 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Schools evaluate space needs
By BARBARA BEHRENDT © St. Petersburg Times, published May 9, 2001 INVERNESS -- If the School Board wants a fourth high school, the members now have a game plan to get it. A consulting firm hired to examine the district's space needs on Tuesday presented several short- and long-term options on how to handle high school overcrowding. One would convert classrooms at the three high schools into storage or resource rooms, creating the need for more student space elsewhere. The district then could prove a need to build a 774-student high school by 2005 with core facilities such as a cafeteria and media center. More important, because the district could use complex state construction formulas to justify the need for a new school, Citrus could use state money to build the school. But with a price tag that might top $35-million, no one is jumping at the construction idea yet. The other options include building a larger fourth high school that the district would have to partially fund, or expanding existing schools, which would mean larger class sizes, fewer innovative programs and more floating teachers not assigned to a specific space. The board listened to the suggestions at Tuesday's workshop, but took no action. The consultants' report will now go to the district's long-range planning committee, which will make recommendations to the board. The consultants of Innovative Management Counselors presented a lengthy list of proposed changes at the high schools, the Renaissance Center and the Withlacoochee Technical Institute. All facilities were considered as the consultants looked at high school space needs and at requests from the various school administrators. The consultants recommended the following major projects: Move the Renaissance Center. Five options were considered, and several were dismissed immediately. One idea was to move the Renaissance Center to Building 700 at WTI, the school's academics wing. Chairwoman Patience Nave said the district could be creating a problem by placing the Renaissance Center at WTI. The district has been trying to improve the image at WTI, and putting the alternative program there may not help. Consultant James Halscott said that the idea also wasn't popular with the center's administration. "I don't think they're very happy with that," he said. "They want to go in different directions and put together some new programs." But Robert Cascaddan of Innovative Management Counselors said that, as long as the Renaissance Center's portable classrooms are part of the Citrus High campus, they're considered a part of the available space at the high school. That makes it very difficult to justify the need for a new high school even if Citrus High isn't using those classrooms. Build a new cafeteria at Citrus High on the site of the baseball field and use the space now used for the Renaissance Center as a baseball field. The old cafeteria could then be converted to a science lab and the kitchen could be used for a television production program. Build a new media center at Crystal River High School and use the old media center space for business classes. Buy additional land to enlarge the school's campus. The consultants were reluctant to recommend construction of a media center at Lecanto High because the school has a center of usable size now. They also said that, although the administration wants to develop an arts magnet program at Lecanto, it would increase the size of the facility beyond what the district has set for high school sizes. The consultants also suggested that all the schools in the Lecanto complex discuss ways to handle the high school's overcrowding and determine how to use a building on site that is part of Lecanto Middle School. The consultants suggested the administration at WTI determine its program direction before making space conversions. One program WTI has hoped to create is a turf grass operations and training program, and it was suggested that WTI justify the need for the program. WTI should also consider building or converting space for a multipurpose room because there is no space in the school for large meetings. The high schools expect to see increasing student populations over the next several years as a bubble of population growth moves through the schools. At Citrus High, where a rezoning of high school boundaries will add about 200 students to next year's population, there will be a need for some short-term relief. The consultants recommend adding a portable classroom and said that, with new classrooms slated for the area now used as a cafeteria, some additional room will be created. Before the board heard from the consultants, however, district staff updated the members on the high school academies and plans to improve career-preparation programs. Superintendent David Hickey said it was important that the board understand how these programs affect the facilities they are considering for construction. Board member Pat Deutschman asked about students who can't attend an academy if they are zoned for another school and all three high schools are overcrowded. District policy is that students can't transfer into an overcrowded school. Hickey said that some students may be turned away from programs they want to attend while the district deals with overcrowding. "Programs, facilities and resources. All three of those are vital pieces that have to come together," Hickey told the board. "I'm not saying that those three pieces will come together in the way that we want in one year." Proposals for middle and high school buildings not used for classrooms were not included in Tuesday's discussion. Those are expected to be incorporated into the construction priority list Hickey said he would bring the board at their June meeting. 3 expulsions raise recordINVERNESS -- In a closed session on Tuesday, the School Board expelled three students, increasing the total for the 2000-01 school year to a record 56 expulsions. The expulsions on Tuesday were a ninth-grade boy from Citrus High expelled for repeated misbehavior, a seventh-grade boy from Citrus Springs Middle School expelled for violation of the zero tolerance policy, and a seventh-grade girl at Citrus Springs Middle School expelled for violation of the zero tolerance policy.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
Citrus Times |
