Photo Installation Included In NTRC Expansion

Matt May’s photography will be one of the highlights of the New Tampa Recreation Center’s expansion, which currently is under construction in Tampa Palms. (Photo: Charmaine George)

When the New Tampa Recreation Center (NTRC) was built in 2007, Tampa’s Matt May was commissioned to photograph some of the area gymnasts to adorn the windows at the new facility.

Now, 12 years later, the NTRC is just about finished with its $3-million expansion, and once again, it is May’s photography that will be among the highlights of the new structure.

The 7,300-sq.-ft. expansion will help the NTRC accommodate more of those gymnasts, as well as those in the city’s popular dance programs. The two programs served a combined 1,200 students (pre-Covid), and the additional space will allow those numbers to increase by roughly 25 percent when full capacity is again allowed.

Five panels of May’s photography will line a wall in the lobby of the new expansion, and will look like something you would typically see entering a professional sports complex or Hall of Fame. The images show gymnasts, ranging in age from 7 to 17, performing flips and other maneuvers. The large glass panels were put into place at the rec center July 29, as May watched like a nervous and proud parent.

However, these aren’t your ordinary images. May’s photos have been transformed with the use of ceramic inks that are printed onto inch-thick glass, which is then tempered so the inks become a permanent part of the glass.

“This is a new medium for me,” May admits. “The technology has gotten to a point where we could pull this off. Over time, you won’t have to worry about Florida’s heat or UV rays fading that image. To be able to put something in a window in Florida and have it last the test of time, at this level of detail, is really something that has only just become possible over the last year or so.”

May is a local sports photographer, who also shot the first studio pictures of new Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterback Tom Brady in the team’s new uniforms. He also shot new tight end Rob Gronkowski after he joined the Bucs.

May also shot ad campaigns for the Tampa Bay Rowdies in 2019 and, back in 2017, produced the art for the Bucs’ “Siege the Day” campaign.

He says he approached shooting the new pictures for the New Tampa Rec Center the same way, employing the same studio-lit pro action style.

“About a year ago, we set up here in the gym, using a black backdrop, and I photographed some of the young gymnasts just like I would Tom Brady or other pro athletes or sports teams,” May says. “I was not only showcasing their personalities, hard work and athletic ability, but also their confidence.”

The NTRC expansion is expected to be completed this fall. Prior to the pandemic, the facility boasted a waiting list of 1,400 kids — 960 waiting to get into gymnastics, the rest waiting to get into the center’s dance programs.

The expansion will add a 50’ x 40’ room specifically for children ages 5 and under, who currently have to share space with older kids in the existing 12,500-sq.-ft. gymnastics area.

Another 50’ x 40’ all-purpose room for dance also is being added, and the expansion also will include a 1,760-sq.-ft. “training box,” which will offer a wealth of possible training exercises for a variety of sports, like retractable batting cages and small group fitness classes.

District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, who helped lead the charge to get the expansion funded after years of budget disappointments as New Tampa’s representative on the Council, was on hand as the panels were fitted into place and found them to be a fitting touch for the new building.

“I think it’s amazing,” Viera said. “It really improves the existing location, and is consistent with what I think the community wanted to see.”

Ivanov Stresses Integrity & Impartiality In Her Circuit Court Bid

Ashley Ivanov

Integrity. Impartiality. Service.

These are more than words to non-partisan judicial candidate Ashley Willis Ivanov, who is running to become the next Group 19 judge of Florida’s 13th Circuit Court.

To her, they hold value when they are lived out. Professionally and personally, Ivanov says she lives out these ideals.

Ivanov, an attorney who lives in Lithia, has handled a diverse range of cases, including litigated and non-litigated matters, representing both plaintiffs and defendants. She presently focuses her practice on probate and estate planning.

“Integrity in the practice of law is important for the rule of law to be effectively carried out,” she says.

Born in Charleston, SC, Ivanov graduated magna cum laude with honors from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and cum laude from Vermont Law School in South Royalton.

She previously clerked for the federal government, interned at the U.S. Department of Justice and later worked for large, mid-size and small law firms in Washington D.C., Maryland and Hillsborough County, where she started her own law firm in early 2018.

