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Back to School 2005

Optimism abounds for upcoming school year

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published July 20, 2005

As school years go, most Pinellas County parents would agree last year was a doozy.

Students had barely returned to the classroom when they were confronted with four hurricanes in quick succession. Two students died in bus-related accidents. The handcuffing and arrest of a 5-year-old girl made headlines around the world, and a kindergartener who ran away from his school was struck by a car.

Clayton M. Wilcox, who took over as school superintendent in November, is optimistic that this year will be better.

"We're working very hard on the issues relative to safety," he said. "I think it's important for families to know that."

He is encouraging parents to talk about safety with their children. If possible, he would like to see parents of children who walk or ride their bikes accompanying them the first few days of school.

Another big issue, Wilcox said, is the new dress code, which has been designed to "improve the environment," along with continued staff development.

"We're trying to make sure our teachers have both the equipment and the skills and the extra hands they need around the school," he said.

Above all, Wilcox said, he wants parents to know how important they are in ensuring their children's success.

"I want them to feel they're invited to be part of their kids' education," he said.

A number of academic initiatives have been expanded for 2005-06, said Jan Rouse, an associate superintendent in charge of curriculum.

Additional emphasis will be placed on Project Focus, a program that gives students daily 10- to 15-minute lessons in reading and math and then tests them to make sure they're grasping the material.

Eleven more schools will provide a program called Reading First, which offers 90 minutes of uninterrupted reading instruction each day followed by assessments to pinpoint a child's weak areas.

Teachers will continue working with essential learnings, common assessments and pacing guides as the district refines its efforts to narrow the achievement gap and improve student performance, Rouse said.

A number of construction projects have been completed as students head back to school while others are in the works. Unlike recent projects, which were launched to accommodate the redistribution of students for a new student assignment plan, most of the current ones were undertaken because schools simply were worn out, said Tony Rivas, the school district's facilities director.

"Our buildings are tired," he said. "Many of them were built in the '50s, '60s and '70s. Those buildings are all coming of age. They've done their duty."

Oak Grove Middle School children will return to a new school after being housed for two semesters in portables on the Clearwater High School campus. Lealman Intermediate School students, who have been in portables for several years since their old school was declared environmentally uninhabitable, also will come back to a new campus.

Construction will continue on Oak Park School in Pinellas Park, a new charter school for at-risk middle schoolers who have been in portables since January.

Meanwhile, construction will continue on athletic fields and a parking lot at Gibbs High School. Finishing touches will be added to athletic fields and a joint-use facility with the city of Safety Harbor at Safety Harbor Middle School.

Teachers at Belcher Elementary School spent the summer moving to temporary quarters in the portables Oak Grove students vacated on the Clearwater High campus. A new school should be completed in time for second semester.

Construction on a new High Point Elementary School will begin about the time school starts. Students at Dunedin Elementary will be able to stay on their campus while a new school, scheduled for completion in 2006, is built around them.

Two buildings will be torn down during the coming year at Blanton Elementary School to make way for a new building, but students should not be inconvenienced, Rivas said.

On the drawing board are several schools included in the district's five-year capital outlay plan, including Riviera Middle, Tyrone Elementary and Middle, and Boca Ciega High schools. A new Largo High School also is on the horizon, but funding will not be available for it until 2008-09.

And as the district enters its third year under the "controlled choice" student assignment plan, choice communications director Andrea Zahn wants to remind parents that Pinellas no longer operates under a system in which children automatically attend the school closest to home.

Instead, they are assigned to a school within a particular boundary called an attendance area. Students who are new to the district or who have moved from one attendance area to another must visit a Family Education and Information Center to find out which schools have seats available.

Families who have not received a school assignment are encouraged to start the process as soon as possible to avoid long lines, Zahn said.

[Last modified August 2, 2005, 15:00:47]