Moran Admits He Wrote Charter Application, Just Trying To Help
August 14, 2008
Century businessman Jack Moran admits that he is the one that wrote the controversial charter school application that has dominated the local news this week.
The application was filed at the eleventh hour by Rev. Irvin Stallworth with Escambia County School Board for a charter school in Century as a last ditch effort prior to the closing of the current Carver/Century K-8 School. Members of the Century Blue Ribbon Committee speculated at their Monday night meeting that Moran was the author of the 81 page document submitted by the Century Blue Ribbon Committee on Education and the Century Community Development Partnership.
“Yes, I wrote the application,” Moran told NorthEscambia.com. The document was a huge effort over a 30-45 day period, but he said he thought the document he wrote was just a preliminary application. It was, in fact, the final draft application for the Charter Magnet School at Century, according to Vickie Mathis, director of the Department of Alternative Education that administers the charter school program in Escambia County. The document contains many incomplete sections, including the proposed budget for the school and letters of support from the community.
Moran said he sat down with Carver/Century K-8 School Principal Jeff Garthwaite some months ago and offered his “expertise” to help with the school’s budget and look for ways to improve the school. Moran said that as a retired corporate reorganization specialist, he offered to help Garthwaite reorganize and restructure the school. Moran said he made the same offer to Escambia School Superintendent Jim Paul. Neither man accepted his offer, Moran said.
“I was really interested in helping the school,” Moran said. “I knew I had the skills.”
Moran said he was approached by Stallworth and asked to help with the charter application “as a board member of the Century Community Development Partnership”. Moran is not listed as a board member of the organization in corporate documents filed with the Florida Secretary of State’s Division of Corporations.
When asked about that, Moran said “I just know that I am the treasurer”.
Moran said he was told by Stallworth that he polled the board members of CCDP to determine if they supported filing for the school charter under CCDP until a new nonprofit entity could be formed. Board members contacted by NorthEscambia.com said that they were never polled and had no knowledge of the charter application until after the story was first reported by NorthEscambia.com. Read that story by clicking here.
“It would have been the kiss of death for the town to be without the school for a year,” Moran said, referring to the fact that if the charter application had not been filed by August 1 the charter school could not have been obtained by the 2009-2010 school year.
At a meeting of the Century Blue Ribbon Committee earlier this week, Principal Jeff Garthwaite, who is also a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee, blasted the document written by Moran.
“That charter will not fly as it is written,” Garthwaite (pictured left at a Blue Ribbon Committee meeting) said. Previously in his career, Garthwaite actually worked in the school district’s Department of Alternative Education, the department that reviews charter applications. “There are so many missing pieces to that document. There are some serious gaps. There are several issues that are left very vague. If our name is attached to it, you don’t want junk going forward. You want a quality document.”
Moran had harsh words Wednesday for Garthwaite, saying that he did not know that Garthwaite had school charter experience.
“If he (Garthwaite) knew what it took, and he did not step forward and offer to help,” Moran said, “that sucker ain’t got no reason to be teaching children.”
“Jeff Garthwaite did not step forward and ask or tell me and my wife what we could do after I visited his office,” Moran said.
We have left messages and made multiple attempts to reach Stallworth since Sunday, but as of early Thursday morning he had not returned our phone calls.
To see the Century Community Development Partnership, Inc. annual statement as file with the Florida Secretary of State, click here. This document lists the legal board members of the CCDP.
Community Development Board Members Not Contacted About Charter Application
August 14, 2008
More information has emerged about a school charter application filed by the Century Community Development Partnership (CCDP) in the name of the group and the Century Blue Ribbon Committee on Education.
The Town of Century’s Blue Ribbon Committee has already said this week that they never saw the application that was filed in their name. Click here to read that story.
And now NorthEscambia.com has learned that members of the CCDP never saw or even knew about the application either prior to it being filed by CCDP leader Irvin Stallworth. Stallworth is also the chairman of the town’s Blue Ribbon Committee.
“I had no knowledge of the charter application” Sue Straughn told NorthEscambia.com. Straughn sits on the board of directors for the Century Community Development Partnership, and she is a prominent Pensacola television newscaster. “I know that it did not ever come before the (CCDP) board. They only thing we every discussed was housing for Century.”
“I knew nothing of the application as well. No one polled me,” said CCDP board member Pat Crawford from the University of West Florida. “We discussed housing. We never discussed schools.”
