1948: Merger likely between high schools
By TERESA BLACKWELL, Times Staff Wirter
Published September 18, 2007
Sept. 23, 1948
LARGO - Patrons of Largo's elementary and senior high schools are engaged in a "last ditch" battle to prevent the merger of their high school with Clearwater's high school when the county school board builds the $750,000 central Pinellas high. The Largo residents are searching for sites that their schools might use for future expansion.
However, the future of Largo Senior High, according to information supplied last night by county school officials, looks dark because mergers and consolidations are the order of the day in the top echelons of the state department of education.
Within the last three days, Floyd T. Christian, who will succeed G.V. Fuguitt on Jan. 1 as county school superintendent, has held a series of conferences with Largo patrons, city officials and business leaders. Christian made his investigation as part of a countywide study of school construction needs.
"Frankly, I don't see how we can get around the recommendations of the Johns survey report," Christian said last night. "The survey group was quite explicit with reference to the merger of Largo and Clearwater senior highs to form the projected central Pinellas high."
Christian noted the deep-seated loyalty of Largo citizens to their own high school, but said the community's objection to the merger on the grounds that it involved a 4-mile bus trip was not well founded.
Sept. 17, 1931
Democrats predict victory at elections
CLEARWATER - Democratic political leaders here foresee an overwhelming Democratic victory in all branches of the approaching general elections. They openly declare that Republicans will not stand a chance at the polls, and that Democratic landslides are a certainty in Pinellas County.
"Why, the Republicans won't even elect a justice of the peace," asserted Chairman Ed Beckett of the Pinellas County commissioners, with apologies to all said justices.
"It will be a 100 percent Democratic affair," agreed Archie McQuagge, county Democratic chairman and assistant county clerk. "We already know the attitude our Republican friends expect to assume, but I'm terribly afraid they're going to waste a lot of energy in 1932."
Sept. 9, 1981
Elementary schools don't meet race ratios
Some pupils at Ozona and Azalea elementary schools may have to be reassigned to different schools to satisfy the required black and white student ratios.
Last year, a total of 17 Pinellas County public schools were over or under the required ratios. The school board is supposed to hear a report on those schools today at its meeting.
Of the 17 schools, Ozona and Azalea were the only two that did not meet requirements when an enrollment check was made Tuesday. When any school is more than 2 percent above or below the requirements for two consecutive years, students must be reassigned.
Although black pupils are supposed to make up a minimum of 6.32 percent of students in North Pinellas elementary schools, Ozona's enrollment was less than 5.32 percent on Tuesday. The maximum percentage of blacks allowed in any school is 30 percent. Azalea's enrollment was 33 percent black on Tuesday.
The percentages mean that fewer than 100 children will have to be reassigned, said George Wajdowicz, a planning specialist for the school system. Final plans for moving children will not be made until another enrollment count is taken next week.
Looking back
Headlines through the years
A look back at the events, people and places that made North Pinellas the unique place that it is. The information is compiled from past editions of the St. Petersburg Times.