LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK

UNIVERSAL TRANSITION, Glenton Gilzean Jr., president/CEO, Central Florida Urban League: While the president of a theme park might never cross the mind of the average guest, for Central Floridians, the retirement of Bill Davis from Universal Orlando Resort marks a major milestone for our community. Under his watch, Davis spearheaded the theme-park expansion to include the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the Volcano Bay water park and countless other improvements which sparked attendance and continue to draw tourists from around the world. With his retirement, let us all welcome incoming president Karen Irwin with open arms. Irwin comes to Orlando from the same position at Universal Studios Hollywood and I wish her the best of luck in her new role.

UCF-LOCKHEED MARTIN, Alex Martins, chair, UCF Board of Trustees; CEO, Orlando Magic: A 40-year partnership between UCF and Lockheed Martin provides invaluable hands-on experience for our talented students — and is an outstanding example of how a university for the future serves the needs of its students and community. About 650 UCF students work annually at Lockheed Martin as part of the College Work Experience Program, and on average 60 percent move into full-time positions after graduation. Students benefit from work experiences close to UCF at one of America’s most well-known companies, while Lockheed has a direct talent pipeline from UCF’s engineering and business programs.

SUPPLY-CHAIN WOES,

Pamela Nabors, president/CEO, CareerSource Central Florida:

Supply-chain woes continue to impact the holiday season and frustrations will intensify over the coming weeks. With a grandbaby visiting this year, I want to make it especially memorable and I feel that pressure. Toys, gifts and now even getting Christmas trees is a concern! Gov. Ron DeSantis has extended an open invitation to reroute goods to Florida and we are seeing an increase in training enrollments for commercial driving certifications and careers that support the supply chain. But solutions take time, so shopping this year requires planning ahead, being flexible with replacements, and remembering we’re all in this together.

PARTISAN SCHOOL BOARDS, Kathleen Oropeza, co-founder, FundEducationNow. org:

Florida legislators just can’t stop imposing partisan politics on public education. This time, House and Senate leadership are pushing joint resolutions to make school-board elections partisan races on the 2022 ballot. The non-partisan nature of school boards was established in 1998 and enshrined in the state constitution by voters. School-board members are constitutional officers with a moral obligation to serve their students, not a political agenda. The legislative effort to make a political sideshow out of schoolboard elections is at minimum shameful. What has happened since 1998, the dawn of the Jeb Bush era, for legislators to insist on partisan school-board races in 2022?

RENT RELIEF PAUSED, Gloria Pickar, president emerita, League of Women Voters of Orange County: Once again, renters face eviction because they can’t access federal rent relief for people struggling financially since COVID-19. While 1,650 households have benefited from $8.6 million, another $6.8 million are available but renters can’t receive these funds until at least mid-January. The Orlando program is paused while the city conducts competitive bidding for a vendor to manage distribution of the funds. Renters are being redirected to apply through Our Florida, but that program typically takes months to pay out rather than weeks locally. Could leadership have planned ahead? Timing is everything as these families face homelessness, colder weather and the holidays.

NEW FOOTBALL COACHES, Joanie Schirm, GEC founding president; World Cup Orlando 1994 Committee chairman: With hot and heavy news of newly hired college head coaches in Florida, it’s evident much is being spent to attract young and old talent. The real disturbing news is what happens when head coaches are fired. ESPN analyzed financial records of public university athletic departments (including football and men’s and women’s basketball coaches) that were fired. Over 11 years (ending in January 2021), they found that FBS programs paid more than $533.6 million to say adios to these head coaches. Now that Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly is doubling his salary for LSU’s 10-year, $90 million contract, it begs the question: if a coach does poorly and gets fired, do they care?

ACCOUNTABLE FOR ABUSE,

Carol Wick, CEO, Sharity: The sex-trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell has started with a ban of the media from the courtroom. It’s no wonder that many want to keep the media out, as the names of many famous and powerful men will undoubtedly be linked to the case. Whether or not they participated in raping children is not the only question. Many knew what was happening and did nothing to stop it and even continued to associate with Jeffrey Epstein after he was convicted. In Florida, where many of the crimes happened, failure to report abuse is a crime. They all need to be held accountable.

HELP FOR THE AGING, Nicole Wilson, Orange County commissioner, District 1: As Central Florida’s aging population continues to grow, it is integral we remember what services are necessary for their quality of life. More and more freestanding emergency rooms, hospitals and outpatient clinics are popping up throughout Central Florida. This fact alone demonstrates the need for more doctors and support for our medical community. Among these needs is life-saving transport. While this need grows, it is critical that our staff have greater scrutiny of our health services processes and capacity. I look forward to thoroughly reviewing the processes we use to certify new health transport systems.