Well, the county sold out to Clear Channel yesterday. Truthfully, I’m surprised it took this long for the commissioners (acting as the EPC) to cave.
Under the terms of the deal, Clear Channel can play music as loud as they want for a year or so with no fear of penalty. Then they have to build a wall and monitor things like speaker placement. If the music is still too loud in January of 2007, then we can start the whole process of fines and lawsuits over from scratch.
Also yesterday, the County Commission ganged up on Kathy Castor and voted her out of many positions of responsibility. Kathy was the only one to vote against the Clear Channel deal, and has irked fellow commissioners with her independent and common sense stands on many controversial issues.
Hillsborough commissioners conducted their annual settling of scores Thursday when they met to pick their chairman and vote each other on and off various boards and councils.
For Commissioner Kathy Castor, who is running for a seat in Congress, it was mostly off Thursday.
The housekeeping task would seem as exciting as scrubbing the tub to the uninitiated. But for this board, it tends to be the most political day of the year, a day when commissioners flex their muscles or get socked in the stomach instead.
Commissioner Ronda Storms got things going by suggesting that commissioners simply keep their assignments of the past year. If they wanted another assignment, they could put their names forward. The board would vote for either the current post holder or the commissioner now seeking the same spot.
Then Storms put her name forward. For the Children’s Board. For chairmanship of the Environmental Protection Commission. For the Executive Policy Group, the panel that deals with hurricane preparedness and other emergency situations - all seats held by Castor.
Commissioner Mark Sharpe was also interested in the Executive Policy Group. Storms withdrew her name for that one, leaving the choice between Castor and Sharpe.
The votes went 5-2, 5-2, 5-2, with Castor’s lone fellow Democrat, Tom Scott, siding with her. And with that, Castor had lost three of her most high-profile and coveted assignments. Then, for good measure, Ken Hagan asked for a seat on the Metropolitan Planning Organization, a group that deals with transportation and includes four commissioners. Specifically, he wanted Castor’s seat.
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Before the boards and councils selections, commissioners unanimously voted to keep Commissioner Jim Norman as chairman of the commission and Hagan as vice chairman. They appointed Commissioner Brian Blair as their chaplain.
Posted as Tampa
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Today’s SP Times reports that Florida’s graduation rates are now dead last in the nation. Uh, unless we cheat to look better.
Figures released by the governor’s office and the Department of Education show Florida had a 71.9 percent graduation rate in 2004-05, but a national ranking based on different data put it at 56.8 percent.
……
Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, contrasted the state’s figures with statistics compiled by Morgan Quitno Press showing the 56.8 percent rate.
“This is just a spin effort,” Gelber said. “Under this administration we have slipped from 45th to 50th” on the Morgan Quitno list.
……
The Morgan Quitno list compares the estimated number of 2005 high school graduates with ninth-grade enrollment in the fall of 1999. That excludes students who have obtained special diplomas or passed General Educational Development tests, both counted in the state’s method.
This is nothing new. Following is a BlogWood piece from 2003 that examined the exact same story.
November 1, 2003
OFFaL! (JEB!, Our Feckless FloridA Leader) reports fewer dropouts. He’s a liar.
Florida had fewer dropouts and more high school graduates again last school year, according to figures released by the governor’s office on Friday.
The statewide graduation rate improved to 69 percent in the 2002-03 school year, up from 67.9 percent the previous year. That means nearly 7 out of 10 Florida high school students graduated within four years.
“Thanks to the efforts of students, teachers, parents, and principals, we have kept more students in high school through graduation, while ensuring that a Florida diploma signifies real academic achievement,” Gov. Jeb Bush said.
……
Researcher Jay Greene, who lives in South Florida, calculated Florida’s 2001 graduation rate to be 56 percent, while the state reported a 63.8 percent rate that year. One difference in the calculation is that Greene excludes students who pass the GED (General Educational Development) test for a diploma from his graduation rates because those students are not getting traditional diplomas. Florida counts those who pass the GED test as graduates.
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The governor and Education Secretary Jim Horne were particularly pleased with the results because critics predicted that the state’s new accountability measures would adversely affect the state’s graduation and dropout rates. Last school year was the first time that students had to pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to get a standard diploma.
