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Pinellas Schools Vote To Close, Combine Some Schools

News Channel 8 file photo by RUGENE MOORE

Students at Rio Vista Elementary School in St. Petersburg protested the proposed closing of their school on Dec. 8.

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By YOLANDA FERNANDEZ | News Channel 8

Published: January 13, 2009

Updated: 01/13/2009 05:27 pm

Five Pinellas County elementary schools will close at the end of the current term and four middle schools will combine into two, school officials decided Tuesday.

Those cost-saving measures and others came as Pinellas school board members grappled with how to slash $69 million to $82 million from their 2009-10 budget. Eliminating the five schools and a sixth one that school officials last year targeted for closure, along with consolidating the four middle schools into two schools, will save about $6.2 million.

To save more money, the school board tweaked a popular "grandfathering'' policy that has allowed children to attend campuses outside their normal school attendance boundaries. The school district no longer will provide bus transportation to and from school for those students; children may attend schools outside their designated zones only if they have private transportation.

Other budget-tightening measures included selling surplus school property, implementing a four-day summer work schedule and restricting travel by school employees, among other moves.

People objecting to closure of the elementary schools made impassioned pleas to the school board today. The meeting lasted about 6 hours, stretching from this morning well into the afternoon.

School officials released a revised map showing future attendance boundaries for elementary and middle-school students affected by the decision to close and consolidate schools throughout the county. A final vote on those boundary changed is scheduled for Feb. 10.

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