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Shaded PE Area Low Priority But Proponents Say Students Need the Protection

Posted on: Friday, 7 October 2005, 18:00 CDT

By MARY MARAGHY and BETH REESE-CRAVEY

Giant green canopies protect Fleming Island Elementary School sixth-graders from the afternoon sun as they play volleyball during gym class.

Clay County's 22 public elementary schools do not have gymnasiums, necessitating that physical education classes be held outdoors.

Fleming Island is one of six elementary schools with a shaded physical education area, most of which are purchased through parental efforts.

Fleming Island's $30,000 pavilion was bought with parent-faculty association and internal school funds, Principal Lynda Braxton said.

Some teachers and parents insist the shade-making amenities are necessary to protect students from heat and sun exposure, especially during the first few months of school.

But the Clay County public school system won't be building them anytime soon, as they continue the struggle to provide classrooms for the burgeoning student population.

School Board chairwoman Carol Studdard said all Clay County schools would have them if the district could afford them.

"There is a not a person sitting up here who would not like to put covered playgrounds at every school. We would love to do it," she said. "We have to prioritize where the need is."

Covered physical education areas are not included in the Clay County School Board's newly adopted educational facilities plan, which lists all new construction, additions and renovations planned for the next five years.

Board member Wayne Bolla asked why.

"It is something, I think, kids need," said Bolla, questioning why parking projects would take precedent.

The plan includes $850,000 for three school parking projects in 2005-06.

Parking area funding was a priority for Doctors Inlet and Orange Park elementaries and Bannerman Learning Center because of safety issues and cramped conditions, said Mike Elliott, assistant superintendent for support services. At Doctors Inlet Elementary, for instance, limited parking forces traffic out in front of the school at student drop-off and pick-up times, causing traffic backups on already congested County Road 220, he said.

Covered physical education areas, said Elliott and other board members, have not reached the same priority status.

"These are hard choices. . . . We just have to whittle away [at districtwide needs]," he said. "It is a matter of trying to use limited resources to maximum affect."

Meanwhile, Lakeside Elementary School is struggling to put a roof over its basketball court.

"Raise the Roof," the school's 2-year-old campaign to raise $68,000 is half over, but coffers remain about $44,500 short of the goal, said physical education teacher Kim Tracanna-Breault who recently sent letters to businesses in hopes of boosting donations.

"Let's work together on this campaign to provide an area for our kids to play in the shade during the extreme heat," she said, adding that sun exposure and ultraviolet rays can be dangerous for students, especially during the first few months of school.

Parent David Reagan has long blasted the board for not building a covered physical education area when it built Argyle Elementary School, which opened in August.

"I still hold them accountable," he said.mary.maraghy@jacksonville.com,(904) 278-9487 extension 19.SHADED SCHOOLS

The following elementary schools have covered physical education areas, mainly purchased by parent donations and internal school funds: Fleming Island, Lake Asbury, RideOut, Swimming Pen Creek, Tynes and W.E. Cherry.

Source: Florida Times Union

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