Hmmmm shades of Houston, where a city school system under pressure from OFFaL!’s brother manipulated statistics and lied. But that was Texas, and they promise they don’t do that anymore. This is Florida.
A ccording to a study by the Manhattan Institute, Florida has the lowest high school graduation rate in the United States, followed by Georgia and South Carolina.
The study contrasts sharply with the low dropout rates reported by a number of states because it calculated the percentage of ninth-graders who leave four years later with a diploma and doesn’t figure in students who drop out of school but eventually receive a high school equivalency diploma.
“What we’re trying to do is make graduation figures clear and useful,'’ said Jay P. Greene, author of the study. “We’re amazed at official statistics that look very far off from what the truth must be.'’
Florida Education Commissioner Jim Horne lauded the state’s record in education and contended that graduation rates had “skyrocketed'’ under his administration, to 67 percent from 61 percent. He noted, however, that Florida counts as graduates those students who get equivalency diplomas or enroll in adult education classes.
Regardless of conflicting statistics, this is clear: Too many students are not finishing high school, and the graduation rates for minorities are often extremely low.
Now, this is from the openly conservative Tampa Tribune, and they are dissing their own governor. Still, it’s just an opinion piece. Here’s some hard news on the same study. Funny, but it turns out that the institute that did the study is conservative. Hmmmm… another conservative organization contradicting their own?
Just over half of Florida’s public school students earned a standard diploma in four years, giving the state the lowest graduation rate in the country, according to a study released today.
But the Florida Board of Education vehemently disputes that claim, saying the researchers’ estimates are faulty and other states’ statistics aren’t trustworthy enough for a fair comparison.
Fifty-five percent of Florida high school students who should have graduated in 2000 earned standard diplomas, according to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
The national average was 69 percent.
“It certainly does paint a disturbing picture of Florida education,” said Marcus Winters, a researcher with the conservative think tank, which has an office in Davie.
The state’s computations say 62 percent of Florida students graduated in 2000.
“We don’t do estimates of the graduation rate, we calculate the graduation rate, and that’s a world of difference,” said Florida Board of Education spokesman Bill Edmonds.
“Putting Florida at the bottom, that’s ridiculous,” he said. “You would guess those states that have the hardest time are those that are largely rural, with a high rate of poverty.”
Yes, you would guess that Florida might be able to rank above at least our poorest neighbors, so maybe there is a problem?
State statisticians track individual students using student identification numbers to count how many students complete high school four years after they enter as freshmen, including students who earned special diplomas and GEDs within four years of their freshman year.
The Manhattan Institute compared the number of freshmen in 1996 with the number of graduates in 2000. Privacy laws kept them from accessing individual student records. The Institute did not count those who earned GEDs or those who needed an extra semester or year to earn a full-fledged diploma.
Winters said counting GED recipients as graduates is not the most accurate picture of high schools’ accomplishments: “These are dropouts who took it upon themselves to earn a certificate.”
……
While Florida educators doubt the situation is as disappointing as the institute claims, they blame several factors for a poor showing:
a large minority and low-income population that traditionally drops out at a higher rate than average.
thousands of students who either do not speak English, are still learning English or who live in homes where English isn’t the primary language.
thousands of students who move in and out of schools. Studies show mobility undercuts student learning.
classes with more than 40 students for every teacher, in some cases larger than college classes, reducing chances for individual attention.
Uh, aren’t OFFaL! and his cronies in the legislature fighting tooth and nail to overturn the class size amendment that voters passed last year? (From a BlogWood post on 9/25/03)
Here’s the deal: in Florida, voters can amend the constitution and mandate that the State enact their wishes. Republicans hate this, as it forces them to actually listen to the voters needs and wants and cuts into the Legislature’s ability to control discretionary spending.
Jeb Bush has been leading the fight against two high profile amendments, and has basically said that he and his administration will not follow the law and the will of the people.
Official: Class size law futile
Education Commissioner Jim Horne said Wednesday that the state can’t meet the voter-approved mandate to reduce class sizes in Florida.
