Pasco

With just one day to go before their step increases took effect, Pasco's teachers and school-related employees agreed to delay the annual raises by at least a month. The deal to hold off on the payments and suspend talks about...

Most years, Pasco County school employee contract negotiations begin softly with pleasantries, introductions, ground rules and some softball issues that get things headed in a positive direction. This is not a normal year. After just two meetings, the United School...

So did you see it? Colbert sure made fun of Pasco's "wizard" substitute teacher and even turned School Board chairwoman Kathryn Starkey into a frog after drowning out her explanations with a blah, blah, blah. We all knew it would...

Two weeks ago, producers from Comedy Central's Colbert Report descended upon Land O'Lakes to seek the "truthiness" of a Pasco substitute teacher's claim that he was fired for wizardry. If you want to know what they found, watch the show...

Producers from Comedy Central's Colbert Report have spent the past two days in Pasco County asking residents, school district officials and yes, even yours truly whether the school district has wizards in its midst and, if so, whether they're good...

Following in the footsteps of their Hillsborough counterparts, Pasco School Board members have instructed superintendent Heather Fiorentino to look into stricter enforcement of rules governing student use of cell phone and other wireless devices that can be used for sending...

It may amount to nothing more than a fruitless gesture. But Pasco school employees want their superintendent, School Board and the public to know exactly how upset they are with the recommendation to take away their annual raises based on...

All you Pasco folks who have been waiting to hear the juicy details behind Gulf High teacher Vicky Mudry's complaints against ousted principal Tom Imerson will have to wait a bit longer. The Pasco School Board has temporarily postponed its...

Though the date to officially qualify for the August ballot remains a month away, most of the announced candidates for Pasco County School Board and superintendent already have surpassed the key hurdle to getting their names before voters - convincing...

Dozens of Pasco County school employees filled the School Board meeting room tonight with a simple message for the board: Don't take our raises away. "I need a step increase just to try to keep up with the cost of...

Pasco County superintendent Heather Fiorentino's removal of Gulf High principal Tom Imerson (right) from his post has created more questions than answers in the two weeks since the School Board approved the move. Lacking an official explanation for Imerson's transfer...

The biggest loser in Pasco County's efforts to cut its budget for next year would be full compliance with the 2002 class-size reduction amendment. Superintendent Heather Fiorentino (left) has recommended not filling teaching positions aimed at getting every classroom to...

Teachers at Bayonet Point Middle School don't want principal Steve Knobl (left) to leave. He's the school's fifth principal since 2001, and he's brought some needed consistency to the school during his two years on the job. (See one letter...

The Pasco School Board is looking for volunteers to serve on its Penny for Pasco Oversight Committee. The committee has watched over how the district has spent its share of the local-option 1 percent sales tax since January 2005, when...

Pasco superintendent Heather Fiorentino and her top deputies have made their way through the budget coming out of Tallahassee, and they've figured out how much they think the School Board needs to cut to balance next year's general spending plan....

The dominoes have started falling in what looks to be a far-reaching reorganization of Pasco County's school administration. The Gulf High student newspaper has reported that Tom Imerson (left) is out as Gulf High School's principal, and that he's moving...

The Pasco Sheriff's Office has decided not to file any charges against a Seven Oaks Elementary teacher or a paraprofessional who were accused last week of taping students' mouths shut. Sheriff's Office spokesman Kevin Doll issued an alert this morning...

Madeleine Wagner couldn’t believe her good fortune. The Mitchell High School senior had hoped to collect maybe $1,000 in local scholarships, to help offset the costs of attending Flagler College in the fall. Never did she expect to snare more...

Knowing that state funding for education is going to decrease, Pasco superintendent Heather Fiorentino asked district employees for ideas of where they might cut spending. She took comments for weeks. On Wednesday, she released the list of possibilities. They include:...

NEW PORT RICHEY - A 17-year-old boy was arrested early Friday, charged with leaving a pressure bomb inside a garbage can at the Schwettman Education Center during breakfast. The boy, whose name is not being released by New Port Richey...

They don't come close to some of the big ticket races on the Pasco County ballot. (Sheriff Bob White, up for reelection, has raised nearly $140,000 for his campaign.) But the two likely candidates for Pasco schools superintendent have raised...