A member of the Hillsborough County Bar Association, Ivanov zealously advocates for her clients, giving them straightforward feedback. Sometimes, this may mean informing a prospective client that he or she does not have much of a case or that the legal fees in the matter could be higher than what the client may have initially anticipated. “Transparency is part of being ethical,” she says.

The public testimonies of Ivanov’s clients attest to her professionalism.

Reading to children in the Head Start Program with her fellow Rotarians (above) is one of the ways Ashley Ivanov, a candidate for Circuit Court judge, gives back. (Photo: Ashley Ivanov campaign)

“My clients’ matters are more than pieces of paper filed in court with case numbers,” she says. “These are real people with real stories that matter.”

In her personal life, Ivanov says she stays busy volunteering with her church and taking her daughter to Girl Scout events.

“I try to lead by example and integrity is at the center of this,” she says, adding that impartiality is a cornerstone of a judge’s responsibilities in administering justice.

“We need more people to run for public office who are going to do what is fair and right and, for the judiciary, uphold impartiality,” Ivanov says. “It is not the judge’s role to legislate from the bench, but to apply the law as it is, as created by the legislature.”

Service also is a regular part of Ivanov’s life, and she would not have it any other way. She serves with the FishHawk-Riverview Rotary and says she enjoys reading to children in the HeadStart Program with her fellow Rotarians.

As a member of the Hillsborough County Bar Association’s Community Services Committee, Ivanov has participated in Wills for Heroes, where she prepared complimentary estate planning documents for First Responders.

For more information about Ashley Ivanov’s campaign for District 13 Circuit Court Judge, Group 19, visit VoteAshleyIvanov.com.

Passion & Experience Drive Judge Scionti Towards A Second Term

Judge Michael Scionti (with his arm around General) and wife Zsuzsanna (holding JoJo).

Michael Scionti has more than 20 years of experience in law, but he sounds like he is just getting started.

His first six-year term as Group 19 Circuit Judge in the 13th Judicial Court, which encompasses Hillsborough County, is about to expire, but Scionti is eager for a second term to build on his successes, particularly his work with children and the nationally-respected Veterans Treatment Court (VTC), a courtroom designed to help jailed veterans battling mental illness and substance abuse as a result of their military service.

“To be able to see the positive impact in the faces and eyes of a mother who has her child back, the eyes and tears that fall from a veteran that has his or her life back
I couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” he says.

The VTC is definitely close to his heart. Scionti has had multiple combat tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, serving as a military magistrate in each.

He’s also served as a Diplomat for the U.S. State Department and has been a member of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps for more than 20 years. His service gives Scionti a unique perspective for the struggles so many veterans face.

His work with the VTC, which he describes as a “collaborative” court, has gained national prominence, with a push to get the program implemented across the country. Scionti says Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, who has endorsed him in his race against challenger Ashley Ivanov, played a key role in starting the VTC in 2014.

The court offers programs for military veterans who have been charged with crimes and/or suffer from mental illnesses, traumatic brain injuries, substance abuse and other issues related to their service.

“I try to get veterans out of jail and into treatment,” Scionti says. “There’s no punishment in my courtroom, only encouragement in trying to re-crack the code for these veterans, to help them learn how to problem-solve for themselves.”

According to a 2018 report by the U.S. Department of Justice, an estimated 79 percent of released prisoners were arrested within six years. The VTC reports that its recidivism rate is only 10 percent.

“It’s working,” Scionti says. “We’re very proud of it.”

Scionti graduated from Florida State University in 1990 with a B.S. degree in Criminal Justice and in 1996, he earned his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from South Texas College of Law in Houston.

He has held positions as an assistant Attorney General, an assistant State Attorney and an assistant statewide prosecutor.

He served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2006-10, followed by a stint in the U.S. Department of Defense.

In 2012, Scionti was chosen by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a mission to help the U.S. transition detainee operations away from the U.S. government to the Afghanistan government. Scionti played a key role in helping create an Afghani criminal justice system.

By constructing a previously nonexistent system that focused on everything from forensics and building cases to delivering verdicts, Scionti’s efforts helped allow allowed the Afghani government to assume the prosecution of the Taliban.

“Before that, I was not even sure I was ready to be a judge,” Scionti says. “But, I thought after all of this experience, you know what, I have perspective; I have common sense solutions that I’ve applied at international, national and state levels, I think I’m going to be an effective judge. So, I came back home and ran for judge.”