“The class-size amendment will never be implemented,” Horne said at a meeting of the Board of Governors, which oversees higher education in Florida.
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The amendment requires the state to give schools enough money to lower class sizes from kindergarten through high school. By 2010, they can be no larger than 18 in grades pre-K through 3, 22 in grades 4 through 8, and 25 in high school.
Horne, a Bush appointee who opposed the amendment before the November election, said Wednesday he can’t force superintendents to reduce class size.
Jeb has been pitting K-12 against state universities, claiming that there is not enough money for both:
Florida’s university presidents told Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday that the state’s national reputation for short-changing higher education is making it hard for them to recruit top faculty.
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“The word is out that Florida is not committed to higher education,” said Modesto Maidique, president of Florida International University in Miami.
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The governor is proposing cuts of $148.8-million from university operating expenses while providing no money for increased student enrollment. He also would cut up to $30-million out of Bright Futures scholarships.
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For the 260,000 students at Florida’s 11 universities, that would mean fewer teachers and degrees, larger classes and more competition to get into schools because of enrollment caps.
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Bush, who also met with student leaders Monday, has repeatedly blamed the cuts on the cost of a voter-approved constitutional amendment mandating a reduction of class sizes in public schools.
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Next year’s proposed cuts would come on top of a $167.5-million drop this year and could leave Florida last in the nation in per capita spending on higher education. When inflation is factored in, the amount of state money allocated for each university student has dropped 15 percent in the past four years.
Bottom line: headlines say ‘Graduation rate increases yet again,’ but even OFFaL’s supporters say this is bullshit, and reality shows us that OFFaL! is all talk and no money when it comes to supporting Florida’s schools.
Posted as Florida
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A completely non-political charity event to helps kids is being attacked by a hair lipped monster because the organizers had the temerity to, uh, try to raise some money to help kids.
A charity event to raise money for needy children may be in jeopardy because Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms has questioned its association with strip-club owner Joe Redner.
Whether IMAGO Magazine’s fifth annual Auction for Angels at the Wyndham Westshore Hotel will take place Nov. 19 was unclear late Friday.
One of two charitable organizations in line to benefit from the event pulled out because of the controversy, magazine Editor Norm Roche said.
“It’s kind of all collapsed,” Roche said. “This has crashed the event.”
Redner, who has appeared on the cover of the Dunedin-based arts and personalities magazine, contributed $500 toward the dinner and auction. Joe Redner Enterprises is listed as a sponsor on the $60-per-ticket invitation, which arrived Thursday in Storm’s mail.
Storms said she called three other businesses shown as sponsors — Wyndham Westshore, Decker Ross Interiors and the Tampa Bay Lightning — to ask whether they knew that Redner also was a sponsor and that they were being linked with the adult entertainment industry. She was troubled by the invitation’s use of a girl’s picture near Redner’s logo.
“A little girl’s image is being associated with the adult entertainment industry,” Storms said. “I’d like to know if that little girl’s parents know about it.”
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Storms, the mother of a young daughter, an advocate for foster children and a longtime opponent of the adult entertainment industry, said she did not pressure the businesses to withdraw from the event.
“The event doesn’t have to be in jeopardy,” Storms said. “I’ll write the check [for Redner’s $500 share] … to rectify the situation. This just is not appropriate.”
Jan Horn, executive director of Blooming Place for Kids, a Clearwater charity for neglected and abused children set to benefit from the event, said she was vaguely familiar with Redner’s adult entertainment businesses.
“As a charity, I don’t question everybody that donates money,” Horn said. “We are appreciative of everybody who gives money because that money is for kids.”
Horn said her organization, which hosts a two-week summer camp, got $7,000 from last year’s IMAGO event.
“If this event doesn’t happen, there will be 10 kids who will not be able to experience this program,” she said.
Roche, the IMAGO editor, said A Gift for Teaching of Tampa, which distributes school supplies to needy children and teachers, backed out of the event because of fear of offending Storms and the county commission. Officials with the program could not be reached Friday.
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“I think Ronda Storms is a mean-spirited person,” Redner said. “This is not about her and I; it’s about anybody that crosses her. She goes after them, and she doesn’t care who she hurts.”
