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.

The Grove Theater Getting A Major Makeover

When CMX, the parent company of Cobb Theatres and CineBistro, filed for bankruptcy in April, citing the damage done by the coronavirus, it officially brought to an end Wesley Chapel’s popular movie theater in The Grove.

It also, however, has ushered in a new opportunity.

Developer Mark Gold, whose Mishorim Gold Properties owns The Grove, is remaking the popular 85,000-sq.-ft. movie theater into something that he says will be bigger and better.

“I am bringing something for the whole family,” he says. And, don’t worry, he adds, the new project will still be a movie theater, it’ll just be, “unlike any you have seen before.”

To name a few of the major changes: Instead of 16 movie screens (and roughly 3,000 seats), there will be 12 screens, with at least one or two dedicated to children. The additional space freed up by consolidating the screens will be used to create a video game area that Gold says will resemble the popular arcade and restaurant/bar Dave & Buster’s. There will be a sushi restaurant upstairs and one with more traditional American/theater food options below.

Outside, new landscaping and a mini-golf course will create an area for people to gather and make a night of it.

Gold says the entire facility will be redesigned, reimagined and most important, rejuvenated, and that there already are plans for an adjoining housing development featuring 540 townhomes and apartments.

“This is going to be an entertainment complex like no other,” says Tom Peck, the director of operations for The Grove Theater (working title).

The large arcade area — which, in most theaters, is just a small room set off to the side with a dozen or so games set up — will replace the current lobby, with games designed for teens and adults in one area, and games for younger players in another. 

At least one or two of the movie theaters will be modified to serve as a “kids zone,” with things like bean bag chairs and sofas for those watching the movie and a play area for those who’d rather climb through tubes and tunnels. The kids theater will be ideal, Gold says, for parents looking to watch a movie or enjoy dinner while their children watch something more suitable for their age.

Gold says he also is considering converting one theater into a ninja-style obstacle course for younger kids.

Before….
…and after.

The other movie theaters will carry the latest Hollywood releases and will be fitted with newer, and more comfortable, leather reclining chairs. There will be VIP theaters, will full-fledged dining options like the old CineBistro model. “The name won’t be there,” Peck says, “but the same concept will continue.”

You Still Have To Feel Safe

Gold says he is most pleased, however, with his plans to ensure safety. In an era where the Covid-19 pandemic has changed everything about the way the world does business, Gold promises that with each movie ticket, gaming pass and meal purchased, customers also will receive the one thing that will best allow them to enjoy the experience — peace of mind.

State-of-the-art cleaning equipment will be employed to keep the theater virus-free. There will be hospital-grade fog machines and ultraviolet lights to disinfect walls, floors, handles, seats and the air in between each movie, and temperature monitors at the front door that will keep those showing coronavirus symptoms from entering. 

Social distancing will be implemented, as will face masks, depending on the state of the virus when the theater opens.

“Our theater will be extremely safe,” Peck says. “It will have things in there no other company has ever been able to do because of the (costs associated with the) large number of theaters they control.” 

And, if you wonder what happens when (or if) Covid-19 finally passes, Gold says he is still playing the long game with his safety measures, because there will still be plenty of other germs out there and families will be looking to stay safer than ever in the future.

“Everyone is going to want to feel safer, more secure,” Gold says. “Even 2-4 years down the road. The idea is we will be much safer than your grocery store. This place will be 3,4, 5-times safer because we are taking all these steps.”

Only with these safety measures, Gold says, can he see his vision fulfilled, where families come out to play a round of miniature golf, enjoy a dinner together, see a movie and play some games afterwards. Instead of two hours in a theater, families can spend 4-5 hours enjoying a night of entertainment.

“It will have everything in one complex,” Gold says. “At a normal movie theater, maybe you go eat before you come, then see the movie and go somewhere else after. But, this will have everything. It’s going to be a real destination spot.”

The theater renovations, which Peck says could be completed sometime in September, are another part of a massive project at The Grove, which Gold purchased last September for $62.7 million. 

By the end of the year, The Grove is expected to have more than 60 converted and redesigned shipping containers open at the trendy KRATE by Gold Box container park, which is being built on nearly 7 acres of land just west of I-75 and east of The Grove’s big box retail stores like Best Buy and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

A host of other restaurants, bars and businesses are opening now, or are expected to open soon in “The Village” portion of the 200-acre complex.

