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School Programs At Odds

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By RONNIE BLAIR

rblair@tampatrib.com

Published: March 21, 2009

SAN ANTONIO - A year ago, it seemed the perfect match.

Two physical education teachers at San Antonio Elementary planned to start a before- and after-school program to provide a mixture of homework time, exercise time and child care.
Working parents liked the idea, mainly because homework would be completed by the time they picked up the children, giving everyone less stressful evenings.
School officials apparently liked it, too.

They suggested that J.J. Scaglione and Bobby Wade run the program at the school instead of at a church a few miles away, as originally planned.

The teachers agreed. Putting the program on campus eliminated the need to bus the children.

They dubbed the program Coaches' Training Camp, and all went well, Scaglione said, until an employee with the school district's Place program learned what was happening.

That, he said, is when trouble started.

Now the school district wants Coaches' Training Camp to move out and plans to replace it with Place, a district-sponsored before- and after-school child care program. San Antonio is one of the few elementary schools in Pasco that doesn't have Place, which stands for Pasco Learning and Activity Centers of Enrichment.

Some of the parents who use Coaches' Training Camp are steamed.

This week, they took their case to the Pasco County School Board.

"I think you are fixing something that isn't broken," said Sean Van Atter, a parent who circulated a petition in support of Coaches' Training Camp.

Van Atter said Coaches' Training Camp works well and Place is "nothing but a free-for-all."

School board members, already receiving e-mail and telephone calls from miffed parents, told district staff to slow down until they can gather more information.

"I don't want us to just slam the door on it," board member Allen Altman said.

They're The Same - Sort Of

In some ways, Coaches' Training Camp and Place are similar. Both provide before- and after-school child care in a school setting. Superintendent Heather Fiorentino said that puts the camp in direct conflict with Place.

San Antonio parents, though, say there is a difference. Coaches' Training Camp is run by certified teachers who provide homework help.
Scaglione and Wade said they don't plan to end their program. If it can't continue at the school, they will move it to the church.

Parent Kenneth Urbuteit told school board members that he and other parents will keep their children with the physical education teachers. As a result, Urbuteit said, Place isn't going to succeed at the school.

Board members said if the program is working the way the parents say, then it should be given a chance to continue. Barring that, improvements might need to be made to Place, using Coaches' Training Camp as a model, they said.

About 20 to 25 San Antonio Elementary students are enrolled in Place, but they are bused to Pasco Elementary School in Dade City, Principal Vanessa Hilton said.

Meanwhile, 39 students are in Coaches' Training Camp. Hilton said parents who use it like the safety, the convenience and the academic support students receive.

It's Been In Place Awhile

Assistant Superintendent Dave Scanga said putting a Place program at San Antonio Elementary isn't something that just came up. He said it has been in discussion for several years.

Place is operated at 39 of Pasco's 44 elementary schools.

Scanga said the two physical education teachers provide a good service but that it can be difficult to sustain such a teacher-run program because it requires the teachers to work their regular shift plus the additional hours for the camp.

The camp opens at 7 a.m., more than two hours before school starts, and closes at 6 p.m., more than two hours after the school day ends.

"They may get tired of working from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.," Scanga said.

The two teachers shrugged off the idea that the long hours might bother them. They used to run a landscaping company together, they said.

Scanga said parents he talked to said they like the program because their children do their homework there.

Scanga said that when he was the principal at Taylor Elementary School in Zephyrhills, that school's Place program had a help table where children did their homework.

"We can look at Place programs and make sure they meet the needs of the clientele they serve," he said.
Scaglione said he and Wade would be willing to operate their program as a Place program, but that option has not been offered.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218. Keyword: Tutor, to view more photos of Coaches' Training Camp.

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