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Board To Vote On Land Purchase

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By RONNIE BLAIR rblair@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 16, 2008

TRINITY - The Pasco County School Board is scheduled Tuesday to vote on a contract to buy land for an elementary school that would provide relief to crowding at Oakstead Elementary and Longleaf Elementary.

The 20 acres the board wants to buy sits on Community Drive just south of State Road 54 near the Trinity area. The land is owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg.

Superintendent Heather Fiorentino said Wednesday that she would like to get construction started on the new elementary quickly because Oakstead and Longleaf are operating well over their student capacities.

"That's going to be an ASAP one," she said.

Both schools are relatively new, but because they were in high-growth areas they quickly filled their classrooms and students and teachers spilled over into portable classrooms.

Oakstead, which opened two years ago, has 22 portables to help with its student overflow. The school was built for 762 students, but has more than 1,000.

Longleaf, which opened in 2005, has eight portable classrooms. Because the school sits on a relatively small lot, those portables are taking up the playground area, Fiorentino said.

Longleaf was built for 674 students, but has more than 900.

"Longleaf needs its playground back and 22 portables at Oakstead is not appropriate," Fiorentino said.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

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