Redner said he pays about $100,000 in county property taxes.
“They take my tax money. Maybe [Storms] ought to give that back,” he said.
Yeah, that’s the ticket: Ronda’s not trying to intimidate anyone here, but if charities that also rely on the county for funding just happen to get the message that they shouldn’t be associated with this event, and voluntarily pull out, well, Ronda can’t help that, can she?
Now one of two charities slated to benefit from the auction, A Gift for Teaching of Tampa Bay, in Tampa, has pulled out. And the head of the other is concerned that children might lose out due to the commissioner’s latest crusade.
“I morally disagree with that type of business,” said Jan Horn, executive director and founder of Blooming Place for Kids, in Clearwater, which raises money to send foster children to summer camp in Lithia. “But if that man wants to make a contribution to a charity that helps neglected and abused children, if that’s what he wants to do with his money, then I commend him.”
Storms said her problem is one of association between a charity event seeking to help children with a business that she feels hurts women. The girl is pictured above the logos of what are represented as four sponsors, including Joe Redner Enterprises. One of Redner’s enterprises: Mons Venus strip club.
An invitation landed in Storms’ mailbox Thursday, which is when she called the other sponsors, including the Tampa Bay Lightning and Wyndham Westshore Hotel in Tampa where the auction is scheduled for Nov. 19. Storms confirmed she asked representatives of each if they knew with whom their names were being associated.
“This girl is a very little girl,” Storms said. “It looks to me in the picture like she still has her baby teeth. Anytime it looks to me like a child is being exploited, and in my opinion associating a child with the adult entertainment industry looks like they’re being exploited, then I’m going to address that.”
Storms said she is further disturbed that Redner is being allowed to purchase credibility with marquis treatment in the event.
Redner, who also has a fitness club and various real estate holdings, expressed outrage in a sometimes profanity-laden rant. What difference does it make if he contributes and his corporate logo is depicted on a charity invitation, he asked.
The only one drawing the association is Storms, he said. And he said the only ones taking a hit from her involvement are children who need it most.
“I’m dumbfounded and speechless,” said Redner, who has clashed repeatedly with Storms over his involvement in adult business. “This is the mentality I’ve seen in this woman all along: “If you cross me, I’m don’t care what I’ve got to do, I’m going to get you.’ ”
Redner said he contributes to many other groups, including Joshua House, the Police Athletic League and the Shriners Hospital.
He made a $500 donation and agreed to purchase a $500 table at next week’s auction organized by Imago Charities Inc., an affiliate of Imago Magazine, a monthly magazine in Dunedin that chronicles bay-area events and personalities. Imago representatives say this would be their fifth annual auction for children’s causes, and others have gone off without a hitch. This year they expected to raise $30,000.
Then Imago owner and publisher Adrienne Davis began receiving calls from the announced sponsors Thursday saying they had been contacted by Storms. Davis called the two charitable beneficiaries to notify them about the commissioner’s voiced concerns.
“Imago, and Imago Charities, is not a political entity,” said Norm Roche, Imago’s editor. “(Davis’) first question was “Who is Ronda Storms?’ and then “What did I do to her?’ ”
Imago’s editor, Norm Roche, said A Gift for Teaching decided to withdraw. It gives free school supplies to poor children and schools with large numbers of poor children.
A Gift for Teaching receives a $50,000 grant from the Hillsborough government each year, and has raised more than $1-million in its nearly three years. With little knowledge of the organizers of the auction, and concerns being raised, the charity’s leadership thought it best to bow out.
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It doesn’t matter how Storms put it, said radio personality Jack Harris, who is scheduled to serve as an emcee at the auction along with his two co-hosts on a morning show on 970-WFLA.
“That’s pure intimidation, anyway you look at it,” said Harris, wondering if she would have objected to ABC Liquors or Hooters restaurant being a sponsor.
A few points:
That’s Jack Harris the host of the conservative AM radio morning show which likes to present itself as light hearted fluff while consistently and subtly pushing conservative talking points as generally accepted fact.
