Good schools are integral to good communities, and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker is helping to strengthen that bond. His latest endeavors are to link a business sponsor to every one of the 44 public schools inside the city limits and to find a way to open school playgrounds to children who live around them.
These initiatives may seem modest by modern political standards, but they help children in a tangible way.
Some schools always have enjoyed fruitful relationships with businesses, support that translates into mentors and tutors and money to buy materials the schools can't afford. But those ties are not easily made, particularly in schools where the students are drawn from distant neighborhoods or whose families may not know any CEOs. So Baker used the stature of his office to bring businesses and schools together. Good for him.
The city also persuaded the school district to do something it has stubbornly refused to do: let children play on the school grounds when school is out.
School attorneys have behaved as though such recreation would subject the district to a form of liability Armageddon, but St. Petersburg made an offer they couldn't refuse. The city will build new playgrounds and agree to maintain the equipment, in exchange for the district's letting children play after hours. The first such "park" will be at Mount Vernon Elementary School, but three more already are planned.
Of education, Baker says: "Cities need to get involved. We can't just sit by passively and say that's not our job." He is living up to those words, through corporate sponsorships, more than 60 joint-use agreements, scholarships for children and loans to teachers. In so doing, the mayor is showing he is serious about making St. Petersburg a liveable place, and that progress is not always measured by business towers or sports arenas.
