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School Fencing Is An Eyesore, Official Says

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By RONNIE BLAIR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 3, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - Kathryn Starkey, the Pasco County School Board chairwoman and a leading proponent of school aesthetics, isn't pleased with all the chain-link fences enclosing public schools.

Starkey says schools rely too much on the fences for safety and to direct foot and vehicular traffic, resulting in downright ugly campuses.

"I feel they are way overused in our school district," Starkey said. "Instead of strategic barriers to keep kids from running into a busy road, they have become ugly visual barriers wrapped all around the school."

Starkey said there are better ways to make schools safe, such as video cameras linked to law enforcement offices, school buildings built with an interior courtyard where most of the student movement takes place, and natural barriers for controlling the flow of traffic.

"There are some appropriate places for chain-link fences, but we have gone fence crazy," Starkey said.

Assistant Superintendent Ray Gadd, who oversees the district's planning and new construction departments, said Starkey has a point. Historically, though, the district has found the answers aren't always simple when it comes to fences.

"You find that various individuals have different levels of tolerance for what they perceive to be safety issues," Gadd said.

Some parents express concern when there is no fence, Gadd said. When they drop their children off at the school, they want to know someone can't just traipse onto the campus, he said.

In some cases, schools have no choice. The district is required to erect fences in certain locations, such as around retention ponds.

Natural barriers are a good alternative for fencing in some situations, but have their own drawbacks. A hedgerow might be more appealing visually than a chain-link fence, but a hedge near the building also provides a hiding place, Gadd said.

"The challenge for us is finding the balance between keeping children safe and making our schools inviting," Gadd said.

A Record Of Beautification

Starkey long has been an advocate of making communities aesthetically pleasing. Before she was elected to the school board in 2004, she was involved with Scenic Pasco, a group that worked with government, community and business leaders to enhance the visual appearance of the county.

She also battled for stricter regulations on existing billboards and a ban on new ones in 1999.

Starkey's family developed Longleaf, a community that attempts to capture a traditional small-town America feel, with a village green, front porches and picket fences.

Inside that community sits Longleaf Elementary, a public school that employs more chain-link fencing than Starkey is comfortable with. She bemoaned the chain-link fence added this year along the edge of the parking lot. The bus loop also is bounded by a chain-link fence on either side.

Principal Arlene Bodden said safety is the reason for all the fencing on the campus.

The school has always had a 6-foot fence around the playground to keep the children secure. That fence is made even more important by the fact Longleaf Elementary has a center for autistic children.

"They have a tendency to run," Bodden said.

The fence along the bus loop is necessary to prevent children from wandering into a reservoir, she said. The newest fence along the parking lot was added because parents were walking across the parking lot and crossing in front of cars lined up in the drop-off area.

Unlike some schools, though, Longleaf has no fence across the front of the school, Bodden said.

She said the district's safety staff suggested she put up additional fencing to block the school's outdoor hallways, but she has resisted. Some schools put up gates across open entryways to force everyone to come through the office.

She said her staff is good about noticing people without visitors' tags and directing them to the office to check in.

"I've held back on some of these things because we are in a safe community," Bodden said. "But if it came to me that was a safety issue, that would be the next step."

The district has tried to improve the appearance at some schools by using a chain-link fence with a black coating, Gadd said. Longleaf Elementary uses the black fences, and Bodden said the result looks less prison-like than the more typical silver.

Curb Appeal

Starkey said one of the more visually appealing schools is Pasco Middle, where there is no fencing. Even though the Dade City school has other problems and is slated for major renovations, the lack of fencing creates an open and inviting ambiance, she said.

"It is absolutely beautiful and really fits into the community," Starkey said.

She also admires Blake High School in Hillsborough County, which has no fencing in front and what she describes as "unobtrusive gates" that block the parking lot. Attractive wooden barriers help direct the flow of pedestrian traffic, Starkey said.

The district has no one-size-fits-all policy for fences. Many campuses have a fence around the perimeter of the property, but beyond that how much additional fencing is required often is left to the discretion of the principal.

A principal who identifies a safety problem can put in a work order requesting a fence, Gadd said.

A fence can help funnel traffic - both vehicular and pedestrian - in a direction the principal wants, but the downside is a campus can end up with multiple layers of fencing, Gadd said.

"Some of our principals do err on the side of safety," he said.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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