Hernando school cops may be cut

BROOKSVILLE — Crossing guards and half the police officers stationed in Hernando County schools are in danger of being eliminated next fall due to budget cuts, officials said Tuesday.

Sheriff Richard Nugent said he might not be able to afford his department’s nearly 60-percent share of the $979,586 budget for school resource officers, due to last January’s passage of the Amendment 1 property tax initiative and declining property values.

Also endangered: his department’s entire $72,421 crossing guard budget.

“This information is being provided to you in the event that our agency is no longer able to provide funding for these school-related programs,” Nugent said to school superintendent Wayne Alexander in a March 6 letter obtained by the St. Petersburg Times.

Promoting "cybersafety"

Florida education commissioner Eric J. Smith and Attorney General Bill McCollum issued a cybersafety challenge today, trying to make sure that all middle and high school students in the state get exposed to McCollum's presentation on internet safety.

"One of the most important lessons we can teach our young people this year is how to protect themselves from internet child predators," McCollum said in a news release. "By challenging our principals to sign up their students to receive CyberSafety Education presentations before the school year ends, we hope to ensure as many children as possible have the tools they need to stay safe online."

For more information on the program, click here.

Safer school buses

Feel like your children aren't secure enough in their school buses? You're not alone.

US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters unveiled a proposal today to make school bus seat backs four inches taller and to require short buses to begin using shoulder strap seat belts, the AP reports. Peters didn't go so far as to recommend mandated seat belts in all buses, saying local school districts should decide for themselves whether to retrofit their buses.

"Our proposed rule would make children safer, put parents at ease and give communities a clearer picture of how to protect students," Peters said in a news release. "It's never too late to learn, especially when it comes to protecting our children."

The department will take comments on the proposed rule for the next 60 days.

Hillsborough school board suspends three

TAMPA -- Hillsborough County School Board members on Tuesday suspended without pay three of its employees, including two teachers arrested on charges stemming from sexual involvement with teenagers and a custodian accused of murder.

"They're off our campuses or classroom, as the case may be. They're not being paid," said Hillsborough schools spokesman Steve Hegarty. "That's appropriate, that's where we should be. "

From left to right in pictures above:

• Christy Ayala, a secretary at Dickenson Elementary accused of three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of a 15-year-old boy. Three times between February and September, Hillsborough sheriff's detectives say,  Ayala and the boy met at his home, where she fondled, kissed and hugged the boy and asked him to touch her in inappropriate places.

• Stanley Telfare, a Blake High School custodian arrested on murder charges in the death of school secretary Elalia Walker, who died a week after being hospitalized with severe brain injuries. On Oct. 11, a witness told Temple Terrace police he saw a man hit a woman then throw her into a van within the Orange River Estates subdivision. Police never found the van, but later that evening, Telfare brought a severely-injured Walker to her home. Her family asked what happened. Telfare told them Walker jumped from a van as they were driving, police said. Originally charged with felony battery and kidnapping, charges against Telfare were upgraded to first-degree murder after Walker's death.

• Christina Butler, the Middleton High School special education teacher recently arrested on charges of having sex with a 16-year-old student. A bizarre traffic stop in late October involving a group of teenagers ultimately led to the arrest of Butler. She later admitted to having sex with a 16-year-old boy up to a dozen times. Fifteen-year-old Shatavia Kendricks said she tried repeatedly to report the inappropriate relationship to school officials, but the school suspended her for 'spreading rumors.'  In response, Kendricks' family is suing  the school board.

-- Casey Cora, Times staff writer

Booking photos courtesy of Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

Fence me in

Some people don't like the idea of fences around schools. The public, they say, should have access to the playgrounds and fields when classes aren't in session.

A story coming out of Seminole County reminds about the importance of fences. And it has nothing to do with child snatching.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Seminole school officials will be taking a closer look at their elementary school playground fencing after an autistic student walked away from campus during recess . Luckily, the boy wound up at a nearby house, where a passing county fire crew found him.

But the fact that the boy could just slip away has superintendent Bill Vogel concerned, beyond the poor oversight by an aide who faces discipline. He wants to make sure that all the schools have proper fencing that keep kids in, as well as others out.

State: School nurse forged license

BROOKSVILLE -- She gave out Bandaids and cough drops, even inserted catheters and feeding tubes for special-needs students -- just like a real school nurse.

Except she wasn't one, officials said.

Hernando County School Board officials say Jean Sciacovelli, 42, never earned the practical nursing license that got her hired last year at Deltona Elementary School.

Sciacovelli was arrested Wednesday on felony charges of unlicensed practice of a health care profession, after a joint investigation by the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. She is being held in the Hernando County Jail and bail was set at $5,000.

1443 accidents

When a Hillsborough bus driver swerved her bus into the bushes, injuring 11 kids, to avoid an armadillo, we all took note. One story focused on drivers with multiple accidents - apparently something that happens too often.

We also requested data from the state on just how frequently bus accidents happen. The information didn't come soon enough for a story. But here it is.

Between July 2006 and June 2007, the Department of Education logged in 1,443 bus accidents. Among those:

• 1,225 were between a bus and another vehicle
• 174 were single-vehicle crashes
• 1 involved a train
• 8 people were killed
• 297 people were injured
• 1,300 occurred on a clear day
• 83 occurred on a rainy day
• 393 of the drivers had 10 or more years of experience

For the full report, click here. To see the 2005-06 report, click here.