Hurricane Irma wallops Volusia schools to tune of $1.4 million

News-Journal (Daytona Beach, FL)

Nov. 08--DELAND -- Volusia County schools are strapped with close to $1.4 million in damages caused by Hurricane Irma, and as district officials prepare to make repairs they're also still waiting on federal emergency funds to help cover destruction from last year's Hurricane Matthew.

The district has submitted costs for emergency protection, debris removal, damage to buildings and equipment to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Greg Akin, chief operating officer of the district, told School Board members at their meeting Tuesday night in DeLand.

While FEMA has approved the claim for emergency protection, two others for debris removal and four claims for buildings and equipment are still pending approval as FEMA has asked the district for more documentation.

Costs from Hurricane Matthew added up to nearly $2.3 million.

The only money the district has received so far is a $500,000 insurance payment it was given upfront.

The district must finish all repairs before it can settle with its insurance company and submit all finalized paperwork to FEMA for reimbursement, Akin said.

Meanwhile, nearly $1.4 million charged to the district's property fund continues to decrease the district's fund balance, or savings.

School Board member Ida Wright noted she has heard that FEMA dollars to be dispersed to the district are currently sitting with the state of Florida and have been for a few months.

District calculations estimate debris removal following Irma will cost $650,000; emergency protection will cost $400,000; repairs for buildings and equipment will cost $309,000; and repairs to parks, fields and playgrounds will cost $25,000.

School Board Vice Chairwoman Linda Cuthbert gave a "shout-out" to district employees and maintenance who handled repairs stemming from Matthew.

Those repairs held as Irma rattled Volusia.

"I think that's a testament" to the excellence in the district's maintenance department, Cuthbert said.

Charging forward with suit

After Volusia joined a dozen other Florida school districts in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the mammoth education bill House Bill 7069, the district is partnering with eight other districts on a separate legal action to address the bill's violation of a single subject.

While the state mandates that legislation hit on one subject with a brief title, House Bill 7069 encompassed 274 pages and 69 different statutes with a title that ran 20 pages, said Michael Dyer, general counsel for the district.

The nine districts plan to file a petition for a single-subject suit this week with the Florida Supreme Court.

The Volusia School Board had voted to contribute $25,000 to the suit. Its cost could jump to $34,000 to help cover the new action, Dyer said.

Through an agreed upon cost sharing arrangement, districts are splitting costs based on the size of their districts, meaning Volusia will pay 5.7 percent of the suit with more than 1.1 million students represented in the 13 districts.

Other school districts may yet join the suit. Miami-Dade County Public Schools will vote on joining the suit this month, while Palm Beach County elected to file its own suit over one statute addressed in House Bill 7069.

Edgewater land sale

The School Board approved a land purchase contract with national builder D.R. Horton for 60-plus acres in Edgewater that the district bought in 2000 for a middle school development.

While the district purchased the land for about $600,000, its sale to D.R. Horton -- which plans to create at least 200 residential lots on the site -- totals about $2.4 million.

Closing on the property will likely take more than a year as D.R. Horton now must obtain land use, zoning and subdivision approval, said Saralee Morrissey, director of planning for the district.

As the company looks to transform the area into a residential space, Cuthbert wondered if area schools, such as Indian River Elementary, will have the capacity to absorb students from the new homes.

Based on the district's student generation rate, 200 units equals 60 full-time students, who will be spread across grade levels, Morrissey explain.

"They don't all show up in elementary school, and so we will break that out," Morrissey said.

Currently, Morrissey isn't concerned about accommodating additional students in elementary school or high school.

Middle school levels have her a little more worried as the district is starting to reach its level of service in those grades, though a decline in overall student enrollment coupled with the expansion of nearby Burns Science and Technology Charter School in Oak Hill directed the district away from a new Edgewater middle school in the first place.

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