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Pasco begins examining middle school boundaries

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By RONNIE BLAIR | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 15, 2009

PORT RICHEY - As a committee began the process this week of redrawing attendance boundaries for middle schools in west Pasco County, the school district's planning director quickly put to rest any thoughts that the task would be a snap.

"Sometimes people think, 'What's so hard about drawing lines on a map?' " Chris Williams said. "You'll see that it's a lot harder than it looks."

The reason: Several factors come into play when attendance boundaries shift, such as how the change might affect bus rides or whether future growth trends could cause crowding problems at a school.

The district also tries to maintain a balance in the racial and economic diversity of the student population. Other factors that come into play include an effort to send children in the same neighborhood to the same schools, and whether proposed boundary changes fit into long-term school construction plans.

"Sometimes you'll see these guidelines conflict against each other," Williams said. "So you as a committee must decide which is more important."

The middle-school boundary committee, made up of parents, principals and other district officials, met for the first time today in the media center at Chasco Middle School.

The group is charged with recommending to the Pasco County School Board proposed changes in attendance boundaries for the eight middle schools in west Pasco: Chasco, Crews Lake, Hudson, Bayonet Point, Gulf, River Ridge, Seven Springs and Smith.

The boundary changes, which could affect hundreds of middle school students, would take effect in the 2010-11 school year. The school board likely will vote on the boundaries in November or December.

Between now and then, parents will get opportunities to weigh in with their questions or concerns, either at parent meetings that will happen in the fall or at two public hearings the school board must hold before the final vote, Williams said.

At the same time, the school board will vote on attendance boundaries for a new high school being built at State Road 52 and Chicago Avenue near Hudson and an elementary school being built in the Odessa area.

Usually, it is new schools like those two that prompt the school district to redraw attendance boundaries. In this case, no new middle school is being built in west Pasco, but the school district wants to change the boundaries for other reasons.

Enrollment at some of the middle schools is at or above capacity, while at other schools the number of students is well below capacity. The district hopes to bring some balance to the numbers, Williams said.

Also, the district wants to try to better align middle school boundaries with high school boundaries. The goal would be for all the students at a middle school to attend the same high school, though district officials concede that's not possible in all cases.

"You are going to have some middle schools that are going to be split between high schools," Assistant Superintendent Tina Tiede said.

The first meeting this week was a "getting-started" gathering as committee members pondered possibilities, such as figuring out ways for Crews Lake Middle in Shady Hills to take in more students.
Crews Lake, with 666 students, is well below its capacity of 1,306 and possibly could pick up some students from Hudson Middle and River Ridge Middle.

The committee also studied ways to reduce enrollment at Bayonet Point Middle, which has 994 students in a school built for 906. A possibility the committee is considering would shift some Bayonet Point students south to Chasco Middle. In turn, some Chasco Middle students could be moved south to Gulf Middle, which also is under capacity.

"We need to add some more kids to our campus," Gulf Principal Stan Trapp said.

Gulf Middle has 917 students, but is built for 1,431. Tiede said that capacity number is somewhat misleading, though, because the future of an older classroom building is uncertain. Those classrooms need to be retrofitted if they are to continue to be used, she said.

The committee didn't settle on anything for certain and will meet again at 1 p.m. June 22 at Chasco Middle.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 259-7065.

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