actually have it here. He was totally vetted during that process," he said.

"He has a hundred-day plan that I'm really interested to see if he can actually do this," Adams said. "He has an empowerment schools plan that's on page eight, which targets those lowperformance schools. There is no bigger problem in this school district than those low-performance schools."

He continued, "So I hope if he takes this job or he's voted to take this job, I would like to see what he could do in that first hundred days to get us on the right path to tackle what we know is one of the biggest problems in the school district."

The school district has a strategic plan approved by the board, and Smith was ready to implement it this summer. Will it be scrapped?

COC CONFUSION City Councilwoman Allison Patton has been one of the point people for the city's efforts to deal with homelessness. Inweekly asked her, "What did you learn from Dr. Joe Savage's visit to Pensacola?" Savage is the regional director for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

"My biggest takeaway was that we need to collaborate not only as a CoC (Continuum of Care) and as providers but as a local government and as a community," Patton said. Opening Doors of Northwest Florida runs the CoC.

On Friday, May 26, all those parties met to discuss how to plug into the federal government's strategic plan. Patton said, "The more aligned we are with the federal strategic plan, the more federal dollars will flow to this community. What Friday was all about is, let's start that discussion between city, county, CoC and providers and talk about what that plan should look like for us."

Others who attended the meeting shared with Inweekly that John Johnson of Opening Doors was unwilling to share the names of the organizations that comprise the CoC and its board members. City and county officials have said it may be time to reorganize the CoC.

"There was a discussion of an organizational chart, just understanding who all should be at the table," Patton shared about the meeting. "I think the governance structure is critical. I think we've got to get the right governance structure of this process in our community."

She continued, "CoC board is critical. They should be setting policies focused on creating the best system of care. What was evidencebased effective in other communities, let's bring it here. And then, CoC needs to work to make sure that the agencies that are doing this work are all working from the same playbook and are funded. "

Going Without Care

Last month, the Federal Reserve released its Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households report, which found that slightly more than one of four Americans went without some kind of medical care because of its high cost.

Twenty-three percent of adults had major, unexpected medical expenses in the prior 12 months, with the median amount between $1,000 and $1,999. Sixteen percent of adults had debt from their own medical care or that of a family member.

This report matters because United Way of West Florida's ALICE report found 46% of Escambia County households live paycheck-topaycheck or in poverty. When patients skip healthcare to cut costs, dental care is usually the first thing to go, followed by forgoing vis - its to the doctor, poor medication adherence, skipping follow-up care and cutting out mental healthcare visits.

Escambia County has had terrible health outcomes for decades, some of the worst in Florida. Community Health Northwest Florida may be the difference maker in improving access to medical care.

"At Community Health, we're here to take care of anyone who needs healthcare services," Community Health CEO Chandra Smiley told Inweekly. "We don't want anyone to forgo those wellness visits or those primary care visits or getting those prescriptions filled because we know that access to healthcare and staying on top of that will avoid complications down the road."

The Federally Qualified Health Center has 19 locations in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties that make healthcare accessible to everyone regardless of age, gender, race, religion, sexual identity or preference, circumstances or ability to pay. For more details, visit healthcarewithinreach.org.

BEACH PARKING GARAGE Escambia County

Commissioner Robert Bender reports that those attending his town hall on Pensacola Beach supported moving forward with a structured parking garage on the beach.

"As I told them, we're looking at something low profile, probably one story over the eastern half of the current parking lot," Bender said. "It would be set back a little bit from Via de Luna because we have some underground utilities we want to avoid."

He continued, "We'll start looking into designing what a low-profile structure would look like that would increase parking by a couple hundred spots, but really not take away from the feel you get when you come onto the beach."

The commissioner said he is considering incorporating a walkover that would start near the Casino Beach entrance and end up at the Quietwater Boardwalk. He believes the pedestrian traffic warrants it.

Bender shared, "On Saturday, May 27, we had just shy of 5,000 pedestrians go through the intersection, and on Sunday, we had over 5,000."

MIRAFLORES CHALLENGES The National Park Service recently awarded the City of Pensacola a $22,160 grant to fund a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey of Miraflores Park as part of the Miraflores Burial Ground Study.

As a result of research following the discovery of human remains at Miraflores Park in June 2021, the City will conduct a burial ground study of the park's grounds to assess, interpret and commemorate the site.

Cultural Resources Coordinator Adrienne Walker talked with Inweekly about the challenges of surveying the site near the Graffiti Bridge.

"There's a good chance that these people were interred just in a shroud," Walker said. "They maybe didn't have a wooden coffin that might show a slight signature sometimes on the GPR be - cause it eventually degrades as well. And there's sandy soil; when you dig a grave shaft in a sandy soil environment, it may not leave much of a signature left behind."

She also pointed out that bodies may have been removed as the City developed the park and interred elsewhere.

"In the historic record, we are seeing where multiple times through history, different city officials were saying somebody needs to go out, figure out who's buried there, and then have them removed," Walker said. "So there's a chance that the burial ground was removed, and maybe the two individuals discovered in 2021 just got left behind. These are things we don't know."

She mentioned the possibility of using cadaver dogs that are highly trained and specialized for historic burials. "We want to exhaust all efforts and make sure we're exploring everything."

POT AMENDMENT Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana have surpassed the required number of petition signatures to place the initiative on the 2024 ballot, according to the state Division of Elections.

On June 1, the agency's website showed that the Smart & Safe Florida political committee, which is sponsoring the measure, had submitted more than 967,000 valid signatures for the initiative. Committees have to submit 891,523 valid signatures for placement on the ballot.

While the proposal has topped the signature threshold, it still must clear another major hurdle of getting the Florida Supreme Court's approval. The court reviews ballot initiatives to ensure they address single subjects and are not confusing to voters. Justices in 2021 twice rejected recreational-marijuana proposals, but backers of the current measure said they relied on guidance from the court's rulings when crafting the "Adult Personal Use of Marijuana" initiative.

Attorney General Ashley Moody, who last month sent the proposal to the court for review, signaled she would argue the measure doesn't meet legal requirements to go before voters. The court asked the proposal's opponents to submit briefs by June 12 and gave supporters until July 5 to respond. Final briefs are due July 12, and oral arguments have not been scheduled.

Trulieve, the state's largest medical-marijuana operator, has contributed more than $38 million to the recreational-marijuana effort.

"Our investment demonstrates our firm belief that Floridians are ready to experience the freedom to use cannabis for personal consumption, a freedom which is currently enjoyed by more than half of America's adults," Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers said in a statement. "With over 965,000 validated signatures from nearly every part of our state, it is clear these voters share that belief. We are thrilled the campaign has made this milestone and look forward to seeing this initiative on the ballot next November."

The proposed constitutional amendment must receive approval from 60% of voters to pass. {in}