School Board Approves Rezoning Plan: New Tampa Families Brace For Changes

Note: This story has been updated since it was written for the May 19 printed issue of Neighborhood News.

The Hillsborough County School Board met on May 16 and approved a rezoning plan that has had many parents up in arms and many others pleased since it was announced in March.

The plan will shift hundreds of students currently attending Pride, Heritage, Hunter’s Green and Clark elementaries for the school year that begins in August, 2018.

After nearly 20 speakers addressed the Board (14 speakers in favor of rezoning and 4 speakers opposed), the Board discussed the proposal at length before voting 6-1 in favor of the rezoning plan. While acknowledging the inconvenience to some parents and the discomfort of change, the Board ultimately chose to move forward with the plan.

Prior to the vote, school district representatives discussed implementation plans that were released online May 4, allowing many families who don’t want to leave Pride Elementary an option to stay there.

• Students who want to move to their new school early, for the upcoming 2017-18 school year (instead of 2018-19, when the changes are proposed to take effect) will have a special choice application to do so between July 11-20, if capacity is available.

• Students currently in 3rd grade (who will be in 5th grade when the plan is implemented) will be allowed to remain at their current school by completing a special choice application.

• Because capacity is expected to be available at Pride, students currently in grades 1-3 at Pride will be eligible to enter a special lottery to remain at Pride for the 2018-19 school year. The lottery will be conducted based on available capacity (estimated 150 seats) and will likely be held next spring or summer.

• No preference will be available for younger siblings of students who fit the above categories.

• School choice will be closed for all schools involved in this proposal for the first year of implementation, with the exception of the special choice applications listed above and hardship applications, which will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

• Transportation is generally not provided to students who are “grandfathered” into their current school or those who choose to opt in to their new school early.

“At Pride, we know we’ll have some space available for some period of time while K-Bar Ranch is being built out,” says Lorraine Duffy Suarez, Hillsborough County Public Schools general manager for growth management. “As long as we have space to accommodate people, we try to, if it doesn’t have a negative effect somewhere else down the line.”

The update provided on May 4 also outlined a slight revision to the original proposal. Students who live in the Addison Park apartments at the corner of Cross Creek Blvd. and Kinnan St. will be moved from Heritage to Pride, to better balance the enrollments at those two schools.

This is in addition to the previously released changes, which make room for expected growth in K-Bar Ranch over the coming years by shifting students in the following ways:

• More than 550 students who are currently bused to Clark and Hunter’s Green from the area surrounding the University of South Florida move to schools in their neighborhood.

• More than 550 students move from Pride to Hunter’s Green (Arbor Greene and Cory Lake Isles residents)

• Nearly 200 students move from Hunter’s Green to Clark (residents of the Morgan Creek apartments)

• About 200 move from Heritage to Pride (K-Bar Ranch and Addison Park residents; Easton Park residents will stay at Heritage)

More information about the proposal and implementation strategies are on the school district’s website at sdhc.k12.fl.us/doc/251/growth-management/resources/boundary/.

Bell Schedule Changes

At its meeting on April 25, the Hillsborough School Board voted to approve changes to the bell schedule for the 2018-19 school year, giving parents time to adjust to new start and end times for most schools.

School superintendent Jeff Eakins says the changes are necessary to allow time for buses to get kids to school on time. The new schedule will add 15 minutes to the school day at the elementary level, which is expected to be filled with additional time for art, music, and physical education. Middle school students lose 15 minutes and high school students lose 32 minutes. Both middle and high schools will keep their seven-period schedules, but may see the elimination of homeroom, a shorter time for lunch, and class periods may be reduced by a minute or two.

For New Tampa elementary schools — including Chiles, Clark, Heritage, Hunter’s Green, Pride and Tampa Palms — the school day will start at 8:35 a.m. and end at 3:05 p.m. beginning in the fall of 2018. At Benito and Liberty middle schools, the school day will start at 9:15 a.m. and end at 4:15 p.m. At Freedom and Wharton high schools, the day will start at 7:15 a.m. and end at 2:10 p.m. Monday will continue to be an early release day, with students being dismissed one hour early.

