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Hernando Today

Second parent joined lawsuit after mixed signals from school

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: August 17, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - Debbie DeMaria was deflated when she found out her son could not return to Nature Coast Technical High School because of a boundary dispute.
She was not allowed to plead her case during a public school board hearing in June even though she thought the matter had been settled after her family's move to Hernando County.
She and her son were bitter, but they were resigned to the reality he would enroll at another high school.
More than six weeks after that hearing, she received a letter in the mail from Nature Coast. The school needed updated emergency contact information. It also had set a date for when her son could schedule classes and pick up his text books.
Her hope was momentarily restored.
She went to the school for confirmation her son had been readmitted, but was told by someone from the registrar's office there had been a mistake. Her son could not enroll for his sophomore year.
"That was when I decided it was so unfair and so disheartening," DeMaria said.
She discovered through a newspaper article that a Brooksville attorney was pursuing legal action on behalf of one of the other parents. There were 20 students living outside Hernando County who attended Nature Coast during the spring semester of the previous school year.
The board allowed the seniors to graduate and the juniors to return for their senior year.
That left 12 students — six sophomores and six freshmen — out in the dark. Most, if not all, of the parents of those students said they were unaware of the magnate school's policy that prohibits out-of-county students from attending. The school had made the mistake, not them.
A magnate school has specialized curricula. At Nature Coast, those curricula range from cosmetology to engineering. DeMaria's son was in the IT program.
On Monday, the school board voted 3 to 2 to readmit all of those underclassmen who had attended Nature Coast in spite of living outside the district.
"He's very excited," she said of her son after he heard the news. "We're very happy. We love the school."
She also was relieved to learn the other students also could re-enroll, not just the two who were involved in the lawsuit.
"I was hoping to hear that news," she said. "I think they all should be allowed to go back."
The board also voted 4 to 1 to allow all of the wait-listed, in-county students to attend. That means the total number of new students eligible to attend Nature Coast exceeds 130, according to school district figures.
DeMaria lived in Hudson when her son first applied in 2005. At the time, he was a seventh-grader at Notre Dame Catholic School in Spring Hill.
The family had a Hudson mailing address. Hudson is located in Pasco County.
DeMaria said her address was printed clearly on both in the portfolio application and the envelope. She did not know about any boundary requirements, she said.
Her new address is Spring Hill. She and her son had moved before they received notice from the school last semester that he needed to transfer. They thought there would still be a legal process and they could make their case to the board during that June 2 meeting.
None of the parents were allowed to speak.
That was what led attorney R. Bruce Snow to file court papers on behalf of Sandy Noble, whose daughter was in James DeMaria's grade level.
Noble did not return a message left with her attorney.
Snow said the school board violated his clients' 14th Amendment rights by not giving them due process.
"A right or a benefit from government cannot be taken away without due process of law," Snow said. "In my opinion, that created a significant constitutional issue."

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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