Florida School Hurting in Poor Economy

The economy today is a mess. Individuals as well as businesses from all corners of the country are feeling the pain of the weak market. Cooperate giants and small business owners are suffering but so are government-run agencies. And that includes schools.

Florida school boards are scheduled to submit balanced budgets in July that will reflect the $2.3 billion in legislative cuts to education. Before the 2008/2009 school year even began the Hillsborough County School Board shot themselves in the foot when they re-vamped the transportation system. They took away the courtesy bus for students who live within the 2 mile radius of the school, and they decreased the amount of bus stops. All of this, just to save money. But it caused more problems than was worth.

Schools across the state faced budget cuts which caused a domino effect of issues within the different schools. With no extra money, there is no incentive to keep good teachers, or even fill enough for the amount of classrooms the school holds and Hillsborough County is already facing a shortage of teachers. Of the teachers that are staying in the schools, they often find themselves in a bind. They need certain materials to teach their classes correctly but there is no money in the budget for it so they are forced to purchase it out of pocket, or not have those supplies at all. It is sad, but the children are really the ones that will suffer, and as cliché as it is, the kids are really the future of America.

Also with less money and less staff, School programs are cut. “Summer school programs, extracurricular activities like art and music, and seven period school days will be gone, said Senate Democratic Leader Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. Kids are going to be taught less which once again is bad for all. But Hillsborough County is one area in Florida that is trying to cut other costs instead of teachers. Hillsborough County Public Schools just hired 200 new teachers, according to spokeswoman Linda Cobbe. “We are not cutting any teachers. We will make sure that we don’t affect children and the classroom. There may be positions we don’t fill and we are looking at other cost-cutting measures.”

HillsboroughSchools Review

I have been following Hillsborough county schools since August to see how well the local government can respond to problems and what they do to prevent them from happening.

It all started on Monday August 18, 2008. That was the day they Hillsborough County schools began for the 2008/2009 school year. Actually, the problem started before then…About 2000 calls came in even before the school year started from parents that had a problem with the boards new plan for transportation. They thought they would save time and money by cutting bus stops. There are a few problems with that, one safety of course, and two, many parents and school kids did not know about the route changes. A St. Petersburg Time’s article headlined the morning after this plan was put to the real test “School Starts Smoothly,” but I could not help but wonder how that was even printed. So there were no real problems, if you consider thousands of kids not being able to get to school acceptable. The article quotes “Hillsborough schools had a hectic but mostly trouble-free start of the school year Monday, despite widespread confusion over bus route changes.” I think widespread confusion is actually a problem.

But problems are typical when many people are involved, and it is the local government’s job to attack each road bump as they come along. So how did the Hillsborough County School Board do?

Well a week after the “hectic” start and some bad weather (schools were closed for a day because if Hurricane Fay) the school district said that calls about the bus problems were beginning to “taper off.” But what they mean by that is in just three days they received 1200 calls about the transportation issues. While it is less, it is still unacceptable.

Ironically, days later in August 28^th, Jack Davis, the administrator in charge if Hillsborough County School’s transportation department, decided to retire. The school board said it was because of his health and had nothing to do with the transportation mess. Vice Chairwoman Carol Kurdell said “Physically he just couldn’t keep going.” Another board member, Susan Valdes seemed to counter that argument when in response she said “I’ve noticed a trend when they retire all of a sudden.” She called the problem “a fiasco” and she thought it was because of poor planning.

Parents have major concerns when it comes to the safety of their kids. June Leland and Kathy Walsh do not understand why their 16-year-old daughters have to walk more than 2 miles to get to their bus stop. They voiced their concerns to Superintendent Mary Ellen Elia at a meeting at Coleman Middle School. The moms say it is not safe and the only choice they have is to drive their girls to the bus stop. Elia’s response was that parents actually voted 2 years prior on the current location. Mudra Kumar told her that the focus should be on the kids and that she does not recall a single meeting. The problem, lack of communications once again. But at this time, September 10^th, the calls are down to 600. So they are making some progress, but how long until the number is a single digit?

