School district expects to serve many displaced students
By Kyle LoJacono
The Hillsborough Commission has eliminated the after-school program at the county’s parks, forcing parents and guardians of more than 1,800 kids to find alternative care.
The move, approved July 27, will save the county $7.5 million and will help plug the $50 million hole in Hillsborough’s budget for next year. Commissioners Les Miller, Ken Hagan and Victor Crist, who represents District 2 including Lutz and Odessa, voted against the cut.
Participation in the program, such as one at Nye Park in Lutz, has decreased in the last few years. The numbers topped out two years ago when 6,000 kids were enrolled. While participation has dropped, the cost has remained about the same because of insurances rates and salaries.
“The reason we’re sitting here is the business model doesn’t work, and hasn’t worked for years,” said Commissioner Mark Sharpe. “We maintained it because we had the resources and people were comfortable with the ways we were doing things.”
While the participation has dropped by more than one third in the parks’ program, enrollment in the Hillsborough County Public Schools version, called HOST, has jumped from 4,000 to 8,000 in those same two years.
District spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said HOST could add most of the 1,800 children to the school’s program without too much difficulty.
Parks department director Mark Thornton added the cost for a week of after-school care is the same at the school and park programs.
“It is also the same for a week at the YMCA,” Thornton said. “It’s $48, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a good place for kids to go after school.”
The three commissioners that opposed the move stated they do not believe it would be as easy to find quality after-school care as Thornton makes it out.
“We should be talking about high-quality recreation and I think we have reduced it to the issue of money,” Miller said. He added the need to make sure the kids have healthy place to play and do homework after school.
Gwen Luney, assistant school superintendent for student services and federal programs, told commissioners HOST has a healthy snack program to make sure the kids are eating right. They also offer help with homework and get “physical exercise every day.
“They aren’t just sitting in a school cafeteria for hours after school waiting for their parents to pick them up,” Luney continued.
While the after-school program is being eliminated, 11 regional parks will continue to be staffed. Workers will be shifted away from 31 other locations, leaving them without permanent employees as a cost-cutting measure.
“That can serve as after-school programs for many of the kids,” Hagan said. “Those workers will be doing much of what they did with the old program. They will just be concentrated at 11 parks.”
Not all the workers will have a job under the new system, as 64 full-time and a yet to be determined number of part-time employees will lose their positions because the program was cut.
For more information on Hillsborough parks, visit www.hillsboroughcounty.org/parks.
HOST Program
Hillsborough County Public Schools offers HOST after-school programs at all public schools in the Lutz area. Visit http://host.mysdhc.org for more information.
