Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 6-25-19

Features
School Board To Conduct National Search For Next Superintendent
Scholarship Created In Memory Of Young Athlete
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Earlier this month, a 14- year-old student died during football conditioning practice. His family, along with Men Of Vision, Inc., has established a scholarship in his memory.
The Hezekiah Walters Fam- ily Memorial Scholarship is a 2-year, prepaid scholarship created to honor the memory of Hezekiah Walters.
Ross Anderson, founder of Men of Vision, Inc., said, “It is designed to pay tribute to his legacy and will be given to a deserving student enrolled in the Hillsborough County Pub- lic School District that embod- ies what Hezekiah stood for. The scholarship will help other students fulfill their dreams.”
Hezekiah became ill on June 11, 2019, while at condi- tioning practice. He was at Middleton High School, 4801 N. 22nd Street, when he col- lapsed and was transported to
HEZEKIAH WALTERS 3/1/2005 --- 6/11/2019
St. Joseph’s Hospital by Tampa Fire Rescue. He was pronounced deceased at the hospital.
Walters was an incoming freshman at Middleton High School. He had completed his middle school education at Franklin Boys Academy.
He was the son of Ms. Phyllis Walters and Pastor Felix Walters. Hezekiah was also looking forward to going to college and becoming an entrepreneur. He planned to continue the family tradi- tion of attending Florida A & M University, his cousin said.
Anyone interested in mak- ing a donation to the scholar- ship can: Make checks payable to the Hillsborough Education Foundation (Memo: Hezekiah Walters Memorial Scholarship Fund) Address: Hillsborough Education Foundation, 2306 N. Howard Ave. Tampa, Florida 33607.
Or, for online and credit card donations visit: www.ed- ucationfoundation.com Direct link: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/h wms/ Select Restriction: Take Stock in Children, Add Schol- arship name in comments: Hezekiah Walters Memorial Scholarship Fund. All dona- tions are tax deductible.
Members of the Hillsbor- ough County School Board held a workshop last Thurs- day, to discuss the search for the next leader of Hillsbor- ough County Public Schools. Earlier this month Superin- tendent Jeff Eakins an- nounced he will retire at the end of his current contract, which ends June 30, 2020. He announced his decision to retire now, to allow the School Board time to find the most qualified person to lead the 8th largest school district in the nation.
Chairperson of the Hillsbor- ough County School Board, Ms. Tamara Sham- burger, said, “There was a consensus to do a national search for the next superin- tendent. We also decided to hire a firm to conduct the search.”
She further said the plan is to have selected a new leader no later than March 2020. This will allow Superintend- ent Eakins an opportunity to work with the next Superin- tendent.
The District serves more than 215,000 students and employs more than 24,000 people – the largest employer in the county.
This past year, the District set another all-time gradua- tion rate record of 85.8%.
MS. TAMARA SHAMBURGER Chairperson, Hillsborough County School Board
Hillsborough Schools rank at the top of 27 large school dis- tricts across the U. S. – with 4th graders tying for 1st place in reading and math and 8th graders tying for 1st place in reading and 2nd place in math.
Students set a district record, earning more than 7,000 industry certifications in areas like welding, infor- mation technology and more. The District is also continuing to identify and complete major maintenance and re- pair projects as a result of the 10-year, $1.3 billion Educa- tion Referendum.
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