Page 9 - Florida Sentinel 1-30-18

Local
School District Challenges Insurance Offer
Student Charged With Making False Report
JEFF EAKINS Hillsborough County School District Superintendent
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
The Hillsborough County School District plans to challenge an insurance set- tlement offer. The contro- versy stems over a low settlement offer for Lee El- ementary School.
The District also plans to hire its own engineers and construction managers to investigate options for the future of the school. In Sep- tember 2017, Lee Elemen- tary Magnet School was among several businesses and private homes that lost power during Hurricane Irma. After the power was restored, a fire erupted, de- stroying much of the struc- ture.
Robert E. Lee Elementary School after the fire.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office arrested a high school student last Thursday. The student, whose name was not re- leased, was charged with making a false report of a gun on campus.
According to police, at ap- proximately 10 a.m., the 16- year-old male student went home and told his mother he saw a student on the campus of Durant High School with a gun. The par- ent notified school adminis- tration. The school was locked down for more than three hours.
Law enforcement launched an investigation using 23 deputies and 22 school security officers searched the school search- ing for the unknown student with the gun. After more than two hours of searching
the school with metal detec- tor devices, police were un- able to locate a weapon.
Turkey Creek Middle School also received social media reports that a gun was on that campus as well. This resulted in that school being placed on lockdown and it being searched as well. No gun was found on either campus. Investigators said that incident was di- rectly related to the issue at Durant High School.
During an interview with law enforcement, the stu- dent admitted that he had lied about the incident. He was arrested and charged with disrupting a school function, making a false statement, and obstruction. He was transported to the Hillsborough County Juve- nile Assessment Center and charged.
After the fire, the stu- dents attending Lee Ele- mentary School were relocated to Lockhart Ele- mentary, 3719 N. 17th Street, to complete the 2017-2018 school term. Lee is expected to continue sharing the Lockhart cam- pus during the 2018-2019 school year, Superintend- ent Eakins said.
Jeff Eakins, Superin- tendent for Hillsborough County School District said, “The offer from the insur- ance adjusters is simply not enough --- we are sending that message very clearly. And we understand it’s dif- ficult to restore a building in this condition, but for the insurance adjuster to say it’s just impossible? We want to
see what the options are for ourselves, so we’re investing in hiring our own experts to investigate.”
He further said the insur- ance adjuster’s offer, “Fell significantly short of the District’s expectations, with an offer that is far less than what our District expects it would take to rebuild the school. Further, our District questions the insurance ad- juster’s finding that the building and its brick façade cannot be saved in any way for future use,” he stated.
The District plans to dis- pute the insurance ad- juster’s initial offer. The school expects to have a re- port from its own panel of engineers and construction managers within 30 days.
Former Rep. Corrine Brown Reports To Federal Prison
On December 4th, a judge sentenced former U. S. Rep. Corrine Brown, 71, to five years in prison and three years supervised release. A federal judge denied her re- quest to remain free while she appeals the sentence.
In May, a jury convicted Brown on 18 counts for stealing from the charity One Door for Education, fil- ing false tax returns and other counts.
Brown's former chief of staff, Ronnie Simmons, was sentenced to 48 months in jail for conspiracy to commit mail/wire fraud and theft of government
CORRINE BROWN ... Former U. S. Rep.
funds. He pleaded guilty
and testified against
Brown.
Carla Wiley, president
of One Door for Education, was sentenced to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release for her part in Brown's fraud case.
Brown will receive a congressional pension while jailed, because a 2007 law allows former members of Congress to keep their ben- efits until a final conviction, once the appeals process has been exhausted.
Brown was ordered to report to the Federal Cor- rections Complex near Wildwood by noon Monday.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2018 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 9