How The Millage Referendum Could Help Our Community

Opinion by Jessica Vaughn,
Hillsborough County School Board, District 3

Since being elected to represent District 3 on the Hillsborough School Board in 2020, myself, my fellow School Board members and the superintendent have all worked diligently to overcome the financial challenges that have plagued this District for close to a decade. 

We are proud to state that by the end of this fiscal year, Hillsborough County Public Schools is slated to overcome a $150-million deficit, realizing a more stable financial stature that will translate into a brighter future for our organization and, most importantly, for our students.

As a District, we emerged from this financial shortfall partly by having to make extremely difficult staffing decisions at all levels, which undoubtedly had a negative impact on our students and families. Florida currently is ranked 43rd in per-pupil funding, leaving many school districts like ours without adequate funds to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers as we all contend with rising inflation that is leaving educational systems with severe staffing shortages. Twenty-one other districts in Florida have had to pass a millage referendum in order to properly fund their school districts.  

On August 23, 2022, the Hillsborough County School Board voted to place a millage referendum on the ballot that would provide an estimated $126 million per year over four years to our District if approved by voters. 

If this measure passes, 75% of this money would go toward providing salary increases for teachers and support staff. We realize the crucial role our educators play in the lives of our children and families, and we must continue to examine proactive solutions to illustrate their importance to our community and its collective success.

If approved, the additional funds would also be utilized to expand Art, Music and P.E. for our youngest learners, offering equitable access across all grade bands. These funds also would provide us a unique chance to elevate our Workforce Development Programs to develop a talent pipeline for students in medical, construction and logistics- related fields.

You may be wondering how this would impact you if approved. Using a $300,000 property value as an example, the millage increase would translate to an additional $22.92 per month, or $275 per year for a homeowner.

Hillsborough is the only large school district in the state that has not passed a millage increase. 

While we understand the referendum may be a heavy lift for some families in a time of such uncertainty, it has the potential to make an enormous difference in the lives of our teachers, staff, students and families. If you see the value that strong and thriving public schools bring to our community, I strongly encourage you to vote “yes” for the millage referendum during the Primary Election to be held on Tuesday, August 23. All voters, regardless of party affiliation, can vote for this Millage Referendum. The funding from this referendum increase will allow us to work together to adequately support our schools, teachers and staff while creating a brighter future for our students and our community as a whole.

Education Notebook: Four New Tampa Schools Get New Principals

New Tampa says good-bye to several beloved and long-serving principals at the end of the 2021-22 school year, including Chiles Elementary’s Dr. Teri Evans and Benito Middle School’s John Sanders, who are both retiring, Liberty Middle’s James Amiratti and Maryann Lippek, who is moving from Tampa Palms Elementary (TPE) to Schmidt Elementary in Brandon.

Lippek has been at TPE since the school opened in 2004, and has served as its principal since 2014. She is being replaced by Angela Gluth, an assistant principal from Heritage Elementary.

Frank Diaz is coming over from Webb Middle to replace Amiratti.

At Chiles, Evans will be replaced by Todd Connolly, who is moving from Riverhills Elementary in Temple Terrace.

Evans became a teacher after raising her kids as a stay-at-home mom. First entering the classroom at 40 years old, she then spent her entire 24-year career in New Tampa. She taught at Chiles, Hunter’s Green and Pride elementaries, then returned to Chiles as principal nine years ago.

“I’ll miss the whole Chiles community — the families, the kids, and the teachers,” Evans says. “It’s the best place, my home, and I’ve made lifelong friends (here).”

She looks forward to a change of pace, spending time with her grandkids, reading and traveling.

Evans adds that the school will be getting a new air conditioning system over the summer, so the building will be closed. The office will temporarily move to Tampa Palms, which is where new principal Connolly will work until the new A/C upgrade is complete.

Meanwhile, at Benito, Brent Williams takes over as principal for the retiring Sanders. Williams was most recently principal at Memorial Middle School in Tampa.

Williams has been an educator for 27 years, previously working in Alachua and Miami Dade counties before moving to Hillsborough in 2006. Over the course of his career, he has served as a teacher, peer evaluator, assistant principal and principal.