For students at Turner/Bartels K-8 school, bell times for the 2018-19 school year are still “to be determined.” The District will survey parents this fall and release information about new bell times during the next school year.

Bilirakis Office In Wesley Chapel Now Open

U.S. Representative Gus Bilirakis (photo) has opened a district office in Wesley Chapel. Bilirakis represents Florida’s 12th Congressional District, which covers northern Pasco and Pinellas counties.

The office is available to serve as a resource for constituents seeking assistance with a federal agency, those who have questions about federal (not State of Florida) legislation, or people who would like to meet with the Congressman and/or a member of his staff. The office is located at 6013 Wesley Grove Blvd., inside the same building that is home to the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC).

Bilirakis’ Wesley Chapel office is open every Wednesday and by appointment the rest of the week. Constituents interested in attending office hours should call ahead to confirm a time at (727) 232-2921.

“I’m proud to announce the opening of my new office space in Wesley Chapel,” Rep. Bilirakis says. “Here, my team and I will be able to better serve the people of central and east Pasco, and make sure we are accessible to all parts of Florida’s 12th District. The Wesley Chapel office is ready to assist you, and I encourage local residents to come by and say hello.”

Intrinsic Wellness Clinic Is More Than Just Chiropractic Care!

Cathy & Dr. Todd Di Leo of the Intrinsic Wellness Clinic in the Windfair Professional Center off BBD Blvd. in Wesley Chapel

Todd Di Leo, D.C. (Doctor of Chiropractic) is the owner of the Intrinsic Wellness Clinic, located in the Windfair Professional Center, across Bruce B. Downs Blvd. from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC). Dr. Di Leo is a chiropractic physician and functional medicine specialist.

“In conventional medicine, you have a symptom, you see the doctor, the doctor tells you what medicine to take to stop the symptom,” he explains. “But, in functional medicine, we address why the body is manifesting this symptom. We ask, ‘What is the cause?’ Then, we address that cause.”

Dr. Di Leo has been in practice for 25 years. He earned his D.C. degree from the National College of Chiropractic in Lombard, IL, in 1992. He also holds two Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees, one in Human Biology, also from the National College of Chiropractic, and one in Human Kinetics & Exercise Physiology, from the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, in 1989.

He opened the Intrinsic Wellness Clinic nearly a year ago, saying that he’s pleased to be working in his own community. Dr. Di Leo and his wife, Cathy, who is the office manager for the practice, have lived in Seven Oaks with their two daughters for 11 years.

“I typically see people who are frustrated with having to take, ‘another pill for another ill,’” he says. “They’re tired of having five minutes with a medical doctor or a nurse practitioner and leaving the office with a new prescription or another increase in dose, which means now they’re dealing with side effects.” For example, “Maybe they’re sleeping nine or 10 hours at night , but they still feel fatigued.”

He says he can help those people who are wondering, “Why am I feeling this way? What is the root cause?”

Dr. Di Leo says, “My tools are different.” He explains his main tool is lifestyle management, which may mean managing a patient’s diet, stress and exercise, and the use of therapeutic foods, natural supplements and herbs to restore normal body function. He says patients are often willing to make changes, but they need to know how. “We can give them a 10-minute exercise — or maybe even a three-minute exercise — to help them relax, but they need to be educated to know that there are tools that are that easy.”

Cancer Support, Too

In addition to functional medicine, Dr. Di Leo also focuses on cancer support.

“We offer a state-of-the-art blood test that we brought to Wesley Chapel,” he says, noting that there are only about 400 practitioners offering this test in the entire U.S., and none in Wesley Chapel or New Tampa. People with a high risk for cancer can request the test, but more often, he sees patients who have recently been diagnosed with cancer.

“The test detects cancer cells circulating in the blood,” explains Dr. Di Leo, adding that it provides information about the number of cancer cells, and also the type of cells. “The lab does sensitivity testing to test the cancer cells against 50 chemotherapy drugs and 47 natural substances. It determines a ‘kill rate’ of how each substance kills the particular cancer cells in a patient’s blood.”

