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SEPTEMBER 29, 2021
Pasco is breaking growth records
By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
Pasco County’s growth has been so rapid that its staff can’t keep up with it — prompting the county to budget for additional positions to address the increasing development. The county plans to add 10 staff members to its planning and development department, two positions in code enforce-
ment and 14 positions in building construction services during the next fiscal year. “The county is experiencing unprecedented growth at this time.And, a lot of that growth impacts our branch, directly,” Sally Sherman, assistant county administrator for development services said, during a presentation at the Pasco County Commission’s Sept. 15 meeting. “As we strive to meet the demands of the customers for which we serve, we are also
looking to — ‘How are we doing, and can we do it better?’— all of the time. Along those lines, the branch’s staff put together a survey to gauge its performance, and to identify its strengths and weaknesses. “The survey went out to over 6,000 customers and those individuals who have literally had interactions with the branch. See GROWTH, page 11A
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School funding issue highlights Pasco legislative delegation
Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Shawn Element, No. 83, of Victoriaville, Quebec, who was invited by the Lightning to play on the team of prospective players, battles for possession with Carolina prospect Blake Murray, No. 85, of Canada.
Avery Winslow, No. 67, of Clearwater, was among the prospects to join the Tampa Bay Lightning. A member of the Islanders Hockey Club, Winslow was invited to showcase his hockey skills.
By Kevin Weiss kweiss@lakerlutznews.com
More than 30 citizens and civic leaders made their voices heard on various hot-button issues during the annual Pasco County Legislative Delegation meeting at Zephyrhills City Hall. Refining funding for area schools was among the key themes at the Sept. 1 gathering. The annual event allows residents, elected officials, representatives of city and county governments, and civic organizations to speak directly to their legislators prior to the start of the next legislative session. Pasco’s delegation includes State Reps. Amber Mariano, Ardian Zika and Randy Maggard; and State Sens. Wilton Simpson (current Senate president), Ed Hooper and Danny Burgess, respectively. Maggard was absent at the delegation meeting. Pasco County School Board member Colleen Beaudoin opened the conversation on education — addressing the delegation on virtual school financing inequities. Beaudoin asked state leadership to consider an amendment that would strike language from a Florida statute that puts Pasco’s virtual program at a disadvantage to the Florida Virtual School (FLVS) program. Current law limits Pasco eSchool to earning full-time equivalency (FTE) funding during the 180-day school calendar, while the state’s virtual school can record FTEs throughout the summer, Beaudoin explained. See FUNDING, page 11A
Florida changes COVID-19 student quarantine protocols Centers for Disease Prevention and Control announces Pfizer booster shot recommendations By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
Florida parents now have the power to decide whether a healthy child should be taken out of school because of exposure to COVID-19. Gov. Ron DeSantis, State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran joined together on Sept. 22, to announce that the Florida Department of Health issued a new rule, empowering families to make that decision. The new emergency rule, which became effective on Sept. 22, prevents the unnecessary exclusion of healthy students from in-person schooling; safeguards the rights of parents and legal guardians and their children; provides health protocols for symptomatic or COVID-19-positive students; and provides opportunities for parents and legal guardians to choose which protocols to implement when their student has had direct contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, according to a news release posted on the governor’s web page. “Parents have the right to have their
COVID-19 Numbers
PASCO COUNTY SCHOOLS* Student cases: 5,317 Employee cases: 900 HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SCHOOLS* Student cases: 9,145 Employee cases: 1,520 *Cumulative for school year, as of Sept. 24 Sources: Pasco County Schools and Hillsborough County Schools PASCO COUNTY* Cases: 1,851 Positivity rate: 13.8% HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY* Cases: 3,841 Positivity rate: 9.7% *Week of Sept. 17 to Sept. 23 Source: Florida Department of Health
healthy kids in school,” DeSantis said, in the release. “In-person education is important for students’ well-being, their educational advancement, and their social development. The idea that schools are somehow a big problem when it comes to the spread of the virus has been refuted yet again. Not only is the forced quarantining of healthy children disruptive to a student’s education, but many folks in Florida are not able to work from home.With this rule, we are following a symptom-based approach to quarantining students in Florida.” The state’s new surgeon general added:
“The governor and I share a similar vision of weighing the costs and benefits of public health policies – and our new rule today is an example of that,” Ladapo said, in the release. “We must make sure that we are doing what is right for parents and for students. There’s not a single high-quality study that shows that any child has ever benefited from forced quarantining policies, but we have seen demonstrable and considerable harm to children. It’s important to respect the rights of parents.” Corcoran also commented:“What we did over the past year was nothing less than amazing – we gave parents in our state the option to send their children to school for face-to-face instruction with more students, over a longer time than any state in the nation – but we did see massive quarantining,” said Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, father of six kids who missed over 100 days of school last year due to quarantines. “If you take the number of kids that had to quarantine, and added up the days they missed in school, in the education arena, we would call that a chronic absenteeism pandemic. Now we have the data telling us that factually 98% of those children who quarantined never became symptomatic. That’s why the previous policy didn’t make any sense.This is a brilliant change, and I’m so thankful for this new common-sense rule.” On another COVID-19-related issue, See COVID-19, page 11A