House Gives Final Approval To Testing Bill
April 10, 2015
Lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to legislation aimed at rolling back testing for public school students in Florida, even as critics argued the wide-ranging measure doesn’t go far enough to ease the burdens of high-stakes exams.
The House passed the measure (HB 7069) with a 105-6 vote, with a handful of Democrat peeling off from bipartisan support for the bill. It now goes to Gov. Rick Scott for his signature or veto.
The bill puts a hold on the use of student test data for school grades, teacher evaluations and student promotion to fourth grade until the new Florida Standards Assessments can be independently validated. It also scraps a law requiring school districts to come up with end-of-course tests in classes where the state doesn’t administer such exams; caps the amount of time students can spend on state and school district tests at 45 hours a year; and reduces the portion of a teacher’s evaluation tied to student performance from the current 50 percent to one-third.
The House vote likely ends the Legislature’s debate on what to do this year about long-running complaints of over-testing, magnified more recently amid a meltdown of the online testing platform used for some of the new assessments. But it is unlikely to cut off discussion of the system of high-stakes exams that have been the bedrock of the state’s education accountability movement.
The Foundation for Florida’s Future, an organization founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush that plays an influential role in education policy, praised lawmakers for approving the bill.
“They voted to keep education transparent and provide teachers with the information they need to help students learn, while ensuring testing at every level is done thoughtfully,” said Patricia Levesque, executive director of the foundation. “Florida lawmakers have shown it’s possible to achieve fewer, better tests while continuing to measure student success.”
The Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, issued a more measured statement of support, saying the legislation “takes some steps to easing some of the many negative consequences that parents and teachers see coming from this drastic increase in testing.”
But the union also made clear it doesn’t believe the proposal goes far enough.
“We will need to continue to work to educate the public and lawmakers about standardized testing in Florida and be prepared to make further positive adjustments the next time the Legislature meets,” FEA President Andy Ford said.
Some Democrats who had voted for the bill the first time it came to the House reversed course on Thursday. House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, said the state shouldn’t go forward with the new assessments until they’ve been properly tested.
“At the end of the day, you shouldn’t be exposing children and their futures to a system that’s unproven,” he told reporters after the vote.
But GOP lawmakers criticized them for voting against a bill that contained essentially everything that the House had included in its bill — and added the review of the FSA to boot.
“We passed (the House version) unanimously, and the only major difference in the Senate bill that came over that we’re taking up now is a safeguard that you all were asking for in the first place,” said Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami.
The complaints were not limited to the House floor. Shortly before the vote, Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and state Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, rallied against the bill for being too mild.
“We’re taxpaying citizens, and we say, this test is invalid,” Wilson, a former elementary school principal, said in a speech slamming the FSA. “… Somebody’s gotten rich off of all of this testing and I am sick of it.”
Standing outside the Senate chamber, Bullard, a teacher, called for Scott to suspend the use of the tests across the board. Scott has already temporarily suspended an 11th-grade language arts exam that would be permanently eliminated by the bill now on its way to Scott’s desk.
“I’m encouraging all the parents and all the listeners, all the readers, to call Gov. Scott and ask him to issue an executive order making this year’s FSA unnecessary, rendering it unnecessary, because unfortunately, legislators in this particular chamber and the chamber across the way seem not courageous enough to address the issue,” Bullard said.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
After No Volunteer Response To Fires, Paid Crews Added To One Escambia Fire Station
April 9, 2015
Last Friday morning, there were two house fires in the area served by the Ferry Pass Volunteer Fire Station, but no truck from Ferry Pass ever rolled to either fire due to a lack of volunteers at the time.
This morning, Escambia County Administrator Jack Brown announced that he will be placing a paid fire crew at the station to “assist” the volunteers as of Friday morning to ensure proper coverage for the district that includes ares such as North Davis Highway, University Parkway and eastern Nine Mile Road. The 24/7 paid firefighter positions will be paid with funds already available in the county’s fire services budget this year.
“They (the Ferry Pass volunteers) are handling a lot of calls; they are just overwhelmed,” Commissioner Grover Robinson said as he praised the efforts of new Ferry Pass Volunteer Chief Kevin Winingar who has held the position less than a month. The volunteers at the station do answer a large number of calls, but sometimes they are understaffed, he said.
