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Group Submits Ideas For Schools

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By ADAM EMERSON

aemerson@tampatrib.com

Published: March 5, 2009

TAMPA - After meeting for a year, a group that advises the Hillsborough County schools superintendent has come up with some ideas to meet the demands of Florida's stringent class-size law.

Some of its suggestions may never see the light of day because of the costs associated with them, but the group has spent months thinking about how to reduce class sizes should Florida schools be forced to meet the law's harshest demands sooner than later.

Schools may not have to enact class-by-class caps on enrollment for another year if lawmakers succeed in delaying that final stage of the law. But the Hillsborough group isn't taking chances, and its members will soon ask schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia to consider their ideas.

Among the suggestions in their preliminary report:

•Survey attendance zones countywide and balance school enrollment where needed

•Review the location of magnet schools to make sure they're attracting families effectively

•Identify teachers who can "float" between elementary schools where there's demand

•Create a counselor position to work with parents and students displaced out of a crowded school

•Consider requiring families to reapply annually to maintain a spot in a school outside their attendance zone if they claimed a hardship

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

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