Month: October 2016

Wiregrass Ranch gets relief, GGG gets a zone with proposal

rezoning — These are the new zones proposed for Wesley Chapel for the 2016-17 school year.

Wesley Chapels newest high school is set to open off Old Pasco Rd. next fall. While High School GGG may not have an official name yet, it does now have a proposed zone with a pool of students to draw from in order to fill its hallways.

Wiregrass Ranch and Wesley Chapel high schools, as well as Dr. John Long and Thomas Weightman middle schools, are getting some much needed relief, and Seven Oaks, a vocal community in the process, survived unscathed despite concerns from residents it would be chopped up to achieve the county’s goals.

A third meeting to determine the new schools boundaries was held on Thursday morning in Wesley Chapel Highs media center, with the Pascos School Boundary Committee (SBC) debating 14 options. It swiftly moved through most of the options before option 12 emerged as the choice.

GGG will draw from a swath of homes that line the west side of I-75, extending from north of Old Pasco Rd. all the way down to County Line Rd.

The most congested school in Pasco County is Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH), which currently has 2,495 students (which means it is at 153 percent of its capacity of 1,633), and its primary feeder school, Dr. John Long Middle School (JLMS).

JLMS, with 1,870 students, currently is at 147 percent of its capacity of 1,327. And, both schools are located in the fast-growing Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI), so something had to be done to accommodate an ever-growing number of students.

The option adopted reduces WRH by 782 students, or 31 percent. That leaves it only 80 students over capacity, and would eliminate the need for 10-period schools days, something the school had to resort to beginning in 2015-16 because of overcrowding.

JLMS is reduced by 612 students, or 33 percent, putting it 69 students under capacity.

WCH, which was already over capacity, gains 45 students, and is at 114 percent capacity, while TWM picks up 43 students, and is at 126 percent capacity.

To get to those numbers, WRH and JLMS students currently zoned for those two schools but living in communities on the western edge of the current boundary like Country Walk, Fox Ridge, Meadow Pointe III and IV, Wyndfields and Union Park will now be re-zoned to attend Wesley Chapel High and Weightman Middle.

For some students, such as those living in Meadow Pointe III and Union Park, that means a much longer drive to school, which was considered.

Wesley Chapel principal Hetzler-Nettles and Wiregrass Ranch principal Robyn White say the hardest thing about the process was trying to consider future growth in the plans. An Epperson Ranch development as part of of potential Connected City project could bring major growth to Wesley Chapel, while the Wiregrass Ranch area continues to expand as well.

“You just don’t know,” White said. “It’s hard to look into the future without knowing who will be in all these new locations.”

The SBC, which is made up of staff representatives from every school as well as parents from each and led by the director of planning for the Pasco School District, Chris Williams, will present Option 12 to the public on Tuesday, November 29 (where parents will be in attendance and allowed to weigh in) before the Pasco County School Board can vote to approve them or not.

“I thought it went well,” said Hetzler-Nettles. “I came in thinking one way and ended up choosing an option that wasn’t even on the table in the second meeting.”

Hetzler-Nettles said her only surprise was that it passed unanimously.

Roughly 25 parents were on hand to watch the process, most from Seven Oaks. When Option 20, the last one to recommend re-zoning Seven Oaks, was voted out, a small, collective sigh could be heard.

A group of residents called Seven Oaks Voice submitted a six-page recommendation at the Sept. 29 meeting, and revised it for Thursday’s meeting, hoping to spare their subdivisions which are located east of I-75 and north of S.R. 56 from being broken up.

According to maps provided by the county, 20 percent of the current WRH population, or 509 students, live in Seven Oaks, and 22 percent of JLMS enrollment, or 414 students, live there as well. If the plan is to reduce the student bodies at those schools, an examination of Seven Oaks was unavoidable, and in fact, 10 of the 14 options called for either splitting up the community or re-zoning it for GGG or WCH.

In its proposal, Seven Oaks Voice suggested beginning the rezoning process with communities located west of I-75 (Westbrook Estates, Lexington Oaks, etc.), as well as those east of Meadow Pointe Blvd. (Union Park, Windsor, Country Walk and the Double Branch Elementary zone).

The recommendation said the current Seven Oaks DRI provides stability and wont be a future strain due to limited future growth potential, while the other communities are in high-growth areas. Seven Oaks Voice also suggested that established communities should have priority over newer communities with the same proximity to JLMS and WRH.

Also, by leaving Seven Oaks in its current school zone, the county also can avoid transportation issues, as it claims the subdivision is one of the furthest away from GGG.