For leasing & other info, search “Grove At Wesley Chapel” on Facebook, call (407) 636-1266 or see the ad on pg. 1 of every issue of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News!

Teachers Concerned About Return To Classrooms

Danielle Biggs of Veterans Elementary was among many local teachers who protested having to return to brick-and-mortar schools later this month outside the July 21 Pasco School Board meeting. (Photo by Octavio Jones)

Her son had such a wonderful experience with his teachers in Pasco County that Danielle Biggs went back to school in her 20s to become one of them.

Today, she’s afraid that decision could kill her.

Like many teachers not just across the county but across the nation, Biggs, a mother of three, is preparing to get back into a Veterans Elementary classroom on August 24, when Pasco’s schools are scheduled to reopen. She is filled with trepidation, however, because she says the growing spread of Covid-19 poses a serious threat to her and her teachers and students.

“I don’t want my children to grow up without a mom because I chose to be an educator,” she says.

That is not hyperbole, she adds. While the numbers suggest that children catch the virus and are less affected by Covid-19 than adults, the fear of them spreading it to teachers (and students with underlying health conditions), and as a result the community, is frightening for Biggs.

There are countless layers and questions when it comes to reopening schools, as Florida continues to struggle with containing the virus, which is infecting more than 10,000 people a day in the Sunshine State and the death count continues to grow.

But namely, consider this: What happens if a teacher contracts the virus? What happens if a student passes it around?

And, what happens when/if someone — even one teacher or child — dies?

“It’s unsafe for us to open right now,” Biggs says. “This has me pretty emotional. The decision our governor is making is ultimately going to cost the lives of educators, and the lives of family members and students. And to me that is just unacceptable.”

Biggs’ fears are shared by other teachers. But, they have few choices. U.S. Pres. Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have pressed for schools to open, even threatening to withhold much-needed funds if they don’t, and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran issued a July 6 order (now being challenged in court) that a five-day-a-week traditional school option should available to all parents.

“I teach kids every day about science and repeated trials and tracking data, and what it really means to look at facts,” Biggs says. “But,what we’re getting is a lot of opinion. When the Governor says I believe that we need to do this, and it is not supported by data
and that’s not okay.”

Most teachers, citing concerns about children spreading the virus, overcrowded classrooms and keeping their students from simple things like sharing pencils or a hug, would rather see the first semester — at least until infection rate numbers decrease significantly — be online only.

They have staged protests across the state, and Biggs was one of dozens of Pasco teachers who protested outside the July 21 School Board meeting.

At that meeting, Browning told those listening that Pasco County had no choice but to follow Corcoran’s order, even though school districts in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties are opening with distance learning.

“They’re still in Phase 1, they have the latitude,” Browning said. “We are not given that latitude. We’re in Phase 2 of the Governor’s (reopening) order. In fact, the (Corcoran)’s emergency order specifically states that upon reopening in August, districts must open brick and mortar at least 5 days a week for all students. The order does not give districts any wiggle room to not open our schools. I don’t necessarily agree with the order, but it is an immaterial point.”

Teachers like Katy Powers and her husband Robert Mueller, fifth grade teachers at Denham Oaks and Sand Pine elementary schools, respectively, don’t find any solace in the Phase 2 argument, however. 

“We closed schools when we had 300 cases in the entire state,” Katy says. “We’re now here in July, and statewide we have 436,000 cases. And, that’s with kids being at home. It makes no sense to go back now.”

Robert Mueller and wife Katy Powers are both elementary school teachers in Pasco County and are concerned about returning to the classroom.

Powers and Mueller are so concerned about the dangers of returning to school — Katy has a blood pressure issue from a pregnancy three years ago that puts her at risk — they decided to put together their wills.

The United School Employees of Pasco (USEP) conducted a survey recently of its teachers and school-related personnel (SRP), and 75 percent of the 3,800 respondents felt the only way to safely begin school was through distance learning.

In a formal resolution on July 24, the USEP wrote, “In order to promote health and safety for students and staff, USEP will strongly advocate for the District to conduct schools in a Distance Learning only format until there is a 14-Day downward trend in positive COVID-19 cases.”

