Wildcats Sink Cat Runners Dreadnaughts Making Strides See Page B6 See Page B3 Herald-THE Advocate HARDEE COUNTY’S HOMETOWN COVERAGE 120th Year • No. 43 • 2 Sections www.TheHeraldAdvocate.com 93¢ Plus 7¢ Sales Tax Thursday, September 17, 2020 School District Launches Daily COVID-19 Report By TOM STAIK from school due to possible ex- schools. There were also 7 new Of The Herald-Advocate posure. reports of positive cases among The School District of “Exclusions” are students the school population: two Hardee County has launched and staff who are not allowed staffers and five students. an online portal with current to attend school due to poten- The two new staff cases were data on COVID-19 transmis- tial exposure to COVID-19. at Hardee Senior High School. sion among students and staff “An exclusion could be a There were two new student at local schools. parent tested positive so a stu- cases at Hardee High, two new Compiled by the Hardee dent has to stay home,” said student cases at Bowling Green County office of the Florida Teresa Hall, director of Student Elementary, and one new stu- Department of Health, the data Academic Services. dent case at Hardee Junior center provides a daily snap- Contact tracing by the Health High School. shot of the number of students Department can also result in a Included in the online report and staff testing positive for student or staff member being are cumulative figures chroni- COVID-19. added to the “exclusion” list, cles cases among staff and stu- The daily update also in- Hall added. dents since the start of the cludes the total number of stu- As of Monday (Sept. 14) academic year. COURTESY PHOTO dents and staff under there were 81 staff and students According to the cumulative Hardee Senior High School has seen the highest number of COVID-19 cases of the recommended “exclusions” on exclusion from Hardee’s See REPORT A2 seven public schools in Hardee County. Air Out FDEP Cites At North County For Wauchula By TOM STAIK River Nears Flood Stage Of The Herald-Advocate Landfill Issues On a positive note: there were no bats. By MICHAEL KELLY the leachate water reaches a On a negative note: class- Of The Herald-Advocate certain level at the bottom of rooms may be a little toasty this An inspection by the Florida the garbage cell containment week. Department of Environmental system. The air conditioning in the Protection (FDEP) revealed Workers examined the main building at North the county landfill leachate pump and determined some- Wauchula Elementary School water control system was not one had turned the switch to crashed this week. properly functioning and the off. Once the switch was The situation got a little department issued a $9,000 turned back to auto it immedi- more heated on Tuesday morn- civil penalty and $1,000 for ately began pumping as de- ing when attempted repairs to costs and expenses related to signed. the system tripped the school’s the violation. It was not determined fire alarm system. In lieu of paying the fine, whether the switch was Hardee County Fire Rescue the department offered the switched off intentionally or responded to the campus to in- county the ability to complete inadvertently. vestigate as students got a little an in-kind project for 1.5 times County staff submitted a fresh air as they practiced evac- the amount of the civil penalty proposal to replace the two uation drills and were escorted to prevent the issue from oc- flow meters for the leachate to safe zones around campus. curring again. collection system and install a “It was caused by the work Florida DEP representatives permanent concrete wall they were doing to the AC first conducted a random in- around the riser pipes and con- unit,” Jessica Gray, principal, spection in December of last trol panel area. told The Herald-Advocate by PHOTOS BY JIM KELLY year and noted several viola- Fencing will also be in- email Tuesday afternoon. A field near East Main Street just east of the Peace River now looks like a lake tions. stalled to limit access to the Gray says maintenance offi- as the waters continue to rise into the low-lying pasture. During a follow up inspec- control switches. tion on March 12, FDEP offi- Commissioners approved cials are hoping to have cool air The Peace River is con- flowing again by Friday. cials noticed the leachate the in-kind project instead of “...We are anticipating that tinuing to creep out of its pumping system was not func- paying the penalty. the equipment or parts needed banks. As of press time tioning. Russell Melendy said