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AMTRAK DERAILMENTInvestigators: Train was going106 mph on a curve where theposted speed was 50 mph

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4 sections© NJ 2015

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N E W S - J O U R N A L O N L I N E . C O M H O M E O F T H E W O R L D ’ S M O S T F A M O U S B E A C H

By DUSTIN WYATTdustin.wyatt@news-jrnl.com

Gov. Rick Scott told about 600 elementary andhigh school students Wednesday about someof the luxuries that come with his job: a man-sion, two full-time chefs, traveling around

the world, dinners at the White House.“How many of you want to be

governor?” he asked, triggeringhands to rise throughout the room.“Everyone should raise theirhands, this is a great deal. ... Buthow do you get there? You study.”

The students in the crowd belongto families that face financial hard-ships and receive support froman after-school program calledFood Brings Hope. Scott, who saidhis parents struggled to put foodon the table at times during his

childhood, was the honorary speaker for the year-endcelebration at Mainland High School.

FOOD BR INGS HOPE

SCOTT: NO LIMITSGov. tells local students to study hard and live their dreams

By BRIAN LINDERbrian.linder@news-jrnl.com

ORANGE CITY — Logan Allengot the rock-star treatmentWednesday at UniversityHigh School.

A day after pitching theTitans past nationally rankedOrlando Olympia and into theFinal Four of the state Class8A baseball tournament, thesophomore’s day was filledwith pats on the back and fistbumps.

His best moment?“When I walked into my

fourth-period, pre-calculusclass, they all gave me anovation,” he said.

Allen wasn’t the only athletefeeling the love.

The Titans’ underdog story— they were just 12-12 head-ing into the postseason — had

the hallways buzzing.University is in the play-

offs for the first time in theschool’s fifth year of exis-tence.

The Titans have won five oftheir past six games, and their7-1 romp over Olympia was aDavid vs. Goliath moment.

“I think everyone is way upon Cloud Nine,” said PennyNichols, a standout softballplayer. “Everybody is onboard. We want to see them

University High Titans fired up for first trip to Final Four

By ANNIE MARTINannie.martin@news-jrnl.com

DELAND — The Volusia County SchoolBoard moved this week to clamp downon gifts that employees can acceptfrom vendors in the wake of a boardmember’s complaints about two em-ployees going for a night on the townon a curriculum company’s dime.

Three employees were disciplinedthis year in connection with a nightlast November that included a planeride from DeLand to Orlando and din-ner at the Omni Orlando Resort. Thetrip was paid for by Studies Weekly, aUtah-based company that provides so-cial studies materials to the county’selementary school students.

Board members agreed duringTuesday night’s regular meeting to ad-vertise a policy changethat, if given final ap-proval, would prohibitemployees involved inthe purchasing processfrom accepting giftsvalued at more than $50from vendors or poten-tial vendors. The samestandard already ap-plies to board members.

Board member John Hill presentedthe allegations against curriculumdepartment employees JenniferCleary and Gail Waldon during a Jan.13 meeting, complete with five photosfrom Facebook showing Cleary andWaldon outside and sitting in thecockpit of a jet with the name StudiesWeekly printed on the tail. He saidother Volusia school employees com-mented on the photos and liked themon Facebook.

Hill, who was elected in November,broached the matter as part of a call tofire former Superintendent MargaretSmith, calling the photos evidenceshe failed to discourage unethicalbehavior. Though Smith describedHill’s allegations as “without meritor based on a lack of understanding,”she stepped down from her position

VOLUS IA COUNTY EDUCAT ION

Schoolsset rules ongifts fromvendors

Issue led to ouster offormer superintendent

NJMore Online

Photos and videofrom the ceremony

news-journalonline.com News-Journal/DAVID TUCKER

News-Journal/JIM TILLER

Luis Velazquez from Holly Hill Elementary School shakes hands with Gov. Rick Scott at an awards ceremonyWednesday for Food Brings Hope at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach. Also on stage is Superintendentof Volusia County Schools Tom Russell, left, and Forough Hosseini, founder of Food Brings Hope.

