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Schools

More sound off on school plan

About 80 parents attend a forum to discuss the assignment proposal.

By DONNA WINCHESTER, Times Staff Writer
Published September 27, 2007

Jean Giangrosso talks about her concerns Wednesday night at Pinellas Park High School during a public forum on the proposed Student Assignment Plan. She has a son who is a first grader at Clearview Avenue Elementary School in St. Petersburg and is concerned about the possible closure of the school.
	[Scott Keeler | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Scott Keeler | Times] About 80 people attended the Pinellas School districts community forum at Pinellas Park High School on the proposed Student Assignment Plan. It was the second of three forums.

LARGO - A mother with two young children in Pinellas schools posed a startlingly direct question to district officials Wednesday night.

Why aren't all the schools in the district good schools?

"I don't want to hear feeder school this and magnet school that," said Loretta Saul of Pinellas Park. "I want good schools in Pinellas County, period."

The parents applauded. Others who spoke suggested that if schools were created equal, it wouldn't matter what kind of assignment plan the district had.

"We still have a disparity among our schools," said Michelle Robinson of Safety Harbor. "I would encourage the school district to try to level the playing field."

About 80 parents attended the "community meeting" at Pinellas Park High School, the second of three designed to give families a chance to speak out on the district's proposed student assignment plan. The new plan would replace the 4-year-old choice system, which followed 32 years of busing for desegregation.

Like the parents at last week's meeting at Palm Harbor University High, some pleaded for the opportunity to send younger siblings to the same schools their older children attend. And like their north Pinellas counterparts, they wanted to know when district officials will be able to tell them the "close to home" school to which their children will be assigned.

But many parents at the meeting seemed to be anticipating being assigned to a school they will not like. A few wanted to know how to apply for a special attendance permit so their children could go somewhere else. One mother asked if she would be told her child's school assignment before the deadline to apply for a private school.

A number of parents, including Christine Beatty of Largo, asked why the district couldn't create a cross between the old choice plan and the proposed student assignment plan.

"Couldn't you have between two and four schools in a region that would be a choice rather than saying, 'This is your school?'" Beatty asked.

Another parent wanted to know if it was too late to keep the current plan.

Throughout the evening, district officials attempted to clarify the plan and clear up misinformation. But at least one parent left the meeting upset.

"It's all just politics," said Saul, the Pinellas Park parent. "They've already made up their minds."

Board member Linda Lerner said she found the parents' comments informative.

"It's clear that parents want a choice of schools and they don't want that choice to be between one 'close to home' school and a magnet or fundamental," Lerner said. "They want a choice of more than one traditional school."

The board is scheduled to take a preliminary vote on the plan in October. A final vote should come in mid November.

Fast facts

What's next

Today: Community input meeting, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at John Hopkins Middle School, 701 16th St. S, St. Petersburg.

[Last modified September 27, 2007, 01:29:10]