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School Board OKs Purchase Of 30 Acres Of Land

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By RONNIE BLAIR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - The Pasco County School Board approved a contract Tuesday evening to buy 30 acres in Shady Hills that would become the site for a future high school.

The price is $37,000 an acre, or about $1.1 million.

The property adjoins 58 acres the school district owns on Shady Hills Road, giving the district a total of 88 acres there.
Crews Lake Middle School is already under construction on 20 of those acres and is scheduled to open in August.

The remaining 68 acres would be used for the high school, which would share some infrastructure with the middle school.

No date is set for when a high school would be built at the site.
Assistant Superintendent Ray Gadd said the high school isn't in the district's 10-year plan, though that could change.

On occasion, the district likes to buy land and bank it in anticipation of future needs.

'We are really happy about that,' Chairwoman Marge Whaley said after the board's unanimous vote to approve the purchase.

'Something in the bank.'

Purchase of the 30 acres from Daniel C. C. Lian is contingent on a review by the county to assess whether use of the property as a public school is consistent with the county's comprehensive land-use plan.

In other action, the board learned the state Board of Education rejected Pasco's effort to retain exclusive authority to contract with charter schools in the county.
Assistant Superintendent Renalia Dubose said just three districts of more than 40 that applied - Polk, Orange and Sarasota - were granted the exclusivity.

The decision opens up the possibility that the Florida Schools of Excellence Commission, a statewide board created by the Legislature last year, could sign contracts with charter schools in Pasco.

The school board also approved the promotion of John L. Mann to the position of director of leadership development for the school district.

Mann has been principal at Chasco Elementary since March 2000. Previously, he was an assistant principal at Land O' Lakes High and Hudson Middle, and principal at Seven Springs Elementary.

Mann is being succeeded at Chasco Elementary by Delores Gauvey, an assistant principal at Sand Pine Elementary.

Gauvey is scheduled to take over as principal at Chasco on Monday.

The board also accepted the resignation of Michael Welch, 32, an instructional assistant at Ridgewood High who was arrested on campus last week on a charge of possession of marijuana on school grounds.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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