La-Vonne Haven, executive director of the Gulf Wind Council of Camp Fire U.S.A. and CCDP board member echoed Straughn’s comments. “I wasn’t aware of the charter application until after it was filed,” she said. “I was told that I was missed when Rev. Stallworth polled all of the board members to see if the application should be filed.”
CCDP board members Hosea Pittman told NorthEscambia.com that he had been out of state for an extended period due to a family illness. “They may have attempted to call me, but I have been out of state. They did not reach me about the application.”
The other member of the Century Community Development Partnership is school board member and superintendent candidate Claudia Brown-Curry. NorthEscambia.com attempted to reach Brown-Curry, but were unable to speak to her. She did return our phone calls Wednesday night following a political rally, and she did leave a message on our voice mail. But no one was in our office to speak to Brown-Curry when she returned our call after 9:00 Wednesday night.
We have left messages and made multiple attempts to reach Stallworth since Sunday, but as of early Thursday morning he had not returned our phone calls.
Community Participation Lacking In Effort To Save School
August 14, 2008
Community participation has been less than stellar at events designed to show support for the area and Carver/Century K-8 School.
And that has left some on a town committee wondering what to do next, just days away from the recommendation to close the school by Escambia County School Superintendent Jim Paul. The school closure is officially on the August 19 school board agenda.
Principal Jeff Garthwaite told the Century Blue Ribbon Committee that the closure seems to be imminent. Garthwaite, who is also a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee, said about the only thing that would save the school at this point would be the enrollment of many more students.
So far, six more students are enrolled this year, he said. There are almost 240 total students enrolled for the school year that begins Monday. That number, he said, needs to be at about 300 to save the school.
“For whatever reason they left, there is now good reason for them to come back to our school,” he said of the dozens of students that transferred away from Carver/Century under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. He said that the school had improved, moving it school grade from an “F” to a “B”, it has more technology than most any other school in the county, and has newer, more modern facilities than any other school in North Escambia.
“I think people are running away from this, not to things,” Garthwaite said of the schools “F” grade last year. “The problem is not just Century, but the others in this district, like part of Bratt, McDavid, Byrneville and Bluff Springs.”
“We are down to the point that if we get the students, the school is there. If we don’t get the students, we won’t have the school, he said.
Blue Ribbon Committee members agreed that community apathy has been a big hurdle to overcome for the committee. At a recent rally to support the school, only two people showed up. At the last Community Market Day sponsored by the Blue Ribbon Committee, Mayor Freddie McCall said that he, one committee member and one vendor were the only ones there.
“Why can’t we get more people concerned,” asked Rev. Willie Carter. “We need to get more people involved.” Carter noted that no one on the town’s Blue Ribbon Committee has children in Carver/Century, and that parents frequently don’t attend school functions.
Another meeting to show support for the school will be held tonight, 6:30 at the school.
School District Pays Water Bill On Building Town Of Century Owns
August 14, 2008
The Escambia County School District has discovered that it has been paying utility bills to the Town of Century on a building the school system does not own.
The school district has been paying a minimum $22 a month water and sewage bill for a former school maintenance building at 410 Pond Street. But the school district transferred ownership of the building to the Town of Century back in 2004.
The discovery came as part of the school district’s investigation into district paid utility bills at the old Century High School, which is leased to New Life Baptist Church for $1 per year, according to Ronnie Arnold, district spokesman. He said the Pond Street payment was simply a mistake.
Century Mayor Freddie McCall said the town had begun the process of returning the payments to the school district.
Related stories:
School District Has Paid Thousands In Utility Bills For Church; Seeks Answers
Pastor Says New Life Has Never Paid Utility Bill Since Moving Into Old High School
Pictured above: The former school district building at 410 Pond Street in Century. NorthEscambia.com photo.
Fire Destroys Walnut Hill Home; Arson Suspected
August 14, 2008
Fire destroyed a Walnut Hill home Wednesday night, and authorities say the fire may have been arson.
The fire was reported at 9:00 in the 7000 block of Highway 97 in Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com was first on the scene, with flames visible from the rear of the house as we arrived. The flames quickly spread as the first fire trucks pulled up on the scene. Windows quickly blew out of the front of the small wood frame home, and flames then jumped into the air from the front of the house. The home was fully involved as the firefighters began their assault on the blaze.
No one was at home at the time of the blaze, and there were no injuries.
The fire appeared to have been suspicious in nature, authorities said. A separate fire appeared to have been set on a boat parked under a nearby shed, slightly damaging the back of the vessel. All four tires on the homeowner’s SUV were flattened, and three large gashes where cut into a nearby trampoline.
