New gyms will open to students

Christine Carrillo

Students at four middle schools in the Ocean View School District

gained use of their newly built gymnasiums Tuesday after a Superior

Court judge ruled that traffic and parking issues would not be a

problem.

Each of the four gymnasiums, at Spring View, Marine View, Vista

View and Mesa View middle schools, which began construction nearly

two years ago, have been off limits to students pending a judicial

decision on whether the district complied with requirements for

environmental impact studies on the surrounding area.

After reviewing information submitted by the district, a tentative

decision was made Tuesday to allow students to use the gymnasiums. A

final decision hinges on the approval of a district plan for policing

the centers, which the district hopes to receive by January, Supt.

James Tarwater said.

While students can now use the new gyms, some parents expressed

concern about a petition that circulated among students at Spring

View and Marine View schools earlier this month asking that they be

allowed to use the facilities.

“I don’t feel that children need to be used in this manner,” said

Denyse Scarberry, mother of a student at Marine View. “That’s wrong

and [administrators are] abusing them. ... I don’t like my son used

like that. I try to keep him out of it ... it’s not fair and it’s not

right and that’s not why I send my son to school.”

Scarberry expressed further concern that the petition was being

passed around to students during class time, and that school and

district officials were supporting the petition to persuade the judge

to find in favor of opening the gymnasiums.

District and school officials denied the accusations and don’t

believe such petitions were even received by the judge.

“We have really, pretty much, not given our kids information about

the gyms opening because it’s not something our kids need to deal

with. They need to concentrate on school,” said Liz Williams,

principal at Marine View. “It’s really a freedom of speech issue, and

I know sometimes parents get concerned when they hear petitions are

going around. ... But [the students] wanted to let the judge know

they wanted the gyms open.”

The petition at Marine View originated among students involved in

a peer mediation group consisting of students in the sixth through

the eight grades, Williams said. Whether the petition was circulated

during class time was not determined by school officials.

“If there were violations in using school time, we did not pick up

violations,” Tarwater said. “Schools always encourage democracy, and

if the kids want to do a petition they can do a petition.

“We’re celebrating a facility for kids, and it’s exciting to know

that the kids are as excited as we are,” he said.