Special to The Laker/Lutz News

By B.C. Manion

The children in Danielle Bockus’ second-grade class at Double Branch Elementary arrived at school 45 minutes early one recent day to accommodate a live video chat with a classroom they’ve befriended in England.

By coming in before the opening bell, the Wesley Chapel kids could link up electronically with the children in teacher Jacqui Johnson’s class at Eureka Primary in Derbyshire before those youngsters had to go home at the end of the school day.

Finding out about the five-hour time difference between the two schools is just one example of what the youngsters are learning as they connect in a program that uses technology to give a new twist to cultural exchanges.

In previous generations, when kids were learning about their counterparts in different parts of the world they would send bulky envelopes stuffed with letters, photographs and news articles.

In this program, the children from both schools are learning about each other through blogs, digital photos, videos and live chats.

They each will be working on videos that highlight a day in the life at their schools. They’re also using Google Earth to get to know a bit about each other’s geography.

Each of the children also will help to write an adventure story about this shared high-tech connection.

The kids already have written blog posts to compare their school lunches, chat about their school days and recount what they like about their schools.

In one blog post, Abbie L. Batchelor, at the Eureka Primary writes “at the start of the day (9 a.m.) we come to school and we have our register whilst we are writing some lovely letters.

“After that we like to perform our learning (I like art the best).

After their luscious lunch, she continues, “We play on our wicked playground” before finishing the day with 2 ¼ hours of learning.

Madison MacDiarmid, at Double Branch, notes in her blog post that the school has a big and a little playground.

“I love doing the monkey bars,” she writes. Her favorite part of the playground is where her friends can

spin her.

“Oh! I forgot something, I love playing in the spider web. You can climb in it.

“This is the best school,” the second-grader concludes.

During the live chat, both groups of children were shown on a white screen at the front of Bockus’ classroom.

Her students were wearing clothes in all sorts of styles. The English youngsters were all wearing red sweaters.

The kids were curious about each other.

“Are hot dogs a popular food?” asked Double Branch second-grader Scott Atkins.

“Yes!” the English class shouted in response.

How do you stay active? a student at Eureka asked.

The kids in Bockus’ class said they play baseball, softball, soccer and football, or to ride on a skateboard.

Johnson said her class wanted to know if any children in Bockus’ class had visited the Harry Potter attraction at the Universal Orlando resort, and she noted: “We’re very jealous.”

“The Harry Potter Village looks just like the movies,” Bockus said.

There were some technical glitches during the chat. The sound wasn’t loud enough sometimes and it cut out entirely at others. The images were often blurry, too.

But none of that seemed to matter to the kids or their teachers.

A number of guests dropped by Johnson’s class to check out the chat. “The whole school is so excited,” the teacher said.

At one point, they talked about their schools.

A Eureka Primary student told the kids at Double Branch about Eureka’s Golden Assembly that happens every Friday. One golden child is chosen from each classroom for achieving an accomplishment. That child gets to wear a special red cap.

Eureka Primary also has a vegetable garden and some badgers, Johnson reported.

Bockus shared some news about her school’s campus: “About once a year, we’ll get our alligator that will come and try to take a nap on our lawn. We have lots of snakes.”

The project seeks to help youngsters develop a global awareness and to gain a deeper appreciation for cultural differences, Bockus said.

It also is helping her students become better writers and communicators, Bockus said.

Another bonus: they’re improving their typing and computer skills, she said.

The collaboration is being achieved through Epals.com.

Bockus registered with the website in August, seeking a partner classroom for a project called “The Way We Are.”

Bockus said she learned about the electronic learning platform from Scott Atkins, assistant principal at Double Branch, who suggested she give it a try.

He’s pleased that she did.

Getting acquainted with other cultures is key, said Atkins, whose son is in Bockus’ class.

“These kids are going to be competing globally,” he said.

By Kyle LoJacono

When fans of the Gaither High baseball team pack their home stadium this season, they will be watching the Cowboys play on the No. 1 high school field in America.

Gaither’s field earned the Turface Field Maintenance Award as the No. 1 playing surface by the American Baseball Coaches Association. Cowboys’ 26-year coach Frank Permuy received the award in January, an honor he and the team relish.

“We pride ourselves on our playing surface,” said Permuy, the only baseball coach in Gaither’s history. “I got the call and they said to me I should come to the award ceremony because we won. It was a surprise because we know our field is good, but this means we’re the best. The kids really take pride in the field.”

Current Gaither principal Marie Whelan is a Cowboys graduate and remembers watching games on the newly awarded top field.

