ALACHUA– Renovations are underway for downtown Alachua as part of a larger plan to develop the area.

Northwest 150^th Avenue, which runs by Skinner Field, is getting repaved with new asphalt. The makeover started Aug. 23, but it’s only part of the big picture.

“There absolutely is a bigger plan,” said Mike New, public services director for the city.

The goal is to make Northwest 150^th Avenue and Northwest 142^nd Terrace more like Main Street, he said. The improvements to Northwest 150^th Avenue were phase two of a three-part plan.

New said, “150^th avenue is going to have the same look and feel as Main Street does.”

The first phase was installing a retention reservoir under Skinner Field across from Alachua City Hall in April to help combat problems with flooding.

Renovating Northwest 142^nd Terrace will be phase three.

Other than laying down new asphalt and pavement, the improvements will include landscaping and the installation of trash receptacles, new sidewalks, gutters on the curbs, straightening out the intersection between Northwest 142^nd Terrace and U.S. Highway 441 and adding new parking spaces.

Property was acquired from five landowners to make room for the renovations, New said.

The total cost of the project was originally about $1.8 million, but the city changed some details and saved around $100,000. Northwest 150^th Avenue should be fully repaved by the end of the week, he said, and the entire project should be finished by around February of next year. Work on Northwest 142^nd Terrace should start this September. The project is paid for by the Downtown Redevelopment Trust Board (DRTB), which can only initiate projects in certain parts of town.

It had been planned by the DRTB since 2006 or 2007, New said.

“What the board wanted to do was interconnect Main Street with the Alachua Town Center, he said. “Tie them together so you can have that community feel.”

New said he thinks the project will be significant for Alachua.

“In 30 years, it will be spoken of with the same significance that Main Street is today.”

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Eva Copeland, principal of Alachua Elementary, greets parents and children before they meet the teachers for the school year.

ALACHUA – Summer has come to an end, and the children of Alachua County have had their first taste of the new school year.

“It was a good year last year, and we’re expecting another one,” said Kevin Berry, 37, curriculum resource teacher at Alachua Elementary.

School started on Monday, but the children and parents had a chance to meet the teachers last Thursday and Friday at schools around the county.

Alachua Elementary had parents and students meet the teachers from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday.

School faculty and staff directed them into the buildings to discuss what materials they would need, where they would sit and what books they would be reading.

“Hi, what’s your name?” asked teacher Dakota Faust, 23, as she introduced herself to a new pupil.

The parents talked about their hopes and plans for the school year, while the kids wandered into classrooms and looked at books scattered on desks. “I might get involved with the PTA this year, since I’m no longer working during the day,” said parent Maria Walker, 43. Some members of the PTA were selling shirts and ribbons to raise money.  

Teachers laid out their goals, too. “I just hope they grow and learn in all subjects,” said teacher Kaytlynn Milliken, 22, who had already talked to six parents.

There was no shortage of parents, though the turnout might have been slightly lower than last year, said Eva Copeland, principal.

“The kids seem to be excited,” Copeland said. “We want to keep moving them forward. Not just in academics, but social success, too.” Copeland was interrupted by a student that came up to hug her.

“Did you have a good summer?” she asked the small girl. “Yeah,” the girl replied.  “You’ve grown,” Copeland said.

The familiar faces didn’t just come in the form of students. Several teachers, like Faust, are returning as full-time teachers after interning at the school.

Parent Julie Rye took her daughter, Hailey, 7, to prepare for her first year at Alachua Elementary. “I feel great about the school,” she said.

Alachua Elementary is one of the few schools in the county that saw an improvement in their grade from the Florida Department of Education after the evaluation standards change. Berry and Copeland credit the improvement to a strengthening of the curriculum last year, which included workshops for teachers that trained the teachers in curriculum changes. This year, the Common Core standards, which are intended to reduce inconsistencies in curriculums across the country, will be in effect.

“We’ve learned to teach to individual students instead of groups,” Berry said.

At 1:45 p.m. on Monday, the students at Alachua Elementary had finished their first day in the new school year. As they trickled out of the building, even some parents were sad to see the summer be over.

One parent said she was more upset than some of the children that school was back in session. Some of the children, including hers, were excited, she said.

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HAWTHORNE– When the family of Roger A. Henderson, 64, hadn’t heard from him since the previous evening, they became concerned, according to a release from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO). So, on Saturday, they contacted the ACSO. Shortly after, a family member entered his home on the 6000 block of Southeast 215^th Street in the city of Hawthorne.

The relative found Henderson lying on the floor with blood on his clothes. When patrol and K-9 deputies entered the house, they also found him near the living room couch with multiple stab wounds to his chest and back.

Family members reported seeing Henderson’s possessions thrown across his front yard. They also saw a female walk into a bedroom at the back of the home once they were inside, according to the press release.

Deputies searched the home for the woman, and found her sitting on a bed in a nearby room. She was later identified as Claudia B. Dallas, 41, Henderson’s girlfriend. When deputies asked her to surrender and show her hands, she ignored the orders. The deputies managed to arrest her with the help of a police dog.

Henderson was pronounced dead on the scene. An autopsy has not yet been conducted, but will soon be by the Medical Examiner’s Office. Dallas is currently in Alachua County Jail on charges of first degree murder and resisting an officer. Her bail has been set at just over $1 million dollars.  

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Jay Porter in a weekly visit with a mentoring student. The mentoring program has been active for five years.

HIGH SPRINGS – For the past five years, men and women have given their time to mentoring students at High Springs Community School as part of HAWKS Mentoring Program.

Danette Drageset coordinates the program by matching up social and academic mentors with students from the first to eighth grades who have been recommended by teachers and staff.

“It is almost like working a Sudoku puzzle, really,” she said, “finding what works for the students and what works for the mentors.”

Volunteer mentors give their preferences for age and provide their availability to be matched with students accordingly. Students receive extra homework for things like spelling or multiplication tables. They also have the opportunity to talk with someone about positive choices and time management.

Mentors are people who are giving whatever time they have for the participating kids, Drageset said, and she is appreciative. Thirty minutes of discussion or study help can make a difference, she said.

“As much as or as little time as you have is all it takes.”

She said she strives to make the experience fun not just for the child but also the volunteer. If the same students and mentors participate year after year, she keeps them together in an effort to forge bonds between them.

“It’s cool to stay one with the same students and see them grow,” Drageset said.

She plans to have a mentors and students meeting by mid-September after the kids settle in to the routine of a new school year. Their interactions will be focused on organizational skills and talking and working through scenarios for constructive choices, goals and class behavior.

“The mentoring program is just extra time spent reinforcing basic skills that will help the kids be more successful,” Drageset said.

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