UWF Unveils Plan For Fall 2020 Reopening
June 19, 2020
The University of West Florida has developed a draft reopening plan for Fall 2020.
Approved Friday by the University of West Florida Board of Trustees, the plan will then presented to the Board of Governors for approval at the their June 23 meeting.
UWF said the plan was developed while keeping the safety, security and well-being of students and employees at the forefront of every decision.
To form the plan, UWF President Martha D. Saunders established a Return to Campus Task Force and five subcommittees to focus on specific key areas that align with the reopening blueprint provided by the Board of Governors. The task force, which included representatives from all areas of the institution, addressed and monitored the repopulation framework during weekly meetings.
Here are the key takeaway points from the plan:
SAFETY PROTOCOLS
A disposable or cloth face covering will be required everywhere on campus and other UWF locations except when in a private office, a work area separated by six feet from others or in an outdoor area separated by at least six feet from others.
UWF will provide one reusable cloth face covering and a bottle of hand sanitizer for every student and employee. Visitors will be provided a disposable face covering. Accommodations will be made for people with disabilities that prevent them from wearing face coverings.
All students and employees will be required to complete a daily return to campus pre-screening before visiting a University location, in addition to completing a COVID-19 training.
All facilities will adhere to CDC guidelines and safety protocols for on-campus residents will be enhanced. The maximum room capacity for all classrooms in use for Fall 2020 will be updated based on the square footage of space with an allowance of 36 square feet per person. Classroom facilities will be thoroughly cleaned and include signage showing where students can sit based on social distancing guidelines.
In the event of a second wave of COVID-19 infections, re-implementation and mitigation procedures will be executed immediately.
ACADEMIC PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
The University is expanding its course delivery options with more online to ensure students receive the top-rate, quality education they expect from UWF.
Lower-division courses (undergraduate courses offered at the freshman or sophomore level) will be delivered with face-to-face components unless faculty opt to teach the full course or sections of the course online or the course is historically offered online.
Upper-division courses (undergraduate courses offered at the junior level or higher) will primarily be delivered online. Exceptions include courses faculty identify as experiential with significant face-to-face components, capstone, clinical/internship that requires faculty supervision and courses that serve as a practicum experience.
Graduate courses will be delivered with face-to-face components unless they are part of an online program or students are enrolled in synchronous online instruction offered as part of a face-to-face course.
The course delivery framework was developed by college deans with input from stakeholders, including department chairs and faculty members. Department chairs are working with faculty members to review and restructure course delivery modalities as appropriate.
Students identified as high-risk will be directed to academic advisors, who will work with them to facilitate other delivery methods.
Students will be notified of course changes via email by July 1, 2020.
Immediately following Thanksgiving break, all courses will be arranged so that instruction, review and final exams are delivered remotely for the rest of the semester.
HOUSING
UWF will continue honoring housing contracts for the fall semester.
UWF will reserve spaces for COVID-19 isolation. A student who tests positive will be moved immediately to an isolation/quarantine space. If someone comes in one-on-one contact with that student in their living space, that unit will be quarantined until test results are available.
Escambia County Awards $848K Contract To Pave Ashcraft Road In Bratt
June 19, 2020
Thursday, the Escambia County Commission awarded a contract to pave another North Escambia dirt road.
Low bidder Roads, Inc. of NWF was awarded the $848,214.28 contact to pave the 1.24 mile dirt road that connects Bratt Road at the rear of the Travis Nelson Park to North Highway 99. The new asphalt roadway will include associated drainage improvements. Proposed drainage improvements include sodded swales, upgraded cross drains and subsurface storm water pipe.
Utility relocation will be required for the existing Escambia River Electric Cooperative (EREC) potable water main, EREC ’s utility poles and buried Frontier Communications telephone lines.
The waterline relocation will include upgrading the existing 3-inch water line with a 6-inch main. EREC will provide the materials, while Roads, Inc. will be required to provide the labor and equipment required for installation.
An invitation to bid was publicly noticed to 189 vendors, and the solicitation was downloaded by 28 firms. There were six bids submitted ranging up to $1.23 million. The second lowest bid on the project was $903,780.43 by J. Miller Construction.
Once work begins, Roads, Inc. has up to 250 days to complete the project.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Check Fishing Regulations, ID Your Fish With New FWC App
June 19, 2020
Out fishing and need to check the rules for your location?
