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Schools

Sports complex is backed in theory

School Board members give tepid endorsement for Commissioner Jim Norman's amateur sports complex.

By MELANIE AVE
Published September 21, 2005

TAMPA - School Board members gave lukewarm support to a proposed $40-million sports complex Tuesday night, even as they worry about having enough money to build schools to ease overcrowding.

The endorsement came at the request of county Commissioner Jim Norman, who hatched the idea for the complex this summer. Board members agreed it could serve as a good recreational venue for local children.

They plan to send a letter to the county supporting the complex conceptually.

The County Commission will hold a public hearing today about adding Norman's Championship Sports Park to a list of projects to be funded by the half-cent Community Investment Tax.

"I feel a little presumptuous because commissioners haven't even discussed it yet," board member Carol Kurdell said after the meeting. Three of the seven board members, Susan Valdes, Doretha Edgecomb and Jack Lamb, were absent.

The 425-acre sports complex would be built off State Road 39 about 3 miles north of Interstate 4. Norman says it could serve as a playoff location for amateur teams in football, baseball, soccer and track.

The complex's $40-million price tag is enough to pay for about four elementary schools or two high schools. It comes at a time when the school district is facing a $364-million deficit in its school construction budget over the next five years.

Some board members worried their support of the complex would send the wrong message when about one-fourth of the district's schools are at or above capacity. They struggled to come up with workable language, trying to stay vague but not spike the idea completely.

Kurdell insisted the board's support be general.

Board member Jennifer Faliero said the County Commission, not the School Board, will decide the complex's fate.

"It's their list," she said. "We ought to at least give the public a chance to air it before we stamp it out."

Board members nixed a draft resolution supporting the complex in favor of a more generic letter suggesting the county put the facility on its list of viable projects.

Board chairwoman Candy Olson said the letter also will encourage the county to help the school district with its growing pains, such as turn lanes in front of schools and additional parks and recreation facilities.

This was not the board's first discussion of Norman's project.

Last month, board members postponed a decision on supporting the complex after getting a detailed presentation from Norman. They said they had too many questions to back it.

A clearly annoyed Norman told them he was not asking for money, but just support since the sports complex north of Plant City would be available to area students.

Faliero said she hopes, if the complex is built, the school district could yield some savings from it. The district now pays $30,000 to have Blake and Middleton high schools play at Raymond James Stadium.

"If it belonged to the county," she said, "we wouldn't be paying that fee."

In other business, board members named Oak Grove Elementary principal Marjorie Sandler the principal of Folsom Elementary and Sickles High School assistant principal Elsa Tuggle the supervisor of attendance.

The board suspended Pierce Middle School music teacher Harry J. Williamson, 54, without pay for his Aug. 29 arrest for soliciting a prostitute. Williamson has worked for the district for 24 years.

[Last modified September 21, 2005, 00:23:13]