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Schools

Parents want kids to feel burn from PE, not sun

By JEFFREY SOLOCHEK
Published October 20, 2006

Red-faced children race around in the blazing sun, huffing and sweaty, gulping down water from bottles brought from home: This is physical education at Hillsborough County elementary schools.

Shade? Only if there's a nearby tree, or if parents raise enough money to put up a roof. The average cost for that this year is about $160,000, of which the school district will contribute about one third if the school brings the rest.

Many are trying.

Lutz Elementary is selling $100 commemorative plaques, and its PTA has kicked in $40,000 saved over the past three years. Essrig Elementary plans several activities, including a Nov. 10 fall festival and a spring casino night, to bring in some cash. Deer Park Elementary, still in portables in Citrus Park, has a slew of fund raising projects under way, including a walk-a-thon and participation in a recently ended mall Cash for Class contest, where it won $5,000.

"We want them not to be out in the sun because of skin cancer," explains Carolyn Reese, an Essrig PTA vice president whose fair-skinned daughter, Jennifer, often burns during her twice-weekly physical education classes. "I think it's pretty important that the kids have some coverage."

But raising money is no easy feat at some schools. Essrig's initiative has brought in just $6,000 so far, and many parents have balked at the catalog sales that net some schools as much as $25,000 a pop.

If it's hard at Essrig, which serves a middle-class Carrollwood community, just imagine the tough time facing Cleveland Elementary, which sits in an economically depressed area over by Interstate 275.

Ask the school staff about its effort and they refer you to the PTA at more well-to-do Bryant Elementary outside Westchase, which is collecting money for Cleveland now that it has bought its own playground cover.

Getting $5,000 in donations, which some schools can top in a day, takes a school like Cleveland a year or more. The chances of getting a $1-million "multipurpose coliseum" like the one Gorrie Elementary parents recently donated are nonexistent here.

Where's the fairness? Florida is nasty hot, just like the north can get bitterly cold, and children - all children - should have the same protection. Right?

"It is not fair," School Board member Candy Olson admits.

But - you knew there had to be a "but" - the school district has limited money, and building new schools must come first. Covered play areas are nice, Olson says, not essential.

Reese, the Essrig mom, accepts that explanation.

"I've been around the district for a long time," she says. "I know how short they are on funds."

Still, you can't help but wonder. If parents think this is so important at so many schools, shouldn't covered play areas be standard rather than parent-financed add-ons? The cost amounts to just 1.4 percent of a new elementary school budget, after all.

Have ideas for future columns? Contact Jeffrey S. Solochek at solochek@sptimes.com or 813 269-5304.

[Last modified October 19, 2006, 07:55:05]