Northview Distributes Chromebooks To Most Students
August 12, 2016
Most Northview High School students received a Chromebook computer on Thursday, but some parents still need to sign off on a contact with the school district.
Principal Gayle Weave said about 425 students received their Chromebook. She said about 100 have not been issued because those parents and students are required to view the district Chromebook Contract Video and must review and complete the online Chromebook Contract.
In order for a student to receive the Chromebook as soon as possible, parents and students can:
Meet The Aggies Night Still On, Football Scrimmage Canceled
August 12, 2016
Tate High School’s “Meet the Aggies Night” is still on for tonight, but a planned scrimmage in the stadium has been canceled due to field conditions.
The event will begin in the Tate cafeteria with a chance to meet the Aggies, meet the coaches, hear a 2016 season forecast and a question and answer session. The Quarterback Club will explain their season needs and share info at 6 p.m., followed by a sponsor showcase at 6:30.
For more information, email qbclub@tatehighfootball.com.
Escambia Man Charged In Death Of Toddler Now Facing Second Charge
August 11, 2016
A second charge of aggravated child abuse has been filed on an Escambia County man arrested Monday after police responded to a residence and found a child not breathing.
Alonzo Thompkins, 26, was charged with aggravated child abuse on Monday after a two-year-old male died.
Now, he is facing a second charge after an investigation determined a three-year-old child in the residence had multiple bruises on her body and a broken collar bone.
Police were dispatched to the residence around 9 a.m. Monday after the children’s mother returned home and found her two-year-old son was not breathing. Thompkins had been left alone with the two-year-old male, who was the son of Thompkins’ girlfriend.
The investigation is continuing.
Flash Flood Watch Continues
August 11, 2016
A flash flood watch continues through Friday. Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Thursday: Showers and thunderstorms. High near 85. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
Thursday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a low around 75. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a high near 87. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 90. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
Sunday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 89. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91.
Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 73.
Tuesday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91.
Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 73.
Wednesday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91.
Cantonment Murder Suspect Captured
August 11, 2016
A Cantonment murder suspect was captured Wednesday night in Escambia County.
Marquis Derrell Bryant, 19, was wanted for homicide in connection with the shooting death of 29-year old Alphonso Leon Griffin. Griffin suffered a gunshot wound and was found in the yard of a residence in the 200 block of Sheppard Street in Cantonment just after 9 p.m. on July 23. He was transported by ambulance to Sacred Heart Hospital where he later passed away.
Bryant was booked into the Escambia County Jail at 10:35 Wednesday night on charges of first degree premeditated murder, resisting an officer without violence and grand theft of a motor vehicle. He is being held without bond.
Bryant was captured by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office just five days before the shooting, but not placed under arrest.
On Sunday, July 17, Bryant allegedly stole a classic Ford Mustang. On Monday, July 18, deputies spotted Bryant in the stolen 1965 Mustang at 3:47 p.m. near Hicks Street and Muscogee Road, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. When a deputy attempted a traffic stop, Bryant refused.
The deputy followed the vehicle, not exceeding the speed limit. Bryant opened the driver’s side door while the vehicle was still in motion. He then jumped from the vehicle and fled on foot.
The Sheriff’s Office said Bryant was located by a K-9 a short time later.
Sgt. Andrew Hobbs, spokesperson for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said deputies suspected that Bryant ingested some type of narcotics before being captured. He was transported to a local hospital for medical care. Hobbs declined to say which day Bryant was released from the hospital, citing medical privacy laws.
Hobbs said deputies submitted a grand theft auto warrant for judicial review. At the time of the murder, the warrant had not yet been signed by a judge.
Century Historic District Homes To Be Repaired, Rebuilt Following Tornado
August 11, 2016
The Century Architectural Review Board gave approval Wednesday to the repair or replacement of almost 30 percent of the residential properties in the Alger-Sullivan Historical District, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1989.
The historic district includes 45 buildings on about 230 acres, and is roughly bounded by Pinewood Avenue, Front Street, Jefferson Avenue, Church Street and Mayo Street. Numerous structures in the historic district were damaged or destroyed by the EF-3 tornado that struck Century six months ago.
The Architectural Review Board approved the rehabilitation of four properties — 541 Church Street, 7611 Mayo Street, 601 Mayo Lane and 410 Front Street. They board also approved the demolition and reconstruction of nine properties — 300, 307, 402, 403, 407, 416 and 426 Front Street; and 301 and 351 East Pond Street.
