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Schools

Schools won't skirt hot buttons

On Monday, School Board topics include visitor screening, emergency response, growth planning and televising meetings.

By EDDY RAMIREZ
Published September 25, 2005

INVERNESS - School Board members will take on several hot-button issues Monday in a discussion that will help determine the way the district responds to emergencies and reaches out to parents and other taxpayers in the future.

The discussion will also offer insight into the thinking of elected officials on issues of growth and development - specifically, how their actions might shape the character and economies of communities with new and existing schools.

And in what has been one of the most sensitive issues this year, board members will seek to set a benchmark for how schools should screen visitors in the wake of stricter security requirements without alienating well-intentioned parents and community members.

The School Board workshop is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. at the District Services Center, 1007 W Main St., Inverness.

Citrus schools want to avoid the communication problems that have beset areas that lack phone services after being hit by a hurricane. That's why board Chairwoman Pat Deutschman has asked district staff to look into ordering satellite phones.

Satellite phones, which are immune to terrestrial hazards because they communicate directly with satellites, were loaned to many people in search of loved ones after Hurricane Katrina left millions without landline phone service. Even cell phone service was disrupted by the storm.

"How many times did we see on CNN reporters hand somebody their satellite phones because that was the only thing that worked?" Deutschman said.

But satellite lines can be expensive, with rates topping $1 a minute. Deutschman said she knows very little about the technology, which is why she wants to discuss the idea with other board members and investigate the benefits and costs of equipping schools with satellite phones.

Citrus schools serve as shelters during hurricanes and, for that reason, Deutschman said, she wants to avoid the dangerous scenario where people might find themselves cut off from the outside world during an emergency.

The district is linked by radios, which were recently upgraded so they can be more reliable, Deutschman said. But she wonders whether they would hold up during a severe storm.

"We've never been hit with anything but tropical wind storm gusts," she said. "(I) thank God we don't have to go through a Category 4 hurricane to know that they fail."

School Board members are expected to decide Monday whether to broadcast their meetings on public television.

Former boards have resisted the idea, citing concerns that the cameras would lure people with political agendas and others starved for media attention.

Bill Murray, whose campaign platform included a promise to bring School Board meetings into people's living rooms, said he will push to have the board's regular meetings televised on WYKE-Ch. 49. "If we go on television, Mom and Dad can sit at home and watch," Murray said. "If they get interested, maybe they will come to the meetings. But if they don't, at least they will know what we are doing for our schools."

School board meetings are the only major governmental proceedings in the county not televised. County Commission meetings have been on the air for more than 15 years, and sessions of Citrus County Court and City Council meetings in Inverness and Crystal River have been televised.

Not everyone on the school board fully embraces the idea.

Deutschman said she isn't sure that televising the meetings is a wise investment. She is leery about the unintended consequences and questions whether there is enough public interest.

It's unclear what the costs of broadcasting the meetings will be to the district.

Tom Franklin, the general manager of WYKE, said the school system would get the same deal as the County Commission: The governmental body would pay $45 an hour, and the meetings would air two or three times a week.

"When we are spending school district money we have to look at what benefits it will bring to the community and to what extent it will reduce classroom funding" Deutschman said.

In the wake of the Jessica Lunsford Act, some parents have been told they can't walk their children into classrooms or join them for lunch without first clearing a sex offender background check at the front desk.

Bothered by such requests, parents have complained to the school district, saying the new security measures are creating an "unwelcoming" environment at the schools.

At Monday's meeting, board members will discuss setting a uniform "baseline" policy for all the schools, which have been struggling with how to receive visitors who don't fall under the screening requirements of the Lunsford Act.

The Lunsford Act, which went into effect Sept. 1, requires schools to make certain that every construction worker, referee and commercial vendor who comes on campus has cleared a fingerprint check. Parents and some volunteers are not required to submit to the same checks.

But some schools are running blanket checks through the state's sexual offender online database on anyone that comes on campus. In some instances, school staff members have screened parents whom they don't recognize.

Deutschman said she worries about the message that the disparate treatment might send to parents.

"Schools are not as open as they used to be," Deutschman said. "We're getting to a point where we are locking the front doors and asking people to turn in their driver's license to be allowed in.

"We need to have a realistic discussion of how we can maintain an open, inviting, warm atmosphere, especially for our parents - whom we rely on so much - and still maintain those security measures that we must follow or increase."

Last week, superintendent Sandra "Sam" Himmel praised the job that Citrus schools have done implementing the law when she addressed lawmakers at a forum. But she asked lawmakers to give schools more lead time in the future.

State Sen. Nancy Argenziano, one of the prime sponsors of the Lunsford Act who was at the forum, made no apologies for pushing the measure through the waning days of the 2005 legislative session, but she acknowledged that some portions of the new law need clarifying.

Some fixes could come in a special session lawmakers are expected to hold later this year, while other changes are not expected until the regular session, which begins in March.

Board members will also discuss a "long-term" vision for the way the district builds schools and decides how to improve existing ones.

Murray said he wants the discussion to focus on the relationship between schools and communities. He is concerned about the effect that a new elementary school and high school will have on Citrus Springs, one of the fastest-growing areas in the county.

"We really need to look at the impact that these schools will have 20 years from now on those communities," he said.

The board also will discuss ways to involve the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce and the County Commission as it tries to decide where to build new schools and which schools to renovate.

Deutschman said she wants the board to address ways that the district can prioritize the needs of schools, including those in need of a facelift.

"I get depressed when I visit some schools that have very little landscaping," she said. "We want kids to be proud of their schools."

After all, she said, "Schools are an integral part of our community, and they need to reflect the values of communities."

Eddy Ramirez can be reached at eramirez@sptimes.com or 860-7305.

[Last modified September 25, 2005, 02:15:40]