NOTE: After our deadline, the USEP announced it would file for a temporary injunction to the emergency order by the Department of Education. Also, in Hillsborough County, its School Board voted 5-2 in favor of online learning for the first four weeks, with plans to revisit on Sept. 8.

Colleen Beaudoin, the Pasco School Board chair, says the school year will not start online.

“A lot of people are saying they want to start “On time and online,” Beaudoin says, referring to a campaign touted by teachers as the best way forward. “That is currently not an option. One thing that is crystal clear is that we must follow the statute to receive funding, or nobody gets paid.”

Beaudoin says she has received emails from teachers who are fearful of returning to their classrooms before Covid-19 is under control, and “I’ve also heard from some (SRP) and teachers who have advocated for going back on time, (that they’re) worried about how to make ends meet.”

Biggs says of all the teachers she knows, maybe five percent have no issues about returning to school, while another five percent are looking into taking a leave of absence. The remaining 90 percent “are absolutely terrified and looking to find other opportunities.”

Many are trying to get one of the District’s online teaching positions. But, Browning says that about 65 percent of parents who made their declarations by Aug 1 wanted their kids to go back to brick-and-mortar classrooms, so there won’t be too many online jobs available.

Katy Powers will teach online, as well as in a pod at Denham Oaks. Robert applied for an online teaching position but didn’t get it, and will return to his classroom at Sand Pine.

Katy has resigned herself to the fact that schools will reopen Aug. 24, but she still hopes that Browning and the Board will look at the Covid-19 infection rates and fight harder for the safety of teachers and students.

“I’m just afraid it’ll come too late, after schools are opened, after someone passes away,” she says. “After it’s too late.”

Local Teen Delivers A Positive Message

For one Wesley Chapel teenage entrepreneur, every Friday is Black Friday.

In conjunction with her online store selling T-shirts that promote positive messages for black teenagers, Janiah Hinds also posts a video every week of someone who is important in black history. She begins each video with “Welcome to Black Friday
”

The 15-year-old, who lives in Country Walk and will soon start her junior year at Wesley Chapel High, hasn’t missed a Friday since she first came up with the idea last fall.

She says it started with brainstorming in her room one day.

“I thought of stereotypes of African Americans and I wrote them down,” she says. When she showed them to her dad, an entrepreneur and business coach himself, he encouraged her to put the list on a T-shirt to sell.

Janiah’s online store now carries T-shirts that dispel those stereotypes, plus three additional T-shirt designs that celebrate being black. For example, one popular shirt says, “Black is ambitious, powerful, intelligent, resilient, hardworking.”

She also created a limited edition design for Juneteenth that sold out.

Janiah named her business “Slay It Proud,” which she says means to “rock the message proudly” and also is a tribute to the song, “Say it loud! I’m black and I’m proud” by the late, great R&B superstar James Brown.  

She says it’s also a nod to her 13-year-old sister, Joelle, who also is a young entrepreneur herself. Joelle started a business selling press-on nails, called “Slay All Day Nails,” last year.

“When I was younger, I never would have thought I would have my own business selling T-shirts,” says Janiah, “but I’m glad that I have this opportunity and that I can use my platform to spread black history.”

That’s what Janiah says is her true passion — sharing black history with teenagers and others.

So, she came up with the idea to post the weekly videos. With the self-imposed responsibility of posting so much new content, she says she now takes suggestions and also does quite a bit of research of her own.

In the past couple of months, she’s posted videos about Ida B. Wells, a prominent anti-lynching campaigner in the early 1900s; a famous “hypocrisy speech” delivered on July 4, 1852 by Frederick Douglass; as well as one about the inventor of the Super Soaker water gun in the 1980s, Lonnie Johnson.

“A favorite person of mine would be Shirley Chisholm,” Janiah says. “She was the first African American woman in Congress. When she (ran) for president of the US, she wasn’t allowed to be on the stage and debate (against the other candidates) because she was black. She had to take legal action to be allowed to participate.”

In 1972, not only was Chisholm was the first black person to run for a major party nomination for U.S. President, she was also the first woman ever to run for the presidential nomination for the Democratic party. 