SEE GOVERNOR, PAGE 7A

JOHNHILL

SEE GIFTS, PAGE 7A

More InsideTake a look at the teams

of the Final Four.Sports 1B

University playersJulio Medina, left,and Danny Acevedocelebrate duringtheir game againstOrlando Olympiaon Tuesday.University’s upsetvictory earned theteam a spot in thestate tourney’sClass 8A FinalFour.

News-Journal/PETER BAUERSEE TITANS, PAGE 7A

Gov. Rick Scott visits Edgewater boat maker BostonWhaler to celebrate job growth in the private sector.

Business 6A

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The Daytona Beach News-Journal Thursday, May 14, 2015 7AFROM THE FRONT

“My mother told me: ‘You’regoing to study hard, becauseit’s your only way out of pov-erty,” he said. “If you (study),whether you want to be anactor, build a company or bepresident of the United States,there is no limitations becauseyou live in the greatest countryin the world.”

He did not take questionsfrom the media after theceremony.

Food Brings Hope began in

2007 at one elementary school,providing food, fun and tutor-ing services to only 27 stu-dents. Today, with the help ofvolunteers and principals, it’sin 14 different schools serving615 students.

“It’s been wonderful how wehave grown,” said its founderForough Hosseini. “It’s justbeen amazing.”

After the ceremony, stu-dents took buses to DaytonaInternational Speedway forfood and games.

“These kids never get thechance to leave their neigh-borhoods,” Hosseini said. “To

give them the chance to seethe Speedway and see whatthe Speedway is all about issuch a good treat for them.This is really a treat.”

Wrapping up his speechabout the value of education,Scott invited the students tovisit his office in Tallahasseesomeday.

“Education gave me a shotto live a dream,” he told thestudents. “Come to Tallahas-see, and if I’m not there myoffice we’ll give you a tour andshow you what it’s like to begovernor. ... Keep studyinghard.”

GOVERNORFROM PAGE 1A

win state.”Tuesday’s triumph

stretched beyond the cam-pus’ limits.

Coach Frank Martellosaid he had around 125texts and emails — somefrom area coaches andadministrators and somethat came in from acrossthe state — Wednesdaymorning.

“I told the guys that thiswould probably be one ofthe best days that they’dhave in school,” Martel-lo said. “We are gettingcongratulations from theprincipal, right down tocustodians and workers inthe cafeteria.”

And most seemed to bemaking plans on how theywould get to Fort Myers tosee the Titans (17-13) playTimber Creek (19-10) intheir 7 p.m. game Wednes-day.

ForMartello,that meanta steadystream ofteachersand admin-istratorsstopping byhis office —some even

offering to act as chaper-ons in exchange for a rideon the team bus.

That brought a smile tothe face of senior short-stop Danny Acevedo.

“You can tell thateverybody is right therebehind us,” Acevedosaid. “They want us to goall the way.”

Ed Paige, a 71-year-oldsubstitute teacher, wasone of those cheering onthe Titans. Paige said hegrew up in New York,fell in love with baseballand the Yankees the yearbefore Mickey Mantlebroke into the league.Now, he can’t get enoughof the Titans.

“This is somethingthat is going to carrythis school for yearsto come,” Paige said.“These kids are amazing,and this is an incrediblejourney they’ve been on.”

Paige said he had yet to

make his travel plans buthoped to make it to thegame.

University also hadyet to finalize its travelplans. Martello said aluncheon is planned forthe players Friday, and

that he hopes to leave forFort Myers on Tuesdaymorning.

And, while the ideahad been kicked around,plans for a fan bus hadnot been cemented.

Martello said he stillhad several meetings inline to discuss financingit all because, after all,it’s new territory for theTitans.

Principal Dennis Neal

said the baseball team ischanging the culture oncampus.

