Hickey pledges to beef up middle school sports

INVERNESS -- While shortages in athletic facilities and coaches stymied the school district's efforts to expand middle school sports this year, superintendent David Hickey told the School Board on Tuesday that promised improvements would happen during the next school year.

The issue had been raised late last year by the mothers of two Inverness Middle School students who were concerned that so many students were cut from teams, thus discouraging them from staying athletically active.

The mothers pushed for the school district to provide more intramural programs and to institute no-cut policies in sports such as volleyball.

Hickey said that, beginning next year, the number of intramural offerings in the middle schools will increase from two to four, with volleyball as one of the four sports. Also, volleyball teams will play two matches instead of one.

With an A team and a B team playing, more students would be able to participate in the sport.

A tournament also would be planned at the end of the season, and coaching supplements for the sports will be formally added to the budget, Hickey said.

Those improvements were the result of committee meetings with the mothers, area coaches, district and school administrators.

In other activity:

The board suspended food service employee Anna Catucci without pay on Tuesday and began termination proceedings. Catucci has been on suspension with pay since earlier this month, when she was arrested on charges that she brought narcotics into a detention facility, said School Board attorney Richard "Spike" Fitzpatrick.

The alleged incident happened in Okaloosa County.

Local trainers of guide dogs for the disabled sought help from the school district, seeking permission for dogs in training to be brought to schools by foster families that work in the schools.

OKADA Specialty Guide Dogs, which is based in Floral City, had approached officials at Lecanto High School months ago, seeking permission for the dogs to be brought to the school to familiarize the animals with the school environment.

Principal Kelly Tyler referred the request to the district's risk managers, so the trainers brought their issue to the board. Fitzpatrick suggested that he coordinate the discussion between the school and the district to see what might get worked out.

The board agreed to allow school administrators to spread the word about mental health awareness curriculum through the schools, but stopped short of asking schools to adopt the entire program.

Helene Morris, local president for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, pitched the program to the board based on the need to teach children about mental illness.

Board members said they could see why the program would be good, but they also voiced concern that teachers already have many other lessons they must teach and many are already overwhelmed.

Board members voiced support for a new program to combat drug and alcohol use by teens. Summarizing the program was Mary Lee Cubbison, Citrus County director for the Marion-Citrus Mental Health Center.

The program will offer assessments and treatment, and the state Department of Children and Families will fund the program for families which cannot afford to pay.

Cubbison noted that getting students into the program is the challenge because many do not recognize and do not admit that they have a substance abuse problem.

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