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has announced a new partnership with the Fish Rules App to make that easier.
Right now, the app only contains Florida saltwater fishing rules, by FWC says freshwater information should be added later this summer.
Fishing regulations change depending on your location. Enable location services in Fish Rules App and the app will automatically show you regulations for your actual location. The app is also partnering with the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council that manage fisheries off Florida in federal waters.
Unsure of what species you’ve caught? The app also helps with fish identification. Swipe left or right on pictures of fish to see more pictures and clues on how to identify a fish. You can even sort fish by name or by picture.
‘A Question of When,’ Exhibition Reflecting On The World During COVID-19 Pandemic Opens At Museum Of Art
June 19, 2020
On Saturday, June 20, the Pensacola Museum of Art will open a new exhibition in response to our changing world during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Throughout history, art has played a unique and crucial role in times of change. Featuring works by Marc Chagall, Walker Evans, Joan Miró and other artists from the museum’s permanent collection, “A Question of When” is a visual representation of the collective grief and ongoing sense of hope felt by many as this situation unfolds.
The museum was originally set to host a permanent collection show to feature recent museum acquisitions, but due to the pandemic, the show has evolved with the crisis to reflect both the strangeness of a new reality and the unique role of art in times of change.
The objects in the show represent over 100 years of art making across a variety of media.
“Some works evoke the isolation of social distancing through their imagery,” said Anna Wall, chief curator of the museum. “Others demonstrate how artists reflect larger societal shifts through abstraction and the dissolution of form.”
Though the selections in this show represent a small fraction of the nearly 700 artworks held by the museum, they illustrate the breadth of the museum’s holdings and highlight the institution’s mission to preserve, interpret and share diverse artworks and artists from the past 150 years of visual culture.
“Exhibiting our permanent collection feels appropriate on the heels of a stay-at-home measure,” Wall said. “Spurred by funding cuts and decreased access to artists and artworks, many museums will undoubtedly look inward and showcase a larger percentage of their collection over the coming years.”
“A Question of When” is on display at the museum, which is located at 407 S. Jefferson St. in historic downtown Pensacola, until Sept. 6, 2020. For more information about the Pensacola Museum of Art, call (850) 432-6247 or visit pensacolamuseum.org.
Former Nanny, Porn Actress Now Charged With Human Trafficking
June 18, 2020
A former nanny and foster care provider arrested in April on child sex charges has now been charged with human trafficking.
Nicole Lynn Walter, age 27 of 10071 Foxrun Road, was previously charged with lewd and lascivious exhibition with a victim under 16, possession of child pornography, battery of a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence. Walter, according to investigators, is a porn actress.
“We continued our investigation and determined there was an exchange of money for a video that was made involving some minor children,” said Chief Deputy Chip Simmons. “This was an individual from out of state that engaged with Walter.”
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office obtained at least three videos filmed by Walter between 2017 and 2018 in which she allegedly performed sexual acts in front of small children as they were crying and playing the background, the report states. The children are now ages 3 and 6, but the youngest was 15 months old when the videos were recorded.
According to an arrest report, investigators interviewed at least one person that paid Walter for videos. He told investigators that she had price rates for videos with or without the children, and she offered live Skype video calls with a child seen on camera for $8 per minute.
Simmons said Walter was paid at least $100 for one video.
Walter has also used the names Nicole Steff and Nicole Stearns, according to investigators. She remained in the Santa Rosa County Jail without bond.
According to a tip received by the Florida Abuse Hotline, Walter is self-employed porn actress that makes videos of herself masturbaing in public locations. Investigators were given a thumb drive containing three video files depicting Walter in various public places masturbating in the presence of the underage victims.
A three-year old female told investigators that Walter touched her privates and took photographs, according to an arrest report.
A Florida Department of Law Enforcement K-9 located a micro SD card underneath drawers in the bedroom that contained child pornography depicting female approximately 10-13 years old nude and posing in sexual positions, the report states. A laptop seized as evidence contained a videos of a completely nude Walter masturbating and engaging in conversation with two children and a third person whose name was redacted from the arrest report.
Toddler Run Over By Pickup Truck Wednesday Evening
June 18, 2020
A toddler girl was run over by a vehicle Wednesday evening in the Quintette community.
