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The Marine Science Station and the Academy of Environmental Science hash out an environmental education program.
By BARBARA BEHRENDT
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 13, 2001
CRYSTAL RIVER -- In a community at the heart of the Nature Coast, a strong environmental education program would be a real asset, one that would mesh nicely with the growing eco-tourism business in Citrus County.
And maybe that program could be operated by two sibling schools that sit across the Salt River from each other on County Road 44. The question for school and community leaders now is how to make that happen.
Officials from the Academy of Environmental Science, the county's only charter school, and the Marine Science Station, a district facility that offered hands-on marine biology lessons for 34 years, met Thursday to start working out the details.
"We don't have any preconceived notions," said Bob Gill, president of the academy board of directors. "We do want it to be beneficial to all parties."
Funding was a major concern. The Marine Science Station is funded through state money the school district receives to educate students, pro-rated to its daily attendance of students. The academy earns a set amount per full-time student, and the board members said they don't have the resources to take on anything that is not self-sufficient.
Gill said that a merger could allow the two facilities to share some of the high-cost overhead such as space, equipment or boats. There could also be opportunities to bring more non-students into the equation.
Pat Purcell, director of the MSS, suggested the center could run environmental education programs for adults, who would pay a fee to attend. He noted that the lack of environmental knowledge among people retiring to the area from elsewhere is destructive.
"We have got to teach all the people in Florida, not just the students," he said.
The group also discussed ways to market the area and complained that the area's unique environmental features have not been sold well outside the county's borders.
"The administration of this county has got its head in the sand," said academy director Dick Blewett, noting the current discussion of disbanding the county's Eco-Tourism Committee.
A merger might also help relieve some of school system's high school space crunch, said Emily Kazemfar, a science teacher at the Withlacoochee Technical Institute who is also working with the School Board's facilities planning committee.
Purcell and academy teacher Lisa Merritt noted that there is not enough staff at either facility to do a more extensive high school program. Kazemfar replied that seeking ways to ease the space crunch is forcing the district to think about unique solutions.
Both Purcell and Merritt said they could use high school students at the academy to help teach younger students at the MSS or adults who might use the facilities.
"I can also see the Marine Science Station becoming a kind of feeder to the academy," Purcell said.
There was no consensus reached, and Gill said the academy board will discuss the various topics further at their next regular meeting. Whatever options emerge will be presented to the public for discussion, and a final decision will rest with the board of the academy and the School Board.