He says this is great information that patients can take back to their oncology team. While some oncologists will hesitate to leverage these results, because best practices in oncology may favor a different protocol, Dr. Di Leo believes that’s temporary.

“There is so much research happening in supplemental and complementary medicine, that I expect it to come to a point where this will be more mainstream,” he says. “For example, there is a ton of research supporting using mushroom extract to fight cancer.”

For people looking for a more natural and alternative approach, Dr. Di Leo explains that primary care also is part of the scope of the practice at Intrinsic Wellness.

He says an initial appointment with him usually takes at least 60 minutes. “We want to get a complete picture of who you are and what your body’s been through.”

Tina Danielson, who lives in Watergrass, is a patient of Dr. Di Leo’s who has benefited from the doctor’s approach.

Danielson explains that she’s taken medicine for hypothyroid — or an underactive thyroid — since high school. Recently, she had new symptoms, including blurred vision and dizziness, “and just a complete lack of energy,” she says. Her regular doctor said her new symptoms weren’t related, so that’s when she found Intrinsic Wellness.

She says Dr. Di Leo first tried things that didn’t work to cure her dizziness, such as chiropractic adjustments and changes to her diet, but then, “Dr. Di Leo continued to delve into it,” she says, and showed her exercises she could do. “The exercises took care of the dizziness within a few days. I don’t need to do them now, but if the dizziness ever starts again, I can just do those exercises again.”

She also says that the draw to Dr. Di Leo was knowing that he’s committed to finding the root cause of her problems.

“I don’t want to take medicine for the rest of my life,” she says. “I’ve already taken it for 20 years. Now, we’re doing bloodwork and working with my diet to find the root cause of this. I want to find what I can do to get better for the long haul, not just for the next month.”

Dr. Di Leo agrees, and he makes himself available to Danielson and all of his patients. “We are high touch and high availability,” he says. “I give my patients my personal cell phone number and exchange text messages with them.”

Dr. Di Leo also is an active athlete who has competed in Ironman triathlons and marathon road races, including his favorites in New York City and Chicago. He also is a certified strength and conditioning coach and USA triathlon coach.

In his practice, he often sees athletes, especially endurance athletes such as long-distance runners and triathletes.

“I always tell newbies that anyone can do it,” he says. “You need proper guidance and proper nutrition, but it’s worth it because you get an amazing sense of accomplishment. It’s a very elite accomplishment, because only a small percentage of the population actually accomplishes this.”

Dr. Di Leo often speaks to different audiences in settings such as “lunch and learns” and says he is available to talk about health and wellness to cancer survivors or other community groups.

The Intrinsic Wellness Clinic is located at 2808 Windguard Cir., Suite 101. It is open by appointment only. To make an appointment for a free 15-minute consultation, call Intrinsic Wellness at (813) 549-3551. For more info, visit IntrinsicWellnessClinic.com.

Unexpected Visitor Drives Into Cloud 9 Photo Studio

When a photo session at Cloud 9 Studios in Wesley Chapel scheduled for 1 p.m. on April 25 was cancelled, owner Jeanine McLeod took her one-year-old son, James, and went out to grab lunch.

The office manager, Mary Gullett, stayed in the studio while assistant Carla Holness photographed her own three children —ages almost 1, 4, and 5 — in the back.

That’s when, all of a sudden, a car came crashing through the front doors of Cloud 9’s building in the Summergate Professional Center behind Sam’s Club off S.R. 56.

“I heard tires screeching and felt the building rattle,” Carla says.

According to a report by the Florida Highway Patrol, 80-year-old Theresa Drummond was attempting to park her car when she pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake.

That sent her 2005 while Ford Taurus over the curb, in between two pillars and halfway through the door into the building at 27340 Cashford Circle.

“What’s crazy is that Jeanine is always there with James and I’m not usually there with my kids,” says Carla. “About half an hour before it happened, the kids were all running around playing, so I’m just so thankful that they were out to lunch and that my kids were in the back.”

Jeanine echoed Carla’s grateful attitude.