“I truly appreciate and admire the work that has been done here by Mr. Sanders,” says Williams. “I look forward to working with an exceptional group of faculty and staff members to continue the great tradition of excellence at Benito Middle School.” 

Williams says he comes from a family of educators and that his wife Sonja also is a teacher in Hillsborough County.

He expects to be highly visible to students in the hallways, classrooms, cafeteria, and at the school’s extracurricular activities, and says that his door will be always open to them. 

“I want them to think outside the box and have a voice on what their experience here at Benito will look like,” he says.

Math teacher Daniel Gostkowski says he and many others are excited to welcome their new leader to the school.

 â€œHe seems very genuine,” Gostkowski says of Williams. “He genuinely cares about the kids, the community and the people in the building.”

New Tampa Again Accepts County PTA/PTSA Awards

The Hillsborough County Council of PTAs/PTSAs announced this year’s countywide award winners at a ceremony on May 19. Several New Tampa schools took home trophies for their efforts this year.

Freedom High’s Christina Finn won Volunteer of the Year and assistant principal Jenna Lamour won Administrator of the Year.

The school also took home an award in the Educational Program category, and Freedom also won the high school category for Top Community Partner, which honored Infinite Edge Learning Center (also located in Tampa Palms) for its support of the school.

The Top Community Partner award at the elementary school level went to Hunter’s Green, which nominated the Hunter’s Green Homeowners Association.

Wharton High also took home some honors, as school nurse Angela Strahl won Non-Instructional Person of the Year and Crystal LeFebvre, culture and climate resource teacher, was named Instructional Person of the Year. 

Wharton also won in the Health & Safety category for its comprehensive support of the school’s nurses and clinic throughout the year.

Together At The Top

Alex (left) and Dane Deevers were co-salutatorians for the 2022 Class at Wharton High.

Faced with choosing a last meal, Wharton High graduate Alex Deevers says he would pick gnocchi; his brother Dane says he’s going with mashed potatoes and a steak
or maybe a burger.

For a pump-you-up jam, Dane likes Kid Cudi and Travis Scott; Alex leans more towards Mac Miller and Kendrick Lamar.

And when asked what their favorite sports are, Alex is going swimming, and Dane is running track, although both admit to sharing a special affinity for lacrosse. 

So, as you can see, these identical twins are pretty similar, but not exact replicas of each other.

In the classroom, however, there was little difference between the two.

In fact, the twins pulled off a pretty rare feat in 2022 — finishing with the exact same grade point average of 9.12 and sharing salutatorian honors at Wharton.

Believe it or not, the Deevers Duo didn’t take all the same classes or set out to finish with the exact same GPA. It just kind of happened out of necessity. 

“I think, at one point, we were competing,” Dane says.

However, before either brother could pull ahead in the race to be class valedictorian, they made a tough decision. The twins had so much going on outside the classroom, something had to give. Thoughts of realistically being valedictorian faded with each mile Dane ran in track and cross country, and with each lap Alex swam for the Wharton swimming team he captained and every shot they each took in lacrosse. 

Mix in their social calendar, and there was barely time to sleep. 

“Freshman year was kind of a competitive thing,” Alex says. “If he took more classes, I would take more classes. I didn’t want to be left out. If he did it, I’d do it, and we kept going and going to the point where we got to the point our junior year we might have to take our foot off the gas or we weren’t going to have any free time. We needed to find a balance.”

The Deevers found that balance, putting the scholar into scholar-athlete, while maintaining their busy social lives. And, they were still able to compete in school…well, kind of.

“You didn’t want to be the one that dropped off,” Alex says. “That wouldn’t have felt good.”

“But it probably would have felt great for the one who ended up in front,” jokes Dane.

Although they are twins, the brothers have each carved their own identities.

They are both headed to the University of Florida, where older brother Blake is currently in the dentistry program, and will live in the same dorm — but not as roommates.

Dane, who earned his single engine land private pilot’s license in his spare time — his childhood dream of being a military jet pilot did not die easily — wants to study engineering, while Alex wants to be a doctor.

Both credit their older brother and their mother, Stephanie Deevers, for helping guide them through their younger years, before they grew into the self-sufficient pair they are today.

“I’m really proud of both of them, they are going to do great,” says Stephanie Deevers, their mom. “They didn’t need any help. They did an amazing job.”

But, how did they do it, actually?

