BROOKSVILLE — Brian Hawkins just wanted to have a doughnut with his son.
Instead, the Hernando County commissioner was turned away from a “Dads and Doughnuts” event at Challenger K-8 because he didn’t have a “Level 1” volunteer badge, a credential that requires a $20 fee and a background check.
That was a mistake, the Hernando County School Board confirmed April 28. Parents attending school events do not need the badge.
Hawkins, who left a County Commission meeting early April 28 for the family event, told the board the principal cited “standard protocol” when she stopped him at the door. He said he had attended events at other schools without ever being asked for the credential, and he wondered how many other parents had been turned away.
Board member Mark Johnson said Hawkins was the second person to raise the issue with him.
“I don’t believe that’s the right policy,” Johnson said. “For a parent visiting a child in a school, you should have to swipe a driver’s license to make sure you’re not a felon.”
Superintendent Ray Pinder said the Level 1 designation applies to volunteers who supervise students, chaperones on field trips, for example, or adults assigned to work with a group of children. It is not required for parents attending a supervised school event.
Angel Pagan, the district’s director of safe schools, was called and confirmed that parents need only present a driver’s license to be vetted at the door.
Some schools set a higher bar on their own.
“Schools can encourage parents to be a Level 1 volunteer, but it shouldn’t be a requirement to enter the building,” Pinder said. “That’s our policy.”
The board, chaired by Hawkins’ wife, Kayce Hawkins, attributed the incident to a misinterpretation of the rules and said it would not happen again.
District veteran
The district’s veteran of the month was hard to miss. She came to the meeting in uniform.
Air Force Master Sgt. Ashley Abesada serves in the 927th Aeromedical Staging Squadron, where she oversees the management, readiness and career development of the unit’s enlisted members and advises the chief nurse and senior leaders on the careers of 55 medics.
Abesada enlisted in February 2003 and graduated from Life Support School that June. She served as an aircrew life support journeyman until leaving active duty in 2007 and has deployed four times in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
A licensed emergency medical technician, she works as a clinical paraprofessional at Winding Waters K-8.
“I don’t know if anyone’s noticed her,” quipped district spokesman Aaron Ellerman as he read her record, “but she’s hard to see in the camouflage.”
The board thanked her for her service to the country and to the district’s students.
In other action
District Athletic Director Dustin Kupcik was recognized as the Florida Coaches Coalition’s Central Region Athletic Director of the Year.
The board voted 4-0 to approve four overnight field trips on its consent agenda: Weeki Wachee High School Future Business Leaders of America students to the FBLA National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, June 28 to July 3; Central High School NJROTC cadets to a marksmanship camp in Cape Coral on June 15; F.W. Springstead High School Yearbook Club students to the Florida yearbook seminar in St. Petersburg, June 16-18; and Hernando High School students to the Florida FFA State Convention in Orlando, June 15-19.
The board also approved an $8.5 million contract with Williams Company Tampa for construction-manager services on the HVAC replacement at Powell Middle School. The figure includes $85,000 in preconstruction services and will be paid with half-cent sales tax funds.
Students from Winding Waters K-8 led the Pledge of Allegiance and introduced themselves.
Board member Susan Duval was absent.