“There is always theexpectation for imme-diate results in today’ssociety,” Neal said. “Fora program that is just inits fifth year, going intoits sixth ... University ison the map. People aretaking notice, and theywon’t be overlooking uson the schedule.”

TITANSFROM PAGE 1A

FRANKMARTELLO

News-Journal

A sign at University High School in Orange City wishessuccess to the Titans baseball team, which earned aspot in the state tournament’s Final Four.

From left,ForoughHosseini,Gov. RickScott andMoriHosseinilisten tospeakersat Main-land HighSchool onWednes-day.

News-Journal photos/JIM TILLER

Gov. Rick Scott speaks to students at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach during a ceremony Wednesday for the Food Brings Hope program.

WHAT: Class 8A statebaseball semifinalWHO: University (17-13) vs. Orlando TimberCreek (19-10)WHEN: 7 p.m.WednesdayWHERE: JetBlue Park,11500 Fenway SouthDrive, Fort Myers(Spring training facilityof the Boston Red Sox)COST: $9 per day

(Parking: $10 forcars/$50 for fan buses)NEXT GAME: Winner facesLake Worth Park Vista-Miami Columbus winnerfor the Class 8A statetitle at 7:35 p.m. nextThursday in Fort MyersLIVE COVERAGE: You canfollow the game onlineat news-journalonline.com/sports and onTwitter @dbnjsports

If You Go

Jan. 27, more than twoyears from her plannedretirement.

The three employeestold district staff at thetime they didn’t thinkthey’d done anythingwrong. Waldon said in aninterview with districtstaff that she didn’t feelthe trip was a bribe andthat the “entire districtgoes to dinner with ven-dors.”

Chairwoman LindaCostello said this weekshe feels many employ-ees don’t realize howtheir actions can be per-ceived because they’renot politically mind-ed people. The policychanges should ensure

everyone understandsthe rules.

“School district em-ployees don’t realize theywork for a governmententity,” Costello said.

The trip ran afoul ofdistrict policies, as wellas Florida AdministrativeCode. The district hadn’trun into this issue before,spokeswoman Nancy Waitsaid.

“It certainly brought tolight that we needed tohave a policy in place,”she said.

After Hill made the al-legations, the school dis-trict told Cleary, Waldon,and their supervisor,Lyndi Goepfert, they’d besuspended and demotedfrom their positions. Allthree appealed the actionsuccessfully and received

lesser penalties, Waitsaid. Cleary and Wal-don reimbursed StudiesWeek for the estimatedcost of the night out($250), completed train-ing and received “lettersof caution” from thedistrict. Though Goepfertwasn’t included on thetrip, she was ordered toserve a five-day unpaidsuspension and completetraining for “a lack ofprofessional judgment”because she knew aboutthe outing and didn’t re-port it. The three womencouldn’t be reached forcomment.

The night out includeda meal for about a dozenpeople at the David’sClub restaurant valuedat $824.38. Ed Rickers,CEO and owner of Stud-

ies Weekly, said the 1985Beechcraft King Air 200turboprop twin engineplane stopped in DeLandwhile carrying his em-ployees from Jacksonvilleto Orlando. The group leftDeLand about 6:30 p.m.and returned about 11p.m. that night.

During the 2011-12school year, Volusia pur-chased six years of socialstudies materials fromStudies Weekly for ele-mentary students acrossthe county for a total of$449,259. Rickers saidthe disposable bookletsprovide content similar toa traditional textbook.

Cleary, a former teacheron assignment, left thedistrict in March and now

works in Studies Weekly’sBoynton Beach office,where she helps writeassessment materials. Thecompany often hires for-mer educators but hasn’temployed anyone elsefrom Volusia, Rickers saidWednesday.

Rickers said he feels thechange in the district’spolicy is fair, but the nightout last fall was neverintended as a bribe. Hedescribed Hill’s versionof events as “a fairytale.” The company hiredCleary, he said, after shefelt the district “threw herunder the bus.”

“We felt bad with all ofthe hell that (Cleary) wasput through,” Rickerssaid.

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