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Back to School 2005

Under construction

In the midst of a building frenzy, the school district must also address parents' concerns about safety and disruptions.

By LETITIA STEIN
Published July 22, 2005

RIVERVIEW - An earthmover grumbles 10 feet from the window in principal Ellen Cyr's new office - er, portable. A road will lie there one day, with a gray and raspberry-colored school called Collins Elementary behind it.

One day. Not on Aug. 4, when as many as 850 students are expected at Collins for the first day of classes.

"Let me change into my sneakers," Cyr said, offering a tour of the campus in the Panther Trace subdivision. Classes will open in 44 portables.

In January, students are expected to move into permanent buildings at Collins. Until then, safety is a top concern here and at some 40 campuses districtwide that will see ongoing construction during the school year.

What happens when school becomes a construction zone?

Educators generally try to keep strangers and heavy equipment away from young children. To protect students, district policies call for fences to separate kids from cranes. But safety concerns took a higher profile after last spring's abductions and slayings of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in Homosassa and 13-year-old Sarah Lunde in Ruskin.

State lawmakers passed the Jessica Lunsford Act, requiring background checks and fingerprinting of anyone contracted to work at a school campus - including construction workers and food vendors.

The district is scrambling to comply, but officials say Hillsborough likely won't meet a Sept. 1 deadline. Plus, officials say, an unusually high number of campuses are slated for construction.

Like Collins, much of Symmes Elementary in Riverview remains a hard-hat zone. Classroom additions or renovations are scheduled for Brooker, Yates, Kingswood, Riverview, Cimino, Boyette Springs, Ruskin and Thonotosassa elementary schools and Burns Middle.

No matter how closely guarded, construction has an impact on classes.

"We never pretend that it's not disruptive. It is. But we try to minimize the disruption," said Tom Blackwell, the district construction manager. "It's survivable."

In the main office of Symmes Elementary, piles of folded T-shirts picture the school's mascot, a shark, wearing a yellow hard hat. "Under construction" reads a banner below the image.

In April, the district decided that half of the classrooms and the media center at the 4-year-old, $7.3-million school were cracked beyond repair and needed to be replaced.

Parents had waited a long time for a plan to fix cracks in walls and sidewalks, which began appearing after the school opened in August 2001. Rebuilding raised fresh concerns. Was it safe to have construction crews on campus during the 2005-06 year?

A top worry: Could registered sex offenders enter the construction zone? Parents raised the issue with the district's chief facilities officer, MaryEllen Elia, who recently was promoted to superintendent of Hillsborough County schools.

"In light of all the recent missing children and sexual predator information, I am concerned about how the grounds will be monitored if at all!," wrote Symmes parent Karen Fosbrink in an e-mail to the district.

At an April meeting, Elia assured parents that the district did not hire day laborers. She also said that the district maintains a list with the names of all workers on site.

But contractors working with the district do hire day laborers.

After the St. Petersburg Times requested workers' names at several campuses, school administrators said that the district does not maintain the information. Contractors keep sign-in sheets at each site to verify that workers have received safety training.

Still, Elia defended her statements at Symmes, again saying that the district itself does not hire day laborers. And Hillsborough is raising standards, as required by lawmakers.

"What would be important for parents to know is the recent legislation that has passed is going to make it even more stringent," she said. "No one can go on the site without being fingerprinted."

During the summer, the district also agreed to fund a full-time security guard at Symmes this school year. The school requested an additional security presence during construction. Most elementary schools do not have security officers.

A fence trimmed with beige plastic separates the construction area from the rest of the Symmes campus. "Hard Hat Required" notes a poster on the side that children see.

"The circumstances were cause for concern," Symmes principal Susan Marohnic said. "However, we are addressing them long before students get here."

As the clock races down to the first day of school, another wire fence with opaque siding is rising at Collins Elementary. One will separate classes from construction. Another will skirt the perimeter.

"Fence us in, and fence them out," Cyr said, touring the construction site in a white hard hat decorated with ribbons.

On the first day of school, the cafeteria will be the only permanent building open to students. In October, the main office with kindergarten classrooms should be ready. A two-story classroom wing is expected to open after winter break.

Originally, district officials thought Collins would be ready for the first day of school.

Last year's hurricanes brought delays. When district officials conceded that they could not complete construction on Collins by August, they decided to open in portables.

Similar concerns delayed Turner Elementary in north Tampa. But Turner will open in portables away from construction, at nearby Heritage Elementary.

"South county is so crowded," Elia said, explaining the decision to open Collins in a construction zone. "I don't have a campus I could put (Collins students) on."

Yet the district's projections call for Sessums Elementary, the school that Collins is relieving, to open at 46 percent capacity, with 435 students. But due to regional growth, Elia predicts that far more students will arrive at Sessums on the first day of school.

For worried parents, Collins is taking precautions. Teachers can open doors to portables from the inside, but the exterior handles will be locked to outsiders. Portables are equipped with bathrooms, and students will walk in pairs on campus.

Employees and visitors must wear identification tags.

"At first, I was uncomfortable with the thought that the construction workers were going to be walking the same sidewalk as my 5-year-old," said Kristy Deaton, vice president of the PTA at Collins. "That's not the case. The construction workers are isolated from the children with a barrier."

Most school years, Hillsborough renovates a handful of schools while class is in session. Rarely does the district have so many under construction at once.

Symmes and Collins are dealing with unusual circumstances. Meanwhile, a state mandate to lower class sizes has resulted in the need to build more classrooms across the district.

Hillsborough expects to spend $65 million on classroom additions at nearly 40 campuses this school year, with the state helping fund the work.

But no one has budgeted for extra screening. It will cost $85 for each worker on a campus to be fingerprinted, background checked and monitored through 2009, said Linda Kipley, who oversees employee misconduct, backgrounding and fingerprinting for the district.

Hillsborough's plan to meet the new law remains in draft stages. Yet already, school officials fear the expense will be passed on in higher construction fees, which could result in less building in a fast-growing county.

"We'll make it work," said Jim Hamilton, chief of staff for Hillsborough County schools. "If it costs us more money, then we'll build less."

With two young granddaughters, Hamilton was sympathetic to parents' concerns. "We as a school system," he said, "expect to be the one place in the world where kids can go and be safe."

Letitia Stein can be reached at 661-2443 or lstein@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 2, 2005, 14:56:14]