The home sits in a field down a long dirt driveway, about one third of a mile south of Highway 97.
The exact cause of the blaze is under investigation by the state fire marshal.
The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department, Century Volunteer Fire Department, McDavid Volunteer Fire Department, Molino Volunteer Fire Department, Atmore Ambulance and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department all responded to the call.
For a complete photo gallery from the scene, click here. The gallery shows the fire as it begins to spread, the fire shooting from the windows of the home after the glass exploded out of them, and the first attempts to put out the fire. The total time represented by the photos that show flames at the beginning of the gallery is just over two minutes.
Pictured above: The front windows of the home explode before the first fire trucks arrived on the scene of this house fire Wednesday night in Walnut Hill. Pictured below: The first fire hose being pulled to the house. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
School Lunch Prices Up This Year
August 13, 2008
The price for your child’s school lunch in North Escambia will be higher this year, unless they are on the free and reduced price program.
Lunch for elementary students that pay regular, full price will jump 20 cents to $2.00. The price of breakfast for elementary students will remain $1.
Breakfast for middle and high school students will be up a nickel to $1.50. The middle and high school lunch price will jump 35 cents to $2.50.
Reduced price breakfast will remain at 30 cents and lunch will stay at 40 cents. The school district can’t raise those prices; they are set by the federal government.
School district officials say the rise in cost for students that don’t qualify for the free and reduced price program is simply due to the rising cost of food. Students that qualified for free and reduced price meals last year must complete an application again this year.
An extra milk at the elementary level will remain at 50 cents.
The price for adult meals, those meals for teachers and staff, will go to $1.80 for breakfast and $3.00 for lunch.
Parents will still be able to prepay online this year at mealpayplus.com.
In case you are wondering, the elementary menu for breakfast on the first day of school…August 18, will be Pop Tart, cheese wedge and mixed fruit. The lunch menu will be cheese pizza or corn dog, corn, mixed vegetables, peaches and a cookie. Day two, August 19, will have breakfast pizza and pears in the morning. For lunch on the second day, the menu includes BBQ chicken sandwich or grilled cheese sandwich, green beans, carrots, fresh fruit and strawberry Jello.
Man Flips Convertible Into The Woods, Walks Away Uninjured
August 13, 2008
A man flipped his convertible into the woods north of Molino early Wednesday morning and walked away unhurt.
The accident happened on Highway 97 just south of the Sunshine Hill Road intersection about 1:35 Wednesday morning. The man lost control of his convertible and flipped it into the woods. It was almost completely hidden from sight from the roadway by brush.
The man walked away from the one vehicle accident with no apparent injuries.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Molino Volunteer Fire Department, Escambia County EMS and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene.
Pictured above: A state trooper and firemen examine the upside down convertible in the woods along Highway 97 early Wednesday morning. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photo, click to enlarge.
What Happens When Your Power Goes Out? Here’s The Deal
August 13, 2008
A few scattered power outages were reported Tuesday night as a line of strong storms moved through North Escambia. Have you ever thought about what happens when your power goes out? NorthEscambia.com thought we would take a look at the behind the scenes things that take place to get your power back on.
Our scenario below involves Escambia River Electric Cooperative and a hypothetical power outage in Walnut Hill. The events could just as well happen in any community in North Escambia on EREC or Gulf Power.
Here’s our little story, “When the Lights Go Out”:
You were on your couch watching the Olympics early last night. The main storm has passed, and the rain outside has just about lulled you into a quick early evening nap.
Then it happens. Your power blinks one, two, three times and it’s off. You make your way in the dark to the kitchen where your glow-in-the-dark EREC magnet on the refrigerator is illuminated enough so that you can read the outage number. You call the number, 1-877-OUT-EREC, and follow the voice prompts to report your home’s outage. Your job is done.
What happens now? First of all, let’s set up the scenario for our hypothetical outage. Let’s say you live on Arthur Brown Road in Walnut Hill. This address receives power from the Oak Grove substation, just across the road from the Oak Grove Park on North Highway 99. You are assuming the evening’s thunderstorm is the culprit for your home being left in the dark. You know the proper action for you to take is to call the EREC outage number which you have done. Now, here’s the sequence of events which will take place to restore your power as quickly and safely as possible.
In our power outage scenario, your call comes in to the dispatch center and your name and address appear immediately on the computer screen. The dispatcher then contacts the on-call EREC crew to make repairs. Since the two-man crew is on-call for the evening, each crewman has driven home an EREC truck loaded with equipment and supplies necessary to repair any typical outage that might occur. So when the dispatch call is received, each crewman leaves his home and heads directly to the site of the outage. He does not need to take extra time to go by the EREC facility and get the vehicle, equipment and supplies needed to repair the outage.
