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Pasco Schools Boss Says Strategic Barriers Beat Fence

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By RONNIE BLAIR | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 7, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - LAND O' LAKES - 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.

Assistant Superintendent Ray Gadd, who oversees the district's planning and new construction departments, said Starkey has a point.

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.

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.

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