School board, district weighing proposal for park near Creekview

By Sun Advocate

Price city is working with the Carbon School District to create an additional skate park in the playground area of Creekview Elementary School.
Mayor Joe Piccolo appeared before the school board last Wednesday evening requesting the board to consider the construction of the new skate park.
The board voted to consider the proposal but details need to be worked out. Some considerations still to be worked out include the safety concerns, whether or not the park will be open during the day and exact location.
The board was clear that the new facility couldn’t take up any valuable space needed for the soccer program.
Piccolo pointed out that, in the past, the city and Carbon School District have partnered on recreation projects for the betterment of the community and to enlarge the opportunities for our youth.
“This would serve as another example of cooperation for the progression of the community,” said the mayor.
The current skate park is utilized everyday all year with little exception and the need to enlarge the facility has been requested and is being considered, said Piccolo.
The opportunity for the children in south Price is limited due to transportation requirements to and from the present facility.
“Having one in the neighborhood would allow considerable freedom and opportunity for our youth,” added the Price mayor.
The availability of having the park close to the Creekview will enhance the educational opportunities for the school.
Piccolo explained to the board that the existing soccer field will still be able to be used and no recreational opportunity will be lost. A proper fence would be constructed to disallow direct access from the school if limitation is necessary for liability and control.
Piccolo also pointed out that the school district will not be liable nor would they be expected to participate beyond the use of the property. “It would show additional beneficial use of the district property to Price City residents above and beyond the official capacity of education,” he added.
The city would coordinated all the construction and handle any liability. The agreements that is being considered must include long-range intentions to make sure that future boards and councils agree with the plan as it is finalized.
This will be discussed and finalized at the December board meeting.
A proposal to adopt the “Hope for Tomorrow” program at Carbon High School was presented by Norma Townsend, Michelle Moskos and Robert Cox. The Hope for Tomorrow” program is an on-going school-based mental health education program for adolescents designed to provide mental health information and life skills training to teachers, parents and students so that students and their families better understand mental illness and see appropriate treatment.
“We believe that students who participate in the Hope for Tomorrow program will demonstrate increased knowledge and recognitions of signs and symptons of mental illness, will be less linesly to stigmatize mental illness and will be more likely to seek appropriate mental health treatment,” stated Moskis.
The board voted to approve two requests to allow students to compete in out of state competitions, both at the student’s and partent’s expense. Trish Anderson will take 22 cheerleaders to a U.S. Championship competition in Las Vegas in March, while Tony Pinedo was given permission to take about 80 members of the Carbon High Choir to California after school is out over Memorial Day weekend. Anderson assured the board that the group will be staying in a motel off the strip and will be closely chaperoned. Pinedo’s group will also have adequate supervision as well and will be participating and performing at Disneyland. This is the same trip the choir has taken for the past five years and “has been a great experience for choir members and their parents that have served as chaperons,” says Pinedo.
The board voted to replace two aging buses. Regina McCourt presented an overview of the bus program pointed out to the board the number of routes, conditions and ages of the buses, number of students and the effects of consolidations as the student population shrinks. The two buses will cost approximately $193,275.