Brown said the career and volunteer crews will work together at the Ferry Pass station, “respectful of each other and make it work for the residents of Escambia County”.
During a Thursday morning agenda review session, Commissioner Wilson Robertson asked if career and volunteer firefighters could work together in the same station, because he had “heard” that was not allowed under a recent IRS settlement involving volunteer stipends.
Brown said that under a recent legal opinion, volunteer and career firefighters can serve at the same fire station. However, he said paid county employees in fields such as EMS still are not allowed to volunteer as firefighters.
The Escambia County Commission voted in January to pay back taxes under an IRS audit of the county’s fire services and to work toward keeping things as normal as possible for volunteer firefighters while keeping the IRS and other agencies happy.
Volunteer firefighters in Escambia County currently receive stipend pay for answering 25 percent of their station’s calls during the month, ranging from $300 for a Firefighter I to $550 for a district chief.
The audit was prompted after the IRS discovered that several Escambia County employees were receiving both a W-2, showing taxes withheld from their “day” job with county, and a 1099, showing no taxes withheld as a volunteer firefighter. The IRS found Escambia County should have been withholding taxes on a stipend pay for all volunteers and the county owes over $78,000.
The county paid the $78,000 and agreed to the settlement as offered by the IRS. Volunteer firefighters continued to receive a stipend check will taxes withheld, and they will receive a W-2 rather than a 1099 at year’s end.
Pictured top, inset and immediately below: The first firefighters from the Beulah Station of Escambia Fire Rescue arrive at a fire last Friday morning on Fox Run in the Ferry Pass district and begin fighting the blaze. Pictured below: More photos from the scene. Photos by Dalton Young for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Insurance Agent Convicted Of Racketeering, Money Laundering
April 9, 2015
A Cantonment insurance agent was convicted Wednesday of racketeering and money laundering.
Circuit Judge Ross Goodman found Randall Petersen guilty of conducting a fraudulent insurance scheme that involved the theft of several hundred thousand dollars of commissions and bonuses from American National Insurance Company and Liberty National Insurance Company.
In the scheme, Petersen advertised job opportunities on the internet for College Consultants of the Gulf Coast, and induced hundreds of applicants to provide information for life insurance that he and his associates described as free job benefits.
The prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar, showed that College Consultants was not a real company and Petersen merely used the information from the job applicants to complete life insurance applications that he submitted to the insurance companies. The companies paid Petersen advance commissions, which were as much as 130% of the first year premiums, and bonuses.
Before the companies realized the insureds were not employees, Petersen had obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars of commissions and bonuses and let the policies lapse for nonpayment.
Petersen faces a maximum of 60 years state prison when he is sentenced on May 12. Goodman ordered Peterson held in the Escambia County Jail without bond until his sentencing.
Students Of The Year Honored
April 9, 2015
Escambia County Council of PTA/PTSA recently recognized Students Of the Year from most schools in Escambia County. The awards are presented to students that, in most cases, have overcome some challenge in their educational career.
- A. K. Suter Elementary – Sorcha Reynolds
- Bellview Elementary – Xiomara Flores
- Beulah Elementary – Dawson Guy
- Blue Angels Elementary – Bianca Bahamundi
- Bratt Elementary – Sarius Davis
- Brown-Barge Middle – El Leon Forty
- Byrneville Elementary – Kaitlin Gafford
- C. A. Weis Elementary – Fionna Rodriguez
- Camelot Academy – Destiny Bradley
- Cordova Park Elementary – Charlotte Born
- Ensley Elementary – Stephen Roe
- Escambia High – Dominick Vetitoe, Jason Vetitoe
- Escambia Westgate Center – Kain Bunn, Hannah Schneider, Courtney White
- Ferry Pass Elementary – Cheyenne Robinson
- Ferry Pass Middle – Daniel Holzknecht
- Global Learning Academy – Michael Stembridge
- Hellen Caro Elementary – Alyssa Cravatt
- Henry McMillan Pre-K Center – Irielle Fogan
- Holm Elementary – Martin Bucio
- J. H. Workman Middle – Christopher Taylor
- Jim Allen Elementary – Brayden Cook
- Jim C. Bailey Middle – Camrye Conrath
- L. D. McArthur Elementary – Abigail Conn
- Lincoln Park Primary – Maurice Smith
- Longleaf Elementary – Joshua Straatman
- Molino Park Elementary – Melanie Danforth
- Montclair Elementary – Pretesia Robbins
- Myrtle Grove Elementary – Rachelle Edwards
- N. B. Cook Elementary – Ansley Skipper
- Navy Point Elementary – Daniel Reyes
- O.J. Semmes Elementary – Prestesia Scott
- Oakcrest Elementary – Allison Gibson
- Pensacola Beach Elementary – Kacie May
- Pensacola High – Kayla Pritchett
- Pine Forest High – Allen Fink
- Pine Meadow Elementary – Noah Neely
- Pleasant Grove Elementary – Christian Lim
- R.C. Lipscomb Elementary – Cory Appelberg
- Ransom Middle – Lauren Brown
- Scenic Heights Elementary – Cassidy Palmer
- Sherwood Elementary – A’Darius Adams
- Warrington Elementary – Octavia Hughley
- Warrington Middle – G’niyah Betties
- West Pensacola Elementary – Khalil Kyles
- W.J. Woodham Middle – Robert Vose
Northview, Jay To Meet In Spring Game
April 9, 2015
The Northview Chiefs and the Jay Royals will meet in a Spring Football Game next month.