“I remember watching those games all the time and it was always great to sit in the bleachers,” Whelan said. “It’s a real honor to be named the best field in America. It shows the work they put into it. Coach P makes sure they know how important it is to work on the field before and after every game and practice.”

Permuy said the coaching staff puts an emphasis on keeping the field up to the best standards.

“It’s like a part of our practice to keep the field looking good,” said junior starting pitcher Alex Milne.

The award did not come as a shock to senior right fielder and pitcher Zach Jackson.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” Jackson said. “I look around and see everything we’ve done to make this field the best. We take a lot of pride in having a great place to play baseball.”

Sophomore shortstop Oscar Mercado was born in Columbia and is happy to be playing on the well-kept field in northern Hillsborough County.

“I come from a country where we have bad turf,” said Mercado, who moved to this country at age 8. “This is great. There aren’t any bad hops.”

The award comes with one ton of playing Turface, the material that helps dry the infield, and $400 to help with maintenance costs.

The field was also recently honored as the third best overall high school stadium by the Baseball Coaches Association.

“And we think we can get better,” Permuy said. “We’ll be doing some work on the field in the next few years. We’ll be replacing the wood poles with metal or concrete ones in 2012 and we’re doing some other things to make it better.”

Permuy said drainage in right field has been a problem for years and they are looking into ways to make that better.

Gaither’s baseball field has always been in the same place, right by the northwest side of the football stadium. It is 360 feet to center field and 340 and 330 to the left and right field lines respectively.

On the eight-foot high outfield wall are the program’s retired numbers. Chad Zerbe and Kevin Cash each wore No. 12. Zerbe was a relief pitcher in MLB, while Cash is still a catcher in the professional ranks. The two 12s flank Permuy’s own No. 7, which was retired in 2009.

“I love everything about coaching here,” Permuy said. “We’ve got a great field, the best field, and we’ll keep it the best for our fans to come watch us each year.”

Gaither’s first home game is part of the Saladino Pre-Season Tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 8 against Wharton at 4 p.m. The first home district contest is against Hillsborough High on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.

Denham Oaks students also help American Heart Association

By Kyle LoJacono

For the second straight year, Denham Oaks Elementary students took up jump ropes to learn healthy life habits and raise money for the American Heart Association.

“We want to teach the kids how to live a healthy lifestyle,” said Denham Oaks physical education teacher Mary Jane Kranendonk. “During P.E. they did several jump rope related activities to get them moving and their hearts pumping.”

The event ran from Jan. 24-Feb. 4 during regular P.E. periods for all 816 students at Denham Oaks. It included such activities as standard jump rope, jumping rope on one foot, jumping a hula hoop like a jump rope and team jump rope.

The students also filled out a heart-shaped piece of paper with the name of the person they were honoring by doing the exercises.

In addition, the kids went out and collected donations for the American Heart Association. Kranendonk, along with Debbie Smith and Diane Forrester, showed proper technique for the various events, but also explained the good they were doing with the money.

“Last year we collected $7,500, but that was with our health fair that we didn’t do this year,” Forrester said. “We told them they were helping people with heart problems and making their own hearts stronger.”

Kranendonk said the event raised $4,000 this year.

First grader K.J. Campbell said making the donations is something he likes doing.

“We need to jump rope to get money for people with heart problems,” Campbell said. “… I like the jump roping too.”

Fellow Dragons first-grader Kayla Bonilla likes a different jumping activity the best.

“Hopscotch,” Bonilla said. “I really like hopscotch.”

Along with the heart-healthy activities, the kids had added incentive to bring in donations. Anyone who raised at least $40 got to be a part of a sliming party. Denham Oaks administration and Kranendonk had slime dumped on them by those in the $40 club. Last year, kids got to duct tape them to a wall.

“I want to dump slime on them too,” said Tyler Rankin earlier in the week. “That’ll be fun.”

For more information on the event, visit www.heart.org.

Higher fees likely cause for shrinking membership

By Kyle LoJacono

Increased fees kept after-school programs in Hillsborough County alive the last two years, but that price increase might end the day care option.

Two years ago, about 6,000 children went to after-school programs at county parks, but today that number has been cut by two-thirds and now sits at around 2,000. During the same time span, the number of students in a similar program from the Hillsborough School District has seen its membership jump from 4,000 to 10,000 children.

“If our partners, like the school system and the YMCA, are able to supply equal or better services to the county, we need to take a look at that and possibly change the structure of the program,” said county commissioner Kevin Beckner.

The suggestion by Beckner is the parks department could do away with the after-school program, shifting the children to either the YMCA or school’s equivalent.

“I think we’d need to bring on a few new people, but we should be able to handle the increase if needed,” said Hillsborough School spokeswoman Linda Cobbe. “Hopefully the kids would be somewhat spread out because if they’re all from the same area, it would be difficult.”