Upon arrival to the outage location, the crew investigates the reason for the power failure. Meanwhile they have received additional calls from the dispatch center letting them know there are other nearby houses on Arthur Brown Road, Corley Road and Juniper Street that are experiencing outages as well. After assessment of the power system, the crew determines that the cause of the outage is an RE failure (an oil reclosure breaker) in the substation due to a lightning strike.
This can be handled quickly by the two-man crew so there is no need for additional personnel to be called in for assistance. The crew repairs the damage and calls the dispatch center to let them know all power has been restored. The dispatch center then calls back each member that has reported a power outage to be sure they do have power.
The purpose of this story is to create a picture of what is actually happening during a typical power restoration. This is only a possible scenario and, of course, there are many different reasons why your power can go out.
“Although we cannot imagine all the power outage scenarios that can happen, there is one thing we can be sure of. EREC will be there to restore your power as quickly as possible in the dead of night, in the middle of terrible storms or whatever the case may be – EREC crews will do what needs to be done to get the lights back on,” said Sabrina Owens, EREC’s marketing director.
She said that in the case of major outages such as those that occur with hurricanes or other severe weather, specific procedures are in place to restore power to the most people in the shortest amount of time. The following steps describe power restoration after a storm.
- Transmission towers and lines supply power to one or more transmission substations. These lines seldom fail, but they can be damaged by a hurricane or tornado. Tens of thousands of people could be served by one high-voltage transmission line, so if there is damage here it gets attention first.
- Escambia River EC has several local distribution substations, each serving thousands of members. When a major outage occurs, the local distribution substations are checked first. A problem here could be caused by failure in the transmission system supplying the substation. If the problem can be corrected at the substation level, power may be restored to a large number of people.
- Main distribution supply lines are checked next if the problem cannot be isolated at the substation. These supply lines carry electricity away from the substation to a group of members, such as a town or housing development. When power is restored at this stage, all members served by this supply line could see the lights come on, as long as there is no problem farther down the line.
- The final supply lines, called tap lines, carry power to the utility poles or underground transformers outside houses or other buildings. Line crews fix the remaining outages based on restoring service to the greatest number of members.
- Sometimes, damage will occur on the service line between your house and the transformer on the nearby pole. This can explain why you have no power when your neighbor does. EREC needs to know you have an outage in this type of situation so that a service crew can repair it.
Members themselves (not the cooperative) are responsible for damage to the service installation on the building. The member will need to have a licensed electrician make these repairs.
For more photos from inside the Oak Grove Power substation, click here.
Special thanks to Sabrina Owens at EREC for her assistance with our story, and to the linemen that assisted with the photographs. It’s worth noting that the photographs were taken on a nice sunny morning rather than during a real power outage after a storm due to the dangers of standing in a power substation after a storm has just passed.
Pictured above: EREC prepare to fix an oil reclosure breaker (RE) failure inside the Oak Grove power substation. Pictured below: That breaker is installed on a transmission line headed to the Arthur Brown Road area of Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
State Considers State Farm Rate Increase That Would Cost Thousands
August 13, 2008
State Farm faced the Florida Department of Insurance Regulation Tuesday, trying to explain why they want to raise rates by as much as 90 percent.
The average rate increase would be 47.1 percent. For the roughly 13,000 policyholders in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, the rate increase would amount to about 50 percent. For a $300,000 home build before 2001, rates would jump $4,411, going from $8,803 to $13,214.
But state regulators spent most of the morning grilling State Farm executives over profits made the their parent company. State Farm Florida transfers about a half billion dollars a year to their parent company State Farm Mutual for reinsurance against major hurricane losses.
No decision was made on the rate increase Tuesday.
Fire Department Responds To Possible Lightning Strike at School
August 13, 2008
An apparent lightning strike set off the fire alarm at Bratt Elementary School Tuesday night, but no damage was found.
The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department responded to a reported fire alarm at the school about 7:30 Tuesday night. Firefighters and maintenance personnel checked the school, but they were unable to find a fire or any damage.
About 8:00, Escambia deputies responded to a call of possible accident on Highway 29 near Bogia Road. When the arrived, they found a box type truck stuck in the ditch, but it was not considered an accident.
Scattered power outages were reported across the area as a result of the storm, but none of the outages were widespread.
There is a 50 percent change of more showers and thunderstorms for today.