Congratulations to Hillsborough County, which has now opened the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant outdoor playground at the new Cross Creek Recreation Center, adjacent to Pride Elementary.
Although the 16,000-sq.-ft. indoor rec center, with basketball courts, a fitness room and several multi-purpose classrooms/meeting rooms is not yet under way, the parkâs new playground facilities are now open and, as you can see from the faces of the kids who came out after school at Pride ended on the day photographer Charmaine George visited, the new equipment is definitely welcome.
County officials say that up next for the outdoor portion of the new $8.7-million rec center is some much-needed shade as we head into the scorching heat of Floridaâs always-early summer season.
In addition to the coverage of the playground area, Phase II of the park also will include rest rooms, a walking path, a covered pavilion and improvements to the outdoor basketball court.
At our press time, we had not heard back from the county about when the indoor rec center will begin going vertical, but the last we heard, it was expected to open this fall. â Gary Nager
Pride Elementary principal Paulette English (left) with Pride media specialist and 2024 Hillsborough County Public Schoolsâ Ida S. Baker Diversity Educator of the Year award finalist Suzy Tkacik in the schoolâs Media Center. (Photo provided by Hillsborough County Public Schools)
Among more than 200 nominations for the 2024 Hillsborough County Ida S. Baker Diversity Educator of the Year award, just four finalists were selected.
And, although she didn’t end up winning the award, one of those four standout District-wide educators/finalists was Pride Elementary media specialist Suzy Tkacik.
âMrs. Tkacik is deserving of this recognition because she positively influences every student, teacher, support person, district worker, and visitor who comes our way,â says Pride principal Paulette English. âShe is enthusiastic, creative, motivating, and kind. Because of her leadership and love for students, our Media Center is a cheerful, well-organized, welcoming environment, and always buzzing with happy students, teachers and volunteers.â
The Ida S. Baker Diversity Educator of the Year is one of three awards given out each year by the Hillsborough Education Foundation, in partnership with Hillsborough County Public Schools.
According to the Foundationâs website, the award is named after Ida S. Baker, who became the first African-American to serve as Deputy Superintendent for the Florida Department of Education (DoE), after she also was the founding principal of Cape Coral High and the first-ever Black high school principal in Lee County. Baker was known for her efforts to support diverse students and encourage academic success. After her passing in 1992, the DoE created this statewide award in her honor.
Each school in Hillsborough County may nominate one teacher who, âembodies the pioneering spirit of Ida S. Baker by going above and beyond to meet the needs of our diverse student population.â
Suzy says she loves being the media specialist at Pride, where most of the schoolâs families come from other countries.
âAbout 60 percent of our families are from India, and then we have students from China, South America, Africa, Europe, Eastern Europe and others,â she says. âIâve gotten to meet students from all around the world.â
She says that once she meets a student, she tries very hard to remember his or her name. âWe have students who have more than 20 characters in their first name alone,â she says. âI take a lot of time to learn their names and learn how to pronounce them. It matters a great deal to me.â
And then, she also makes sure that every student is represented in the Media Centerâs library by the books and materials that are available to them.
She says she recently had a seven-year-old ask for a book about her home country of Jordan. Since there wasnât one already in the library, Suzy found one to be added to the collection. When it arrived in the Media Center last week, Suzy says the girlâs eyes just lit up.
âThatâs Amman!,â she says the girl exclaimed as she flipped through the pages. âThatâs my city!â
Suzy says the wonderful diversity of her school has had a deep impact on her.
She thinks back to last fall, when she challenged her students to share information about the Hindu festival of Diwali on the schoolâs morning show. Suzy says she learned about the ways Diwali is celebrated by many of the schoolâs families who are from India. While itâs a common holiday to celebrate, each family has different traditions and some even have different beliefs about the origin of Diwali.
âWhen I get to hear their stories of their rich backgrounds, I want to soak it all in,â Suzy says. âThey teach me more than anything.â
Suzy has been the media specialist at Pride since she launched her second career 15 years ago. Before that, she earned a degree in public relations and journalism. She says once her children â who are now 28, 25, and 22 â started school, she âdiscovered school libraries and what cool places they areâ and returned to college to earn a Master of Arts (M.S.) degree in Library Information science from University of South Florida (USF).
For the last 15 years, she says she has been surrounded by fantastic educators who do an amazing job of maintaining Prideâs âAâ rating year after year.
