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Committee seeks higher fees By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
A committee appointed by the Pasco County Commission to recommend ways to boost funding for Pasco County school construction has recommended a hike in school impact fees. The committee stopped short of initially suggesting the full amount recommended by a consultant hired by Pasco County Schools.
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However, the committee said the full amount of the increase should be approved, if the Pasco County School Board votes to put at least a quarter-cent sales tax increase on the 2018 ballot so voters can decide the issue. In other words, the recommendation calls for raising the impact fee for a singlefamily detached house to $7,175 immediately, then up to $9,028, when the school board approves putting the sales tax
increase on the 2018 ballot. If the sales tax is approved by voters, the impact fee would drop to $8,101. Impact fee rates would be increased by varying amounts for other types of new residential construction. Jennifer Motsinger, the committee members who made the motion, noted that the higher fee is not tied to voters approving the higher sales tax. See FEES, page 11A
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Members of the ‘Catch Us If You Can’ team from Wesley Chapel Elementary School are, from left, Jake Piller, Sam Cappelluti, Isabell Barrios, Mina Melaika, Rowan Heyman, Jason Sherman and Justin Acosta. They’ll be competing at the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals at Michigan State University in May.
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They’re just in elementary school, but these children are already learning about the trade-offs in life. They’re also getting a firsthand experience regarding the importance of preparation, and they’re finding out that even the smallest of details can alter the outcome in a competition. These seven children are members of Wesley Chapel Elementary School’s “Catch Us If You Can” team, and they’ll be competing at Michigan State University May 23 to May 28, at the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals. The team is made up of Jake Piller, Sam Cappelluti, Isabell Barrios, Mina Melaika, Rowan Heyman, Jason Sherman and Justin Acosta — who are coached by Veronica
Acosta and Janet Heyman.The coaches have children on the team and teach at Wesley Chapel Elementary. Naturally, the kids and their coaches are excited. “I still have to pinch myself,” said coach Veronica Acosta. Some of the team members have been working together for three years, which has its advantages. “They can finish each other’s sentences,” said coach Janet Heyman, noting that familiarity between team members lends itself to excellent collaboration on solving problems. The team has also learned from victory and from defeat, coach Acosta said. “They know what it means to lose, and they’ve learned how it feels to win.” Even though they’re elementary school students, some team members take a big-
picture view on competing at Worlds. “It doesn’t really matter if you win or lose. Just the experience — just going to Worlds — is a huge deal,” said team member Rowan Heyman. Team member Isabell Barrios said she’s glad she decided to get involved in Odyssey of the Mind and thinks others should check it out.“Life is just trying new things. It can lead you to what you’d like to do in the future.” Three of the team members, who are fifth-graders, will be missing their graduation ceremony, in order to compete at Worlds. They think it’s a trade-off worth making. Besides getting to travel out-of-state, they’ll be meeting kids from all over the word, testing their skills in a big arena and getting a chance to trade pins, they said. See TEAM page 11A
Raising awareness about child abuse By Kathy Steele
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Learning to recognize the signs of child abuse is a critical first step in knowing when to report suspected abuse. Pasco-Hernando State College and Pasco Kids First Inc., hosted a child abuse awareness seminar on April 20 for about 30 people.The seminar was free and open to the community, students, faculty and staff. The “Stop the Abuse” seminar was part of the Summer 2017 Community Awareness Series.The next seminar will be on skin cancer awareness on May 24 from 11 a.m. to noon at PHSC’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, at 2727 Mansfield Blvd, in Building B, Room 203. Staff members from Pasco Kids’ child protection team and trauma therapy team discussed tools and resources to help victims of child abuse and how to recognize when child abuse is happening. There’s no doubt that child abuse is an issue in Florida.A hotline to report suspected child abuse gets thousands of calls every year in the state. Many of those attending the seminar are nursing students at the college. “You’ll be faced with a lot of different scenarios,” said Natalie Epo, associate dean for academic affairs and retention services at the Porter Campus. Data shows that children from birth to age 5 are at the highest risk of death from child abuse. Across the country, five chil-
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Pasco-Hernando State College and Pasco Kids Inc., hosted a child abuse awareness seminar at the college. Among those attending were students, faculty and seminar presenters.
dren die every day from child abuse. Telltale signs of abuse can be as obvious as a pattern of cigarette burns, or less so, such as bruising that is less noticeable and harder to categorize as abuse. “If you see bruises on a child under age 5, those are the most concerning,” said Jon Wisenbaker, program manager for Pasco Kids’ child protection team. Pasco Kids’ child protection and trauma teams work with the protection investigators at the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. They do assessments on physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and high-risk cases. Referrals are made by child protective investigators or law enforcement, but can’t be made directly by the general public. Not every reported injury is due to child abuse, however. “Kids do get accidental injuries all the time,” Wisenbaker said. “That’s where we come into the picture to make that decision.” The location and pattern of bruises can
be telling, said Julie Nadkarni, pediatric nurse practitioner with Pasco Kids’ child protection team. Bruising, especially pattern bruising, on the inner thigh, upper arms, buttocks and sides of the face, ears and neck can be signs of abuse, Nadkarni said. Bruises behind a child’s ear generally aren’t seen. “When they fall, their ears don’t typically hit the ground,” she added. Nadkarni showed slides of children with clear signs of abuse, including ligature marks, cigarette burns and scalded feet. Bite marks, particularly by adults, are often associated with sexual abuse, she said. Pasco Kids also sees children suffering from neglect and malnutrition. The mission of Pasco Kids, however, is to keep families together, if possible. “The goal is always to strengthen the family because overall that is where a child See ABUSE, page 11A