Days later Elia was grilled at a Town Hall meeting for an array of things, but the hot topic was again the school bus stops. More than a dozen parents stood up to the microphone to voice their dismay in front of the 200 parents and school administrators in attendance. Elia publicly apologized for the lack of communications, but also referred most of the complaints to the transportation manager. She also informed the concerned parents that the board has investigated about 200 bus stops that were cause for complaint and 80 of them have already been changed. This is the first good step I have seen from the Hillsborough School Board in regards to this issue. Elia finally took some responsibility for the problem, let the people speak, actually listened and informed them of what she is doing and what she will continue to do to fix it. Parents in attendance noticed this as well, Luis Padilla spoke about how his 11-year-old autistic son was put on a bus that was late and he was dropped off without a parent waiting. Padilla was unable to contact anyone at the district. After this meeting he did say “I like the fact that I was able to talk to somebody, hopefully everything will work out.”

So with the government moving in the right direction, they can start to work out the problems. On October 27, 2008 the school board had a workshop on transportation. The changes that are planned for next year are;

1. A website that would allow parents to view their bus stops before the 2009-2010 school year begins.

2. A new system to handle parent phone calls that would emphasize returned phone calls rather than placing callers on hold

3. Having drivers practice proposed routes before the first day of school

4. An incentive plan to encourage bus driver attendance

5. Adjusting bell times at some schools by adding or subtracting minutes to give buses more time to get to school.

In all when it came to problems, the School Board of Hillsborough County encountered a giant, but Superintendent Mary Ellen Elia and her staff met the problem face on after taking fault and moving forward.

Mark Sharpe

Mark Sharpe has been the district seven Hillsborough County Commissioner since 2004. Prior to that, in the 1990’s Republican candidate Sharpe ran three races for Congress but lost them all. Also before obtaining a seat in the Hillsborough County Commission he served eight years as an active duty officer in the United States Navy as well as twelve years in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He was also a development officer for a private school as a government relations consultant.

Mr. Sharpe is a native of the Tampa Bay area, although he did make a shot trip to the states capitol in Tallahassee to attend Florida State University where he got his bachelor’s degree in multinational business; but he did return. He continued his educational endeavor to get a masters degree in strategic studies at the University of South Florida. He was born on January 26, 1960. Sharpe is married to Stephanie Ann (formerly known as Stephanie Ann Jennings) Sharpe and they have three children. Mark and Stephanie were both previously married and divorced. They got married to each other on June 23, 1998 by Reverand Charles W. DeArmon. Stephanie was born on April 4, 1969.

Mark Sharpe currently resides in a single family house in Grey Gables at 113 South Glen Avenue in Tampa. The assessed value of his home is $226,543, the exempt amount is $50,000 and the taxable value is $176,543. Sharpe pays $3,958.63 in property taxes annually, but has not yet paid for this year. In 2001 the assessed value of the same house was only $86,371 and he only paid $1,549.23 in property taxes. He and his wife took out a mortgage for this property in June of 2002. They borrowed $210,000. Then on November 17, 2006 they modified their Washington Mutual Home Equity line of credit by increasing it by $75,000. In January of 2007 Sharpe used Dreby Construction Inc to add a pool house onto his home. their Washington Mutual Home Equity line of credit by increasing it by $75,000.

Sharpe is only one of seven County Commissioners for Hillsborough County. Four of them were selected from single member districts and three, including Sharpe were elected county wide, or at large. So what exactly does a county commissioner do? Well, the Board approves the county’s operating and capital budgets and the county’s capital improvement program. According to the Hillsborough County website, “Under a Charter Ordinance that went into effect May 1985, County Commissioners are directed to perform legislative functions of government by developing policy for the management of Hillsborough County.” But the Board also has other responsibilities; they also serve as the Environmental Protection Commission and individual members also serve on other boards. Sharpe is also a Board member of The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, is the Vice Chairman of Tampa Bay Water, sits on the Children’s Board, and is a Board member for the Metropolitan Planning Organization. Sharpe has two Commissioner Aides, Sandy Chan and Eric Larson. They work in the County Building at 601 East Kennedy Boulevard on the second floor and his office phone number is (813)272-5740.

