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School site's safety questioned
By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff Writer
LECANTO -- Donna Jean De Simone once found members of the Citrus County Sheriff' Office tactical squad standing on her front lawn. They were organizing a search for inmates who had escaped from the nearby Citrus County jail. She routinely hears inmates exercising outside the jail and a separate state lockup for juvenile offenders. De Simone and her neighbors also are fairly accustomed to hearing blasts from hunting rifles in the Withlacoochee State Forest, just a stone's throw from De Simone's street. These are what residents endure when they live near a hunting zone, jail and juvenile justice facility. De Simone is willing to accept these peculiarities and adjust to them -- but she doesn't think students should have to. Several weeks ago, she noticed surveyors on a tract of vacant land near her home. They told her the School Board was considering the land as a site for the Renaissance Center. Since then, De Simone has sought opinions from neighbors, friends and experts. She is building a case and hopes to change the School Board's mind. "It's up to the adults to protect the children, and it's supposed to be a safe school," said De Simone, a 40-plus-year resident of the area. "It's not a safe site." In May, the board voted to begin purchasing the 22-acre tract just south of State Road 44 and east of County Road 491. Renaissance, an alternative school that houses disruptive students from high schools and middle schools, has been housed in portable classrooms in Inverness since opening in 1997. Once in a new facility, Renaissance's capacity will be 239, about twice the current capacity. The board also wants to start a program serving students who now face expulsion for first-time violations of the district's zero tolerance policy on drugs and alcohol. Construction costs for the new Renaissance Center have been estimated at just less than $6-million. The school district's Site Selection Committee examined numerous parcels, finally settling on three. The Lecanto site, adjacent to the jail and the Cypress Creek Academy for juveniles, was selected as the most desirable location based on price and central location. Safety was discussed in several committee meetings, and the board's support for the site has been well publicized. But until De Simone realized what was happening and began visiting neighbors, she said few people who live in the immediate area knew what was up. "I wonder if people are aware that they're hunting down in there," said one of those neighbors, Fran Foster. "We were just surprised" about the school district picking the site," said Foster who has lived in the area with her husband, John, for 13 years. "Suppose a child was over there and got out. . . . People do hunt in these woods." She added, "I don't think this is a very good idea." Another neighbor, Joan Chalker, also didn't know of the school district's plans until De Simone told her. "I don't think it is a good idea, not with the detention center over there and the forest," she said. Chalker moved to the area in 1999 from Rochester, N.Y. "I knew the jail was there, but I didn't think it was so close," she said. "You can hear them over there calling cadence." "At the jail you never know when they're going to break out," said another neighbor, Virginia Snyder, who also noted that the woods are full of gunshots throughout hunting season and the voices of inmates playing basketball and baseball all year. School Board member Patience Nave, who serves on the Site Selection Committee, has heard De Simone's concerns. "We parked in her yard when we went to see the property," Nave said. "She was concerned that we had not given adequate consideration to its closeness to the jail." But Nave said "there's a forest in between" the jail site and where the school would be situated on the property. "One argument to me was asking me whether we were presenting this to these (Renaissance) kids with the idea that this was one step away from this institution," Nave said. She said she assured De Simone that this was not why the site was picked. To Nave, the centralized location was a big plus. "It should be in the middle of the county so there is the least amount of misery" to students traveling in from all over the county. The central spot also means that any students on a job study program would have better access to job sites countywide. She said she wasn't familiar with the hunting concern. "I would really have to be convinced that was a serious problem and not one pulled out of a hat," Nave aid. Nave also noted that the district had good representation on the Site Selection Committee from people who would have a high concern about student safety. The members include Renaissance Center principal David Cook and the chairman of the school's advisory/enhancement council, Aldo Verderame. Cook said he was not familiar with the hunting concern, but noted that the Lecanto school complex, and other schools, were also fairly close to hunting areas. Barbara Moran is a member of the school's advisory council, which De Simone contacted. Moran had missed several meetings recently for personal reasons and hadn't heard about the Lecanto site. "I would object to the site," she said, noting that she wanted to hear from school officials why the seemingly obvious safety issues were so easily explained away. "I just feel myself that it's a great school with a great staff," she said. "I don't think that it should be out of town. . . . I just feel strongly that to put that school way out there, I think that's defeating the purpose." De Simone plans to ask the School Board to reconsider its Lecanto plans during its Dec. 10 meeting. The board could hear the final terms of the purchase as early as that meeting, said James Hughes, executive director of support services. Hughes noted that while the district wants to hear neighbors' questions, the project has reached the 11th hour. "Much earlier discussion about this would have been helpful," Hughes said. Still, he said the committee had discussed the safety issues. Cook said he and his staff always have safety foremost in their thoughts. If the school lands on this site in Lecanto, he said, he would actively work with sheriff's and corrections officials to ensure that an updated safe school plan would be designed, and to ensure there would be swift communications methods with the officials in case of any future emergency. Still, De Simone is not convinced. Escapes are not always discovered immediately. And with a school whose goal is to keep students and staff feeling safe, she said she didn't expect the sound of distant gunfire to help the learning process. "Are you making them feel secure?" she asked. -- Barbara Behrendt can be reached at behrendt@sptimes.com or 564-3621.
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