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Daytona State College's Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 30. kicked off at 4:30 p.m. with a proposal for the establishment of a swim team.

The presentation given by Dr. Michael Elam, Vice President of Student Development, outlined the necessary budget and resources for beginning the team. One of the main items in the budget is a plan to give scholarships to 30 students (15 men and 15 women) out of the team's projected 46 swimmers.

Elam cited DSC's Aquatic Center in Bldg. 310 and Swim Club among his proposed resources. He also noted the college is working closely with Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte and his coach and father Steve Lochte, adding that both are excited to contribute to the foundation of DSC's swim team.

About an hour and a half after the presentation, the Board voted to approve the proposal.

Also on the subject of athletics, the Board discussed the idea of providing housing for student athletes. Two construction companies, JTC and University Housing, expressed interest in partnering with the college on buying up lots on White St. for housing, but DSC President Dr. Kent Sharples made it clear he would only agree to it if an agreement could be reached where the college does not have to provide any of the capital.

Generating confusion among trustees was a motion allowing Sharples to negotiate a lease with KinderCare, which operates a childcare center nearby the baseball field on the Daytona campus. The center was established in the 1980's while Charles H. Polk was the college's president and its 20-year lease recently expired. Its intended purpose was to provide experiential learning for students in the Nursing and Child Development programs.

Sharples, however, expressed he did not want to give a lease to a private company with no incentive to the college, especially one in competition with DSC's Child Development Lab School (Bldg. 420), which differs from KinderCare mainly in that it is a learning facility and not just a babysitting service.

Winning the Board's approval was an amended workplace violence policy that states in the case of a confirmed threat a student will be suspended from the college until due process, as well as construction of portable classrooms on the Deltona campus to support a growth in enrollment in its Cosmetology classes.

Other items on the agenda included whether to renew the college's current food and vending contract for another five years, approval for an increase in the assessment services fee from $27 to $40 and whether the Board should move its monthly meetings from the third or fourth Thursday of the month to a Tuesday earlier in the month.

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