He was elected to his six-year term with roughly two-thirds of the vote.
While Scionti says he is guided by many principles, the strongest one may have formed on the battlefields of Iraq.

He gets choked up when recalling being in a convoy in Iraq where two soldiers, both with wives and children, were killed by an IED. Scionti was unmarried at the time and, to this day, says he would have gladly taken that hit for them.

“When I sit on this bench and I’m presiding over these veterans who are struggling, I think about those soldiers who are no longer here,” Scionti says. “I’m certainly hoping that through my service, making the life that I have worthwhile, because I had the chance to come back
I’m doing the best I can to give back. That’s all.”

Scionti, who spends his spare time taking turns with wife Zsuzsanna doting on their rescue dogs General and JoJo, has a slew of endorsements from the likes of Viera, public defender Julianne Holt, former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and former Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

For more information, visit JudgeScionti.com.

Tampa Palms Resident Making School Board Bid

School Board candidate Jessica Vaughn

Tampa Palms resident Jessica Vaughn has spent much of her time the past few years as a community organizer and helping other candidates with various campaigns and elections.

Now, she wants to expand her horizons and run her own campaign, with the hopes of replacing Cindy Stuart in the Hillsborough County School Board’s District 3 seat. A crowded Primary Election is scheduled for Tuesday, August 18.

Stuart, who has served on the Hillsborough School Board since 2012, is running for Clerk of Circuit Court, leaving open her School Board seat, which represents the northern suburbs of the county, including New Tampa, Carrollwood, Lutz and Thonotosassa.

Vaughn, a substitute teacher who was elected to the Tampa Palms CDD in 2016, is hoping to parlay her desire to improve education throughout the District into a position where she can make a difference.

“I’ve been involved in helping other people get elected,” Vaughn says, “but I am very passionate about education, and it was a good time to put my money where my mouth was.”

Vaughn, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from USF in 2010, says she feels that many School Board members aren’t serving based on a passion for education, but rather to launch a political career.

She thinks it’s important to have experience managing a budget, being in the classroom and being a parent. “Those are the types of people we really need on the School Board,” she says. “That’s why I thought I’d be a good fit.”
With campaigning in person limited by Covid-19, Vaughn has been active on social media and has aggressively campaigned where she can. Her lengthy platform includes everything from clean water and safe buildings to catching those students falling through the cracks.

School safety in the age of coronavirus, however, has become most important.

She was in favor of students wearing masks before the county decided to make them mandatory, and says rigorous cleaning of schools has to be the top priority. Teachers and students, she says, must be taken care of, and virtual and e-learning options should be readily available.

Vaughn says she’s a strong believer in public education, and isn’t opposed to charter schools in theory, praising Pepin Academies and Learning Gate Community School in Lutz, but says many other charter schools have siphoned money from public schools and aren’t being held to the same standards as public schools.

Vaughn feels strongly that statewide testing is overutilized and far from adequate in determining a student’s academic achievement, and that the School District’s budget — which has again seen its reserves disappear and has created a $50 million deficit — is not being used wisely.

She think more money needs to be spent on evening the playing field for students who are at a disadvantage due to things many take for granted, like access to nutrition, walking to school in dangerous neighborhoods or even just having a jacket to wear to school in cold weather.

“If we’re not honestly talking about access to resources, supporting these communities and what that looks like when we’re talking about achievement, we’re not being realistic about the conversation,” she says.

Vaughn is running against five other candidates. She has endorsements from Tampa District 7 City Council member Luis Viera, and Hillsborough County commissioners Mariella Smith (countywide District 5) and Pat Kemp (countywide District 6). She received the endorsement from the Tampa Bay Times as well.

“Overall, my experience makes me the best person for this job, and I’m the person most preparing myself for it,” Vaughn says. “I’m the one watching the Board meetings and posting on social media about what’s happening
.I’m the only candidate talking about anything that’s happening educationally. If you need someone who is focusing on all of these important issues and will be ready to hit the ground running, I’m it.”

For more information, visit JessicaVaughn.us, or search for “Elect Jessica Vaughn” on Facebook.

Hillsborough changes course

Classrooms will be empty for the first week of the school year, after which parents who want their children to learn in-person can send their kids to brick-and-mortar school.

