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Browning: Schools must improve By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
When the state released its school grades last month, the news wasn’t good for numerous Pasco County schools, or for the district itself. “The Friday that grades were released, it was not a good day for me. Nor the district,” Superintendent Kurt Browning said at a school board workshop on the issue on Aug. 2. The state’s report showed a number of Pasco schools slipping a grade, and the district, itself, slipping from a B to a C. On one hand, Browning said, school grades don’t paint a complete picture of a school. “There’s a lot more that goes into a
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school than just a single school grade,” he said. On the other hand, he noted: “People judge the quality of a school based on the school grade, and I get that.” Kurt Browning There were changes in the way the grades were calculated this year, Browning said. But he added:“You had 66 other districts that were operating under the same rules.” The district is assessing where it is and why it saw changes, particularly in the increase of C and D schools, Browning said. “We are really trying to assess why we
are where we are,” Browning said. “We were at 34 (34th in the state) when I took office. We went to 33. Now, we’re at 39,” he said. “Anyway you cut it, slice it or dice it, we’re 39th – and that is not something that appeals to me at all. “I do think there are things that we can do, that will move the needle,” Browning said. But he noted, there are no easy fixes. “I learned a long time ago that the art of educating kids is not like building a widget. You don’t start out with a table full of parts, and at the end of the assembly line they all look the same and function the same,” he said. At the same time, “we have got to think See BROWNING, page 11A
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Students stream out of the portable classrooms at Wiregrass Ranch High School during a class change last school year. The school will again have a 10-period day, to relieve crowding on campus by staggering the time that students arrive and leave the campus.
Pasco prepping to ring in a new school year By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
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Teachers headed back to Pasco County Schools this week to prepare for the first day of school on Aug. 15. Opening day is a big deal on every campus every year, but it will be especially meaningful at Wiregrass Elementary School, at 29732 Wiregrass School Road in Wesley Chapel because that school is having its “first” first day. The mood across campus during a teacher move-in day last week offered a glimpse into the significance. People were focused on getting things ready — but there was an obvious excitement, too. Like many schools,Wiregrass been counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until school starts. This label is above the ticking clock on
its website: “Countdown until Wiregrass Elementary changes the world forever.” The opening of Wiregrass Elementary, of course, caused a shifting of school boundaries. That means some Wesley Chapel children will be experiencing their first day of school this year at at Denham Oaks Elementary, at 1422 Oak Grove Blvd., in Lutz. The 2016-2017 school year also marks the beginning of a new S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Magnet program at Centennial Middle School at 38505 Centennial Road in Dade City. The school will be using the Learning Active Technology Infused Classroom model, said Principal Rick Saylor. That instructional approach centers around rigor, student engagement and student responsibility.
Centennial Middle also has been equipped with new technology, offering new opportunities for students. For instance, it now has flight simulators that it will be using in its technology education class. And now, because it’s a magnet school, it will be drawing students from outside its traditional boundaries, as well. Pasco Elementary School, at 37350 Florida Ave., in Dade City, will be adding 50 minutes of daily instructional time for students in grades four and five, to comply with a state requirement. In a July 18 letter posted in English and Spanish on the school’s website, Principal Nena Green tells parents:“We see this as a great opportunity for us to provide students with the additional support that they need to be successful.” As a result of the additional instructional time, the school day for Pasco Elementary students in grades four and five will be from 8:40 a.m. to 3:40 p.m., while student in prekindergarten through third grade will remain on the school’s 8:40 a.m. to 2:50 p.m., schedule. See SCHOOL, page 11A
Hotels go up as tourism grows in Pasco By Kathy Steele ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
Pasco County’s hotel market is thriving. Five hotels are either under construction, closing in on a groundbreaking or will open within months. A new Hilton Garden Inn is the most recent to complete permitting, with a construction start now in the offing. The 125-room, six-story hotel is rising off of State Road 56, at Maple Silver Parkway. Another 110-room Hilton Garden Inn at Northpointe Village, on State Road 54 at the Suncoast Parkway, is expected to open in three to four months. Off State Road 56, an 80-room Holiday Inn Express is well under way, next to the construction site for the Florida Hospital Center Ice sports complex. The ice complex is expected to open by Labor Day, and play a significant role in boosting Pasco’s sports tourism industry. Developers of Cypress Creek Town Center, on the north side of State Road 56, are planning a 130-room Hyatt Place Wesley Chapel hotel. And,Wiregrass Ranch is set to build a 92room Fairfield Inn & Suites, also off State Road 56. The hotel expansion comes as Pasco
KATHY STEELE/STAFF PHOTO
Holiday Inn Express will open next to Florida Hospital Center Ice sports complex, off State Road 56 near Interstate 75.
County is looking at another record-breaking year for tourism, with the county’s cash register jingling with bed tax dollars from hotel stays. Pasco County’s Tourism Manager Ed Caum anticipates hitting $1 million in revenues from the bed tax, exclusively paid by hotel guests who live outside of Pasco. To date, he said revenues are about $856,000, a 4.6 percent increase over projections. In the last 18 months, hotel occupancy has been about 72 percent to 75 percent.
And, the average daily hotel rate is $8 higher than last year. “Now there is more demand, so there’ll be more supply,” Caum said. Pasco currently has about 3,600 hotel rooms. More than 600 rooms will be added from the new hotels. In 2013, an Urban Land Institute study predicted that Pasco would add about 75 rooms a year through 2020. By that yard stick, Caum said,“We’re actuSee HOTELS, page 11A