Study may show need for more classrooms

Judging by the rapid growth of North Pinellas, school administrators suspect the area probably needs more middle school and high school classrooms.

But first the Pinellas County school district has to crunch the numbers to prove it.

Officials are gathering information for a comprehensive study of their facilities, from janitorial closets to classrooms, and their future needs. The state-mandated study is done every five years and serves as a blueprint for the district's growth.

For North Pinellas, that could mean a new middle school in East Lake and additional classrooms at Palm Harbor University High School.

The high school can handle about 2,400 students in its common spaces, such as the lunchroom and gymnasium. But its classroom space holds only 1,600. The school has about 2,300 students and more than 20 portable classrooms on its campus.

In East Lake, parents have called for a middle school east of Lake Tarpon. With a population approaching 30,000, East Lake grew by nearly 123 percent between 1990 and 2000, according to the U.S. Census.

That has not gone unnoticed by school administrators.

The lengthy report is called an educational plant study and needs to be turned in to the state at the end of May. As part of the work, officials will write a 1,000-page inventory that looks at everything in the school district, from square footage of classrooms to which windows need to be replaced.

The study then will make a recommendation on what needs to be remodeled, which buildings need to be renovated -- which can entail tearing down a school and building a new one -- and whether a new school or additional classrooms need to be built.

After the study is approved by the state, it goes back to the district. Officials will decide which projects can be done in the five years. Traditionally, about half of the recommendations get funded, said Marlene Mueller, the district's former pupil assignment director.

The survey also will examine whether middle schools in Safety Harbor, Dunedin and Clearwater "have outlived their shelf life" and need to be torn down and replaced with new schools, Mueller said.

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