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Full-time care this summer rises to $47 per week and enrollment in the Place program next school year will cost $37.
By KENT FISCHER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 19, 2003
LAND O'LAKES -- Child care with the Pasco County School District will cost parents a little more, beginning this summer.
The rates for the district's Place program will increase $2 a week per child for full-time care under a proposal School Board members approved Tuesday. The increases take effect June 2, and will push up the cost of full-time care this summer to $47 per week, up from $45. Next school year, enrollment in the Place program will cost $37, up from $35.
An estimated 3,400 children receive child care at 28 elementary schools in the county. Place receives no money from the district. Its $7-million budget comes primarily from fees paid by parents, with state subsidies covering a small percentage.
The fee increase is necessary to keep the program operating, said its director, Dalne Dola.
"I don't want to run in the red, and it won't take much to tilt us" into a deficit, she said.
Child care workers earn between $7.15 an hour for a part-timer to $11.55 for a site manager.
"We've added a lot of schools over the years, and we've added staff," she said, noting that the new Pine View Elementary in Land O'Lakes will have child care when it opens in August.
The increases are the program's first since 1997.
The School Board on Tuesday also appointed a principal at Seven Springs Elementary School. Vicki Garner, an assistant principal at Cotee River Elementary, was selected to replace John Abernathy, who recently moved to Lake Myrtle Elementary.
Garner, 36, began her teaching career at Deer Park Elementary in 1989 after graduating from the University of South Florida. She has been an assistant principal at Cotee River for three years.
"Seven Springs has a wonderful reputation and they have an excellent school," Garner said. "My goal is to become part of their family."
Finally, the School Board approved new attendance boundaries for three central Pasco elementary schools.
Pine View Elementary will serve about 900 children, who would primarily come from Lake Myrtle Elementary, although some also would come from Sanders Elementary. The proposed change affects Denham Oaks Elementary as well, because some of its students would move to Lake Myrtle to alleviate crowding at their current school.
Two of those central Pasco elementaries -- Lake Myrtle and Denham Oaks -- are among the most crowded schools in the district. Lake Myrtle's capacity is 857 students, yet it houses 1,032 kids. Denham Oaks (capacity of 840) is home to 1,028 children.
-- Kent Fischer covers education in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6241 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6241. His e-mail address is kfischer@sptimes.com .