Did you know that one of our School Board members lives right here in Temple Terrace (actually, about a block from my house)?  I will work with the Council to make sure that our schools get the proper amount of attention from the School District and that our concerns are voiced loudly and clearly.

Do you remember collecting Campbell's Soup labels for children to take to school to help raise money for their school?  Well, programs like that still exist. 

Whether it is Box Tops for Education, Tyson's Project A+, Campbell's Labels for Education, or similar programs, I would like to coordinate with our schools to determine in which programs they participate, and include this information in the monthly flyer that accompanies our water and trash bills.  If more residents knew about these programs, I am sure they would gladly participate and help our schools obtain the additional resources that these programs offer.

We should also advertise in the monthly flyer upcoming events like the Great American Teach In in order to encourage residents to share some of their work experiences and knowledge with our youth.

In an effort to increase the number of school children who walk or ride their bikes to school, a pilot program has been proposed at Lewis Elementary School this year that involves coordinating groups of students who live in the same neighborhoods and encouraging them to walk to and from school together.  Besides taking a few cars off our local streets, there are the benefits of additional exercise, the experience of spending that extra time with their school mates, and increased safety aspects when a number of children walk together.

I will support our schools if they wish to implement such a program on a permanent basis.