Category: Education

A penny may not seem like it could do too much good, but the extra penny Pasco County residents have been paying since 2004 has raised a total of $139 million for the Pasco School District since the tax began.

However, not all of the proceeds from the tax go to the school district— the school board and Pasco County commission each receive 45 percent of the proceeds, with the remaining 10 percent being divided among Pasco’s six municipalities. With the tax set to expire in 2014, the county is asking the public for a second ten-year “round” of it, to be voted on by Florida residents in November’s general election.

The money has gone towards updating and renovating area schools in need. Among the Wesley Chapel schools needing the tax to pass because they have projects that aren’t funded without the second ten years include Thomas E. Weightman Middle School, which is waiting to receive campus safety improvements. The original Penny fund currently only has $30 million left.

Renovations to Quail Hollow Elementary (QHE) also are in the next go-round, and principal Michelle Berger says she supports continuing the one-cent tax. “I think there are a lot of projects in the district that still need extra funding,” Berger says.

If it passes, the second ten years of the tax is expected to raise $502.4 million, of which the District would get $226 million. The funds can’t be used on salaries or other everyday expenses; instead, the money has to be dedicated to building new schools or renovating/repairing old ones. “I believe (local voters) would support the penny if they could see the good it has done in the district,” says Dr. John Long Middle School principal Christine Wolff.

Originally, the tax was intended to help with the growth of Pasco County, which needed more new schools to reduce the crowding at many older ones. With the pause in residential growth in the past few years, there are no new schools on the project list, instead focusing on the improvement of Pasco schools already in existence.

For more information visit PascoCountyFl.net.

When Cesar Mullix saw the flyer and entry form for the Uncle Ben’s Rice “Ben’s Beginners” national video cooking contest in a school package, he knew instantly that his daughter would be a contender. And, Cesar was right, as Dr. John Long Middle School sixth grader Astrid Mullix ended up as the contest’s national runner-up, surpassing hundreds of other entries, with her video on how to make Dominican-style chowfan, a dish derived from the Chinese immigrants in the Dominican Republic.Continue reading

By Matt Wiley

After years of legal battles, it looks as if the Cypress Creek Town Center Development of Regional Impact (DRI), the undeveloped property at the interchange of I-75 and S.R.s 54 & 56 in Wesley Chapel, will finally be home to an outlet mall to be built by the Simon Property Group.Continue reading

My friends and long-time New Tampa residents Bonnie and Bob Bishop are proud to announce that they are holding an open-to-the-public fund raiser to benefit the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society at the GrillSmith on Paseo Dr. in the Shops at Wiregrass mall on Thursday, May 24, 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m.

Bob, who was stricken with MS about four years ago, and Bonnie have participated in several other MS fund raisers and have wanted to do something more to help.

“People don’t realize how debilitating and strange MS can be,” Bonnie says. “Bob’s condition is supposedly ‘stable,’ but sometimes he can walk a mile with me and sometimes, he can’t make it to the mailbox on his own. Is that stable? He has a hard time not being the person he was.”

The couple is from New England (she from Massachusetts and he from Maine), so she says they first realized something was wrong when Bob, a former small college ice hockey goalie, “couldn’t skate a few feet without falling down.” He was diagnosed a short time thereafter.

For a $10 donation to the MS Society, attendees at the GrillSmith event, which is co-hosted by “Bob’s Buddies,” will receive delicious complimentary hors d’oeuvres, Happy Hour drink prices and be eligible to win free door prizes.

Plan to participate in a great silent auction of autographed Tampa Bay Lightning memorabilia, donated by their friends Sue (whom Bonnie says has helped her “so much” to put on the event) and former Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk. There also will be rounds of golf, restaurant and spa gift cards and more you can win.

In addition to the Andreychuks, Bonnie thanks José Martin of Sweetbay and Joe Brooks from GrillSmith and of course, their children, Makayla and Jared. “This isn’t just about us and Bob, it’s about ‘the unknown’ and believing we can make a difference in MS,” Bonnie says. “Bob is our hero, but we know there are many more heroes like him out there.”

For more information about this great event, feel free to email bfrombos@aol.com. — GN

Student of Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) may not have known who Nathan Detroit or Sarah Brown was before WRH’s drama department brought a classic to life the weekend of March 16-18 — when the school’s drama department performed the musical“Guys and Dolls” — but anyone who attended those performances surely does now. Originally produced in 1950 by Feuer and Martin, “Guys and Dolls” has become one of the most recognizable musicals in Broadway history after winning the 1950 Tony award for Best Musical.Continue reading