HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRCMin_96Mar25Minutes
Ci of Falcon Hei hts
ty 9
Parks and Recreation Commission
March 25, 1996, 7:00 p.m.
Members Present: Greg Schaefer, Carol Weisberg, Nancy Wickham, Carol Kriegier
{Parks Director), John Hustad (Council Liaison).
Absent: Morris Nicholson, Steve Schugel.
Guests: Margaret Barrett, Matthew Kriegier {student), and three male elementary
students accompanying Nancy Wickham.
The purpose of this meeting was to obtain community input on summer programs
far youth with a special emphasis on activities for older elementary school youth and
middle school students.
Carol Kriegier reported that she obtained input from elementary students by
holding a focus group at Falcon Heights Elementary School. Ten students from
grades 4-6 attended, with at least one male and one female from each of grade. She
started by having the students fill out a brief survey, and used this information as a
• basis for generating discussion. A summary of the focus group discussion is attached.
Open gym is an important feature of our summer program. The Lion's Club has
offered to pay far four hours of open gym time per week, including staff salaries.
Optimal scheduling would be one and a half hour sessions, two to four days per week.
The Time-In program is very popular but seems to be shaped by the people who staff
it. One year it was staffed by a male who loved baseball and was happy to play ball
everyday and shoot baskets now and then; that year no girls showed up for Time-In.
Staff changes the next year resulted in the program attracting more little kids. Future
staffing decisions will take into account the importance of offering awell-rounded
program that attracts both girls and boys.
Suggestions:
• Try to find people with special skills in the community who would be willing to
share these skills, such as boat building.
• Offer activities with a nature focus.
• Offer all sorts of sports on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at Curtis Field.
• Include volleyball and badminton.
• Offer track and field club at Community Park.
• Put chemical toilet at Grove Park so that programs may be offered there also.
• See list of ideas generated by focus group {attached).
Submitted by Carol Weisberg