By making sacrifices and managing their time.

“It’s all about time efficiency,” Alex says matter-of-factly.

Sometimes, it meant skipping a track meet or a party to study for a big exam (and when you’re taking a heavy load of Advanced Placement and dual enrollment classes, they are all big exams). 

Mostly, it meant fitting in studying when you could, like taking advantage of an extra period at school to get some homework done because you knew when you got home late after lacrosse practice you’d be too tired.

“It could be extremely difficult,” Alex says. “Sometimes, you had to pick between certain assignments, or whether to go to a sporting event or study for an exam. You were forced to choose. You just had to spend a little extra time doing things that maybe you didn’t want to instead of something you wanted to do more.”

The twins agree that having your brother along for the ride definitely made those decisions easier.

“Having someone who is that close to you, who can understand you, is definitely a big help,” Alex says. “As long as you’re together, you don’t feel alone in doing anything. But at the same time, we do butt heads a lot.”

It was putting their heads together, however, that led to the Deevers brothers having etched their names in the annals of Wharton history.

Local Spelling Whiz Aims For Prestigious National Title

Bruhat Soma isn’t exactly sure what “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis” means (it’s a synonym for the disease known as silicosis), but the 45-letter word, the longest in the English language, gives him no trouble when it comes to spelling it, or pronouncing it for that matter.

That shouldn’t come as any surprise, considering that Bruhat, a 5th grader at Turner Bartels K-8 School, is something of a world-class word speller.

This week, the 10-year-old whiz kid will compete at the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

Bruhat (who will be wearing No. 38 at the competition) will be one of 234 kids vying for the title. The Bee begins May 31; the Semifinals (June 1) and Finals (June 2) will be hosted by former “Roots” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” star LeVar Burton will air on the Ion TV network at 8 p.m. each night.

Bruhat will be one of the youngest competitors, but not the youngest — that honor will go to Matthew G. Yi, a 7-year-old 4th grader from New Orleans. But, Bruhat is already battle-tested. 

Last year, he finished second at the Regional qualifier, stumbling on the word “caryatid” (a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column), which he incorrectly spelled “carotid.” 

Ever since, he has had just one goal:

Being the champ.

“I just like competitions. I really want to get that trophy,” Bruhat says, his eyes widening and a large grin filling his face. “It’s so big!”

The winner also receives $50,000.

Bruhat has only been competing in spelling bees for three years. His dad, Srinivas Soma, signed him up when he was in the second grade for a spelling and math bee put on by the North South Foundation (aka North South), which organizes educational contests like spelling, math and geography bees, as well as others.

(l.-r.) Turner-Bartels principal LaMarr Buggs and gifted teacher Laurie Gonzalez, with Scripps National Spelling Bee contestant Bruhat Soma and his father Srinivas. (Photo: Charmaine George)

Although he didn’t have time to prepare, Bruhat finished first in the math bee, and sheepishly says he was eighth in spelling.

“There was no pressure,” dad Srinivas says. “He liked it. He started to show interest in it.”

Srinivas says Bruhat now has even more interest in reading and spelling, devouring everything in sight. He will read just about any piece of paper or book he can get his hands on, and works at least an hour a day on his spelling online at SpellPundit.com.

“I like unusual words,” Bruhat says. “If I see a word with an unusual spelling, I try to find out more information about it.”

Like “cwm” (pronounced “koom”), an ancient Celtic instrument similar to a violin. And yes, cwm is in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.

“I like eccentric words like that,” Bruhat says.

For his end-of-the-year gifted class project at Turner Bartels, Bruhat created his own alphabet (with uppercase and lowercase letters) and wrote a poem about soccer in his new language.

“He excels in mathematics, but his real love is words,” says his gifted class teacher Laurie Gonzalez, 

His classmates, and the entire school, will be pulling hard for Bruhat.

“He is an amazing kid,” Gonzalez says. “He is gentle, kind and wicked smart. The other kids are very supportive of his achievements and they are kind of in awe of his level of intelligence.”

His buddy, Tejas Gattu, is sure to be watching as well.

“He (Tejas) always, like, tells me, ‘Wow, you’re the champion,’” Bruhat says. “One time, at a North South Regional, he said out loud so everyone could hear, ‘Bruhat, are you the state spelling bee champion?’ I was like, I already told you. I think he’s excited, he thinks it’s a big deal. He’s my best friend.”

