Latest news with #DillardHighSchool
CBS News
30-04-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Some students exposed to tuberculosis at Dillard High School, Broward officials say
Some students at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale have been identified as exposed to tuberculosis following a confirmed on-campus case, Broward County school officials said Wednesday. Broward health officials begin testing students for tuberculosis Superintendent Howard Hepburn said health experts conducted contact tracing and found students who may have been exposed. Those individuals will be tested with parental consent to determine whether additional cases are present. "There is one confirmed case of tuberculosis at Dillard High School," Hepburn said. "They did contact tracking and they found other kids we have identified who have been exposed." Hepburn, who toured the school on Wednesday, said he is confident in the steps being taken and emphasized that he is "not particularly worried." The infected student, whose identity and grade level were not disclosed, is reportedly doing well. Dillard High sees spike in absences amid TB testing Broward Schools Chair Debra Hixon said the district is taking the situation seriously. "Obviously we are concerned that we are going through the right steps to make sure all the steps are taken that are necessary," she said. The confirmed case has had an impact on Dillard's school attendance. Of the school's 1,900 students, 475 were absent Wednesday — more than double the typical number. Hixon urged families to keep students in school, especially during this critical period of state testing. "It is very important for students to be in school for a lot of reasons, especially as we begin testing season," Hixon said. What to know about tuberculosis symptoms and transmission Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that primarily affects the lungs and can spread through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Symptoms include: Persistent cough Weight loss Night sweats Fever "It is unusual to have TB in our community," said Dr. Paula Eckhardt, chief of the Memorial Healthcare System's infectious disease division. "You are exposed if you are in close proximity with a person who has TB for an extended period of time." She added that many infected individuals may not immediately show symptoms. No TB outbreak declared, Broward officials continue to monitor While only one case has been confirmed, school and health officials said there is no outbreak at this time and they are closely monitoring the situation. Parents who have not been contacted directly by the school or the Florida Department of Health are not required to take any action. Questions can be directed to the Florida Department of Health in Broward County at (954) 848-2680.
Daily Mail
30-04-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Panic as world's deadliest infection is detected at Florida high school
A case of the world's deadliest infectious disease has been confirmed in a school in Florida. State officials confirmed a person infected with active tuberculosis was recently present at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. Officials are yet to specify whether the person was a student, staff or faculty and when exactly they were present on the premises. John Sullivan, chief of communications Broward County Public Schools confirmed in a statement that the officials will soon be on campus to provide testing to staff and students with parental consent. School Principal Alfred Broomfield assured parents no action is needed by the community unless they are contacted. Tuberculosis, also called TB, is a potentially fatal illness caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. It mainly affects the lungs and can also cause damage to the brain, spinal cord and lymph nodes. It most commonly spreads through the air when infected people cough or speak. Once known as consumption, TB is one of the deadliest diseases in the world and according to WHO, over 10 million people across the globe were diagnosed with the illness out of which nearly two million died. In the US, over 10,000 Americans were diagnosed with the infection and 565 died in 2024, according to the CDC. MR Broomfield said in a letter addressed to school parents: 'DOH-Broward and BCPS [Broward County Public Schools] have identified and notified those individuals who have been determined to be a close contact, at this time. No further action is needed unless you are contacted directly.' Earlier, this year an 'unprecedented' tuberculosis outbreak occurred in Kansas - which left 147 people infected. Out of this 67 people became actively ill and 80 contracted the illness but showed no symptoms. Two patients have died, as of now. In 2024, Florida reported 681 tuberculosis (TB) cases - a nine percent increase from 2023. As of 2025, TB cases are increasing both globally and in the United States due to higher international travel and migration, increased reporting, reactivation of latent TB infections and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Children, older people and those with weak immune systems are most at risk of contracting TB - leading to permanent lung damage, even after successful treatment. TB is mostly spread through an exchange of germs containing the bacteria through the atmosphere. Symptoms of active TB in the lungs usually begin gradually and worsen over a few weeks and signs can include coughing up blood or mucus, chest pains, pain with breathing or coughing, fever, chills and night sweats. People can protect themselves against TB by getting the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, but it is not generally not on the vaccination schedule in the US due to the low risk of infection. If infected, patients are asked to remain isolated and must take antibiotics for six months to treat TB. If left untreated, the bacterial infection can damage the lungs and spread to other parts of their body such as the brain, kidneys and spine. Some people become infected with TB germs that live in the body for years without causing illness. This is known as inactive TB or latent TB. However without treatment, one in 10 people with inactive TB will get sick with active TB disease, according to the CDC.
