Adult students at J.D. Floyd worries parent

When Mary Cooper went to drop off her 7- and 13-year-old sons Monday for school, she said she was surprised to see a sign at the front office stating the school is holding various morning classes for adults.

Cooper, a stay-at-home mom, said she was not informed that J.D. Floyd K-8 School of Environmental Science would be one of four sites for the HEART Literacy Adult Education Program, a free program for adults 18 and older that consists of English, reading, math and language arts classes, as well as preparation for the General Education Development Test.

Classes are held every Monday and Wednesday at J.D. Floyd from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and will continue for the rest of the school year.

"This is a little nerve-racking knowing there are adults, some who were not dressed properly, roaming around with the kids and I don't know if these people are screened or anything," Cooper said.

When Cooper called Superintendent Bryan Blavatt to ask if a security check had been done on the literacy students before they were allowed on campus, she said she never received a straight answer.

"He just was not willing to work with me," she said. "He was not willing to move the classes to the public libraries or the adult education center and I don't see why they can't be there."

Blavatt said for the past several years, the program has been held at various schools around the county, and parents should not be concerned because literacy students go through security checks before being allowed at any school. The students are also escorted by program staff members upon entering and exiting campus.

"We have gone to extensive measures to prepare for the fact that these people are going to be at the school," he said. "There shouldn't be any conflict because they are escorted on campus at a time when students are already in class."

For the first couple of days of the program, Blavatt said literacy students were directed to the media center for registration. After all of the students were checked in and security checks were completed, they were escorted in small groups to portable classrooms separate from the rest of the campus where their classes will be held for the rest of the school year.

"We did it so they know where to go, and we didn't want a situation where they would be around the student population," he said. "We have programs going on all the time. That's why we have established a security process."

J.D. Floyd Principal Ray Pinder said every adult who visits campus is run through a system called V-soft, where driver's licenses are scanned and security checks are completed.

"Our goal is everyone's safety and I know all students are safe," Pinder said. "I think we can co-exist and I think it will be a good thing we're letting the community in."

Blavatt said he has not received any other complaints about the program but he understands Cooper's concern.

"I tried to talk with her about it, but she was not willing to listen to my explanation at all," he said. "There is no situation that involves contact with the elementary kids, and there is no time on campus when these people aren't supervised."

Cooper said she may eventually take her children out of the school.

"I think that parents need to know that there are adults walking around with their little kindergarteners, and they aren't employed by the school," she said.

Denise Moen, adult literacy coordinator, said she has also never received complaints about the program before Monday.

For the safety of the students and teachers, a sexual predator check is always done on every student who will take classes or GED prep on a school campus, Moen said.

"I take the safety of our schoolchildren very seriously. We had great planning in place for security," she said. "This is a wonderful opportunity, especially for parents who have children at Floyd, if they haven't had a chance to get an education."

Other class locations include Tuesday and Thursday mornings at Grace World Outreach Church in Brooksville, Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the HEART Literacy building, and Monday and Wednesday evenings at Nature Coast Technical High School.

"We have classes located in different locations because people live in different neighborhoods, and we offer different times because adults have different work schedules," Moen said. "We are trying to reach adults who are often parents and grandparents of our schoolchildren to help them go back to school."