Srinivas, who is originally from Nalgonda is southern India, says the cheering section at home — his mother Jyothi and sisters Reshma (6) and Laasya (8) — and in the Live Oak Preserve community are ready to root for Bruhat.

“There will be a lot of people cheering for him,” Srinivas says.

Bruhat will need the good vibes in what is sure to be a pressure-packed week.

While he hopes to see the White House, the Washington Monument and as many other memorials as he has time for, the Spelling Bee competition will be fierce. Since there were eight co-champions in 2019, the Scripps organizers have made the event more difficult. It now includes definitions in some rounds and, yes, the words are even tougher.

“I watched the 2019 spelling bee and I knew all the words, or like 98 percent of them,” Bruhat says. “In 2021, it was more like 50 percent.”

But, he is ready. He will be trying to become the second New Tampa student to win the national bee, joining Benito Middle’s Nupur Lala, who won the title on her second try in 1999 as a 14-year-old by spelling “logorrhea.”

“I’m very excited to compete, but when the competition day comes closer, I’ll probably feel kind of nervous,” Bruhat says. “For now, I’m excited. My goal is to become the Scripps Spelling Bee national champion. I have prepared for that.”

It’s Been All About The Experience For Freedom Valedictorian


The pressure for many high school valedictorians can be stifling. While mostly grateful for finishing at the top of their respective classes, the journey is usually one that provides them with a sense of relief when they graduate.

But, Freedom High Class of 2022 valedictorian Pascale Carvalho says that, for her, there never was any pressure. She loved the journey. And, she has made putting in a ton of hours to earn her Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree from Hillsborough Community College and compiling an 8.5 high school grade point average actually sound, well, fun.

“I was never aiming for a certain spot,” Pascale says. “It was never motivation to do better in school. It was just a perk.”

From the very start of high school, which officially ends with graduation Thursday morning at 8 a.m. at the Florida State Fairgrounds, Pascale made sure to take classes she would enjoy, not just classes that would beef up her GPA. 

Her freshman year, she took music theory because despite already playing the guitar (jazz fusion and rock) and cello — and cymbals in the high school band — she wanted to learn how to read music, too. And now, she writes her own music as well.

“It was an irreplaceable experience,” she says.

As a sophomore, Pascale took a heavy load of dual enrollment classes, because one of her major goals was to earn her A.A. degree prior to actually starting college. Her junior year, she took Japanese at the University of South Florida, because she had an interest in that culture and language.

Her senior year, Pascale took a pair of 4000-level health science classes at USF, another strong area of interest for her. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do in college prior to her senior year, but her wide range of interests and classes has helped clarify that vision. 

While undecided on which college she will attend, she is mulling over acceptance letters from the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, for its outstanding music composition programs, or Brown University in Providence, RI, or Washington University in St. Louis, for health sciences.

“My goal was just to give myself the best possible education I could, and provide myself with the best college opportunities, and that’s what I did,” she says.

The groundwork for a successful high school experience was laid by her family. Her parents Chantal and Daniel stressed education — Pascale laughs at the math books and essays Chantal assigned during the summer — and older brother Antoine, a Freedom grad, is at Boston University, while older sister Dominique recently graduated from USF after studying biological health science. 

“They definitely emphasized being good at what you do,” Pascale says. “If you do anything, try to be the best at it.”

Pascale also strove to be her best, but was never consumed with her academic standing. “Being No. 1 is just one of those hoops you go through,” she says. “Once you reach it, (you should) look back, and see if your experience equates to that number. Because it should.”

Pascale’s high school experience also included athletics. While she couldn’t compete her sophomore and junior years due to an undiagnosed neurological problem, she still managed to play two seasons of soccer and, as a senior, was on the swimming and cross country teams.

While she ponders college, Pascale spends her spare time with friends, watching anime and playing her guitar.

But if you ask her to play a tune, don’t expect a rendition of “Sweet Home Alabama.” She didn’t take music theory and Japanese for nothing.

“Well, I like a lot of Japanese music,” she says, laughing, “so it’s probably going to be a random Japanese heavy metal song that nobody’s ever heard.”