Books, equity discussion dominate meeting in shadow of storm
Suncoast News | By Vincent F. Safuto | September 30, 2024
Rodriguez seeks eradication of word ‘equity’ from policies
BROOKSVILLE – For Shannon Rodriguez, there is “the word.”
When it appears in a policy document for, for example, magnet schools or school choice, she said Tuesday, Sept. 25, that the word must not appear.
“Equity” is another word, she said, for “dumbing down” curriculum, and joins “diversity” in the list of her and fellow conservatives’ “dirty words” that have turned discussions over curriculum and policies into hours-long debates.
Fellow School Board member Mark Johnson has long been an enemy of the concepts of equity and diversity back when it was equated with “Critical Race Theory.”
The argument went around and around, with each side bringing out definitions from different dictionaries and Rodriguez repeatedly making her points about the word “equity.”
In frustration, board member Susan Duval suggested voting on the measures of the magnet school program and the controlled choice program for 2025-2026, and if Rodriguez didn’t like the wording, she could just vote “no” on both items.
Both items, with talk of future changes, passed 3-2, with Johnson and Rodriguez dissenting.
Books redux
In an item added to the agenda, Debbye Warrell presented a very long and detailed explanation of a new system designed to track books in the district’s library system and she then described the process by which books are removed from the shelves, marked to indicate that they are not to be reshelved and the procedure for disposing of the books.
They are shipped to the district’s warehouse, she said, and a contractor removes them forever.
Warrell said her staff soon will begin work on removing books from the classroom libraries.
Rodriguez made a long speech about her commitment to removing objectionable books, lamenting that some evaluation panels seemed to be “stacked” with district employees and lectured a couple of public commenters from the dais on “civility” and “respect” when they criticized her comments and tried to defend keeping some books in the system.
She said the district is going to protect children.
“Parents have all the right to present to them anything that they want them to read, but when they are under our care in our schools we’re going to make sure that on those shelves they’re not reading content that is completely pornographic and disgusting, vile and evil,” she said. “That’s not going to happen. Not under my watch.”
Anyone who feels attacked by the criticism probably knows why they’re being attacked, Rodriguez added, noting that people bring their “twist” to the arguments.
“As long as I’m here, there will not be these books on the shelves,” she said. “We’re not having them.”
Half-cent results
Lori Sowers of the Half-Cent committee gave an update on the progress of the fund, noting that from July 2023 to June 2024 the tax has raised $18 million, about $1.5 million per month, and high interest rates mean that the money earned $1.5 million in interest on the funds, more than in the previous eight years.
The district has issued $91 million in purchase orders for “badly needed repairs” over the history of the tax, and has collected $114 million in total.
During a recent meeting of the committee, she said, Director of Facilities and Construction Brian Ragan presented a list of projects in progress.
These include replacement of the entire roof at Explorer K-8, and Springstead’s drainage, roof improvements and HVAC systems.
“All these, just for Springstead alone, the budget estimate is $11 million, which is almost a year’s worth of funding,” she said.
Other projects include roof and soffit work at Parrott Middle School, HVAC at Central High School, the transportation office is getting roof work, and HVAC work at Brooksville Elementary School and J.D. Floyd.
The district has numerous capital improvement needs, she said, because of the number of old buildings at each campus that have to be maintained, and a big one is Hernando High School’s $15 million HVAC work project and a drainage project.
If voters disapprove the half-cent renewal, Superintendent Ray Pinder warned, numerous maintenance and improvement projects will not be completed, including the work at Springstead.
“We might have to be able to do the basics,” Sowers said.
Board Member Gus Guadagnino commended Sowers, saying an “excellent job” has been done, and asked why there is so much need for repairs.
The reason, Sowers said, is that the district has a lot of old buildings that need to be maintained.
“If you don’t maintain them, the whole building is just going to fall apart,” she said, especially the roofs and HVAC systems.
In other action
Students from the safety patrol at Westside Elementary School led the pledge of allegiance and introduced themselves.
Army veteran Nicole Powell, who works at Challenger K-8, was recognized for her honorable military career of 20 years as the district veteran of the month.
A crew from a French TV news program was present during the meeting, recording the meeting and interviews for a segment on the book banning going on in Florida schools. The segment is expected to be broadcast in a couple of weeks.