Witnesses said a wheel of a full-size pickup truck passed over the young girl on a private drive or lane off the 2000 block of Stacey Road about 7:30 p.m.
A medical helicopter responded to the nearby Quintette Ballpark, but the girl was transported to a local hospital by ambulance as a non-trauma alert.
The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating. The Cantonment and Molino stations of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS responded.
Further details have not been released.
NorthEscambia.com photo by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Century Man Charged With Hitting Neighbor, 66, In The Head With A Stick
June 18, 2020
A Century man has been charged with hitting his 66-year old neighbor in the head with a stick.
William Randall Coker, 51, was charged was aggravated battery on a person 65 years of age or older.
The 66-year old victim told deputies that he heard Coker yelling from his Front Street residence and went to check on his well being. When he knocked on the front door, Coker emerged from the residence with a “stick” and struck him on the head with it, according to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report. The victim returned to his residence.
Responding deputies found the victim with three-inch cut on the left side of his head just below his ear, along with blood on Coker’s front porch and in the street, the report states. The victim was transported by family members to Jay Hospital for treatment.
Deputies seized a homemade machete, two large wooden sticks and a large knife from Coker.
Coker’s statement was radacted from the arrest report.
Ransom Middle Innovation Center Renamed For Sandra Goldsby Ames
June 18, 2020
The Ransom Middle School Innovation Center has been officially renamed the “Sandra Goldsby Ames Innovation Center”.
The name change was in honor of Sandra Goldsby Ames who is retiring this year after serving the Escambia County School District for 39 years. She has served as an English teacher, administrative dean, assistant principal and principal. In the past she has also represented Ransom as their Teacher of the Year and ECSD as the Assistant Principal of the Year.
“My Ransom family and friends have been amazing to me,” Ames told the Escambia County School Board. “While I do not think I deserve such an important honor, I am extremely humbled and very appreciative of the love and support that they have shown me throughout my years.”
She is known to embody the values of pride, teamwork, privacy, safety, service, stewardship, and accountability, according a school board resolution. She has supported reading and language arts instruction, as well as encouraged the creative use of the school’s library as it transitioned into an innovation center.
Pictured top: Ransom Middle School Principal Dr. Regina Lipnick (left), Sandra Goldsby Ames and Superintendent Malcolm Thomas. Pictured inset: Ames addresses the Escambia County School Board. Pictured below: Ames will family, friends and coworkers after the school board meeting. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Not A Turkey After All? Florida TaxWatch Informs DeSantis Of Support For The Bluffs Industrial Complex In Cantonment
June 18, 2020
Last week, The Bluffs in Cantonment was included in the 2020 Budget Turkey Watch Report released by Florida TaxWatch in the think tank’s annual independent review of the state’s budget, and they recommended that Gov. Ron Desantis veto funding for the project.
But now TaxWatch says The Bluffs was named a budget turkey due to a longstanding position that programs that are not in the Florida Department of Transportation Work Program in that budget year should not be funded with State Transportation Trust Fund dollars.
“However, in the recent past Florida TaxWatch undertook a thorough independent research study, Expanding Florida’s High-Tech Manufacturing Sector, the results of which proved that an investment aiding the development of The Bluffs would help grow Florida’s Economy and create jobs for hard-working Floridians, especially in Northwest Florida,” Dominic M. Calabro, president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch wrote in a letter Tuesday to DeSantis.
“It is important to note that our issue with this project was one of a technical process, not the net economic benefits that will enrich both the Panhandle and the entire Sunshine State. Florida TaxWatch fully supports The Bluffs and we hope that you will too,” Calabro continued.
Announced in late 2015, The Bluffs was envisioned as the home of up to 60 new industrial and manufacturing companies and more than 15,000 jobs. The 6,000 acre master-planned development area includes about 1,700 acres of land that can be developed in an area east of Highway 29 bordered by the Escambia River to the east, Becks Lake Road near International Paper to the north, and the University of West Florida to the south.
Escambia County Program Putting Young People To Work
June 18, 2020
An Escambia County program is putting young people to work.
Called the “Escambia County Youth Employment Program”, participants ages 16-24 have the chance to work up to 30 hours per week at $8.56 per hour, a dime above minimum wage.
There are 95 youth participating in the program this year. They started work last week in departments across the county, including Public Works, Public Safety, ECAT, West Florida Public Libraries and more.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