Sharpe is an upstanding citizen as one would expect with this Naval background. He has never been arrested in Hillsborough County and his driving record is squeaky clean, not even a traffic citation.

According to a October Tampa Tribune article, when he was up for re-election in 2006, Sharpe said his top issues during a second term include transportation, economic development, and building a new emergency operations center shared by the city, county and other agencies. In the same article former commissioner Joe Chillura criticized Sharpe for behaving more like an administrator than a board member because he focused more on issues that were not as attention grabbing like other commissioners did. Others focused on issues like banning gay pride recognition or building sports parks while Sharpe overhauled the county’s health care plan while serving as chairman of a 2005 taskforce. Chillura also said “He needs to get involved in more issues that are exciting to the hearts and minds of the public.” But he also said that Sharpe has “the will and determination to slay giants, I’d like to see him get a little more passionate about the things he believes.”

In 2006, Sharpe began making regular visits to Hillsborough schools to meet with student and teachers, he even made an appearance at his Alma Mata, USF. He was quoted as saying he loves to teach and thinks he will “return to the classroom when he is done with politics.”

Sharpe can also be linked with the Rail chatter. He used to be a skeptic of mass transit but later realized the importance of mass transit’s role in sustaining a thriving economy. Sharpe partook in an interview with WMNF 88.5 FM Radio host Mitch Perry in April 2008 about his thought transformation when it came to light rails. Before he supported Rails he thought the solution was actually more toll roads. Perry said “Mark Sharpe’s conservative pro-rail message is a local breath of prominence that outdoes, dare I suggest it, the early work of Ed Turanchik [“he laid out ambitious plans for a city neighborhood; he famously failed with the Civitas project, which was intended to transform downtown's public housing projects through the "new urbanism.” –Creative Loafing] Just a few weeks ago, on November 16, 2008 Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio spoke about bringing better mass transit including rail to Tampa. While mass transit sounds like a lovely idea to many citizens of the Bay Area, it f course means more taxes, but Iorio is still hoping to see this measure on the ballot in 2010. This fight has been fought before but was shot down by the County Commission which need to approve putting any tax referendum on the ballot. This year, two years after Iorio’s first request, the Commission does have the votes to add the mass transit tax on the next ballot. Sharpe was among those supporting the idea and he even has a countdown to the referendum on his wall at his office. He was quoted in a St. Petersburg Times article as saying he came to believe a better mass transit system that includes rail would not only help people tired of paying high prices for gas, but also would boost efforts to transform the region from a low-wage service economy to a high-wage information economy.

Mark Sharpe is also a big supporter of Senator John McCain. In fact, when McCain held his National Security roundtable in Tampa in January 2008, Mark Sharpe was one of the participants. I guess we know who he voted for in the 2008 Presidential election! (http://www.viddler.com/explore/realvideo/videos/67/)

In all, republican Mark Sharpe seems to be a pretty good politician. He follows his own ideas of trying to do what is best for the people that he represents instead of just following party lines. He has kept his nose pretty clean for the only criticism I found of him was from Mr. Joe Chillura, the former county commissioner who thought Sharpe’s issues were not flamboyant enough. But the citizens of Hillsborough County approve of their District 7 County Commissioner as he has been re-elected twice.

http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/bocc/commissioners/sharpe.cfm

http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/MGB1KYXTATE.html

http://www.tamparail.org/comment.asp?entry=439

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/mark-sharpe.asp?cycle=04

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/article512108.ece

http://www.viddler.com/explore/realvideo/videos/67/

http://www.implu.com/lobby_firm/4529

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/article904947.ece

http://www.city-data.com/elec2/94/elec-TAMPA-FL-94-part2.html

http://www.hillstax.org/taxapp/property_information.asp?pmid=3816781

www.hillsboroughcounty.org/transtaskforce/resources/publications/agendas/minutes/2008/0408ecap.pdf

