Principal urged teachers: Redo grades
Superintendent: George Lockhart ‘misused’ Lake Worth High position.
LAKE WORTH — Lake Worth High School’s former principal asked teachers to do math assignments for his son, pressured teachers to change students’ grades and charged students $1 to attend pep rallies, a school district investigation found.
During George Lockhart’s time as principal, Lake Worth High also suspended students without reporting the suspensions to the district and submitted erroneous fundraising reports that concealed the fact that students were being charged to attend events during the regular school day, the investigation uncovered.
As the probe ended this spring, schools Superintendent Robert Avossa concluded that Lockhart “misused (his) position and authority” and “compromised the Get more news every day about Palm Beach County schools at the Extra Credit blog. integrity of the district.”
But after initially moving to fire Lockhart, records show that Avossa reversed course in May and allowed Lockhart to remain on staff. He has been reassigned to a management position at the school district’s charter school office, with his pay cut by $21,000.
“Mr. Lockhart made some real mistakes in decision-making and lapses of judgment with his leadership on campus,” Avossa said. “But I always have to take the totality of the matter and press the bad decisions against a 27-year run where he was contributing
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, a national law firm with an office in Boca Raton, will represent the city in a lawsuit against at least eight pharmaceutical makers and distributors, including Purdue Pharma and McKesson Corp.
These companies, the law firm says, downplayed the addictive nature of opioids and forced the burden of dealing with the resultant overdoses on state, county and city governments.
“They went out and said that opioids are less than 1 percent addictive. That is obviously not true,” said Mark J. Dearman, a partner in the firm. “This is a playbook right out of (Big) Tobacco.”
The lawsuit won’t cost the city a dime, as Robbins Geller is fronting the bill, but could net millions in damages.
It costs Delray Beach about $2,000 in manpower and lifesaving material for every overdose, city officials say. And there were 690 overdoses in 2016.
While many, if not all, of filed similar ongoing lawsuits, those overdoses were herobut Delray Beach would be in-related, the city might still the first in Florida. have grounds to go after Big At the suggestion of Pharma, which produces opi- County Commi s sioner oid pain pills because they Melissa McKin l ay, Palm are “the underlying prob- Beach County is considerlem,” Dearman said. ing entering into similar lit
Between 72 and 82 opioid igation. prescriptions are written for The law firm anticipates every 100 people in Florida, other governing bodies will the law firm reports. join as plaintiffs.
“The (Federal Drug AdminThe lawsuit will seek damistration) said this stuff ages based on the claims that should be limited in use,” drugmakers and distributors Dearman said. violated state consumer pro
And Delray Beach, widely tection, public nuisance, negknown as the recovery capligence and unjust enrichital of the country, has bore ment laws. the brunt of the ensuing epiDeputy Vice Mayor Shirdemic. ley Johnson pointed to news
“Sober homes have that a 10-year-old Miami boy brought this problem to your died in June of an apparent backyard like nowhere else,” opioid overdose, one of the Dearman said. youngest victims of the drug
City leaders agreed they crisis, as reason for filing wouldn’t wait for other plain- the lawsuit. tiffs to join the lawsuit. “We have to do some
“I don’t see any down- thing,” she said. side to being the one startSaid Glickstein: “No pathoing rather than waiting for gen, virus or war on this anyone to figure out what country’s soil has caused they’re going to do,” Glick- the death and destruction as stein said. the scourge of opioid addic-
It isn’t clear how long the tion.” lawsuit will last.
Other cities, such as Chi- cago and Dayton, Ohio, have
Florida Senate Appropriations Chairman and potential 2018 gubernatorial candidate Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, has scheduled a roundtable discussion on the opioid crisis for Aug. 8 at the Lake Worth campus of Palm Beach State College.
Latvala said he’s been urged to hold such a meet- ing by two Palm Beach County Democrats: state Sen. Kevin Rader of Delray to schedule the opioid disR-Ponte Vedra Beach, have Beach and County Commiscussion before his planned also shown interest in sioner Melissa McKinlay, Aug. 16 announcement on bids for governor. who represents the counwhether he’s running for the Latvala on Wednesday ty’s west from Wellington Republican nomination for called the race for the GOP to the Glades. Latvala also governor in 2018. nomination “a wide-open said he wants to be “on top “I want to get this done situation” and said that, in of the issue” when he overbefore that so it doesn’t get addition to the elected offisees spending for next year’s tied up in politics,” Latvala cials mulling the race, he budget. said. “It really doesn’t have expects some wealthy can
“It’s fact-finding,” Latvala anything to do with the govdidate to seek to emulate said in a Wednesday inter- ernor’s race.” Gov. Rick Scott and Presview with The Palm Beach Agriculture Commissioner ident Donald Trump and Post. “I don’t really under- Adam Putnam opened a launch a self-financed bid. stand a whole lot about this Republican campaign for Latvala’s opioid roundissue. I hear about it from governor in May. Putnam’s table is scheduled for Aug. the members over there; I campaign has raised $2 mil- 8 from a.m. to noon hear about it from the comlion for the race, and the in Room PSD 108 at Palm missioner there who’s my pro-Putnam Florida Grown Beach State College at 4200 friend . ... It seems like Palm political committee began Congress Ave., west of Lake Beach County is the epi- July with $10 million in cash. Worth. center of the problem in House Speaker Richard
Florida.” Corcoran, R-Land-O’Lakes,
Latvala said he wanted and U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis,