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Schools

Schools forced into new thinking

With explosive growth, the district plans its first three-story building. It will also split the cost of sports fields with the parks department.

By JAMES THORNER
Published September 16, 2005

Pinched for cash and land to build new schools, the Pasco County school district is adopting a new attitude: innovate before it's too late.

Not only is the district embarked on an unprecedented land-buying spree from the Gulf of Mexico to Zephyrhills.

It's also planning to split the costs of sports fields with the county parks department and build its first-ever three-story school in Land O'Lakes.

With housing growth pushing up enrollment by about 3,000 students a year, the district's goal is to open seven schools for the 2006-07 academic year.

They include Wiregrass Ranch High School and Middle School in Wesley Chapel and Sweetbriar Middle School near the Anclote River in Holiday.

The rest are elementaries: Oakstead in Land O'Lakes, Mitchell in Trinity, Meadow Pointe in Wesley Chapel and Gulf Highlands/Timber Oaks in Hudson.

The district expects at least one of the schools, Meadow Pointe Elementary off Meadow Pointe Boulevard, to open several months later than scheduled, in January 2007.

Schools are typically unveiled at the start of the academic year in August. But because of delays in construction and acquiring land, the Meadow Pointe school, and possibly another, could open about half a year late. "It's the worst-case scenario," assistant superintendent Ray Gadd said of the potential half-year delay.

The biggest innovations come the next year, 2007-08.

Don't have enough land for a middle school? Go vertical. That's what they're doing on 14 acres in what's soon to be the US Home Corp Concord Station development north of State Road 54 in Land O'Lakes.

Using a middle school in Lee County as a model, the district plans a similar three-story school at Concord Station.

Classrooms would be in the multistory tower, a grade on each floor, and low-rise satellite buildings would hold music rooms, the gym, the cafeteria and the rest.

"It's a jewel. We really like it," Gadd said of the three-story model. "It's a space-saving, money-saving venture."

In northern Land O'Lakes, where the Connerton development anticipates building 8,700 homes, the school district and the county propose blending a county park and a high school.

Adult softball and soccer leagues, for example, could use school sports fields when students aren't using them.

Adding another layer of interdependence, the district will consider building the project near a state nature preserve that occupies thousands of acres on the north end of Connerton.

Connerton's developer, Terrabrook, has lent the services of its planner, WilsonMiller, to help design the schools/parks complex, Gadd said.

Gadd, who's main job is lining up land for future schools, recently sent the district's land search committee across the county. They toured already-acquired sites and scouted new ones.

Gadd called it the district's new attitude: Lining up land before its price or availability is out of reach.

On Tuesday night, School Board members expressed surprise about one such site, a proposed high school location in the Baillie's Bluff section of Holiday.

Wasn't that too close to the water, one School Board member asked. "We have a new stilt design," Gadd said jokingly.

The district closes soon on two school sites in the Bella Verde development on the old Cannon ranch east of Interstate 75 and State Road 52.

Other land in the early stages of exploration: Fivay Road in Hudson, Curley Road in Wesley Chapel, Old Pasco Road near Quail Hollow and Shady Hills.

Said Gadd: "The bottom line is, we're all over the place looking for land."

[Last modified September 16, 2005, 01:36:17]