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Different schools, different fixes

The School Board says each campus will have its own plan to ease congestion.

By MELANIE AVE
Published September 28, 2005

TAMPA - Parents of children in some of Hillsborough's most crowded schools will soon hear how educators plan to ease the congestion on their campuses.

Among the options: Boundary changes, year-round schools, more portable classrooms and double sessions. Schools also could be asked to convert their art and music classrooms to regular rooms, forcing the teachers to float.

Administrators will begin meeting with parents next month to present alternatives. Efforts will be made initially to address problems at the most crowded schools: Bryant Elementary in the northwest and Durant and Riverview high schools in the south.

"If we can do it voluntarily, we will try," School Board Chairwoman Candy Olson said after a board discussion Tuesday. "It's not going to be a fun year."

Hillsborough now has more than 190,000 students, making it the nation's ninth-largest school district. About one in four schools has more students than space. The problem is particularly acute in the northwest and southern areas of the county, where development is strongest.

Educators, who are facing a $364-million shortfall in the district's school construction and renovation budget, have said they may have to ask voters to approve a tax increase for new schools.

Board members reviewed a list of 11 strategies Tuesday and agreed each school will be analyzed individually. Various methods will be used to reduce enrollment at crowded schools and possibly spread it more evenly throughout the county.

Parent Debbie Reeves said she was heartened to hear the board begin to address overcrowding. Her son is in kindergarten at Bryant Elementary, which is at 146 percent of capacity.

"It definitely shows they're moving forward," Reeves said. "The sooner, the better, I say, to give parents time to know their options."

District numbers show there are more than enough classrooms at the elementary and middle school level, though not at every school. There is a deficit of about 2,000 classrooms in the high schools.

Thirty-eight schools will get some relief next year with the completion of additions. Two new high schools, one in west Brandon and another in Ruskin, should lessen problems at East Bay, Bloomingdale, Brandon and Riverview high schools.

"We have space, but it's not in the right places," Olson said. "We don't want to bus children 30 miles to school."

Superintendent MaryEllen Elia said the district first will make sure every inch of space is being used. But revised attendance boundaries for some schools is a virtual certainty.

Assistant superintendent Lewis Brinson said the district will try to avoid changing boundaries for children who have recently been moved.

"We're trying to resolve the problem, but trying not to create one in the process," he said.

Board member Jennifer Faliero said more students would attend the district's 25 magnet schools, many of which have ample space, if bus routes to them were more direct. She also asked if priority could be given to children from crowded schools who want to enroll in magnet schools.

Olson recommended the district consider adding a voluntary period onto some high schools, allowing students to take a class before or after school. Students or parents would have to provide transportation.

Several board members said they would like to look at the idea of integrating schools economically, which has been done with some success in Wake County, N.C. Students there are assigned to schools based on their income, with the goal being to keep the number of poor students low in any given school.

Board member Carol Kurdell was skeptical about the integration effort, which is similar to busing for desegregation. "It would need a lot of scrutiny for me," she said.

Administrators and board members agreed they will soon have to make decisions that are likely to make a lot of people angry.

Board member Carolyn Bricklemyer said the district's evaluation of its crowding problems, and possible ways to deal with them, was a good exercise, and long overdue.

"Shame on us for not doing this sooner," she said.

[Last modified September 28, 2005, 02:30:38]