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School calendar under fire again

By KEVIN GRAHAM and JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published October 5, 2006

TAMPA - If it seems like deja vu, you're right.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair is once again leading the charge to press the School Board to keep religious holidays on the calendar.

After learning that a calendar committee recommended a 2007-08 school schedule with no days off on religious holidays, Blair lobbied commissioners to weigh in as he did a year ago in a flap that gained national attention.

"If we keep letting people erode our traditional values, we are going to become a country of moral decay," Blair said Wednesday.

Commissioners voted 5-1 to send a letter to the School Board that says they know it's not their jurisdiction, but "please" listen to their request. Commissioner Kathy Castor voted against it. Blair previously raised objections to the school calendar dropping religious holidays last fall, a decision later rescinded.

School calendar committee members have said they were hampered by a new state law that mandates classes not begin earlier than two weeks before Labor Day. They considered the potential controversy and decided to put academics first.

Because of the calendar changes, Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests will be given on Good Friday in 2008, a day the school district has traditionally taken off.

Education Department officials have said Good Friday is not a state holiday, and districts can request waivers if they want to reschedule the test. As of Wednesday, the department had not logged in any complaints. The calendar committee also took away a day off the day after Easter and a day off for Yom Kippur.

STORMS REIMBURSED: Commissioners voted 4-1 to reimburse Commissioner Ronda Storms for attorney fees she incurred during a state Ethics Commission investigation. Storms was cleared in the case brought by activist Marilyn Smith, who claimed that Storms broke the law by trying to keep a Valrico bikini bar from opening. Smith said Storms violated the county charter by asking a building official to delay a certificate of occupancy for the bar. Storms will receive $8,798.75.

[Last modified October 5, 2006, 01:03:22]