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/11/10/Hillsborough/County_to_refocus_hea.shtml

http://pubrec2.hillsclerk.com/patraffic/searchbyname.aspx

http://pubrec3.hillsclerk.com/oncore/showdetails.aspx?id=12366026&rn=0&pi=0&ref=search

http://pubrec3.hillsclerk.com/oncore/showdetails.aspx?id=10402227&rn=27&pi=0&ref=search

http://www.vote-john-mccain-2008.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/19d8f9f1-48cf-4a4f-b0e2-8e88dad7a14e.htm

Public Meeting 3

Digital. It is a relatively small word, but it has been the center of a much bigger meaning recently. Starting on February 1, 2009 anyone who still uses “rabbit ears” or antenna’s to receive their television programming, will see nothing on their screens if they don’t convert their T.V.’s to be digitally ready.
The Tampa chapter of the society of Broadcast Engineers and Hillsborough County Television held a seminar style meeting on November 12, 2008 to help Tampa residents not only make the transition to digital smoothly, but also to understand why this is all happening.
Vinny Lopez who was moderating the night opened the evening with explaining that when all televisions are digital there will be many different advantages, other than better T.V. “Not only are we going to have better television, we’re freeing up spectrum for other use, better wireless service, fewer dropped calls, better performance by the United States in getting Broadband out to Rural America and to the inner city, where our country isn’t doing to well compare to a lot of other countries in the world, freeing up spectrum for public safety and building an interoperable public safety network in this country.”
While the transition is nation-wide, economics were taken into consideration. In these tough economic times when people are forced to choose between medication and food, it would be hard to encourage people to buy digitally ready television sets, so the society of Broadcast Engineers did come up with a fair solution. Every household is allowed to apply for two coupons, good for $40 off of an converter box purchase. The price of the box starts at $40, so it actually is a reasonable offer.
Lopez encourages the crowd to buy now, “As soon as get that coupon, buy the converter box. Don’t wait until the last minute rush so Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart runs out. Do it while there are a lot of sets available. Buy. Apply. Try. Take it home, hook it up. The Digital age is already here.”
People do seem to be pretty receptive to the whole transformation. I believe they can accept it because they do not have to upgrade alone. They have given all the reasons why the transformation will occur, and they are given the financial assistance to participate. All in all, the FCC is doing a great job rallying the country.

Tax Collector

I was not able to visit Doug Belden, the Hillsborough County tax collector but, Jeanette brought me back a handful of brochures filled with information.

After reading them, I learned that the tax collector is responsible for a lot more than I thought. First of all, he is responsible for collecting taxes obviously, but it seems like Mr. Belden has worked hard to make the nauseating experience a little less stressful. He modernized two of the four branches which resulted in more parking and shorter lines. That is a step in the right direction because people hate to wait, so that elevates some of the tension. Belden managed to cut the wait time from 45 minutes to just 8 minutes. Tax payers also seem to appreciate the effort because 98% of people who have sent in comment cards responded positively. People can also pay their taxes over the phone or online through the website www.hillstax.org.

In addition to paying taxes, three of the tax collectors offices offer drivers licenses services. There is however a $5.25 charge for drivers licenses transactions processed by the tax collectors office. People can also get information about where to go to renew Class E drivers licenses, commercial licenses, ID cards, and how to go about changing your address.

Another service the Hillsborough County Tax Collector offers is license plate renewal and mobile home decal renewal.

As a journalist, the website www.hillstax.org can be a very valuable resource. For one you can find out if someone has paid their taxes…and you can also find out what properties people own. If you know what you are looking for, the Hillsborough Tax collector can be a very valuable resource.