The SBC was charged with considering socio-economic balance, maintaining feeder patterns, future growth in certain areas (especially in Wiregrass Ranch), transportation and subdivision integrity before finalizing a proposal.

New Community Health Center Open At Hunter’s Green Elementary

Giana gets checked out by nurse practitioner Evie Roque at the new Community Health Center, which is located on the campus of Hunter’s Green Elementary, but available to all students.

After spending the weekend moving from Naples to Heritage Isles, Shane (who asked we use only his first name) walked into Heritage Elementary to register his daughter Giana for fifth grade. He brought a stack of paperwork with him, trying to guess what he would need.

Turns out, he guessed wrong. He didn’t have her record of vaccinations, and he didn’t have a record of a recent physical.

“To get into school in Hillsborough County, or anywhere in Florida, you have to have a physical,” says Evie Roque, MSN (Master of Science in Nursing), a nurse practitioner who works at the new community health center located on the campus of Hunter’s Green Elementary. Shane and Giana were referred to the health center to get her physical and immunization records so that she could start school.

“I called her doctor in Naples five or six times and I never got a call back,” Shane says. “If it wasn’t for these ladies, I would still be trying to get her shot records.”

Being new to the area, Shane didn’t yet have a primary care physician for Giana. The referrals he had gotten from her pediatrician in Naples didn’t pan out, and he wanted to start her in her new school as soon as possible.

Dr. Maria Russ, supervisor of school health services for Hillsborough County Schools, says Giana’s situation isn’t unique.

“Sometimes we see kids who are out of school three or four months waiting to enroll because they don’t have access to healthcare to get their school physical and vaccines,” she says. “So, our health centers are a surrogate for people until they find a permanent medical home.”

Roque explains, “We’re not primary care health providers. We don’t do treatments, and we’re not prescribing medications. Our goal is to get students into school, so we do physicals and make sure immunizations are up to date.”

While they don’t provide immunizations, the health care professionals at the clinic have access to statewide immunization records, and they refer people to the State of Florida Health Department if immunizations are needed.

Hunter’s Green Elementary has been the site of a school-based health center for more than 10 years, but the building it was housed in was dilapidated. Dr. Russ and other school officials wrote a grant to request money available through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. They received $500,000 for the construction and outfitting of the new, modular building.

It was officially opened on August 19, when Hillsborough County school officials gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“We had the support of the superintendent and the School Board for this project,” says Dr. Russ. “And, (U.S.) Representative Kathy Castor and Senator Bill Nelson were instrumental in that money being appropriated for this project.”

Dr. Russ also says that every high school in the county has a health center, but the Hunter’s Green Community Health Center is unique. It is one of just a few located at an elementary school, and most health centers are within the school campus. The Hunter’s Green health center is housed in a stand-alone modular building on campus, but completely outside of the school, so that it is easily accessible to families who need to use its services.

The grant even paid for additional parking spaces right outside the building.

Inside, the clinic features a waiting room, four treatment rooms, and a classroom equipped with smartboard technology for training nurses. Registered nurse Angella Eikenberry does patient intake at the health center, and also is responsible for training all new Hillsborough County Schools nurses in electronic medical records.

While a student doesn’t need a referral to visit the health center, many school principals and registrars refer families to the school-based health centers, including the one at Hunter’s Green.

“It can be an obstacle to being in school if parents can’t afford co-pays or have gaps in their insurance,” says Dr. Russ. So the staff at the clinic helps with needed services and connects families with health care providers.

Melanie Hall, executive director of the Family Healthcare Foundation in Tampa, says, “The Hunter’s Green clinic is ideally situated in an area that has a high concentration of uninsured children who need access to care.” She says that, according to data from the Florida Healthy Kids Corporation, the 33647 ZIP code has just under 9% of children who are uninsured, and the greatest number of uninsured kids in Hillsborough County are in the neighboring zip codes, 33592 (Thonotosassa) and 33559 (Lutz).

“We’ve found that school grades go up when kids are in school,” says Dr. Russ. “That’s our focus, to keep kids in school.”

It worked for Giana. After being referred to the Hunter’s Green center, she and her dad were thrilled with their experience. “These ladies are so personable,” says Shane. “Giana is afraid of the doctor, afraid of the dentist, but they made her feel so comfortable, and the way they interacted with her made me comfortable, too.”

And, that paperwork he needed?

“They were so helpful,” he says. “Angella came out from behind the desk and sat down with me and helped with each thing that needed to be filled out.”

And best of all, Giana was able to start school right away.

Health Center Hunter's Green Elementary

Cory Lake Isles Resident Yogi Goswami Inducted Into FL Inventors Hall of Fame

Thomas Edison. Henry Ford. Yogi Goswami.

