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Parents learn Plant High capacity will grow – on paper

Staff file photo

Students at Plant High head for surrounding neighborhoods to find their cars after school. The campus doesn't have parking for them all.

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By SHERRI ACKERMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 28, 2009

A $3.5 million addition at Plant High will allow the Hillsborough County public school district to meet a state mandate to lower the number of students per class.

But a meeting on the project Tuesday night showed it's proving unpopular among neighbors, who fear construction spillover in surrounding Palma Ceia, and Plant parents, who – despite assurances from officials – say more class space means more students.

"I think they're at their limit," said Marshall Santi, a 30-year neighbor of the school who attended the meeting to review the construction proposal. "This is definitely going to have an impact on us."

Districts statewide must comply with a state law that requires a reduction in class sizes by next August. At the high school level, that means core classes such as math and English cannot exceed 25 students per class.

Plans call for a new two-story brick building with 16 classrooms, covered sidewalks and stairs, all where a metal ROTC building now stands. A row of trees will be planted along the backside of the building as a buffer for neighbors.

The addition will house 250 students who now are taught in the school's 10 portables.

What's more, Plant won't lose any of its 460 parking spaces, said Principal Robert Nelson.

Nor will it gain students, said Cathy Valdes, the district's chief facilities officer. It can't without violating statewide class-size reductions that were approved by Florida voters.

Instead, once the project is complete, enrollment will drop from 2,317 today to 2,277, she said.

But the school's official student capacity will grow with the project's completion, and that's what has critics concerned.

The reason: Portables aren't counted toward capacity, like permanent classrooms are. Replacing portables with permanent classrooms boosts Plant's capacity more than 5 percent, from about 2,000 students to 2,400.

That's the wrong direction for Plant to be going, school officials were told.

"The kids are parking off campus, running between buses and cars," said Gaspar Monte, who lives a few blocks from Plant. "They're being put in a precarious situation."

Principal Nelson said he encourages students to carpool, but he heard Tuesday that some parents are reluctant to have young drivers riding together for safety reasons.

The district's Valdes also questioned whether parking is a district priority.

"Is it the taxpayer's responsibility to build more classrooms or more parking spaces?" she said.

School officials also heard suggestions on minimizing construction impact and a warning that neighbors will present their concerns to the Tampa City Council. A public hearing is scheduled Dec. 10 because the increased capacity will require a special use permit.

The work is scheduled to start in January and take up to eight months to complete.

Construction trucks should use Plant's main entrance along South Dale Mabry Highway instead of Sterling Avenue, an access road, said Gaylon Catalano, who lives alongside Sterling.

Rory Salimbene, the district's general manager of construction, said he wasn't certain which access would be used.

"It's going to be a war," Catalano replied.

Added neighbor Tim O'Mara, "This is going to be a huge issue."

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story listed the wrong date for a public hearing before the Tampa City Council on the Plant High construction. The date is Dec. 10.

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144.

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