ulti- to repair the AC unit for the on Tuesday, the river was The system is supposed to mately the county gets to main building will arrive later at 15.38 feet at the meas- stay on the “automatic setting” improve its facility and this week and are hopeful re- uring station at Zolfo which engages the pump when See ISSUES A2 pairs will be able to be made on Springs. According to the Friday,” the principal noted. National Weather Serv- In the meantime, staff are getting creative in keeping stu- ice, flood stage for the Talks Begin On dents cool. body of water is consid- See AIR A2 ered any levels 16 feet and above. The river is currently considered New Pay Plan under action stage, which WEATHER ranges from 14-16 feet. DATE HIGH LOW RAIN The river, barring any For School Staff 09/08 92 71 0.01 By TOM STAIK $341,047 in raises and one- 09/09 91 73 0.06 more major rain events, is expected to drop to nor- Of The Herald-Advocate time bonuses. The HEA/U pro- 09/10 91 73 0.13 A concrete picnic table at Pioneer Park in Zolfo Several thousand dollars is posals calls for grandfathered 09/11 92 75 0.01 mal levels by the end of Springs is underwater as the waters of the Peace all that separates staff and ad- teachers to receive an average 09/12 85 77 0.06 the weekend. River continue to escape their banks. 09/13 77 75 0.43 ministration in the opening of $2,122 in salary increases; 09/14 88 75 0.01 salvos that have been fired in hybrid instructors would re- Rainfall to 09/14/2020 - 34.26 the annual battle between ceive an estimated $2,000 Same period last year - 36.30 union officials and school ad- raise; and performance pay Ten Year Average - 49.45 ministration over the annual Source: Univ. of Fla. Ona Research Center teachers would see an average pay agreement. increase of $2,885. The pro- The bargaining team from posal would cost an estimated INDEX The School District of Hardee $952,269. That cost would be Classifieds . .A5 County and representatives of offset from a new $807,656 al- Hardee Education Associa- location from the State of Courthouse Report . .A13 tion/United (HEA/U) – the Florida to increase teacher Crime Blotter . .A13 union representing school in- salary. The actual impact to the struction and support staff – general fund would be Fort Meade Times . .B12 met Sept. 9 for the opening of $144,613. Hardee Living . .A8 contract negotiations. Under the proposal, support “I want to thank the union staff would receive either one Obituaries . .A10 for the diligence in their first step (a guarantee of a $100 Puzzles . .B10 offer, it is one of the most rea- raise) or a 1 percent raise if soned opening offers we have they are not covered by the step received since I have been in- system. ESP’s would also re- volved with negotiations,” said ceive a one-time bonus of Todd Durden, deputy superin- $500. The average salary hike Picnic tables at the lower end of Thousand Trails RV Park are underwater as tendent. for support staff would be the Peace River escapes its banks. The union’s proposal pre- $391. Raises are estimated to sented last Wednesday calls for See TALKS A2 THE REPORT Herald-Advocate Continued From A1 HARDEE COUNTY’S HOMETOWN COVERAGE data released this week, there Bowling Green Elementary izations and nine deaths, ac- According to the school dis- MICHAEL R. KELLY have been 40 positive cases on has seen two positive cases, cording to the data. The me- trict of Highlands’s County’s Co-Publisher and Editor campuses since the start of the both students. dian age of those infected is COVID-19 dashboard, there JAMES R. KELLY school year: 19 staff and 21 North Wauchula Elementary 35. The youngest person in- have been seven high school Co-Publisher students. and Hilltop Elementary have fected has been less than one students and one staff member The lion’s share of the cases booth seen one positive cases, year of age and the oldest has test postitive since the start of NOEY DeSANTIAGO have been at Hardee High both being students. been 93 years of age. school. Production Manager TOM STAIK School, which has seen 18 pos- There have been 424 stu- Statewide there have been Sebring High School has Managing Editor itive cases (11 staff and seven dents and staff placed on some 668,856 total cases since the had three students test posti- DARLENE WILLIAMS students). sort of exclusion for campus start of the pandemic. Those tive. Assistant Wauchula Elementary has since the start of the school cases have resulted in 41,654 Lake Placid High School has Production Manager seen eight positive cases (three year.