The game will come at the end of the three weeks allowed for spring training. It will be held May 22 at 7 p.m. in Tommy Weaver Memorial Stadium on the Northview campus in Bratt.
Last season, Northview beat Jay 55-20 in Bratt.
Pictured: Last year’s Jay at Northview game. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Radio Icon Marty White Retiring
April 9, 2015
Marty White is retiring after 42 years on the air, with 37 of those years on Pensacola radio. As a fixture on Pensacola morning radio, White woke up Pensacola area listeners on 102.7 WXBM’s “Hometown Morning Show” for over 20 years. Over the last year, he co-hosted WXBM’s afternoon drive show with Lindsey Marie, who will remain with the afternoon show.
His final day on the air will be June 26.
White is a native of Pensacola, a Tate High School graduate and a veteran of the United States Air Force. He has driven race cars at 5 Flags Speedway, flown with the Blue Angels, danced atop radio station vans as “Billy Bob” Ace Traffic Reporter and even donned a snakeskin dress with “Dolly Parton” wig and heels at the Beulah Sausage Fest. All in the name of furthering WXBM’s visibility in the market and all with the station’s call letters emblazoned across his signature ball cap.
White has been recognized by countless charitable organizations for his help in promoting various events and endeavors including the annual Kaps for Kids Event for the Ronald McDonald House, which he was a part of for 15 years. He was recognized by Northeast Pensacola Sertoma with the Service to Mankind Humanitarian Award in 2004-2005. He was recently recognized on the floor of Congress for his laudable 40 years on the air. The Honorable Jeff Miller spoke of White’s successes and achievements serving the people of the Pensacola and northwest Florida area.
White has performed diligently throughout his career; always believing the reason the radio station’s tower was erected was to serve the community. He has spent many hours away from his family during threatening storms to ensure the safety of lives and property, keeping listeners informed with his calm and confident style. He spent many more hours and days on the air after those storms ensuring the community would recover, and rendering factual and pertinent information.
Marty White has been the consummate professional– always ready to lend a hand and provide air time when needed. He is recognized as one of the most talented and loved air personalities to have worked in Pensacola radio. He was at times outspoken, always “telling it like it is”. He often said: ” I try to tell it like anyone listening would, given the opportunity to sit behind the mic.”
White said: “I grew up with a radio under my pillow so I guess it was in my blood early. To have worked most of my career in the town where I grew up is really unusual. I have always been grateful for that. I felt like it gave me an edge. Common sense, versatility, doing my homework and going on the air prepared have been the key to staying around as long as I have. You can’t take yourself too seriously. It’s just a radio show. The folks here have been really good to me and my family and for that I will always be extremely grateful. Now it’s time to enjoy life while I am still young enough to do that. I plan to do some fishing, hunting, play a little golf and get some things done around the house. Thanks for listening. I appreciate it.”