Janiah’s dad, Kymone Hinds, says he also is learning from his daughter.

“From a young age, Janiah has had a heart for people who are in need and those who are forgotten about. In addition, from the time she was first exposed to black history, she has become a self-student — doing self-studies in that area — and has helped to educate me on important figures in black history that I didn’t know about.”

Janiah says her business is just the start. In the future, she says she hopes to become a civil rights lawyer and help bring justice and equality to people.

As she sees Black Lives Matter protests happening throughout the country, she sees an opportunity to change the world for the better.

“I hope that what’s going on now can bring a better change for future generations, especially future generations for people who look me.”

Janiah has even been featured on local TV news stations, including a February interview on WFLA-TV News Channel 8 (screenshot, right)).  

And while Slay It Proud was founded with black teenagers in mind, Janiah says it’s not limited to them.

“A lot of white people and people of other races have supported my business and bought my ‘Black is’ shirts,” she says. “To me, it’s saying that you see something is wrong and you want to fix it and change society for the better.”

Her dad sees Janiah as a young leader. “In any movement for change, people are playing different roles,” says Kymone. “There are those on the front line making sure it stays in view and those pushing for change at the political level. Her role is helping people to understand black history. Here is a true education, besides the limited scope of slavery and the civil rights movement.”

Janiah’s website is SlayItProud.com, where you can view all of her merchandise and access her virtual African American museum. She posts her Black Friday videos on Facebook and Instagram. Find them by searching “Slay It Proud.”

 

New Tampa Road Projects Still On The Way!

A new roundabout for Highwoods Preserve Pkwy., a new coat of paving for New Tampa Blvd. and a number of new enhancements for Tampa Palms Blvd. remain in the New Tampa/District 7 pipeline for Fiscal Year 2021, according to Tampa City Council member Luis Viera.

Issues like lawsuits and Covid-19 have slowed some of the projects down.

“They’re coming, though,” Viera says. “They’re coming.”

One project that likely already would have been done, or certainly would’ve been underway by now, are the long-awaited repaving and enhancements of New Tampa Blvd., from the New Tampa Gateway Bridge to Bruce B. Downs Blvd.

Long a prickly point with many West Meadows residents, the repaving was on the list of items that were supposed to be expedited after the All For Transportation (AFT) referendum passed in 2019, with 57 percent of voters agreeing to a one-cent sales tax increase to be used for transportation projects.

The New Tampa Blvd. project was slated to receive $1.3 million of the $280 million a year for 30 years the tax was expected to yield. However, Hillsborough County Commissioner Stacy White challenged the referendum language and it is now tied up in the Florida Supreme Court, which has yet to make a decision. A back-up plan for another referendum this fall has been postponed until 2022, as Covid-19 has taken precedence.

There is some good news — the New Tampa Blvd. project concept design is being funded by the City of Tampa. 

“However, it can’t be completed without AFT funds, which really stinks,” says Viera, who pushed hard for New Tampa to receive some immediate improvements due to its support for the referendum, only to see it get tied up in litigation. “Moving forward with the design means they are married to the idea. So, if the AFT money doesn’t come through, it will still be funded. It’s just going to be on a longer timeline.”

The same goes for Tampa Palms Blvd., which had a total of $700,000 earmarked for Complete Streets programming, which is a Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) plan for improving pedestrian and bicyclist safety and “building the right road in the right place for the right purpose.”

The Tampa Palms Blvd. project is supposed to include operational improvements to its two Compton Dr. intersections —  namely potential roundabouts to replace four-way stops — as well as roadway improvements like enhanced crosswalks, sidewalks and bulb-outs (also called curb extensions) along the roadway’s 4-mile loop.

One project that won’t be held up by AFT funds is a roundabout currently being designed for the intersection of Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. and Highwoods Palm Way/Bridle Club Dr. 

The roundabout will help calm traffic at the busy intersection that leads out of the Highwoods Preserve Corporate Campus (home to thousands of employees at MetLife, Syniverse and T-Mobile) and, on the other side of Highwoods Preserve Pkwy., the Equestrian Parc at Highwoods Preserve apartment complex.

The design is expected to be completed by the end of this year, with construction expected in 2021.