Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 12-5-17

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Teachers Negotiate For Higher Pay
Hillsborough County school officials returned to the negotiating table on Mon- day with teachers. Teachers are upset because they have not received the raises they say they were promised by the district.
About 4,000 teachers were supposed to get raises. Administrators claim there is not enough money.
At a bargaining session last week, the two sides were trying to come to an agree- ment over teachers’ expected raises and the district saying it cannot afford it.
After returning after Thanksgiving break, teachers began leaving at exactly 3:15 p.m. The move was their way of showing how much extra work teachers do before and after school.
Teachers are not allowed to strike, but they have said they will no longer take work home.
Jeff Eakins, Superin- tendent of the Hillsborough County School District said, “Our teachers in Hillsbor- ough County on average are
JEFF EAKINS Superintendent, Hillsborough County School District
paid higher than all of our contiguous counties. Now that doesn’t mean that we should not do more, we want to do more when the dollars are there to do more.”
According to the Hillsbor- ough County Classroom Teachers Association, about 4,000 teachers were sup- posed to get raises this year. The district took the raises off the table shortly after school started, with administrators saying there was not enough money.
Kindness Takes Center Stage At 2nd Annual FAM Awards
People think of a lot of different things when Tampa comes to mind. However, it took a big step in being asso- ciated with recognizing the good works of caring people thanks to the 2nd Annual Na- tional FAM Awards.
For The Family, Inc., staged this Academy Awards for kindness to honor the Parent, Son/Daughter, Sis- ter/Brother and Family Vol- unteer of the Year at the Children’s Board of Hillsbor- ough County.
Administrator W. Ward Cox said, “This world has a lot more good than evil. So much of what we see, hear, and read is about people be- having badly. It’s time we got back to what’s real.”
For example, Tyrone Walker and his wife, Michelle, took in Crystal Vallery after her father died when she was 14. Crystal was a human trafficking sur- vivor.
Since that first interven- tion, the Walkers have helped more than 900 traf- ficking victims and foster children.
The couple was chosen as “Parents of The Year” after Crystal and Godlynn Profitt (another girl helped by the Walkers) submitted a 1-minute nomination video.
As a result, Tyrone Walker earned the Family Flame Award and a $100 gift card. He had no idea what was about to happen: “I thought we were just going shopping.”
The “Parent of the Year Award” was presented to Tyrone and Michelle Walker, of Miracles Outreach, shown with Crystal Vallery.
Meanwhile,
Roles was selected as “Brother of the Year” because of how he stepped up after his sister died at age 26, to adopt her 2-year old son, Calvin. Quinton is now a single father, and his mod- esty was evident as the Fam-
works at the Jet Jackson Recreation Center in St. Pe- tersburg, but his commit- ment goes far beyond the job. For instance, he regularly helps children throughout South St. Petersburg and en- courages them to keep their grades up. William also se- cures donations to help the homeless.
Lisa Jimenez is not only the adoptive parent of three children, but babysits other adopted children so that their parents can get a much-de- served break. There are a host of other wonderful and inspiring people who were nominated to receive a Na- tional FAM Award, but Tiana Jackson’s example strongly illustrates that kind- ness isn’t limited to adults. She faced major obstacles in graduating from Jefferson High School, but the Full Service Center at Just Ele- mentary School offered the support she needed to over- come them.
ily Flame presented.
“There’s
about what to do when it comes to family,” Quinton said before Calvin grabbed the microphone.
Jayden Preston is a de- termined nine-year-old who has overcome more health problems than a child should ever endure.
Felicia Bevel, his mother, marveled at how, “Jayden never cried or com- plained through it all.”
In fact, Jayden recently returned to school after a
Quinton
Award was
no question
two-year absence.
When he came up to ac-
cept his Family Flame Award as “Son of the Year,” Jayden shyly said that, “I’m really ex- cited to be back with my friends.”
In a year where National FAM Awards nominees showed caring kindness in so many different ways, the Family Volunteer of the Year candidates were especially noteworthy.
Family Flame Award win- ner, Marcia Minutello and her husband opened a pho- tography business when they moved to Florida from New York, where they had raised nine foster children (some with special needs). After adopting three other special needs children, she started a service that involves taking free professional photos of adoptive families to help strengthen the bond between parent and child.
However, that was just the beginning. Marcia is an original member of the Fam- ily Council that presented a strategic plan for improving services for adoptive families to former Governor Law- ton Chiles.
She offered this contrast of what it’s like to be a foster parent in Florida compared to New York: “Here, you have to fight for services that people in New York receive without aquestion. Their dedication is even more amazing under the circum- stances.”
Quite a few nominees de- served their own Family Flame Awards. For ins: Larry and Cathy Coker adopted their grandchildren
after the death of their daughter. When they sought guidance from Case Manager Daphne Choute, of Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services, she was particularly impressed with how they focused on the needs of their grandchildren in the midst of their own loss.
Chris Dingle takes time off from work to run errands for two disabled cousins while also taking them to doctor’s appointments and helping them with house- work. She also recently as- sisted her disabled aunt in South Carolina.
William
Hazellief
PAGE 4 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017