At its Nov. 18 organizational meeting in Brooksville, the Hernando County School Board elected Casey Hawkins as chair and Shannon Rodriguez as vice chair, approved its 2025–26 meeting schedule and committee assignments, and adopted the consent agenda and minutes. Several public speakers urged higher pay and offered a teen driver safety presentation.
At the Hernando County School Board meeting, union president Thomas Kelly urged better wages for non‑instructional staff, while teacher Misty Lushott criticized small proposed raises; Assistant State Attorney Rob Lewis offered to provide free driver‑safety training aligned with Florida statute 100.42.
The board honored Nature Coast Technical High School students and staff and watched a student-produced video made with Eastside Elementary. Principal Brad Merschback summarized the school's career-technical programs and recent student successes.
Public commenters pressed the Hernando County School Board to increase teacher pay and address rising insurance costs at the Oct. 21 meeting. Board members said state-level changes to the Florida Retirement System and ongoing negotiations limit what they can disclose; an executive session on negotiations was held.
County planners outlined a significant pipeline of residential subdivisions and millions of square feet of commercial/industrial development in the Rural Highlands and the I‑75/State Road 50 corridor, and said concurrency, utilities and school capacity will require coordinated planning.
Attorneys and planners presented a draft update to the interlocal agreement (ILA) covering school site selection, concurrency, proportionate‑share mitigation and a new interlocal treatment of impact fees intended to align the ILA with current Florida statutes and administrative practices.
School and county officials discussed recurring traffic "stacking" at school pick-up and drop-off points, options to reduce curbside backups, and the county's longstanding 2‑mile courtesy-busing policy that parents and commissioners said drives congestion.
The City of Brooksville and Hernando County staff outlined an interim interlocal wholesale wastewater agreement that would let Hernando County treat wastewater from defined Brooksville properties while the city expands its own treatment capacity.
Commissioners proposed joint‑use or public‑private models to expand community access to school tracks, fields and pools. School officials said fee schedules and liability insurance exist but cited modern security and staffing constraints as barriers to unrestricted public use of campuses.
Brooksville’s community development director presented a multi-year development forecast that projects continued growth in the city and prompted questions from county and school officials about school concurrency and student-generation assumptions.