Several of the properties have been approved for SHIP — State Housing Initiative Program — funds, while others are still awaiting approval in what has been a slow process, according to Mayor Freddie McCall.
“A lot of people have wanted to know if I knew what the hell I was doing,” McCall said of the SHIP funding process, which has been managed by Escambia County. “This has been held up on red tape that I have nothing to do with.”
Many of of the funding delays, according to county officials, have been related to legal problems with improper deeds and other incomplete documentation.
Now that the Century Architectural Review Board has signed off on the properties, plans next go to the Century Town Council for approval next Monday night and will next be reviewed by state officials due to the historic district status of the properties.
Pictured above and below: Four of the historic district homes on Front Street that will be demolished and replaced. Pictured bottom: Members of the Century Architectural Review Board (L-R) Gary Riley, Helen Mincy and Edna Earle Barnes. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
FEMA Considering Change To Disaster Aid For States
August 11, 2016
States should back a proposed federal program that could initially have them take on more disaster recovery costs — but with the ability to lower the tab by investing in preparedness, Florida’s emergency director said Wednesday.
If the states don’t go along, they’ll risk Congress simply shifting more costs to the states without their input, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Bryan Koon said.
The proposed change was floated this winter by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is under pressure from Congress to reduce how much of the cost Washington picks up for natural disasters.
Currently, if states hit a certain threshold for dollar losses, a federal-disaster declaration is issued and Washington picks up a portion of the cost. But the plan put forth tentatively by FEMA would set a “deductible,” amount similar to a car or homeowners’ insurance policy. Under that amount, state and local governments would be responsible for paying for disasters, and above it federal recovery spending could kick in.
But the plan would allow states to “buy down” their deductible, or get a lower threshold for federal help, by making investments in certain disaster-mitigation infrastructure improvements, such as stronger building codes or flood or wildfire prevention projects.
FEMA asked the states to comment on the idea earlier this year, and a number responded negatively, saying they feared they’d simply be hit with higher costs and additional administrative burdens and never see much benefit.
But speaking on a panel on emergency preparedness at the National Conference of State Legislatures on Wednesday in Chicago, Koon said he worries Congress is going to shift the burden anyway.
“I don’t think keeping the status quo is something that is going to happen,” Koon said. If the states reject the FEMA idea for a deductible method for paying for disasters, “we will leave ourselves at the whims of Congress, and I don’t think that’s going to come out in a way that will be beneficial for the states.”
The federal government currently determines when to grant disaster declarations based on a measure of how much the cost of the disaster is on a per-capita basis. But the per-capita dollar amount wasn’t adjusted for inflation for several years. A 2012 Department of Homeland Security report said that if the government had adjusted the per-capita metric for inflation, about a third of presidential disaster declarations in the interim wouldn’t have been granted.
“This is one area where we continually face criticism,” acknowledged FEMA Deputy Director for External Affairs Stephanie Tennyson, who was on the panel with Koon at Wednesday’s meeting.
Koon said he worries that Congress will unilaterally change the threshold for when states can get federal aid — but without the deductible reduction option — or change the current ratio of federal disaster funding, which right now has Washington pick up 75 percent, with state and local governments paying 25 percent.
Koon fears that Congress could seek to make the ratio or the threshold reflect those lost years of inflation adjustments all at once, something that could double or triple the amount of losses needed to be eligible for federal assistance in some states.
“That could be very difficult for many of our states,” Koon said. “In the bigger states, you’re looking at nine-digit losses before you’d be eligible.”
Disaster experts also said having the deductible buy-down would offer the added effect of a long-term lowering of disaster response costs, because presumably it would reduce damages, something FEMA’s Tennyson said was also a major goal of the proposed change.
And without some sort of prodding through the type of financial incentive being considered in the FEMA plan, states may not be likely to make those investments because the benefit wouldn’t come immediately. Also, states that are less disaster prone, don’t tend to plan for extremely rare events.
“People say, ‘It’s not going to happen to us,’ ” noted former Massachusetts Sen. Dick Moore, a Democrat who also served as associate director of FEMA during the Clinton administration.
Koon, tapped by Gov. Rick Scott in 2011 to lead the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said that in his role as the current president of the National Emergency Managers Association, he is trying to urge states to at least consider the proposal, though he understands the objections of some, particularly smaller states. They have said in comments to FEMA that they’re worried they’ll face added administrative burdens for proving they’ve made infrastructure improvements, and may not get the credits in the end, only to get saddled with higher costs up front when disaster strikes.