Pictured top and bottom: Longtime radio host Marty White on 102.7 WXBM. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Tate High Names Students Of The Month
April 9, 2015
Tate High School has name Students of the Month for March. They are Valerie Samuel (left) and Travoris Hunt (right), pictured with Principal Rick Shackle. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Sawmill Pageant Winners Announced
April 9, 2015
Results from the 2015 Miss Sawmill Pageant held recently in Century have been announced. Winners were as follows:
Overall Winner for Middle School and High School: Ansley LaSala
Overall Winner for 6 to 11 Years Old: Andrea LaSala
Overall Winner 0-5 Years Old: Allison Grant
Miss Congeniality: Elsa Faulk and Madelyn Faulk
Individual Category Winners
Tiny Baby Miss 0-12 Months
Queen: Kensley Therrell
1st Runner-up: Emma Odom
2nd Runner-up:Brooklyn Cox
3rd Runner-up: Gracelynn Grant
Photogenic Winner: Emma Odom
Casual Wear Winner: Kensley Therrell
Baby Miss 13-23 Months
Queen: Kenley Welch
1st Runner-up: Mallory Marn
2nd Runner-up: Jenna Pritchett
3rd Runner-up: Jillian Kate Sanders
Photogenic Winner:Jillian Kate Sanders
Casual Wear Winner: McKinley Sapp
Toddler Miss 2-3 Years
Queen: Madelyn Faulk
1st Runner-up: Aiyana Cole
2nd Runner-up: Laurel Wadkins
3rd Runner-up:Abigail Hawthorne
Photogenic Winner: Laurel Wadkins
Casual Wear Winner: Aiyana Cole
Little Miss 4-5 Years
Queen: Layla Schoonover
1st Runner-up: Khloe Hamilton
2nd Runner-up: Chloe Johnson
3rd Runner-up: Jozalyn Coy
Photogenic Winner: Peyton Lee
Casual Wear Winner: Khloe Hamilton
Little Miss 6 Years
Queen: Lanie Stephens
1st Runner-up: Emilee-Grace Braswell
2nd Runner-up: Kailee Herndon
3rd Runner-up: Jacie Himes
Photogenic Winner: Emilee-Grace Braswell
Casual Wear Winner: Lanie Stephens
Junior Miss 7-8
Queen: Andrea LaSala
1st Runner-up: Jaci Jackson
2nd Runner-up: Natalie Hendricks
3rd Runner-up: Bailey Fillingim
Photogenic Winner: Andrea LaSala
Casual Wear Winner: Andrea LaSala
Junior Miss 9-11
Queen: Anna Marie Reaves
1st Runner-up: Bentley Glover
2nd Runner-up: Kenzie Garrick
3rd Runner-up: Nevaeh Brown
Photogenic Winner:Anna Marie Reaves
Casual Wear Winner: Anna Marie Reaves
Middle School Miss
Queen: Abigail Bell
1st Runner-up: Skylar Crawford
2nd Runner-up: Ansley LaSala
3rd Runner-up: Jillian Thornton
Photogenic Winner: Ansley LaSala
Casual Wear Winner: Ansley LaSala
Miss Sawmill- High School
Queen: Kassidy Adams
1st Runner-up: Heather Hilton
2nd Runner-up: Janna Johnson
3rd Runner-up: Jerni Crabtree
Photogenic Winner: Kassidy Adams
Casual Wear Winner: Kassidy Adams
Photos courtesy Photos by Fischer for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Senators Double Down On Gambling Bill
April 9, 2015
A proposed one-year extension of a deal giving the Seminole Tribe exclusive rights to banked card games such as blackjack morphed into a much broader gambling measure Wednesday, prompting Senate Regulated Industries Chairman Rob Bradley to vote against his own bill.
While Bradley’s bill blossomed, House Majority Leader Dana Young dramatically scaled back her wide-ranging gambling proposal that would have allowed two Las Vegas-style casinos to open in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
Bradley had wanted solely to give the tribe and the state another year to negotiate the agreement set to expire on July 1, but, as is generally the case with any gambling legislation, his proposal (SB 7088) became a vehicle for issues seemingly unrelated to the five-year card deal.
Before his committee’s nearly two-hour meeting on the measure ended, senators had tacked on amendments that could do away with dog racing but allow greyhound-track operators to continue operating slot machines or card rooms; permit tracks and frontons in Miami-Dade and Broward to stop racing horses and holding jai-alai matches; and allow dog tracks in Lee and Palm Beach counties to add slots to their facilities.