NEW PORT RICHEY — A Pasco County substitute teacher was arrested Monday and charged with having a sexual relationship with an underage male student at Mitchell High School. Lisa Robyn Marinelli, 40, of 9824 Nicklaus Drive, New Port Richey, had...

The American School Board Journal has recognized programs in the Hillsborough and Pasco school districts that take "bold and innovative steps" to improve their educational offerings. The 14th annual Magna Awards will be presented officially on March 31 in Orlando....

It might not be everything they wanted, but it will get them extra money in their pockets before the winter break. So Pasco's teachers and school-related employees have overwhelmingly approved a new contract that will give them average raises of 4.1 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively. The ratification of the deals, which the School Board approved last week, might show a general acceptance of the district's pay and working conditions, United School Employees of Pasco president Lynne Webb said in a news release. "But I certainly wouldn't mistake acceptance for satisfaction or endorsement," she added. "Considering the great strides that the School Board and Union have made to improve salaries these last several years, this contract feels like a step backward, so I urge the District to start determining their priorities now to ensure a better outcome next year." Some employees have signaled their dissatisfaction that teachers in surrounding districts including Hillsborough and Pi

Pasco County, Florida Map Location in the state of Florida Florida’s location in the USA Statistics Seat Dade City Area - Total - Land - Water 868 sq mi (2,248 km²) 745 sq mi (1,930 km²) 123 sq mi (319 km²), 14.18% Population - (2006) - Density 450,171 464/sq mi (179/km²) Website: www.pascocountyfl.net Pasco County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 344,765. The 2006 census estimate according to the U.S. Census Bureau for the county is 450,171. [1] Its county seat is Dade City, Florida6. It is the 38th fastest growing county in the country with a 30.6% increase and has grown by 105,403 residents since the year 2000. Pasco, along with Hernando County, Hillsborough County and Pinellas County, comprise the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area.                   Bookmark to:

The Pasco School Board has named Kathryn Starkey (left), vice chair for the past year, as its new chairwoman and Frank Parker (right) its new vice chair. Outgoing chair Marge Whaley nominated Starkey. When the vote came, Starkey smiled and asked whether it was OK for her to vote. Told yes, she said, "Aye. Just to make it unanimous." Superintendent Heather Fiorentino thanked Whaley, who is retiring next year, for her time leading the board. "My privilege to serve as chair, and my relief not to be chair," Whaley responded.

The United School Employees of Pasco, which represents close to 9,000 teachers and school-related employees, announced it has reached a contract agreement with the district administration late Monday. Average teacher salaries will go up about 4 percent, including annual "step" increases for years of service. Average non-teacher pay will go up about 4.4 percent. If ratified, the raises will come in employees' December paychecks. The amounts are below agreements reached in Hillsborough and Pinellas. The sides also reached a compromise on "reasonable suspicion" drug and alcohol testing. The district asked to include it in the contract after some teachers refused to comply with testing after they were suspected of being under the influence on campus. The program would not go into effect until September 2008. To see the details, including all the proposed salary schedules, visit the union's website.

A state hearing officer has recommended dismissal of the United School Employees of Pasco's unfair labor practice complaint against superintendent Heather Fiorentino's school-year ending "hurricane memo." The union had contended that Fiorentino had no right to require teachers and other school workers, none of whom keep hours over the summer, to provide contact numbers and be available if needed to staff emergency shelters. Fiorentino insisted that she did nothing wrong. Hearing officer Julie Steinmeyer has ruled Fiorentino's favor. She found that the administration offered the union the opportunity to bargain, even though it didn't have to, and the union didn't follow through. The administration even altered the draft version of its memo to answer many of the union's concerns, Steinmeyer wrote. Further, the hearing officer determined that the union failed to demonstrate that the district, which signaled its clear intention to rely on volunteers except in extreme situations, d

You might recognize her name from all the articles about the Veterans Expressway and the Suncoast Parkway. Now you'll have to get used to seeing turnpike spokeswoman Joanne Hurley quoted in stories about the Pasco School Board election. Hurley, 63, announced early today that she will pursue the District 2 seat that board chairwoman Marge Whaley is leaving after four terms. See her press release here. A former teacher in Hillsborough schools, Hurley has worked in state and county government for the past several years. She also has served on the Pasco comprehensive plan review committee. "Everything that I've done leads up to this decision," said Hurley, a Land O'Lakes resident who would face Peter Hanzel of Wesley Chapel and Kurt Conover of Land O'Lakes in the fall. "I think I bring a good understanding to the table." So, too, does Whaley, who said she would support Hurley's candidacy: "She brings us the best of both worlds."

