Danny Valentine, Times Staff Writer

Danny Valentine

Danny Valentine is based in Brooksville, covering education and general assignment stories for tampabay.com and the Tampa Bay Times. Always accepting story ideas.

Phone: (352) 848-1432

Email: dvalentine@tampabay.com

Twitter: @DannyValentine

  1. Superintendents warn new school grading formula means more F's

    K12

    TAMPA — This year's school grades aren't out yet, but Florida educators are worried.

    With changes to the grading formula and higher testing standards kicking in this year, superintendents warned State Board of Education members and Commissioner Tony Bennett on Tuesday that they will likely see a dramatic drop in school grades despite relatively steady student test performance compared with last year....

    Hillsborough superintendent MaryEllen Elia, left, shown with state Education Commissioner Tony Bennett in January, said an expected and dramatic drop in school grades, despite steady student test performance, will confuse the public and hurt education-reform efforts.
  2. Florida Board of Education to take closer look at school grading formula

    Blog

    TAMPA — This year’s school grades aren’t out yet, but Florida educators already are worried.

    With changes to the grading formula and higher testing standards kicking in this year , superintendents on Tuesday warned State Board of Education members and Commissioner Tony Bennett that they likely will see a dramatic drop in school grades despite relatively steady student performance compared to last year....

  3. Just 40% of students pay $15 activity fee at Hernando schools

    K12

    Hernando High School principal Leechele Booker had hoped to hold more events to recognize students for their achievements and to teach positive behavior.

    Pine Grove Elementary principal Thomas Earl Deen ran out of money designated for student activities and had to pull cash from other funds.

    At West Hernando Middle, teachers dipped into their own pockets to pay for pizza parties and provide other incentives, said principal Carmine Rufa....

  4. Teacher suspended, bus driver cleared in two Hernando school investigations

    K12

    BROOKSVILLE — A Pine Grove Elementary School first-grade teacher was suspended without pay for 10 days after an investigation into allegations that she yelled at a student, made disparaging remarks about him and hit him in the chest with a backpack in April.

    During a computer lab session on April 5, Ellen Lewis was asked to speak with another teacher's student, who wasn't working on a computer, according to a summary by Pine Grove assistant principal Gina Michalicka....

  5. Communities in School reaches at-risk students at two high schools

    K12

    BROOKSVILLE — The Central High School student just would not go to school.

    On any given day, assistant principal Latressa Jones says, she could call him at home and he'd be there. He didn't want to go to class. And the adults in his life couldn't force him.

    So the school paired the freshman up with Greg Sheldon, a mentor through the nonprofit Communities in Schools of Hernando County, the local affiliate of the nation's largest dropout prevention organization....

    Funding from the federal Race to the Top program has helped Communities in Schools of Hernando County, a dropout prevention organization, get a start. But now the local program needs to raise its own funding.
  6. A night of firsts for Weeki Wachee High graduates

    K12

    BROOKSVILLE — Weeki Wachee High School teacher Kim Jones stood on a small stage, trying to corral the sea of green-clad graduates.

    "It's time; it's time," she called over the microphone. "We need to start lining up."

    The seniors buzzed with anticipation as they formed ranks, shouting, laughing and mugging for cellphone cameras. They practiced how, after just a few short speeches, they would cross the stage and accept their high school diplomas. Some tested their handshakes....

    The Weeki Wachee High School Class of 2013 toss their mortarboards in celebration after Thursday’s ceremony.
  7. Though disappointed, Hernando assistants pledge support for new superintendent

    K12

    BROOKSVILLE — They've been passed over.

    And over.

    And over again.

    Hernando County School District assistant superintendents Sonya Jackson and Ken Pritz have each competed for the top job in the district's past three searches for a superintendent of schools. Each time, they've missed the mark.

    In the most recent search, the first where they both held the district's second-highest title, they were beat out by a younger external candidate with no prior experience as a superintendent or assistant superintendent....

  8. Hernando School Board: Valedictorian, salutatorian honors should remain

    K12

    BROOKSVILLE — Hernando County School Board members sent a clear message to superintendent Bryan Blavatt on Tuesday about how the district should recognize top high school graduates.