The greyhound “decoupling” proposed by Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, would allow dog tracks to eliminate racing but keep other, more lucrative operations like poker rooms and slots.
Sen. Oscar Braynon surprised many gambling operators and lobbyists in the audience Wednesday with an amendment that would allow any pari-mutuels with slot machines to also do away with races or games if any other facility with slots stopped racing. The measure would apply to jai-alai frontons and horse tracks in Broward and Miami-Dade counties if any greyhound tracks stopped dog races.
“This is what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. … If we’re doing it for one, we should do it for all,” Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, said. The amendment passed by a 7-5 vote.
And Sen. Joe Abruzzo, D-Boynton Beach, pushed an amendment that would allow dog tracks in Palm Beach and Lee counties — where voters have approved slots — to add slot machines. A portion of the money from the slots revenues would go toward purses, or the money paid out to owners of horses, at Tampa Bay Downs. Abruzzo’s effort garnered the support of Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican whose district includes the horse track, whose operators have pushed for slot machines to better compete with tracks that have slots in Broward and Miami-Dade.
Abruzzo laughed as he struggled to defend his proposal, saying it “would not expand gambling” because gambling already exists at the two dog tracks.
Bradley, on the losing side of a 7-5 vote on the overall bill, indicated that the measure was likely to undergo more changes before it reaches the Senate floor for a full vote, if that even happens before the legislative session ends May 1.
“I would suspect that if we have a gaming bill come out of the Senate that it will look probably a bit different than what you saw come out of this committee today. What you see is a few elements that continue to be in play,” Bradley, R-Fleming Island, told reporters after the meeting.”We’ve got a ways to go.”
Young’s proposal, up for its first vote in a House committee on Thursday, includes the dog racing “decoupling” and a proposal about greyhound injury reporting, which passed the full Senate as a separate bill on the first day of session. Her revamped proposal (HB 1233) would also do away with dormant pari-mutuel permits, end “portability” of permits by requiring cardrooms and slots to stay at the locations where they were originally authorized and impose a moratorium on any new pari-mutuel permits.
Amendments expected to be filed related to Young’s bill would add back the destination resorts, but only if Broward or Miami-Dade voters or county commissions approve the casinos. The amendments had not been filed early Wednesday evening.
Young said she pared back her original proposal after polling members of the House Regulatory Affairs Committee, which will hear the revised proposal on Thursday.
“I took notes and went through with the chairman and the speaker and said, ‘These are the things that people care about.’ There are certain things that people care less about,” Young, R-Tampa, told The News Service of Florida.
The two bills’ current status reflects where lawmakers may end up if any gambling legislation is approved this year, an effort that has repeatedly failed even after the Legislature spent $800,000 for a study on the issue two years ago.
“What you see with where the House is headed and what you see today is sort of a general, rough outline of some comfort levels on both sides. Obviously there are some things that people are not comfortable with, like destination casinos. … So we’re moving towards a goal, slowly but surely. I continue to say this all begins with what do with the (Seminole) compact,” Bradley said.
Bradley said he recommended the one-year extension of the current card deal because the Seminoles, who have launched a publicity campaign including four television ads urging support for the compact, and the state have been unable to agree on a new accord.
“We’re going to continue to talk to the tribe to see if there’s some common ground. But right now it’s just a bridge too far between the tribe and the state. Are we going to close that bridge before the end of session? We now have in play a vehicle to make sure the relationship continues if we don’t meet the distance between the parties before the end of session,” he said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
NorthEscambia.com Publisher Named One Of Area’s Most Influential People
April 9, 2015
The Pensacola Independent News has released their 2015 IN Power List — their ranking of the most the most powerful and influential people in the Escambia and Santa Rosa county areas.
Only two people that work primarily in the North Escambia area were named to the list — NorthEscambia.com publisher William Reynolds of Walnut Hill at number 64 and Escambia County Commission Chairman Steven Barry of Cantonment at number 27.
Topping this year’s list was Stan Connally, Jr, president and CEO of Gulf Power.
To read this year’s Inweekly Power List edition, click here.
Pictured: Gulf Power President/CEO Stan Connally, Jr., who topped the 2015 Power List. Courtesy image from InWeekly.com.