Miami Herald
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
This historian wants you to learn Broward's Black history. His flashcards might help
Not everyone in Broward knows the story of Clarence C. Walker. But Emmanuel George wants to change that. Walker became the second Black principal of Dillard High School in 1938, Fort Lauderdale's first public school for Black students. Walker lobbied the school board to make the school, which was named after Black-education advocate James H. Dillard, the first accredited public school for Black students. Local white farmers, worried that their free and cheap young Black labor force would opt to seek an education instead of helping with the harvest, pushed the school board to shorten the school year so the students could work. The school board eventually gave in to the farmers' in 1942. After a day of arguing in front of the school board, Walker left with a great deal of frustration. 'When he went home, he was so hurt and bothered that he actually ended up succumbing to a heart attack,' George said. 'So it's stated that he died of a broken heart.' These are the stories about Broward that Emmanuel George wants to preserve. 'Broward County has a lot of global Black history. It's not just local Black history,' George told the Miami Herald. George is curator and community liaison at the Old Dillard Museum, which documents Black history in South Florida. 'I want to be able to show that so that other people across the world can look into their own local Black history in their community and see that it is global. And if we adopt that mindset, we would not minimize our community's history.' The preservation of Broward's Black history comes at a crucial time: The teaching of Black history has been significantly limited with the passing of Florida's 'Stop Woke' legislation, a statute limiting how race-related issues are taught in schools, colleges and in workplace trainings. As Florida's legislators attempt to make schools and universities sanitize the history of Black trauma and white aggression or omit the achievements of Black Floridians from history lessons, local historians and educators like George are making it their mission to keep history alive. READ: Trump's purge of DEI programs incenses Black leaders in South Florida George is also the founder of Black Broward, an Instagram account devoted to sharing tidbits of Broward County's Black history. The concept started in 2018 when he began sharing Black history facts for the month of February and continuing it when he saw how it resonated with people. The account has nearly 5,000 followers. On it, you'll find stories of Liberia, a historically Black neighborhood in Hollywood, throwback photos of Black people living in Broward, and little known historical facts about the county's Black pioneers such as Dr. Von D. Mizell, who helped establish Provident Hospital for Black Americans, and civil rights activist Eula Mae Johnson. But now George is taking his digital Black Broward concept and making it analog, with Black Broward Flashcards. The flashcards come 24 cards to a deck with three source citation cards, detailing where information on the figures can be found, and are broken down into different regional areas – South, Central and North Broward – that feature prominent figures who lived in or did work in those areas. The cards feature historical places of note and other well known historical figures, such as Dr. James Sistrunk and Broward county educator Joseph A. Ely. RELATED: Sistrunk is seeing increased development. What does it mean for the Black community? The project was done in collaboration with David Paulo, also known by his online moniker ShotByLeather, who chronicles historical landmarks in Broward County. The duo, along with Samuel Woods, created an online platform, that chronicles Black history and culture through social and digital platforms. George said the flashcards, which will be sold through the website for $20, are great for card collectors and can help students, but he also emphasized, 'It's also a cool and creative way to educate people beyond the classroom.' George hopes the flashcards, which tell Walker's story and those of other Black activists and civil rights pioneers, will be used in classrooms to teach students about their local Black history, something he said he wasn't exposed to as a student in Hollywood. 'There really wasn't much being taught of Black history, just being honest,' he said. 'Just, you know, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King had a dream, and that was really it. A lot of the history I learned was actually outside of school.' 'A younger generation that is hungry for our stories' George had always been a history buff and knowledgeable about Black history as told to him by his dad. 'I had to tell it to him because we have to know where we come from and who we are,' his father, also named Emmanuel George, told the Herald. 'It makes me feel good knowing that he knows about himself, about his past, about his history – our history. I'm happy that he is where he is, being conscious.' George was born in Overtown but moved to Hollywood in 2002 where he graduate from South Broward High School and later attended Broward College and Full Sail University in Central Florida to study film. But his interest in Black history deepened after seeing historian and retired professor Marvin Dunn's documentary 'Black Miami in the 20th Century.' 