âI donât have a degree in education,â Suzy says, âso everything Iâve learned about being an educator has been from watching my great colleagues. Itâs a team effort.â
Unfortunately for the timing of our Feb. 6 New Tampa issue, Hillsborough Countyâs 2024 Excellence in Education Awards Gala was held on Feb. 1, after that issue went to press. The Ida S. Baker Award winner this year was Dr. Ilfaut Joseph of Jennings Middle School. The other two annual awards announced at the Excellence in Education program on Feb. 1 were the 2024 Teacher of the Year Dr. Clayton Nylund of Blake High and Instructional Support Employee of the Year Maria Ortiz of Temple Terrace Elementary
All 11 schools in New Tampa submitted a nominee in each of the three categories. But this year, Suzy was the only New Tampa nominee to be chosen as a finalist in any category. âOur amazing Mrs. Tkacik wears lots of hats and is many things to many people,â English says. âShe makes every child feel special and makes everyone she works with feel valued and appreciated.â
At a June 7 meeting at Pride Elementary, (l.-r.) Pride principal Paulette English, Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, Hillsborough School Board member Jessica Vaughn and School District director of operations Chris Farkas discussed transportation issues at Pride with about 30 concerned parents. (All Photos by Charmaine George).
District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera takes pride in his ability to organize public town hall-style meetings and bring folks together, apparently even when the city isnât the primary focus of the meeting.
Case in point: Viera contacted District 3 Hillsborough School Board member Jessica Vaughn because a number of residents of K-Bar Ranch had contacted him about transportation issues at Pride Elementary and he felt a public meeting would help at least shed light on some of the concerns of these local residents (including some who live in the Hillsborough County-based developments of Cross Creek and Live Oak Preserve) to work on issues like buses, long pick-up and drop-off queues at Pride and the safety of the students, parents and staff at the school.
Vaughn agreed, and on June 7, about 30 Pride parents and local residents attended a meeting at the school hosted by Viera, Vaughn, Pride principal Paulette English and the director of operations for the Hillsborough School District Chris Farkas. Also on hand were Rich Reedy, the legislative aide to Hillsborough County District 2 commissioner (and Board chair) Ken Hagan, as well as the School Districtâs general manager for transportation Laura Hill.Â
The residents in attendance were mainly from a group of at least 45 Pride parents who live in the Andover Place apartments, which are located just under two miles from Pride and who had emailed Farkas because they all have to drive their children who attend Pride to school. The reason? As Vaughn explained during her opening comments, a new law passed by the state legislature dictates that students who live closer than two miles to their school are not eligible to be bused.
Vaughn also explained that the issue these parents have been experiencing is common throughout the District at many other schools. Meanwhile, Farkas said that although it is possible for the District to âcharterâ a bus for a specific group, âthere is a huge shortage of bus drivers throughout the District. Weâre about 275 drivers short right now, and we only receive about $30 million of the $64 million the District spends on transportation from the state, or about 41 cents of every dollar. The rest has to come from the Districtâs general fund, which is the same pot of money used to pay teachers, aides and staff.â
Farkas also noted that hiring additional drivers has been a priority for the District, but âwhen Pinellas County Schools pays their drivers about $4 more per hour than we do, itâs hard to attract more.â
He added, âIf enough parents are willing to share the cost of that additional bus, it is possible we could at least look into it.â
Farkas also noted that Hill is responsible for the plan of how to get all bused students to and from school on time, âand we already have to drop kids off at Pride and then the driver has to go right back out and pick up the second group of kids and drop off again.â The buses also have to drop off the first set of kids at home and return to school to then drop off the second group in the afternoon, too.
âThat creates another problem,â Farkas said. âIf we have to have a third set of kids picked up and dropped off by that same bus, how early in the morning would the first set of kids have to be dropped off at Pride in order for all three busloads get to school on time each day?â
Parents who are driving their kids to school are not allowed to leave them there until 7 a.m., English said. And, Farkas added, âif a bus had to drop off the first âloadâ of kids at 6:30, we would have to make sure that there was proper supervision for those kids to keep them safe. So, as you can see, itâs a logistical problem for us. Itâs not an impossible one to work out, but it is an issue.â
Rec Center To Help?
County Commissioner Ken Haganâs legislative aide Rich Reedy (far left) discusses transportation issues at Pride Elementary with members of the community at the June 7 meeting.
Reedy mentioned that he believes the new indoor county recreation center now in the planning stages adjacent to Pride would actually help with the number of parents currently queuing in line at the end of each school day once it opens â in 2024 â âbecause we will have additional parking over what currently is available (on a gravel parking area at Kinnan Park) at that site.â English said that the parking lot for that new rec center also would need to be available for Pride parents in the morning, or the parent queue would be even worse before school starts.
