Proposal To Cut After-School Rec Programs Raises Parents’ Ire

Residents at the June 8 meeting to discuss the proposal to cut Hillborough County's after-school progams at recreation centers drew impassioned pleas from parents to think again.

So much so that parents beseeched each other to make their voice heard with Hillsborough County Commissioners in the days and weeks ahead as the county's spending plan for 2011-12 takes shape and gets enacted.

"I'm livid, beyond livid," said Michelle Imhoff, whose analysis of facts and figures appeared to be well-grounded, and based, she said, on a similar proposal two years ago to cut back on county recreation after-school programs.

Imhoff took issue with findings that were presented by Bobbi Davis, on behalf of the roundtable committee that helped draft the proposal now under review.

It was noted, for example, that the Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department's after-school program costs $48 a week. In January 2011, some 2,000 children were being served, representing a reported decrease in enrollment of 75 percent.

Meanwhile, the HOST after-school program at 110 Hillsborough County public schools exprienced a 20 percent increase in enrollment, with some 8,000 children served. The cost, also $48 per week.

But Imhoff said it's not right to compare the two, noting that while the recreation program averages out to $48 a month over the course of a year, the HOST program charges $78 a week over the 10 weeks of summer, thereby raising the annual average to $54 a month.

Morevover, some parents noted, the HOST program is not available for four weeks of the year, to coincide with school breaks and vacations, which doesn't bode well for working parents who don't get that time off.

"I'm an advocate for after-school programming," Davis said. "I've spent 20 year of my life doing after-school [programming] and being a supporter for it. For me to stand here and say what I'm saying, I know how you feel."

Parks officials have been holding public meetings countywide to discuss severe budget-cutting measures, including the abandonment of after-school programming and the consolidation of recreation centers from 42 to 12 locations.

The June 9 meeting to discuss the "strategic plan" for recreation centers starts at 6:30 p.m. Parents at the June 8 meeting said they would be back at the Brandon Recreation Center at 502 East Sadie St. to voice their concerns at that meeting as well.

Parents questioned, too, the timing of the June 9 meeting, given that it falls on the same night as commencement for the Class of 2011 of Brandon High School. Graduation is set for 8 p.m. at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall.

Seniors were asked to be there by 7 p.m., and to be in line by 7:30 p.m.

"We're Brandon, and Brandon won't be here," said Tina Demming, a mother of six, whose two elementary school-aged children attend the after-school program at the Brandon Recreation Center.

"We can't afford anything else," she said. "There is no one else to send them to. There are not other options. And to me, HOST is not supervised enough."

Demming noted that her sister would be graduating from Brandon, and with her parents not alive, it is imperative that Demming be there to witness her sister's commencement.

"I want to be here , at the recreation center, to hear how they justify closing recreation centers and building other ones, but I have to be at my sister's graduation."

Thomas Cutting said his children attend Yates on special assignment, just so they can attend the after-school program on Sadie Street, across the street from the school campus.

He noted that while a tax cut initially saved him $200 in property taxes, he ended up spending $2,400 a year more for after-school programs that had been offered by the county for free. Now, his tax cut has been dropped even more, with another assessment, but that only means a further cut in county services as the housing market bust has led to an even greater decrease in taxes collected.

Cutting said he would rather have paid more in property taxes then to see such a major decline in services for families.

"We don't get it, it's not our government anymore," Cutting said. "We're here to serve you with  our taxes. That's not the government that I had in mind, or the government I grew up with. I would rather pay higher taxes a little bit to make sure you provide services people need rather than this crappy pattern of ignorant thinking that's been going on."