These three are among the 20 inventors who have been inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame since its inception in 2013. Only one, though, lives in New Tampa.

Yogi Goswami, Ph.D., P.E. (Professor Emeritus), is a University of South Florida Distinguished Professor and director of the university’s Clean Energy Research Center. The Cory Lake Isles resident is one of seven inventors honored at an induction ceremony and gala at the Inventors Hall on the USF Tampa Campus on September 16.

Dr. Goswami has lived in New Tampa with his wife Lovely for 10 years, since he left his position as director of the University of Florida’s Solar Energy Research Lab in Gainesville. He came to USF because he says it gave him, “more opportunities for doing groundbreaking research.” For example, Dr. Goswami says, “To establish a new research lab, you need space to do that, and USF was able to give me that space. Because the university is newer, it is open to a lot of things that may be harder to do at a (more) well-established university.”

The Florida Inventors Hall of Fame chose Dr. Goswami for his work in solar energy and indoor air quality. “I have 18 patents,” he says. “Some are related to solar energy, some to energy storage, and six are related to indoor air quality and the technology to disinfect and clean air.”

He says the key to being chosen for this honor is for those patents to be in use and helping people.

“My inventions are being used around the world,” Dr. Goswami says, “especially my invention to disinfect

When his now-grown son, Dilip, was much younger and suffering from allergies and asthma, Dr. Goswami began to look for a way to help him. He used his expertise to develop the technology that actually destroys the pollutants in the air that were making his son sick.

“The air inside homes and offices has a lot of pollutants, not just bacteria, viruses and mold,” says Dr. Goswami, “but also volatile organic chemicals that come from paints and other materials we use inside our buildings. Those things make us sick. Before air conditioning was so widely available, we used to have open windows so we would have fresh air. Now, these pollutants concentrate inside. This technology is the first on the market that destroys them.”

Dr. Goswami and Dilip co-founded Molekule, the company that is now producing an indoor air purifier that uses this technology. The first two production runs of the device, also called Molekule, have completely sold out, and the company currently has a waiting list for the next batch of air purifiers, which are expected to be available for sale in November.

He says many of his other inventions are related to making solar energy conversion more efficient, to bring the cost down.

“Costs have come down quite a bit over the last few decades in solar energy,” says Dr. Goswami. “We can make it more efficient and bring the cost down even further in the future.” He also has inventions related to storing energy more effectively, since solar energy is “intermittent,” meaning it’s not available at night or when it’s cloudy. His work in this area is directed toward large- scale power plants that produce solar energy.

“The Florida Inventors Hall of Fame is very prestigious,” says Dr. Goswami. “I feel honored to be inducted, especially seeing the people who were inducted before me, such as Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Dr. Robert Cade, the inventor of Gatorade.”

The Florida Inventors Hall of Fame is located in the USF Research Park at 3702 Spectrum Blvd., Suite 165, and is online at FloridaInvents.org.

For more information about the Molekule air purifier, visit Molekule.com.

Florida Inventor Hall of Fame Yogi Goswami

New Tampa’s Sweet Party Store Is Your Halloween Headquarters!

If you’re trying to judge party stores, you are probably going to start with, well, the party.

Holding a luau?

Sweet Party has you covered.

Mardi Gras? Bridal Shower? Gasparilla?

Check, check and check. And the list goes on and on.

“We are filling so many themes that you can’t find elsewhere,’’ says Maher Alagal, who owns the largest party store in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel area with his wife, Leslie.

Sweet Party, located in the Trout Creek Commons plaza, just off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and right behind the Bay Breeze Castrol Lube Express and Burger 21, has been open since May, and seems to be finding its footing in the area as a one-stop shop for party planners. You can find most any theme (say, LEGOs, princesses or ninjas) that can include streamers, cups and napkins. Candy and prizes have their own aisles at Sweet Party, along with balloons, confetti and gift bags.

“We have been thinking about doing this for 3-4 years,’’ says Leslie, who has lived in Tampa since 1992. “There was no large party store to provide for the people of New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, so we jumped in and did it.”

The 7,000-sq.-ft. party place seems to have everything, and if they don’t, Maher says they can find it for you. Case in point: one customer was looking for party cups and napkins in the hard-to-find color of robin’s egg blue. Now, right near a seemingly endless wall of colored cups, napkins and plates, sits a robin’s egg blue display of those items as well.

And, Maher and Leslie offer a 10-percent discount to military and first responders, as well as various other community members. Mention that you read this article, or visited his Facebook page, and he’ll give you 10-percent off, too.

