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Happy Holidays 2006

Kids get a new school for Christmas

Students who have been in portable classes will go to Trinity Oaks when their break ends.

By MICHELE MILLER
Published December 23, 2006

TRINITY - Friday was the first day of winter break for most Pasco County teachers.

But it was moving day for Michelle Hanson, and she had a plan. First she and her good friend, Jodi Clark, would unload all those boxes marked "Hanson - room 129." Then she'd get all the trappings of her kindergarten classroom set up: the Science Center, Housekeeping Center, Reading and Writing Center. The furniture would be put in place and all that colorful learning stuff plastered on the walls.

"My goal is to have it looking like a real classroom when the kids come back in January," said Hanson.

That's when 575 students will arrive at the brand new Trinity Oaks Elementary School. They've been using portable classrooms for nearly four months at the nearby Trinity Elementary campus.

Parents and students will be treated to school tours on Jan. 4 during a special orientation held ahead of the Jan. 9 opening, said principal Allison Hoskins.

Trinity Oaks, which was built to ease crowding at Trinity and Seven Springs elementary schools, is one of two schools that will be open in the middle of the school year. The construction delays were due to sinkholes, soil and stormwater mitigation problems and the 2005 hurricane season.

Wiregrass Ranch High School in Wesley Chapel will also open its doors Jan. 9.

So far it's been a smooth transition, said Hoskins. She was busy moving boxes into the front office with assistant principal Kara McComeskey. Her husband, Gary Hoskins, stamped books in the new media center.

"It's a real family affair," Mrs. Hoskins said. "It's like we're finally here."

The time spent at the other campus "was very seamless," she said, although she and McComeskey had to allay some parent's concerns about moving midyear.

"Actually having two schools on one campus has gone remarkably well," said Trinity Elementary principal Kathryn Rushe. "All but a handful of Trinity Oaks students attended here last year so most of them were familiar with the routines, the schedules, the faculty. It really made it quite easy. And it's been a real good learning experience for all of us."

Still, Rushe said she is looking forward to having only five buses dropping off kids rather than the 18 that have been serving students of both schools.

Of course that's until she does it all over again next year.

Gulf Trace Elementary in Holiday also will open midyear - in January 2008 - so the 325 students scheduled to attend that school will be bused to the Trinity campus.

"It's cost-effective for the district," said Rushe. "The portables are already here, and those portables cost about $5,000 (each) to move."

"And we won't be doing this again. We don't have any more elementary schools scheduled to be built on the west side," Rushe said. "So this time next year, the trucks and haulers will be moving them right out of here."

Michele Miller can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6251 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505. Her e-mail is miller@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 23, 2006, 10:53:20]