The cost for a week in a Hillsborough after-school program is $48 per week, but that number can be reduced to $10 for needy families. Two years ago the fee was $20 for a week. Mark Thornton, parks department director, said the cost for a week at either the YMCA or the Hillsborough School District’s after-school program is also $48.

“It’s not like our price is out of line,” Thornton said.

Hillsborough Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department spokesman John Brill said while the numbers have dropped significantly, other areas have remained consistent.

“The numbers seem to be much lower in the urban areas like in Tampa, but they’ve remained closer to normal in the suburbs,” Brill said.

Brill did not know why the numbers have remained somewhat flat in the suburbs, such as at Nye Park in Lutz. Carol Legan, Nye Park’s director and recreation specialist, said the numbers for the summer program dropped from 125 in 2009 to 118 in 2010. The difference in the after-school program has been similar.

“We were in survival mode last year with the budget crisis,” Brill said. “The department was just trying to stay afloat. At all our budget meetings, the people who attended said they favored fees over closing parks and reducing services. The higher fee is letting us offer the same good after-school programs to county residents.”

The current after-school program costs about $7 million per year. County administrator Mike Merrill recently stated that is too expensive to keep going under the current budget conditions. Merrill said recent projections for property value suggest Hillsborough will be facing a $65 million shortfall for the next fiscal year.

This stark budget reality comes when numbers in the county school’s after-school programs is booming.

County commissioners will continue to discuss budget possibilities leading up to the new fiscal year, which starts in the fall. For more information on Hillsborough parks, visit www.hillsboroughcounty.org/parks.

By B.C. Manion

The recession may be officially over, but it will take quite some time before the recovery begins to be felt locally, a Florida economist said during a recent Business Development Week luncheon at the Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club in San Antonio.

“We are going to sputter along for the next year,” predicted Chris Jones, president of Florida Economic Advisors LLC, and an adjunct professor for the University of South Florida.

“The days of 4 percent unemployment and 2 percent inflation may be behind us for a good long while,” Jones said.

Pasco County’s unemployment rate continues to exceed the national average; the national rate is 9 percent, while Pasco’s stands at 13 percent.

Regionally, 30 percent of the state’s job losses occurred in the Interstate 4 corridor, Jones said.

When it comes to the economy, “we tend to get really myopic and short-sighted,” he said.

“We have to understand the long-term, if we’re going to understand how the business cycle ebbs and flows,” he added.

Recessions are nothing new. The nation has encountered them and emerged from them before, Jones reminded the crowd

“It’s all part of the business cycle. We will come out of it. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when and how strong,” he said.

In this particular recession, Florida is in worse shape than the nation as a whole, he said.

Besides its high unemployment, the state’s real estate sector also is digging out of a big hole, he said. “Our back is not broken, but it is kind of crushed.”

“We became prosperous because people moved here,” said Jones, an economic development consultant whose experience includes working with public sector and private clients.

“As a state, we’re not as cheap. That used to be one of the driving factors,” Jones said.

The reductions in values caused by the recession are making the market more attractive again for investors, he said.

“We are becoming a more affordable market again — not only from the residential but also from the commercial side, as well,” he said.

The state is fortunate that Amendment 4 didn’t pass, Jones said, referring to a constitutional amendment that would have required voters to approve changes to local comprehensive plans.

That change would have created too much uncertainty for investors and they would have taken their business elsewhere, Jones said.

Competition for investors also has become much more fierce, Jones said.

It’s no longer just an issue of competing with other states and regions — it’s a much broader competition now, Jones said.

“We’re competing with every other economic entity. We’re competing with every other piece of dirt on the planet,” he said.

Jones said the state’s job growth has always been tied to tourism and real estate.

He expects to see tourism rebound before real estate.

When it comes to housing starts, he said, “that’s a big climb from a real steep drop.”

The state does have a few things working in its favor. For one thing, “Gov. (Rick) Scott is seen as pro-growth,” he said.

For another, the state could benefit significantly from a proposed light rail project between Tampa and Orlando.

The federal government has agreed to pay for the lion’s share of the project, but Scott has not yet decided whether the state will pursue the project.

Tampa attorney Ron Weaver asked Jones what argument could be used to persuade the governor to accept the federal funds and proceed with light rail.

“I don’t think he’s got anything better up his sleeve for a job generator,” Jones said.

“Light rail is really important,” Jones said. “The bottom line is that this project (light rail) will create jobs and it will create interest in that corridor.”

Jones said he’s not aware of anything else that will generate as many jobs in as short of time.