    Board members do not want to see valedictorians and salutatorians disappear.

    The discussion followed an earlier vote where board members apparently inadvertently eliminated the top two academic honors beginning with the current freshman classes....

  9. Weeki Wachee High School valedictorian makes history

    K12

    WEEKI WACHEE — Janet Ho can claim something nobody else will ever be able to say:

    She is Weeki Wachee High School's first valedictorian.

    Ho, on Thursday, will be among the 211 students making up the first graduating class at Weeki Wachee — a school that opened in 2010 with freshman and sophomores.

    Becoming valedictorian is only the latest in a long list of accomplishments for Ho, who has skipped a grade, earned her associate's degree from Pasco-Hernando Community College and managed to achieve a 4.68 grade-point average by the age of 16....

    Janet Ho is Weeki Wachee High School’s first valedictorian.
  10. Hernando High graduation ceremony turns to soggy mess

    Blog

    BROOKSVILLE — Graduating seniors at Hernando High School marched toward the school’s stadium Saturday night amidst light sprinkles, with heavy black clouds looming nearby.

    Then the skies opened.

    By the time the students got to the field and in their seats, the ceremony had dissolved into a soggy mess.

    Purple graduation caps wilted in the heavy rain. Gowns were drenched. Makeup streaked down faces. Carefully styled hair was ruined....

  11. Hernando High graduates get soaked in ceremony before postponement

    K12

    BROOKSVILLE — Graduating seniors at Hernando High School marched toward the school's stadium Saturday night amid light sprinkles, with heavy black clouds looming nearby.

    Then the skies opened.

    By the time the students got to the field and in their seats, the ceremony had dissolved into a soggy mess.

    Purple graduation caps wilted in the heavy rain. Gowns were drenched. Makeup streaked faces. Carefully styled hair was ruined....

    Ken Pritz, left, the assistant superintendent of Hernando County District Schools, and Hernando High principal Leechele Booker shake hands with graduate Alexandra Ambrose as she receives her diploma Saturday while crossing the rain-soaked stage before the postponement.
  12. Young immigrant graduates from Springstead High as a leader

    K12

    SPRING HILL — Springstead High School senior Bernard Ndedi came to the United States from Cameroon in 2005 filled with grand expectations.

    He imagined that everyone was famous. And that there were no rules.

    He found his new home — Hernando County — to be a bit different.

    "It wasn't streets paved of gold like everyone was saying," he said.

    But he's made the most out of his time here....

    Springstead graduate Bernard Ndedi of Spring Hill is originally from Cameroon.
  13. Hernando's only single-gender classrooms eliminated — then quickly restored

    K12

    SPRING HILL — In fall 2007, Westside Elementary School launched a program on the cusp of educational reform: single-gender classrooms.

    One of the first such programs in Tampa Bay, it was highly touted.

    Over the first few years, the all-boys and all-girls classrooms — one of each per grade level, grades 2 to 5 — appeared to be hugely popular with parents, teachers and students. ...

  14. Deep in an academic hole, Hernando student rallies to graduate

    K12

    WEEKI WACHEE — Just days into her fourth year of high school, Monica Diaz walked into her guidance counselor's office and realized — finally — how badly she had messed up.

    She plopped into a chair. Her mother, Marilyn, sat next to her. Joan Emerson, a school counselor for more than three decades, didn't sugarcoat things. She told Monica it would be "almost impossible" for her to graduate on time....

    Weeki Wachee High School student Monica Diaz, 18, has taken 21 classes since August, including 10 online through Florida Virtual School and Hernando eSchool.
  15. Names of suspected shooters released in two Hernando cases

    Crime

    The Hernando County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday released the names of two men they suspect of fatally shooting two others in unrelated incidents last week.

    Neither man has been charged.

    Detectives believe Christopher Asciolla, 28, shot Michael Alexander Challis during an argument early Thursday at 6991 Pinehurst Drive in Spring Hill. Challis, 34, was taken to Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in Hudson, where he died....