No School for West Hillsborough Kids Friday

Thursday’s opening of the Florida State Fair means good news for public school kids on Hillsborough County’s west side.

That’s right, Friday is Florida State Fair Day, giving students in half the county a reprieve from the books and a long weekend to boot.

Students on the east side of the county need not despair. Strawberry Festival Day is just around the corner for them on March 2, according to the school district’s calendar. Spring Break for the whole county runs March 9-13.

See Also:

• Florida State Fair 2015: What You Need to Know
• Hillsborough County Public Schools Calendar 2014-15

In advance of Florida State Fair Day, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has announced a few changes parents and students need to know about. The changes were made to ensure safety during the free day for kids. The following is from a media release issued by the sheriff’s office Thursday:

Any Hillsborough County student will be allowed into the fair with their free ticket before 6:00 p.m. on February 6, 2015.

All students will be required to show their student ID in order to gain admittance.

If the student does not have an ID, School Security will have their computers at the gates and will be able to confirm the student’s identity.

After 6:00 p.m., all students under the age of 18 must have a parent or person over 21 years of age with them to be allowed “free” admittance.

One adult can bring in up to 4 students and be admitted for free.

Any student under the age of 18 that arrives at the fair after 6:00 p.m. without an adult, will not be allowed into the fair for free. However, they can pay for an admission, and they will be allowed in, even if they are not accompanied by an adult.

A juvenile waiting area will be set up and maintained outside each gate, by fair personnel only, to assist all juveniles who are denied entrance to the fair for anything other than violations of law. Those juveniles will be free to leave or make any necessary phone calls for rides home, if they choose.

There will be a supervised waiting area for students under the age of 18 that have been trespassed from the fair. All reasonable measures will be made to contact the juvenile’s parent/guardian by law enforcement personnel from the Sheriff’s Office and School Security. In the event a parent, guardian, or responsible adult cannot be contacted, or they refuse to take custody of the juvenile upon completion of the Trespass process, the juvenile will be asked if he/she would like to stay in the Supervised Waiting Area until they can be picked up. However, if the juvenile refuses to stay in the Supervised Waiting Area, and is not being charged with a criminal act, the Sheriff’s Office does not have the legal authority to detain the juvenile. They will be allowed to leave the property if they are capable of making that decision. If the Sheriff’s Office or School Security believes the juvenile is not capable of making that decision, the deputy will maintain custody of the juvenile and hold them in protective custody until the juvenile can be released to a parent, guardian, or responsible adult.

Juveniles who are held in protective custody, whose parent, guardian or responsible adult cannot be contacted, will be held as a Dependent Child. Hillsborough Sheriff’s personnel shall coordinate transportation of the juvenile to the Hillsborough County Division of Children’s Services, 3191 Clay Magnum Lane, Tampa.

Any juvenile placed under arrest for a criminal violation will be either be released to parent, guardian or responsible adult or will be transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center dependent upon the nature of charges.

Image from the Wade Shows Facebook page

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