2011 economic projections

R. Christopher Jones made these predictions for the national economy in 2011:

— Gross Domestic Product will grow by 3 percent.

— Unemployment will decrease, but will remain around 9 percent

— The stock markets will grow by 6 percent to 8 percent

— Inflationary pressures will be felt in the second half of 2011

School outgrows the former Idlewild Baptist Church

By B.C. Manion

Carrollwood Day School has broken ground on a new elementary school and is set to make considerable renovations to the main building on its Bearss Avenue campus to create a permanent home for its high school.

The school, at 1515 W. Bearss Ave., had a groundbreaking ceremony Jan. 21 to celebrate the first phase of the school’s projects which are expected to be completed within eight months.

The existing 32,000-square-foot school building will be enlarged to 45,000 square feet to accommodate the school’s high school students. The renovated structure will be shared by the high school and middle school, and the portable classroom buildings, now housing the high school will be removed, said Shannon Gauthier, marketing director for Carrollwood Day School.

The expanded space includes additional second floor space and a new theater/auditorium. It also includes state-of-the-art science and language labs, arts and humanities spaces.

“This whole thing came about because our high school took off so well,” Gauthier said, referring to the school’s high school program that began in 2006. The school wants the new space to be able to accommodate a high school of 400 students, 100 at each grade level.

The new elementary school, for students in grades one through five, will be 35,000 square feet. Beyond classrooms, it will integrate the latest technology to encourage collaborative work among children in different classrooms.

The school also has an early childhood center at 12606 Casey Road, which educates children age 2 through kindergarten.

The early childhood and upper school campuses serve students from Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties.

The school has raised $2.5 million of the $8 million needed for phase one of its campus expansion. It has secured a loan for the improvements from TD Bank.

Other planned Bearss campus improvements include renovation of the middle school space and the addition of a gymnasium, tennis courts and a baseball field. No timetable has been set yet for those projects, Gauthier said.

Construction on phase one has been scheduled in such a way that it minimizes impacts on school operations.

Carrollwood Day School has been recognized nationally for its academic excellence and its quest to educate the whole child. It was the first school on the west coast of Florida to be authorized by the International Baccalaureate Organization to offer the Primary Years Programme for students through grade five, the IB Middle Years Programme, implemented in grades six through 10 and the IB Diploma Programme for students in grades 11 and 12.

By B.C. Manion

Shawn Campbell can relate to the old saying that “Necessity is the mother of invention.”

The Lutz man was inspired by a problem that popped up when his youngest son, Owen, was about 21 months old.

The toddler had discovered how to take off his diaper — unfortunately, the little boy was not yet potty trained, so he was leaving big messes all over the house.

It was not a happy development.

Campbell was at his wit’s end trying to solve the problem.

“I went online and I couldn’t find anything,” he said.

He looked for companies and checked mommy blogs to see if there was a product that could help him solve his dilemma.

The only suggestion he found was duct tape.

He used it, but getting the duct tape off of the diaper turned out to be a different kind of problem. He could cut the tape off, but he was concerned about using scissors so close to his squirming son.

So, he came up with his own solution. He calls it the Diaper Belt.

The belt has Velcro backing that adheres to the diaper.

It’s easy to use. It is simply wrapped around the baby’s diaper. It covers the diaper’s release tabs at the front of the diaper, so that a child can’t take off his diaper. It has a release tab at the back, so parents can take off the belt and use it again.

Owen was potty-trained shortly after he began wearing a Diaper Belt, Campbell said.

He credits his invention for helping to shorten the time it took to potty train his son.

Instead of taking his diaper off when he wanted to go and then going wherever he wanted, Owen would approach Campbell, or his wife, Caroline, to have one of them take off his diaper so he could go to the bathroom.

They would then use that opportunity to give Owen additional potty training.

Campbell has submitted a patent for his Diaper Belt, and he envisions a day when the product, bearing a picture of his son, will be sold in the diaper aisle in retail outlets throughout the world.

He makes this pitch for his product on his website: “Stop the madness. Stop the messes. Stop using duct tape.”

The Diaper Belt comes in pink or blue and sells for $4.95 each.

Campbell hopes to reduce the price to $2.95 at some point, but needs volume sales to do that.

He’s pleased with the fact that he has taken his idea and turned it into a product, but he still has a long way to go to make his venture a success.

He’s still looking for investors and for major retail outlets to stock the Diaper Belt.

Despite the many challenges, Campbell is confident.

“I know there are millions of parents with the same problem out there. It’s a simple solution to a common problem.”

For more information about Campbell’s invention go to www.diaperbelt.com or call Campbell at (813) 765-0004.