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Meeting Tonight On Northwest High School Boundaries

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 28, 2009

Parents will let the school district know tonight what they think about a plan to move about 2,400 teenagers to different high schools.

The Hillsborough County school board is considering an attendance boundary proposal for the northwestern part of the county, affecting students at Alonso, Sickles and Gaither high schools.

The moves are to fill Steinbrenner High School, opening in August in Lutz, and relieve crowding. Under the plan, Sickles would experience the most upheaval, sending nearly 1,700 students to Steinbrenner and taking in about 480 from Alonso.

Gaither would lose 230 students to Steinbrenner, giving the new high school an enrollment of about 1,900 for its inaugural year. Steinbrenner will get bigger in following years – the initial enrollment does not include a senior class.

The changes put Alonso, Sickles and Gaither, which are overcrowded, under their capacities.

But the proposal will not be set in stone until the school board votes next month. Tonight's meeting gives families a chance to give feedback and suggest changes. District officials and Bill Lazarus, chief executive officer of consulting firm SeerAnalytics, will speak about the data used to come up with the plan.

The district hired SeerAnalytics for $140,000 to compile data for attendance zone scenarios, including how school assignments would affect transportation costs, enrollment and diversity. The Tampa company presented dozens of possibilities, and the district selected its favorite.

Some parents in Lutz have asked at previous meetings to have their children reassigned from Freedom, in New Tampa, to a Lutz high school. They were not included in this boundary plan, though. Neither was Chamberlain, which is 273 students over its capacity.

Westchase parents, meanwhile, had hoped their community could stay together under the boundary plan. The proposal keeps most of Westchase at Alonso High but shears off a section to send to Sickles.

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503.

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