Joe Redner Enterprises is not the Mons Venus. JRE owns and develops land, acts as a landlord for local businesses, rents space to the federal government, runs or invests in many diversified business ventures, and gives money and other needed items to many local charities and non profits. Joe is a very generous and open minded guy and is always willing to help out anyone who is working to better our community.
Joe has never been accused of hurting a child. Ronda, on the other hand, with her hateful and narrow minded meddling must have hoped that her calls would ultimately harm the organizations that are helping the kids. Ironically, Ronda’s tantrum could backfire, as this incident will provide tons of publicity and may well result in more money flowing to the non-profits that need it.
Posted as Florida, Tampa, Politics
Other posts by Norwood.
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By making a thoughtful decision to stop favoring Christian holy days in the school calendar and to be respectful of other beliefs and cultures by allowing kids to take days off as their traditions dictate, the Hillsborough County School Board predictably opened itself up to attack by theocratic opponents of inclusive policy.
Board members and administrators said the secular calendar, which resembled the one in place for years in Pinellas County and dozens of school systems around the nation, treated all faiths the same and more clearly separated church and state.
They said children could take days off for religious observances without being penalized.
Board member Doretha Edgecomb stood by the secular calendar Tuesday.
She compared the arguments she heard by people in favor of religious holidays to those made against women fighting for the right to vote and African-Americans battling segregation. She said she felt the secular calendar was more fair.
“In our war of words, in our sometimes self-serving stances and too often our very myopic views, we have lost sight of the most important thing, our children, all of our children and their right to . . . an equitable education,” said Edgecomb, who voted against the religious calendar.
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When the board approved the secular calendar, local Muslims said they feared a backlash from people who would view the action as Muslims causing the end of religious holidays for Jews and Christians.
Many of the 3,500 e-mails received by school officials did in fact blame Muslims, labeling them as foreigners not deserving of holidays in the “Judeo-Christian” United States.
Leading the narrow minded fight was trilingual showman turned County Commissioner B. Brian Blair who made an enthusiastic appearance on Bill O’Reilly’s nationally televised shout fest to wrestle for Jesus, ’cause Jesus is really awesome and all, but some people keep acting like this land was made for you and me and not just for the religiously intolerant types who come out of the woodwork every time a non-Christian tries to assert some kind of crazy notion regarding freedom from religion.
The Killer Bee invited himself to last night’s school board meeting and wouldn’t stop talking. See, there’s no reason to hear from any other side when you’re right. Especially when you’re Christian right.
“Everybody’s talking about this like it don’t mean nothing — but it means a lot,” an impassioned Apostle Cynthia Forde shouted. “In God, in God, in God we trust,” she implored. We’ve been spared, she said, but “the next time a hurricane comes,” it may be to Tampa.
Paul Stallard, pastor of the Mango Church of God in Seffner, threatened, “If you don’t change, the battle has just begun.”
Others supported the board’s efforts not to link any religious holidays except Christmas with a day off for all students and teachers.
“Are you going to change your decision because you got hate mail?” said Ali Akbar, a Muslim.
The Rev. Robert White of the Brandon Area Interfaith Coalition asked the board to “look into your hearts — do the right thing” and give the Muslims a holiday.
Tempers flared in exchanges involving county Commissioner Brian Blair, a vocal critic of the decision to eliminate the holidays from the school calendar. Board member Susan Valdes questioned him about whether he would ask the county commission to give its employees the religious holidays off. County, state and federal employees don’t have off religious holidays except Christmas.
Blair continued talking even after board Chairwoman Candy Olson tried twice to cut off his remarks when they went beyond answering questions.
Clearly angry, board member Carolyn Bricklemyer said she “heard things from many people that absolutely hurt my heart” and nearly walked out on some of the speakers. She also took Blair to task for a lack of respect. For those who sent “orchestrated e-mails” to the board, she said she quit reading them.
Blair did finally shut up, or paused to take a breath, and, weary of all the national attention, a majority of School Board members voted to rescind the new policy and return to a calendar that will quiet the screeching protests of those who seem to think that their god is a one size fits all answer to the ills that plague society.
Next month, the board will vote on a proposal to amend the official disciplinary policy to bring it more in line with traditional Christian values.
Posted as Florida, Tampa, Religion
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