Another hopeful has pre-filed paperwork to enter the race to replace retiring Pasco School Board chairwoman Marge Whaley. Kurt Conover of Land O’Lakes, business development director for Regional Medical Center at Bayonet Point, joined Wesley Chapel activist Peter Hanzel as the second active candidate in the hunt for the seat that represents most of central Pasco County. “It’s to make a difference,” Conover, 56, said of his bid. “I’ve been involved in the community my whole life. I can’t think of a better place to invest time, effort and talent than in our youth.”

One day after Pasco's teachers voted down their proposed performance pay plan, their School Board unanimously joined them. Board members said they like the idea of rewarding teachers for excellence, but deemed the state's Merit Award Program a poor way to accomplish that goal. "I do believe in merit pay. But that pay has to encourage collaboration and lift our teachers up in a way different than this," vice chairwoman Kathryn Starkey said. "I don't think that this plan is it. I didn't have one teacher come up to me and say, 'This is a good plan, please vote  for it.' I had the opposite." The board did ask the administration and teachers to consider returning to the bargaining table, to try to find a way to claim the state's bonus money - about $3.6-million was allocated for the county this year - in coming years. "It's coming," board member Allen Altman said of teacher performance pay. "There needs to be a set plan to work together in

Once again, Pasco's classroom teachers have turned down the opportunity to claim bonuses of about $2,100 from the state. The United School Employees of Pasco has joined a growing number of colleagues across Florida in refusing to participate in the Merit Award Plan, which would give extra pay to 25 percent of teachers based on their students' performance and their job evaluations. (To see the plan, see this past post.) Two-thirds of the union's nearly 5,000 teachers cast ballots on the proposed agreement. Of those, 76 percent rejected the deal. Pasco teachers voted down participation in the Special Teachers Are Rewarded plan that preceded MAP, too. "What's remarkable is that during a time when the district is facing funding cutbacks and teacher raises are on hold, the teachers put their principles ahead of their pocketbooks and said, 'We can't be bought,'" USEP president Lynne Webb said in a news release. She added that the vote affirms teachers' opinion that performance pay

I like to do these posts from time to time just to weigh in on how I feel about things.  This is my personal opinion, albeit a highly qualified opinion, and involves my personal taste to a great extent.  So, if you go to these communities and don’t love them, it’s probably because you have much more sophisticated taste than me (LOL).  Here are the best new home communities in Pasco County: 1) Longleaf.  I don’t know, I’m just a sucker for a themed development, and this one reminds me of my grandmothers neighborhood in Charleston, South Carolina.  It has beautiful homes, great common areas, wonderful classic Southern architecture, and lots of awesome builders to choose from.  It’s located six miles West of the Suncoast Parkway.  For more info and some pictures, click here. 2) Connerton.  This great Pasco County neighborhood is setting itself up to be a juggernaut. I love the conservation areas, the great amenities, and the overall direction for the

When they agreed to a teacher performance pay plan last week, negotiators for the United School Employees of Pasco said they did so only to get the issue before members rather than let it die in committee. Now the members are talking, and they don't like the plan at all. Building representatives for the union unanimously recommended late Tuesday that all teachers reject ratification, roundly criticizing the law behind it. That stance, plus decisions by Pinellas and Broward county school boards to stay out of the program, has Pasco School Board members contemplating whether they, too, want to send a message of disdain over STAR to Tallahassee when they meet tonight. "That certainly makes me think that maybe we should listen to the senator's (Education Committee chair Don Gaetz) advice and send a statement," vice chairwoman Kathryn Starkey said. Chairwoman Marge Whaley, who said she "hates" the pay for performance law, expected there might be a sentiment to buck the

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