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MARY SPICUZZAThe school district says it needs funds for students and can no longer oversee RSVP, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.
BROOKSVILLE - After more than two decades, the Hernando County School District has decided to end its sponsorship of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.
"While we value the community benefit of the RSVP services, it is not a program that we believe we can appropriately continue to sponsor as our school system grows at a tremendous rate," superintendent Wendy Tellone wrote in a Sept. 22 letter to the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees RSVP.
The district plans to end its sponsorship on Nov. 30, the corporation's program specialist Ruben Nazario said.
Nazario said that RSVP, which places people 55 years and over in a range of volunteer activities, is now scrambling to find a new Hernando County sponsor by Dec. 1.
The agency will hold an informational meeting Friday and is asking potential sponsors to submit applications by Nov. 5. It is offering a $55,459 annual federal grant to the next sponsor for RSVP, which provides about 700 volunteers in the county each year.
"Usually we request more time, at least six months, so we can start a smooth transition from one sponsor to another," Nazario said. "This is very fast."
It may be a quick transition, but there have been questions about the school district's relationship with RSVP lingering since the early 1990s.
In 1991, the School Board attorney expressed concern about RSVP volunteers using vehicles owned by the district. During 1992 and 1993, board debate continued over who should pay for mileage and maintenance of program vehicles.
Problems arose again in 1998 and 1999, when School Board members complained that more than half of the county's RSVP program budget, about $57,500, was coming from school taxes. At the time, board members began questioning why the county government did not pay more to RSVP, a countywide program.
The program's 700 volunteers provide nearly 73,000 hours of help in Hernando County, working in a range of programs including emergency management, tutoring, neighborhood watch programs and homeland security.
School officials said they support the program but need to use district resources to work with children.
"It's really beyond our focus," Roy Gordon, communications manager for the School Board, said of RSVP.
"It's a worthwhile endeavor, and it's something that everyone in the community, I think, wants to continue."
Gordon said the district would continue to work with Volunteers in Education, which includes education volunteers from RSVP.
The board discussed ending its sponsorship several months ago, said Carol MacLeod, Hernando's executive director of business services. She said the district was providing 40 percent of the program's funding, in addition to providing office facilities and paying electricity and telephone bills.
MacLeod said she did not know how much the district has spent on the program each year.
School officials have strongly recommended that Mid-Florida Community Services, which runs RSVP programs in Sumter and Lake counties, operate Hernando's RSVP program.
But Nazario said that choice cannot be made by the district. Federal regulations state it must be opened to a competitive application process in order to find the best fit for the program.
"We're looking forward to a good sponsor that will continue to provide these needed services," Nazario said.
An informational meeting to discuss RSVP will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday at the Hernando County Sheriff's Office located at 18900 Cortez Blvd.
-- Mary Spicuzza can be reached at mspicuzza@sptimes.com or 352 848-1432.