While we are all paying attention to what is going on with Covid-19, we can’t stop paying attention to what was going on with the normal course of business. That includes what happened during the legislative session.
Here is something that will affect all the school districts and buildings. Here is the information about the change in the make up of the Florida Building Commission. The Governor is NOT expected to veto it. He might not sign it, but it is expected to become law.
What does that mean for our kids? Well, it means that the Department of Education loses its representation (Don Whitehead) on the Florida Building Commission.
Click here to learn which people are changing on the board.
Now, what doesn’t get shown here are all the committees that meet under the actual commission where the real work gets done. Whitehead was on a lot of those committees as a function of his duties on the commission. Will he continue to be involved to bring DOE needs to the commission? Unknown. Will his voice continue to be heard on the Special Occupancies Technical Advisory Committee? Unknown.
These are questions that we should be asking of DOE and the FBC and making sure we get acceptable answers to. Ultimately, each school board has its own building department and is subject to this commission. Truthfully, taken to court, it's possible that the building code would prevail over any building standards in the DOE, given the way the state law is currently written. So how that department is interfacing from the floor with the commission is important.