Reedy said he didnât see why that would be a problem for the county.
âWe already do a lot of co-locating with the School District at other locations,â he said. âPlus, the rec center would not be in use during school hours, so I canât imagine that would be an issue.â
Others in attendance also wanted the panel to find ways for the county, city and school district to address speeding on KInnan St., including adding more street lights, cameras and even, possibly, a roundabout where Kinnan meets Bassett Creek Dr.
The panel also said that local residents should write to their elected state legislators â State Senator Danny Burgess and State Rep. Fentrice Driskell â to help address the two-mile-radius law and the lack of proper state funding for public schools. Viera said he feels that because of Floridaâs private school voucher system, âpublic education has been abandoned by our state legislature.â Â Â
A potential recreation center at Cross Creek Park near Pride Elementary would likely be modeled after the Northdale Park & Recreation Center (above), Northdale, with indoor basketball/volleyball/pickleball courts and meeting rooms, as well as outdoor courts and a splash pad. (Photos: Charmaine George)
New Tampa does not lack for amenities, but if you donât live in one of the many gated communities, your chances of actually using them usually depends upon an invite from someone who does.
Aside from being a member of the New Tampa YMCA or living in Cory Lake Isles, Arbor Greene, Hunterâs Green, Pebble Creek, Tampa Palms or West Meadows, it can sometimes be tough to find a place to play.
If District 2 Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan gets his way, however, there will be another option available.
The county is about to begin, according to the commissioner, the process of building the first public gymnasium at Cross Creek Park in New Tampa, adjacent to Pride Elementary and just off Kinnan St.
While New Tampa has a YMCA (which requires a membership to use) and the New Tampa Recreation Center (which is tailored towards dance and gymnastics), there is no indoor gym or recreation center that caters to basketball, volleyball and pickleball players, to name a few sports that Hagan envisions being played in the new facility.
âWe have the Y, we have some school gyms and the city has the gymnastics center, but this will be the first gym thatâs open to the public,â Hagan says. âThis would fill a much-needed void that exists in New Tampa.â
The facility would be modeled after the other gymnasiums built by the county, and Hagan says it would likely compare to the Northdale Park & Recreation Center in Carrollwood. It would include multipurpose indoor courts and meeting rooms.
Currently, Cross Creek Park has a playground, a small pavilion area, two basketball courts that are showing their age, and two baseball fields that have not been manicured in years â the dirt on the fields is mostly overgrown with grass. There are no bathrooms (one portable potty, sometimes two, fill that need) or water fountains. It remains, popular, however, on the weekends.
The entire park would be upgraded. The baseball fields might be built over, and a new playground and updated outdoor basketball courts could be part of the package.
âWeâre looking at doing a splash pad there as well,â Hagan says. âAnd the parking lot would be upgraded, which would improve access to the school.â
Hagan said while the facility would also provide morning programs for seniors, open basketball and volleyball play in the evenings and plenty of league play as well, the proximity to Pride also would open the center up for after-school and summer programs.
Hagan says one of the park directors with the county told him, âTrust me, it will be at capacity the day it opens.â
Hagan says he has secured $1.5 million for the project, and is looking at the rest of the funding to come from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) federal funding. Hillsborough County received $285 million from the federal program.
âI anticipate it being fully funded this year and ideally breaking ground in the summer or fall,â he said.
The county could begin community outreach and virtual public meetings about the project sometime this month or next.
*Every New Tampa school had the same grade for 2018-19 as it did the previous school year, with the exception of Hunterâs Green Elementary, which improved to a âBâ grade after four straight years of âCâ grades.
*New Tampa had six schools earn âAâ grades, two that earned B grades and three earned C grades.
*Chiles Elementary was the only New Tampa school to score higher than 80 in English Language Arts (ELA), Math and Science Achievement.
*Pride Elementary earned the best score among our schools for ELA Achievement (86), while Chiles was tops in Math (85) and Science (85).
*Chiles is now 17-for-17 in earning an A grade from the state.
*However, Benito Middle School, Pride and Clark elementaries all have the longest current streak of âAâ grades â 18 straight years, dating back to 2002.
* Freedom and Wharton high schools were both âCâ schools for the fourth straight year.
* Did you know that from 2008-10, every elementary and middle school in New Tampa earned A grades?