Steve Andrews, Investigative Reporter

Visiting Steve Andrews, Chief Investigative Reporter for News Channel 8, WFLA, was a great experience. He is one of the most respected investigative reports in the area by his colleagues and one of the most feared by his victims.
Mr. Andrews demonstrated the patience and hard work that goes into pursuing a full-fledged investigation. After the tip is received there is a combination of interviews and many public records searches that are required to uncover the truth and ask for change.
It was definitely eye-opening to see the stack of records he received for the reservoir story. He had to comb though each one individually because hidden in all of the clutter there was the story he was searching for. Also, the interview questions that made air were hard hitting and impossible to avoid. I think that is what makes him so successful. Something I took away from this meeting was that sometimes it is not the question itself, but it is how you ask it. I actually has some practice with this, I was trying to find out if someone had been vaccinated against a disease they died from. While medical records do not fall under public domain, I needed to find a ways to get the answer. After asking the doctor straight forward, she explained she could not tell me. Then at the end of the interview I rephrased the question and she answered it.
I believe that the type of reporting that Steve Andrews does is what real reporting is all about. What is the purpose of being a reporter is you cannot provoke change. Although that attitude comes with its own price. Andrews reported on the Harry Lee Coe’s gambling. While that is not illegal, Coe was apparently embarrassed of his involvement and tried to have computer records destroyed. That is illegal. Andrews kept up with him, and when after the story aired, Coe committed suicide. Even worse, Andrews was the man that found him dead in his car under the Crosstown Bridge. While I do not believe it is Andrews fault that Coe is dead, I personally would find it hard to sleep at night. That to me brings up a dilemma. How do you know how far to take a story, or why pursue an investigation where no illegal actions are happening?
Nonetheless, I learned a lot about investigative reporting. This all from the father of one of my favorite ESPN sports reporters.

Midterm

1.

The PIO for the Department of Children and Families, Al Zimmerman was arrested on child pornography changes. If I was assigned to cover an in-depth analysis of this man there would be a multitude of records I would need to review.

I would start out by visiting http://www.hcso.tampa.fl.us so that I can look up Mr. Zimmerman’s charge report. From this document I would find out the charges he was brought up on as well as some personal information such as his address. From the report I am also able to determine that Zimmerman was brought up on 8 counts of use of a child in a sexual performance. His arrest date and time would also be displayed. The amount of bond set and the status of the individual would also be on the report. In this instance, Zimmerman posted 120,000 dollars bail.

I would also talk to the PIO for the Tampa Police Department. I know that cases involving minors would be under an exemption of the Florida pubic records law, in fact, the Florida Public Records Handbook states that, "any criminal intelligence information or criminal investigative information which reveals the identity of the victim of the crime of sexual battery or other sexual offense; lewd, lascivious, or indecent assault upon or in the presence of a child; or child abuse is exempt from disclosure," but I would still try to find out a little bit about the victims without getting too personal. I would want to know if the children were in the DCF’s care, the age of the victims, how many there are for sure, and how many more there might be. I feel talking to the PIO can produce valuable information without crossing the unethical line because of the status of this crime.

To obtain the final disposition of Zimmerman’s criminal charges, I would contact the Clerk of the Circuit Court. Then I would go to https://www2.fdle.state.fl.us/cchinet/ to get a criminal background check to see what Zimmerman’s past criminal history looks like. Could this be a onetime mistake or does he have a history of child pornography or any other crime?

From there I would search the local newspapers, both the Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times for old articles that might give me more background information. To enhance this search I would use Lexus Nexus and type in Al Zimmerman into the search field under the news heading. I would first check the last year but then, of time permits I would go back even farther.

After doing all of my research on his criminal background, I would try to answer the question why and how. Why would a man, a former Bay Area reporter and a PIO for the Department and Family Services commit these crimes? The better question I would seek an answer for is How does this happen. To answer both I would need a character witness, and I would start at the DCF. Once I got there I would need to speak with the DCG Secretary Robert Butterworth. I would want to know what he knows about Zimmerman and his criminal activity. I would also ask about any unusual behavior or odd and quirky habits Mr. Zimmerman might have possessed. After speaking with Mr. Butterworth, I would try to talk to some of the DCF workers. They would have been around Zimmerman and have worked with him so they might have picked up on some abnormal behavior, or maybe he might have even confessed something to them. It does not hurt to dig around though. The more people I talk to, the more information I would get. And something someone says can easily be a tip to a whole new iceberg.

After that I would try to contact the News Director, Mike Gautreau at Bay News 9. Al Zimmerman was a reporter there in 2004, so maybe the News Director would have some more information. T.V. stations usually do background checks so it would be interesting to see if they found anything in their search four years ago.

