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New School Boundary Maps In; Let The Debate Begin

News Channel 8 photo by PETER MASA

The new Stowers Elementary and Barrington Middle schools were supposed to be surrounded by hundreds of new homes. But the development slowed. When Stowers and Barrington open in August, they will be filled with students from crowded schools nearby.

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By ADAM EMERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 23, 2009

TAMPA - Questions will fly in households throughout Hillsborough County during the next several days now that the school board is preparing to sign off on plans that would shuffle thousands of students.

After weeks of waiting, parents of high school students got their first glimpse of the district's attempt to relieve overcrowded classrooms and fill new schools opening this fall in the northern and eastern regions in the county. More than 4,200 students at six high schools would eventually transfer.

When those families get to weigh in on the proposals next week, the district will be better prepared for the rebukes that often come with the creation of new school attendance zones.

The district paid an analyst $140,000 to come up with a bulletproof design of new high school boundaries, partly to soften the blowback from parents who in years past had tried to dismantle other proposals.

The new high school boundaries, though, are just the start. Five new schools are opening in the fall, requiring the shuffling of more than 6,000 students. They will be the last new schools for several more years.

That will give the district ample time to survey a countywide school enrollment in need of adjustment, said Bill Person, Hillsborough's general director of pupil placement and support.

There are dozens of schools running over capacity next to schools that have room for hundreds more students. After the school board approves the newest boundary changes, administrators will study how it can transfer students out of crowded schools throughout the county.

"Now is the time to look at balancing the district," Person said. "If you have schools overcrowded next to schools under capacity, why don't you look at the boundary?"

The county now is losing students, the first time that has happened in more than two decades. In recent years, the district was building new schools to house thousands of students who poured into the county annually.

The new boundaries are designed partly to catch up to the growth that now has reversed.

Construction is nearly complete on Stowers Elementary and Barrington Middle off Boyette Road in Riverview. A development of hundreds of new homes was supposed to surround the new schools, which school officials had planned for six years ago.

But the housing developer slowed the project as the real estate market soured.

The new schools instead will draw students from overcrowded schools in other neighborhoods. Stowers, for instance, will get 348 students from Boyette Springs, which is currently running with about 70 students over capacity.

That shuffling of students doesn't happen without criticism, however – even in the smallest of numbers.

Elizabeth Adams found out late Thursday that her daughter, a second-grader, may have to move out of Wilson Elementary along with 43 others into Cork Elementary. The transfer facilitates the new boundary changes that sprang from the scheduled August opening of Bailey Elementary in east Hillsborough.

"We live five minutes from Wilson," Adams said. "It's our neighborhood school. She's doing so well there. I don't think the change will be good."

Parents have options:

• Choice: The district will run a special choice application period from March 2 to 13 for families affected by proposed boundary changes. If a school has available seats, parents can apply to attend.

• The school board: On Tuesday, the board will consider the boundary changes that revolve around the opening of Stowers and Bailey elementary schools and Barrington Middle School. Families can comment on the proposals then.

• Community meetings: Families can weigh in on the proposed high school attendance zones at two community meetings next week. The school board won't vote on the plan until February.

Those affected by the opening of Strawberry Crest High will meet at 7 p.m. Monday in the Tomlin Middle School auditorium.

Those affected by the opening of Steinbrenner High will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Sickles High School auditorium.

Maps highlighting the boundary changes are at the district's class-size Web site, http://classsize.mysdhc.org.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.

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