“All of us are a little shook up, but I’m just so thankful everyone is okay,’’ Jeanine said. “ My son loves to play at the windows with the curtains, and he’s always up there looking as the cars go by.”

Both ladies are amazed that the car fit exactly through the columns on either side of the front door. “The car had to be lined up perfectly,” says Jeanine. “Any farther to the left or right and she would have hit steel columns.”

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Drummond was not transported to a medical facility. The studio was temporarily boarded up until new doors could be installed.

Valedictorian Is Just One Impressive Accomplishment For This WCH Senior

Wesley Chapel High valedictorian Samantha Politano is congratulated by Pasco County school superintendent Kurt Browning and School Board member Cynthia Armstrong as Politano receives one of several scholarships.

When Samantha Politano steps on to the stage to speak to Wesley Chapel High’s graduating class of 2017 on May 26, it will be the culmination of a dream she’s had since the third grade, when the letter “A” first appeared on her report card.

It was at that time — when she saw not just one, but all As on that report card — that she says she became determined to always get straight As, and to become her class valedictorian. And now, she’s done it.

With a weighted GPA of 4.77, she has the privilege of the title, and the responsibility of making the speech.

“I’m really excited about it,” Samantha says, “I’ve been thinking about it since third grade, so I feel like it’s a lot of pressure.”

At the same time she’s receiving her high school diploma, she’s also earning her Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree from Pasco Hernando State College, thanks to dual enrollment classes she’s been taking for the last three years. She’ll be recognized as an “honors graduate” for maintaining a 4.0 GPA in her college classes when she walks across the stage at that graduation ceremony.

While she’s been busy studying, doing her homework and keeping her grades up, Samantha also has been committed to extracurricular activities as an officer in seven organizations. She’s not only student body president at WCH, she’s also vice president of the PHSC chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

Samantha also received the Girl Scouts Gold Award, the highest award given by that organization. When she earned it in 2016, she was the only Gold Award recipient in Pasco County that year. She says she was an active Girl Scout for 12 years, and the project to earn the award was to make Wells Rd. — where Wesley Chapel Elementary, Weightman Middle and Wesley Chapel High schools are located — safer.

Currently, Samantha is planning to attend Florida State University in Tallahassee, where she’ll be in the Honors College.

“My parents never went to college, so I’ve always dreamed of going to college,” she says. “When I started at Wesley Chapel Elementary, I thought that was college.”

Samantha says her parents’ story is an inspiration to her. She looks up to her mom, who she says is, “so organized and gets everything done without getting distracted; she motivates me.”

She also says that her dad’s hands are a reminder of why she works so hard to be successful. “Dad used to be a gas fitter and he had to work hard, digging deep holes,” she says. “His hands are so rough. I want to work hard mentally so my family and I don’t have to work hard with our hands.”

Samantha is still on the waiting list at both Harvard and Yale, and should find out by the end of May if she’ll be accepted into either of those Ivy League universities. If she does end up at FSU, she has earned so many scholarships that she will have the cost of her education covered, and then some. She earned a prestigious scholarship for students who have overcome significant adversity, called the Horatio Alger Scholarship. She also was named a national semi-finalist from the Elks National Foundation for a “most valuable student” award, plus she was awarded scholarships from the Mary and Bob Sierra Family Foundation, the Florida PTA, Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative and from FSU.

Ultimately, she says she hopes to become a lawyer. “It’s unfair that lawyers charge so much and that low-income families can’t afford a lawyer,” Samantha explains. “I’d like to advocate for low-income families and help them.”

Because her scholarships will cover four years of education, “I’ll probably take my time,” she says. “Because I already have my A.A., it would be too easy to just do one major.” She’s planning to study both English and Biology, following a track for marine biology, and thinks she might study abroad.

Samantha says that, to apply for law school, she can have any degree, so her choice to study marine biology is purely for fun and the experience of learning more about something she loves. “I won’t be using that as a lawyer,” she says. “I’m just passionate about it. It’s going to be really enjoyable. I think more people should do things just because they enjoy them.”