Koon also noted that Florida has already made many of the infrastructure improvements envisioned by the deductible system, and so he’s confident his state would be ahead of the game.
“Florida has some of the strongest building codes in the nation,” Koon said. “I think that we will be able to buy down a significant portion of what that deductible is.”
Koon also said going through the change might prevent Congress from acting if it appears the states are willing to try to figure out a way to help lower federal costs.
“This is going to take a while,” Koon said of the rule development process. “The likelihood is it’s going to be close to a decade before it is fully implemented. The good news is, you are less likely to see an action by Congress to unilaterally change the cost-share methodology. We’ll buy ourselves some time to work on this issue.”
by David Royse, The News Service of Florida
Pictured: Tornado damage in Century, which did not qualify under current rules, for FEMA assistance. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Lawsuit Challenges Holding Students Back Over Tests
August 11, 2016
Fourteen parents whose children were retained in third grade after they “opted out” of Florida’s standardized tests filed a lawsuit this week, saying their rights were violated by confusing standards that rely too much on a single exam.
The lawsuit says Education Commissioner Pam Stewart, the state Department of Education, the state Board of Education and several local school districts violated the families’ rights to due process and equal protection when deciding whether to allow certain students to move on to fourth grade.
But at the heart of the lawsuit is a clash over whether students are required to take the Florida Standards Assessments before moving on from third grade. The “opt out” movement is part of a larger backlash against standardized testing, with many parents feeling that the state is subjecting students to too many exams.
The lawsuit asks a Leon County court to block the decision to retain the students in the third grade, saying the children will be “irreparably harmed” if they are held back. It points to research showing that students who are held back become isolated and lose interest in school.
“The negative behaviors associated with retention are exacerbated here because each of the plaintiffs’ children received a report card with passing grades, some earning straight A’s and Honor Roll for their hard work throughout the school year, but yet they will be retained in the third grade despite having no reading deficiency,” the suit says.
Parents also asked for an emergency injunction from the court, saying many of them didn’t find out their students would be retained until May or June, and school is set to begin shortly. The districts named in the suit include Orange, Hernando, Osceola, Sarasota, Broward, Seminole and Pasco counties.
While the suit focuses on events in the 2015-2016 school year that led to some students being held back, it also more broadly challenges efforts to require students to take standardized tests before moving on to the fourth grade.
“Refusing to accept a student portfolio or report card based on classroom work throughout the course of the school year when there is no reading deficiency is arbitrary and irrational,” it says.
The complaint portrays state and local officials as struggling to come to terms with whether to accept portfolios of students’ work or the marks on report cards in lieu of test scores, particularly for students who essentially refused to complete the tests. As a result, students who opted out were allowed to move on without test scores in some cases, but not in others.
As late as February, according to notes from a telephone call with local superintendents attached to the complaint, Stewart was insisting that state laws allowing for student portfolios to be used in retention decisions did not create an opportunity for students to refuse to take the tests.
In late May, the complaint says, the Department of Education clarified its policy. According to a Tampa Bay Times report cited in the lawsuit, the agency said retention was a local decision, and a spokeswoman for the department said “we never said you must retain a student who doesn’t have an FSA score.”
The damage was already done, the lawsuit contends.
“By May 2016, it was too late for many school districts or schools to provide guidance to teachers on what was required for documentation of the student portfolio exemption,” it says. “Students at those schools that maintained a student portfolio throughout the school year relied upon the portfolio exemption to be promoted to the fourth grade, while those schools that did not had inadequate documentation to meet the portfolio exemption criteria.”
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Students Head Back To Class (With Photo Gallery)
August 11, 2016
Wednesday was the first day of school across the area, with tens of thousands of students heading back to class.
We asked NorthEscambia.com readers to submit their back to school photos.
For a photo gallery, click here.
We apologize, but due to a tremendous response, we were unable to publish all the photos we received, and we are unable to add additional photos to the gallery.
Pictured top: Alexia Olson, third grade at Molino Park Elementary. Pictured inset: Brooke Odom, first grade at Pine Meadow Elementary School. Pictured below: Ryan, first grade at Jim Allen Elementary School.
Escambia Firefighters, EMS Crews Help Keep School Zones Safe
August 11, 2016
Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS units are standing by in school zones across the county with lights flashing to remind drivers to slow down during the first week of school. Pictured: A volunteer crew from the Beulah Station of Escambia Fire Rescue Wednesday morning in the Beulah Elementary School Zone. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
