Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
HOMOSASSA - When a contractor built a new cafeteria and media center for Homosassa Elementary School in southwest Citrus County, a couple of teeny, tiny details got left out.
Such as, most of the reinforcing steel that was supposed to be in the walls.
Such as, much of the supporting grout that was supposed to be poured around that steel.
Such as, good connections between the roof beams and the walls.
Oh, and the walls aren't properly connected to each other.
And did I mention the roof? The metal roof beams over the cafeteria's dining area and stage lack the welds needed to hold them on.
There's a lot more.
What they've got at Homosassa Elementary School isn't much more than concrete blocks that might fall down in a stiff wind.
Does it need to be said? These are buildings intended for little kids and teachers.
Oh, by the way, the construction passed every single inspection, week after week. State law lets school districts hire their own inspectors, you see.
I would like to report that these problems were diligently uncovered by the Citrus County School Board, and that heads have rolled.
I would like to tell you the whip-cracking state has issued an emergency order suspending the contractor's license.
I would like to report that the State Attorney's Office quickly empaneled a grand jury for a full-scale criminal investigation.
I would like to relate that the U.S. Justice Department is crawling over this case, and state Attorney General Charlie Crist is stomping through the county as furious as a T rex.
I would like to tell you all that.
But none of that has happened.
Whistleblowers tried to get the school district's attention, but were ignored. "I've checked it," a manager blandly replied, "and everything seems to be okay."
Finally, a frustrated anonymous source supplied photographs of the site to the St. Petersburg Times. Our reporters Collins Conner and Barbara Behrendt have investigated and written powerful articles about the problems.
The newspaper conferred with an outside expert to identify the problems. He volunteered to inspect the site for free, but the school district balked. Finally, the board hired its own testers, who largely confirmed the problems.
I went to a School Board meeting on Tuesday. Like many local government boards, this one is totally dominated by its old-hand, hired attorney, a fellow named Richard "Spike" Fitzpatrick. He did almost all the talking.
Fitzpatrick had visible dislike for the board members' feeble, month-late suggestion that maybe a crime had occurred.
One member asked about calling the state attorney. I'm sure he's read about it in the paper, Fitzpatrick replied.
What about the state Department of Education? "They build schools," he said. "They educate. They don't prosecute."
What about the sheriff? The lawyer sighed. "I'll go a step further," he offered, throwing up his hands. "I'll go to the sheriff. But I think I know what they're going to say."
One member asked: How could the contractor not have known about these problems? Fitzpatrick dismissed it: "The question has been asked. By me. To him."
The bottom line is, they decided to hire another expert to review everything. Meanwhile, they've agreed to let the same contractor, R.E. Graham, keep doing the work, instead of firing him, paying for the repairs themselves and suing him.
That decision to keep Graham was Fitzpatrick's recommendation as well. "My job," he told the board at an earlier meeting, "is to rein in your emotional response."
It should be said here that Homosassa Elementary School has some of the county's poorest kids. Five years ago its principal, Roberta Long, challenged her kids to score five "A" grades in a row on the state's test. It seemed a sweet pipe dream at the time.
Right on cue on Tuesday, even as the School Board was meeting, an aide rushed in with the news from Tallahassee. Homosassa Elementary had just scored its fifth A in a row.
This is their reward: a falling-down school and a meek School Board, obeying a hired-hand lawyer with zero sense of outrage.
But, then, maybe I just need to rein in my emotional response.