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Crowded Schools Swell Into Portables

Tribune photo by ANDY JONES

Karen Wells and Gilberto Torres, custodians at Wesley Chapel Elementary School, help get portable buildings ready for the begining of the school year.

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By RONNIE BLAIR

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 16, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - With a new school year about to get under way, most Pasco County schools still are dealing with an overflow of students, despite the opening of about 25 new campuses in the past decade.

The district expects 65,668 students in elementary, middle and high schools, which is 4,235 more than there is space for as the 2008-09 school year begins Monday.

Two new schools opening this year - Crews Lake Middle in Shady Hills and Veterans Elementary in Wesley Chapel - are helping, but to house all those extra students, the district is relying on 528 portable classrooms scattered across the county.

Pasco has been one of the fastest-growing school districts in the state for years and continues to add students even as growth has halted in many other areas of Florida.

Not all growth is equal, though, and crowding isn't evenly divided among the district's schools. Overall, the district is at 107 percent capacity, but the situation at individual schools ranges from a high of 200 percent of capacity to a low of 50 percent.

Because homebuilders tended to target certain areas of the county - especially the State Road 54 corridor between Trinity and Wesley Chapel - some schools have few or no portable classrooms while others have sprouted portable villages.

The largest number is at Wesley Chapel Elementary, which has 32 portables and is projected to have 1,238 students, double what the school was built to hold.

"We have more kids in portables than some schools do - period," Principal John Abernathy said.

Principals, teachers and parents usually don't complain about the portable structures themselves. They function fine as auxiliary classrooms.

The problem is usually the strain the excess students put on the cafeteria, media center, parking, student drop-off areas and other facilities that weren't designed to accommodate so many people.

"It puts extra wear and tear on everything," Abernathy said.

The portable classrooms at Wesley Chapel Elementary dominate the grassy area in the rear of the school, stealing land from the physical education program and presenting an additional challenge for the school at a time when the state Legislature has mandated more physical education in elementary schools.

Perhaps surprisingly, dismissal runs smoothly and nearly all the students usually have boarded buses or been picked up by a parent within 10 or 15 minutes of the final bell.

"It's amazing how quickly we can get 1,250 kids out," Assistant Principal Jeff McLean said.

Jennifer Opitz-Yerke, a third-grade teacher, had a classroom inside the main structure last year, but moved out to a portable this year.

That's fine with her.

"We're happy out here," Opitz-Yerke said. "We have our sidewalks and air conditioning."

When the school held its meet-the-teacher day last week, one boy in her class peered out the window and said, "What a nice view of the field."

Wesley Chapel Elementary is expected to get some relief in August 2009 when an elementary school opens in the Watergrass development off Curley Road. Abernathy anticipates that school will take about 500 of his students.

Nine schools aren't expected to need any portables this year, including the county's two newest schools, Crews Lake Middle and Veterans Elementary.

Crews Lake, built for 1,306 students, is expected to be at 50 percent of capacity. Principal Chris Christoff said the school board made the right decision to allow for growth because he anticipates more students will move to Shady Hills when the economy improves.

"When we start growing again in west Pasco, this is where it is going to grow," Christoff said.

Veterans Elementary might not be able to stave off portables for long. That school is built for 762 students and is projected to be at capacity when it opens.

Most of the other schools with no portables were built within the past year or two. The exception is Seven Springs Elementary in New Port Richey, which will be at 90 percent of its 629-student capacity.

Seven Springs represents a story of hope for other crowded schools. Eight years ago, Seven Springs had 21 portable classrooms and was at 170 percent of capacity, but the construction of other schools allowed it to shed hundreds of students.

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

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