Ocoee recognizes Black History Month essay contest winners

The city of Ocoee recognized the winners of the 2026 Black History Month Essay Contest during the City Commission meeting Tuesday, March 3. 

The annual contest was open to fifth-grade students, and six local schools participated: Hope Charter School, and Lake Whitney, Ocoee, Maxey, Orlo Vista and Westbrooke elementary schools. 

Hope Charter’s Roshni Beharrysingh was named the overall winner of the essay contest and read her essay aloud to the commission meeting. She wrote about her personal experience at school, when a student treated her poorly because of her skin color. After reading a book about Rosa Parks, Beharrysingh gathered the courage to stand up for herself. 

“Over 100 years ago, African Americans were treated unfairly in the most extreme ways,” she read. “Black History Month is designated to recognize the achievements, reflect and continue to learn about black history. As a national observer, I asked what a century of stories, challenges, achievements bring us to this day. It’s not just history. We need to educate ourselves on the background and details of black history and the impact it has made on our world.” 

First-place winners of the essay contest included Lake Whitney’s Haven Elizabeth Bennett, Maxey’s Viktoria J. Harris, Ocoee’s Makayla Fagg, Thornebrooke’s Ambur Patterson and Westbrooke’s Hayley Marks. 

CODE ENFORCEMENT

The Ocoee City Commission also heard the first reading of an ordinance to create the office of Special Magistrate to hold hearings and assess fines against violators of the city codes and ordinances. The ordinance would abolish the city of Ocoee Code Enforcement Board, which is subject to future reinstatement. 

All pending cases and all powers of the Code Enforcement Board will be assigned to the Special Magistrate. The second reading and public hearing will be held at the City Commission meeting Tuesday, April 7. The meeting Tuesday, March 17, is canceled. 

The chairman of Ocoee’s Code Enforcement Board, Joseph Bandur, expressed his concerns with Ocoee Police Chief Vincent Ogburn’s previous presentation during the commission meeting Tuesday, Feb. 3, on the updated code enforcement policies. He said there were inconsistencies in the information that was put before the commission. 

Bandur requested that commissioners meet with him one-on-one to discuss further before the final resolution is made.