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Pasco Schools wins national honors
By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
Pasco County Schools has been named the best Advanced Placement school district among large districts in the nation. The school district was among 250 districts across the United States and Canada that were named to the annual AP District Honor
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Roll, according to a school district news release. From those, three districts were singled out — one large, one medium and one small, based on an analysis of three years of AP data, the release says. Pasco was honored in the category of large districts, as defined by those with 50,000 students or more.
Pasco Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning shared the news with district staff in a May 29 video posted on YouTube “The top district, in the nation — this is a big deal,” Browning said.“There are more than 13,000 school districts in the United States, and our school district — our students and See HONORS, page 9A
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Wiregrass Ranch High student wins honor for civil rights video By Kathy Steele ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
Aimee Johnson is on track to become a nurse, a profession she loves. But, this 18-year-old senior at Wiregrass Ranch High School also is an award-winning videographer. Her 10-minute video on the St. Augustine civil rights movement won a first-place regional award in an annual competition that celebrates National History Day. It is featured at the ACCORD Civil Rights Museum in St.Augustine. Even though it was “a very prominent movement and had one of the most violent histories,” Johnson said, it also “was a hidden history people didn’t know about.” She compiled archival photographs and interviewed St.Augustine civil rights activists to tell the story of racial tension and hatred in the mid-1960s. She started her video journey with a visit to the ACCORD Civil Rights Museum, which holds artifacts from that period, including the fingerprints of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Police arrested the civil rights icon in June 1964 for trespassing when he and others tried to dine at a whites-only restaurant. It was King’s only arrest in Florida. Johnson held the document and touched King’s fingerprints. “It was very eye-opening, and I’m grateful that I got to do something like that,” she said. “It’s become something more to me. I’m very happy about that.” The museum is at the former office of dentist and civil rights activist Robert B. See STUDENT, page 9A
Hitting the gyms, to make up for lost time
As Florida reopens for business, lots of people have begun hitting the gyms and fitness facilities again. Whether it’s to take a dip, walk a treadmill, lift weights or work with ropes, gyms are beginning to see activity again. Unlike some businesses, they had been totally shut down in recent weeks, due to concerns about the potential spread of COVID-19. Above, Gabe Marrero, 36, of Wesley Chapel, uses dumbbell curls to enhance the size of his biceps during a Saturday afternoon workout at Strive Athletic Club, 2626 Cypress Ridge Blvd., in Wesley Chapel. He typically works out five days a week, doing cardio and strength-training exercises. Ron Emery, 55, of Wesley Chapel, is on the ropes — working on strength, endurance, and fat burning at Strive Athletic Club 2626 Cypress Ridge Blvd., Wesley Chapel. He’s been a member for 11 years and is there Monday through Saturday, as a personal trainer.
Twenty-three-old Gillian Sanfilippo uses the cable pulls to strengthen the abdominal area, chest and back, as she works out at Strive Athletic Club, 2626 Cypress Ridge Blvd., in Wesley Chapel.
Cypress Creek Middle set to open this fall By Kathy Steele ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
When a new school year opens, Cypress Creek Middle students will finally have school buildings to call their own. Middle and high school students have been sharing the campus, formerly known as Cypress Creek Middle High, since 2017. Beginning this fall, however, there will be a middle school for grades five through eight, and a high school for grades nine through 12. Construction on the middle school began in 2019. “It’s more than on track,” said Ray Gadd, deputy superintendent for Pasco Schools. “It’s as ahead of schedule as we’ve ever been.” Like all public schools in Pasco County, a regular school day likely will be very different from any previous school years. Planning sessions are ongoing for the fall start of school, with keen attention on how the COVID-19 pandemic will dictate changes in school operations. Gadd said he anticipates an announcement on what to expect for district schools by July 1. Cypress Middle School has a student ca-
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Cypress Creek Middle School is ready to open on its new campus.
pacity of about 1,600 students. Gadd surmises the first year enrollment will be somewhat lower. Construction for the school building is estimated at about $43.5 million. It shares the same campus as the high school, but is about 15 acres north of it. With a curriculum focus on performing arts, the building design includes a black box theater, chorus, dance and orchestra rooms. Also, Pasco-Hernando State College is expected to open its Instructional Performing Arts Center on the same campus this fall. The district initially planned to open both a high school and a middle school on the Cypress Creek campus at the same time, but a lack of funding forced it to use the campus for both middle and high
school students. The campus opened in 2017, for students in grades six through 11, with a senior class added the following year. Care was taken to keep the younger students and older students separated, and to provide middle school and high school programs. Opening of the middle school in the fall also required a realignment of school boundaries affecting primarily students living in the Seven Oaks subdivision of Wesley Chapel, who attended John Long Middle School and Wiregrass Ranch High School. While the district gears up to open a new school, it’s preparing for how it will operate safely amidst COVID-19 concerns. Gadd noted there’s no precedence to follow. “We look at everything the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) does, but CDC has not provided us with any pragmatic, practical information,” Gadd said. Figuring out how to do social distancing isn’t easy, especially with kindergarten and elementary students, he said. “How do you keep kindergartners from interacting?” Gadd asked. One option to keep younger students See CYPRESS, page 9A