{"id":11299,"date":"2011-11-10T15:41:53","date_gmt":"2011-11-10T20:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=11299"},"modified":"2011-11-10T15:41:53","modified_gmt":"2011-11-10T20:41:53","slug":"board-approves-girls%e2%80%99-mentoring-program-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=11299","title":{"rendered":"Board Approves Girls\u2019 Mentoring Program Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON<\/strong>
\n Sentinel City Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, members of the Hillsborough County School Board voted unanimously to approve the contract of a mentoring program targeting young women. The program\u2019s existence was drawn into focus after a board member stated she had received complaints.<\/p>\n

Last month during the regular meeting, Board member Susan Valdes<\/strong> stated that she had received complaints about the \u201cBlack Girl Speaks\u201d Mentoring Program, operated by Ms. Talitha Anybwele<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The program mentors girls of all ethnic backgrounds to help them build self-esteem and express themselves through poetry or other forms of positive expression.
\nSupt. MaryEllen Elia<\/strong> called for the investigation conducted by Ken Otero, Deputy Superintendent for the Hillsborough County Public School District.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen contacted by the Sentinel, Otero<\/strong> said, \u201cShe (Ms. Anyabwele<\/strong>) did exactly what she was contracted to do. She worked from the copy of the signed contract that she had.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that during the 2009-2010 school year Ms. Anyabwele<\/strong> received $75,000 to work with young ladies at Middleton, Blake, and Chamberlain High Schools. The contract was approved in December 2010.<\/p>\n

Her contract for the 2010-2011, slated for approval in December 2011, does not include Chamberlain High School, and is for $35,000.<\/p>\n

However, the copy of the contract school board members received included Chamberlain High School. Otero<\/strong> said the confusion came about after someone cut and pasted a portion of the previous contract in the most recent document.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis error created a situation in which the provider worked from a different description of services than what the Board approved and expected. The result of the error, along with errors made in the completion of both TSAs is indicative of district staff needing to create a better means of developing and proofing future TSAs,\u201d Otero<\/strong> wrote in his report.<\/p>\n

Several people were on hand to support Ms. Anyabwele<\/strong> at the school board meeting. Some of those included young ladies she has worked with as part of \u201cBlack Girl Speaks.\u201d
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ms. Anyabwele<\/strong> said, \u201cI am so humbly thankful to the School Board for lending an ear to the many voices from the community who spoke in support of Black Girl Speaks at Tuesday’s meeting.\u00a0 Their approval of this program is an affirmation for my students that they are valued by the entire School Board.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am especially pleased that the truth was revealed about the merit and importance of Black Girl Speaks and its positive impact on so many young women.\u00a0 Courageous advocates used their voices to speak and it proved to be powerful and effective,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms. Jacqueline Haynes<\/strong>, Principal of Blake High School said, \u201cIt works great. It is one of the best programs we\u2019ve ever had here. She does an excellent job and has the support of students and parents. She had done a phenomenal job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Owen Young<\/strong>, Principal of Middleton High School said, \u201cIt is an invaluable program at my school. It is one of the highest sought after programs for girls on the campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Mayor Pam Iorio<\/strong> issued a proclamation declaring February 19, 2011 as \u201cBlack Girl Speaks Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

A telephone call from the Sentinel to School Board member Susan Valdes<\/strong> was not returned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor On Tuesday, members of the Hillsborough County School Board voted unanimously to approve the contract of a mentoring program targeting young women. The program\u2019s existence was drawn into focus after a board member stated she had received complaints. Last month during the regular meeting, Board member Susan Valdes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}