“This place is incredible,” wrote Tampa’s Amanda Gill on Sweet Party’s Facebook page. “Just went to browse for my son’s upcoming party and this place has everything…. If you’re looking for anything party-related, or even just extras for a get together, this place has it! And I even heard him telling another customer if there is something they don’t have, let them know and they’ll try and get it! But I’m telling you, they have EVERYTHING!”

Making Halloween Costume Shopping Less Scary

The store is now prepped for Halloween as well, with dressing areas in the back. On the back wall are more than 400 pictures of the Halloween costumes the store has in stock, ranging from Ninja Turtles and The Avengers for kids, to a host of costumes for adults as well. There is a colorful aisle filled with feather boas of almost every color, plus other costume accessories, such as tights, wigs and masks.

sweetparty_3 — Looking for Halloween costumes & accessories? Sweet Party has you covered!

Thanks to Sweet Party, you can go to your Halloween party as a pirate, a nurse or a 1970s rock star. If you really want to be obscure, hurry in and snatch that Richard Simmons costume off the hook.

“We expect Halloween to be one of our biggest days,’’ Leslie says.

While themed birthday parties are the most common, another popular party theme these days are the “gender reveal” get-togethers, says Leslie.

Sweet Party has an entire display devoted to the big day, with a slew of different ways, including scratch-off cards, to unveil to your friends whether your family is expecting a boy or a girl.

One gender reveal party Leslie was planning for two weeks ago involved a 36-inch balloon (Sweet Party is the only place around where you can find latex balloons that large) that she was going to be filling with pink streamers and confetti before inflating. At the big reveal, the balloon would be popped and the secret would be out of the bag…or balloon, as it were.

“Gender reveal parties are a big thing today, much bigger than when (our generation) was having babies,’’ Leslie says. “We’ve had people bring in their containers with the unopened envelope in it, because they don’t want to know (until the reveal) either.”

sweetparty_5 Behind the front counter of the store is a wall of inflated mylar balloons for every occasion. There are super heroes, “Star Wars” characters, Elsa from “Frozen,” Pikachu of “Pokemon” fame and dozens of others — with more than 100 inflated balloons covering the wall and another 100-plus packaged in their own aisle. Leslie says Mickey and Minnie Mouse continue to be the best sellers, but one can purchase a 46-inch Iron Man balloon, or even a 70-inch “Star Wars” Storm Trooper.

Sweet Party also carries 34-inch-tall inflatable letters — Leslie says no one else in the area stocks them — so you can spell out B-A-B-Y or the name of your party’s guest of honor.

Sweet Party will inflate your balloons for you, or you can rent a helium tank and do it yourself.

“Balloons and candy are our biggest sellers,’’ Leslie said. “But, it all depends. A week ago, the bachelorette party stuff was flying off the shelves. And, graduation was pretty good for us, too.”

sweetparty_2 Leslie and Maher say the business is growing well, and they have made a lot of new friends in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel communities by helping out with school parties as well. The word is getting out, as people putting on graduation parties from Zephyrhills drove all the way to Sweet Party for supplies.

The store also has a display for sports parties. On the Monday following Florida State’s recent 55-35 win over USF, the shelf with party supplies adorned with the logos of both teams was sparse. There is a section with party supplies for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Bucs and the most popular NFL teams, like the Green Bay Packers, and even more generic supplies if you’re putting on a party for the future All-Star in your home, like large soccer ball paper lanterns.

“The New Tampa and Wesley Chapel communities have been great,’’ Leslie says. “It’s been fun to interact with customers. We have found out that people party every day of the week.”

Sweet Party is located at 20310 Trout Creek Dr. and is open Mon.-Thur., 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. on Fri.-Sat. and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sun. For more information, visit SweetPartyTampa.com or Facebook.com/SweetPartyTampa, or call 994-4900.

Sweet Party

Vuelo’s Getting Ready For Opening

Señor T’s To Become Vuelo’s

Speaking of restaurants we liked that had closed, Señor T’s Mexican Grill, which opened in the former location of Romano’s Macaroni Grill on Bruce B. Downs in November 2015 and closed in August of this year, held a two-day Job Fair Sept. 27-28 for people interested in working for a new restaurant, which should open within a few weeks.

According to an on-site manager we spoke to shortly after the well-attended Job Fair, the new restaurant also will be owned by Señor T’s owner Tom Reynolds, but will be called Vuelo’s and both the menu and the concept will be revamped, although it will still be a Mexican restaurant.

We’ll provide more updates as Vuelo’s gets closer to opening.

Nibble Senor T's Vuelo's