School in Hillsborough County is starting on Monday, August 24, but instead of being online the first four weeks as voted on by the Hillsborough School Board and based on recommendations from local health experts, those wanting to send their children back to in-person classes can do so beginning Aug. 31.

Superintendent Addison Davis made the announcement Thursday in an email to parents.

“To meet the state’s emergency order for all schools to open on August 31, Hillsborough County Public Schools will now begin eLearning for all students on August 24 and transition to brick and mortar a week later for those students whose parents want to come back on August 31,” the email said.

The district’s decision to start the school year online the first four weeks was rejected by Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) Commissioner Richard Corcoran, and the threat of losing more than $20 million in funding forced Davis to put a new plan — the first week online is being called the “The Smart Start Week” — into place to meet the state’s Aug. 31 deadline.

Those who chose eLearning can continue to have their kids learning online.

Davis said the district is spending $7-9 million on PPE to ensure the safety of students and teachers. He said schools would try to make social distancing work. “It is going to be hard to do,” he said, “but we’ll do it.”

Superintendent Addison Davis

Asked about a possible outbreak and how the district would react, as Florida’s Covid-19 numbers remain high — more than 6,500 positive tests and a 9.52 positive percentage in the latest numbers — Davis said unless it was a statewide decision by Governor Ron DeSantis, schools would be treated individually depending on the significance and spread of any outbreak.

“We will not be closing everything down,” he said.

Parents were given three choices back in July — to send their kids back to brick-and-mortar schools, keep them home for structured eLearning (that follows the typical daily bell schedule), or have them learn on their own schedules via virtual school.

Countywide, 49 percent of parents preferred the brick-and-mortar option for their children, compared to 42.7 percent for eLearning.

However, eLearning is the most popular choice of parents with kids going to New Tampa schools, according to results from Hillsborough County Public Schools.

Of the 9,322 declaration surveys returned from New Tampa, 5,080, or 52.3 percent, chose eLearning, or distance learning.

Roughly 39 percent, or 3,834, chose the brick-and-mortar option, with 759 parents (about 8 percent) selecting virtual school.

Pride Elementary had the highest rate of parents choosing eLearning — 66.8 percent.

In fact, elementary schools where, ironically, children are said to be the least affected by the virus, led the way when it came to parents choosing to keep their kids home — Clark Elementary (61 percent choosing eLearning) was second, and Tampa Palms Elementary (59.6) was third.

Freedom was the only New Tampa school where parents favored in-school to distance-learning, by a 46-41 percent margins. At Wharton, 695 parents chose eLearning, while 679 favored a return to the classroom.

* * * *

On Aug. 6, the Hillsborough School Board voted 5-2 to open the school year with eLearning for the first four weeks. The Board planned to meet again on Sept. 8 to see what the Covid-19 numbers were looking like.

And yes, the Board had already voted two weeks prior to approve Davis’ reopening plan, which offered the three choices for parents. But, it did so almost begrudgingly, due to a July 31 state-mandated deadline and concerns that it didn’t have enough medical data.

On Aug. 6, the Board brought in experts to help with that decision.

After listening to more than 50 mostly-impassioned public comments, a panel of medical experts from the USF Department of Health, the Moffitt Cancer Center and Tampa General Hospital and faced questions from the Board, with the most important one coming from District 5 School Board member Tamara Shamburger: 

“Yes or no?,” she asked, cutting to the chase. “Should our schools be reopened?”

One by one, the medical officials said no — with most citing the current community spread of the virus and the county’s already high positivity test rate. While five percent is considered safe, the county’s positive Covid test rate was nearly double that at the time.

Based on that medical advice, Shamburger and District 6 member Karen Perez pushed to open the school year with eLearning — originally for the first nine weeks — and when the vote was taken, everyone on the Board agreed to online-only for four weeks, with the exception of chairperson Melissa Snively and Cindy Stuart (who represents District 3, which includes all of New Tampa’s public schools).

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed his displeasure at the county’s decision. Corcoran wrote a letter to Superintendent Davis, saying Hillsborough County couldn’t do eLearning for four weeks, because it went against his decree that parents must be given a choice of returning to school.

Meanwhile, Miami-Dade and Broward counties are among the districts being allowed to open online, because they are still in Phase One of DeSantis’ re-opening plan.