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Decision Has Some Crestfallen

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By GEORGE H. NEWMAN

gnewman@tampatrib.com

Published: November 19, 2008

PLANT CITY - The name Strawberry Crest will be displayed at the soon-to-be-completed high school under construction near Interstate 4 and McIntosh Road.

But the Hillsborough County School Board's Nov. 6 selection of the name for the $55 million school was not without dissent.

More than 50 names were suggested for the board's consideration, including Antioch, Dover, O.M. Griffin, Harvest Hill, Roy Parke, Redman and Storms.

After listening to speakers discuss the importance of berry farming in the area, the majority of the school board, including chairwoman Jennifer Faliero, vice chair Carol Kurdell, Candy Olson and Jack Lamb, voted for Strawberry Crest.

Board members April Griffin and Susan Valdes voted for Strawberry High and member Doretha Edgecomb voted for Dover High.

In spite of an organized campaign and heartfelt plea to the board, no votes were cast to name the school after the late strawberry farmer O. M. Griffin. Griffin owned and farmed most of the land where the school is being built. His family sold 56.8 acres to the school board in 2007 for $5.8 million.

The family of former school board member Joe Newsome sold an adjoining 44 acres to the board at the same time for about $4.9 million. Newsome, who along with his family also grew strawberries on the property, led the push to name the school Strawberry Crest.

A granddaughter to O.M. Griffin, Deanna Brewer, said she was disappointed with the school board's decision.

"I would have liked to have seen community support play a larger role in the selection of the name," Brewer said. "My family and I reached out to our community and obtained over 1,400 petitions in support of Griffin High, which is twice the amount of signatures received by Strawberry Crest supporters. I am disappointed this was not taken into consideration. The majority of the people we came into contact with expressed concerns over Strawberry Crest and worried that the student body would be made fun of, no matter what mascot was selected."

Sandee Sytsma, daughter of the late strawberry farmer Roy Parke, joined with Newsome and others in pushing for Strawberry Crest.

"I wanted the name to honor the geographical area and its importance to farming, particularly the farming of the strawberry," Sytsma said. "There are at least a dozen farmers in that area that have been important to the industry. None more so than my father. But it wasn't one farmer or one family that made the strawberry and farming such an important crop in this area. They all did."

Newsome, who served on the school board for 25 years, said he was happy with the school board's decision.

"They could have named it anything. Strawberry Crest is the name they chose. I would have supported their decision, no matter what. The school will serve the area and it is up to the people in the area to help support it."
Faliero said she was pleased with the community's interest in the name of the school, which will pull students from the current attendance boundaries of Armwood, Durant and Plant City high schools.

"The people in the Plant City area are so passionately involved in everything surrounding their community," Faliero said. "In the end I heard from so many people who were involved in farming the land in that area. It seemed we all wanted to name the school in a way that would remember all the families involved, not one single person or farm."

Also at the Nov. 6 meeting, the school board decided to name an elementary on the same campus as Strawberry Crest High in honor of David E. Bailey Jr., a retired educator and Plant City historian.

Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at (813) 865-4451.

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