'When I stumbled upon that, I'm like OK, there's a Black Miami, there has to be a Black Broward,' George said. It wasn't until he read former Florida Atlantic University professor and Miami Herald reporter Kitty Oliver's book, 'Voices of America: Race and Change in Hollywood, Florida,' that he affirmed his love for preserving Black history. George loved the book so much he emailed Oliver to connect with her about her work. Their connection led Oliver to recommend him for an African American archive project in Lake Wales, a city near Lakeland, Fla., where George interviewed residents from the historic Lincoln Avenue community and archived their stories. 'He already had such a good grasp of South Florida history through some creative work he'd been doing in Miami,' she told the Herald. The Lake Wells project led to back-to-back fellowships for George, including the CoGenerators fellowship in San Francisco. Prior to his work on the project, he produced his first film in 2016 under the Black Broward Film Project, 'The Tale of Sibling Communities: Liberia and Danie.' He would go on to produce a second film in 2021, 'Stories from our Ancestors: An Ode to Attucks High School,' that focused on how closing a historically Black high school affected Liberia and neighboring communities. His work is available on The Hub, a YouTube account also run by George and his partners, where people curious about Broward Black history and culture can browse through footage and films. George's work also earned him the honor of being the youngest person in Broward County to have his own special collections archive, the Emmanuel George Collection held at the African American Research Library. (That record was later claimed by Paulo.) The collection includes physical and digitally archived information on the history of Attucks High School. 'Emmanuel represents something that I think we need to be reminded of, especially my generation and the elders, there may tend to be a sense that younger people are not knowledgeable about our history or not interested in that. That is absolutely not true,' she said. 'Emmanuel is indicative of a younger generation that is hungry for our stories and hungry to learn from the past and learn from history and how it can apply to them today and use that as a foundation to move forward.' 'People like him are a crucial part of Black history right now because they see the importance of history that came before,' she continued. 'There's an authenticity' George's work was crucial in helping actor Wood Harris, perhaps most known for his iconic role as Avon Barksdale on HBO's 'The Wire,' find more information on his dad, who was in the first graduating class of Attucks High School in Hollywood. Harris' cousin Pam Walker saw a photo posted on George's Black Broward Instagram page and contacted him about it. 'I got their first graduation class photo there and she was able to identify him,' George said, 'and then I also found a couple newspaper clippings about their father taking part in fishing tournaments at Ojus, which is now Aventura.' George said Harris thanked him with a video message. 'It resonates with people, because there's an authenticity about history, because it's all factual,' said George's friend and business partner Woods, 'but it's also telling our stories the way that we want them told, and making sure that it's an intergenerational connection between our elders and our youth.' The two met five years ago and Woods described George as a humble and giving person, having made him the godfather of his daughter. That same spirit and love for history and preservation is how Paulo and George connected. Paulo, who is a landmark photographer, said their work goes hand in hand. Still, he emphasized he learned his Black history through George's work. 'I'm kind of a late bloomer on learning the history around me. A lot of big cities, it feels, get their history plastered everywhere, like New York, Chicago, L.A., but when it came to Broward, I didn't know that these were the people who are the pioneers for a lot of stuff going on in my community,' said the Lauderhill native. Woods said George's work is more important now than ever with efforts to suppress teaching Black history in schools and anti-diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across the board. 'I think that it's just progressively gotten worse in our school system, where the information is just not available,' He said. 'Either they're removing it or it was never there from the start… You don't get to know these people, their stories, their journey, their why, the who, the whens and the wheres, and you literally have to dig for them. And that's why the work that Emmanuel does and that we're doing and assisting with is just so imperative, especially with our elders leaving us every day.' George acknowledged the challenges that lie ahead when it comes to teaching and preserving Black history, but he is undeterred. 'I truly feel that yeah, there's a lot of efforts to suppress Black history, but I truly do know that we will always still be able to teach Black history,' he said. 'It might be through the flash cards. It might be through coloring books ... so many different ways.'