Although this would not be records, I would want to talk to a psychologist to find out why something like this could happen. I would ask How does a man in a position such as Zimmerman’s commit this type if crime. Although they would not be at liberty to give me any of Zimmerman’s medical records including mental health records, they might be able to provide some insight.

2.

The Florida Sunshine Law, which deals with Public records and who is allowed to obtain public records, can be found in Chapter 286 of the Florida Statutes. It is every person’s constitutional right to review or get a copy of public records. There are however some exemptions. According to myflorida.com, “These essential laws afford citizens of our state the ability to see behind the curtain of government and remain involved in the processes that affect their lives. Without this access there is little accountability, and accountability is vital for good government.” Florida’s public records law relies on the principles of open government. This all started in 1909 when the first public records law was passed. It is now Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes. To sum it up, basically any record made or received by any public agency is to be available for the public to review. There are some exceptions made by the Legislature. The real question is what defines a public record…it used to just be regular written documents and books, but with the boom of technology, that definition has changed. Tapes, pictures and even computer files now fall under public record.

The Commission of Open Government Reform was created by Governor Charlie Christ in June of 2007. Executive Order 07-107 says:

- “An open and accessible government is the key to establishing and maintaining the people’s trust and confidence in their government and its ability to effectively serve its citizens.”

- “The state of Florida has a long history of providing public access to the records and meetings of public entities.”

- “Florida must continually strive to be a national leader in open government reform.”

- “Streamlining and clarifying applicable laws and policies will result in making government more open, accessible, and accountable to its citizens.”

- “a formal review of Florida’s open government practices will promote consistency, eliminate redundancy and provide public servants the tools they need to serve the people of Florida with integrity and transparency.”

Section one says the commission should give recommendations regarding Florida’s public record and public meeting laws. Section two lays out how may members the commission will consist of, 9. It also lays out who is allowed to be on the board. Of those 9 commissioners, the governor appoints one to be the Chair. Sections three discusses some of the issues that the commission should deal with. Section four says the commission is not allowed to take any compensation for doing their job. Section five lays out what organizations are subject to executive order 07-107.

According to Governor Charlie Christ’s website Florida voters believe that open government provides the best assurance of government that is responsive and responsible to the needs of the people.

While public officials are constantly being monitored, there is a very fine line between the public’s right to records and information, and the public officials privacy. That is why certain information is not part of the public domain. For example, an agency such as the Sheriff’s office, would be protected. Some information that would be common public information such as an address would be redacted. This protects the agency worker and his family. While this may make it appear that public officials have more leniency in regards to public information, that is not true. The public deserves to know and in some cases needs to know where their tax dollars are being spent. It is their money therefore it is their right. So the Reform commission works with the public to make sure Florida’s public records law, and Article 1, Section 24 of the Constitution are being implemented in the way they were meant to be.

3.

If I were assigned to do an in-depth, documentary profile of State Senator Victor Crist of Tampa, I would start by researching his actions as a governmental official. I would want to see how he votes on legislation, who he donates money to, what contributions he takes and what lobbyists are supporting him. I would do this by logging onto flsenate.gov and clicking on the senators tab. From there I would find his name to get a reliable biography. Then I would go to www.sunbiz.org to research the corporate officers, when the corporation was founded and what corporations Victor Christ owns. Then I would follow the money. You can find out a lot about an official by simply following where the money came from….and where that money came from and so on.

To find out personal information about Crist, such as what type of car her drives, I would order an AutoTrack profile. Since Mr. Crist is a public official, this process is actually very simple. To get his voting record, I would go to the state of Florida government website because all votes are public record.

The website moneyline.cq.com is a very valuable website to learn about who has made campaign contributions to certain candidates. I would also visit opensecrets.org to find any additional campaign information. This website is great for showing what trends exist in campaigns, and what trends exist in the financing of a campaign. If most of the candidates money came from a certain company or group of companies I would want to research into those individual companies. I would search to find out why there is that vested interest, and who is benefiting from it. Usually there is a bigger reason.