2 schools or 1?

A rift has developed between parents over a new elementary school planned for Tampa Palms. Some want two separate schools; others favor unifying them, with younger pupils in one building and older children in the other.

By MELANIE AVE

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 28, 2000

TAMPA PALMS -- Two schools in one neighborhood mean two names and two mascots, two principals and two PTAs. A second school will mean two distinct groups of students and teachers, not to mention double the fundraisers, picnics and plays.

For some families that's too, too much.

Many parents with children in Tampa Palms Elementary School -- a source of great pride in this master-planned development -- don't want them to leave when the new school opens next year on the west side of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

Moving children to a new school is the kind of decision that, elsewhere, bureaucrats would make without question. But in this civic-minded community, it has turned parents against other parents and torn apart a few childhood friendships.

"It'll split the community," warned Terry Wolford, former president of the Tampa Palms Elementary PTA. "Tampa Palms will not be the same Tampa Palms that has existed for the last 12 years. Everyone needs to come out of the same school if we're going to have a successful community."

The truth is that growth already has transformed Tampa Palms from an insular pioneer community to a sprawling mass along the booming growth corridor that is Bruce B. Downs.

Still, people feel so strongly about a unified Tampa Palms Elementary School that they have launched a grass-roots campaign complete with fundraising, a Web site and a fact-finding trip to Colorado.

They don't oppose a new building. But instead of two schools, each with kindergarten through fifth grade, these parents want to house the kindergarten through second grade in the older school on Tampa Palms Boulevard; and the older children in the new building, which is also on Tampa Palms Boulevard but on the opposite side of Bruce B. Downs.

Tampa Palms Elementary would essentially remain one entity.

School district officials are considering this plan, which is almost unprecedented here, and expect to reach a decision later this year.

As the community awaits an answer, this bid for unity is, ironically, fueling a rift between parents who want the split school and those who favor two traditional, but separate, kindergarten-to-fifth-grade schools.

"There are truly people who do not talk to each other anymore," said parent Patti Lopez, who opposes the split-grade plan. "Some won't allow their children, who have been friends for years, to play together."

New school will house901 pupils

The new school in the eye of the controversy, set to open in August 2001 with construction beginning this summer, will ease overcrowding in area schools, particularly Tampa Palms Elementary. Built for 969 students, the school was considered critically overcrowded with 1,221 students enrolled this past school year.

The new school will house 901 students.

District officials, who originally suggested making Bruce B. Downs the boundary, are so concerned about the tension surrounding the new school, they've stepped into the fray. They may move up a meeting to discuss the new school's attendance boundaries to this summer -- where its format also will be discussed -- instead of the fall.

Already they have organized a committee of parents, teachers and community members to gather more information about split grades.

"I'm just trying to keep the peace up there," said Cathy Valdes, area director for the school district. "I think a lot of people are concerned that it will divide the community."

The new school will attract students from Tampa Palms Elementary, Clark Elementary and Maniscalco Elementary in Lutz, but it is not yet certain which of these students will attend.

Valdes said the school district will weigh the community's advice in deciding boundaries and format. But she said proponents would have to show an "overwhelming reason" before officials could support a split-grade plan.

The only other local case of such a split occurred two years ago, when the district sent fourth- and fifth-graders from the overcrowded Edison Elementary School in central Tampa to Lomax, a former elementary 10 blocks away that was operating an alternative education program.

Administrators hope to return these two schools to a traditional format. "It's only a temporary measure," Valdes said.

Back in Tampa Palms, principal Betty Lou Turner has created a five-member steering committee to learn more about the concept.

"There were so many questions from so many different directions," said Turner, who is determined to remain neutral.

Those clearly on the side of a split-grade format have joined up with One Community, One School, a group that's trying to make sure the committee appreciates its advantages. Gathering about $2,600 from residents, the group this month sent the committee to Colorado to visit a split-grade school in Littleton.

"We feel like the more educated everybody is, the more excited they'll be about this concept," said parent Lynn Gruber. "Just like us."

Our 'blood' in the school

Reluctance to leave a prestigious school is not unheard of in New Tampa. Arbor Greene homeowners reacted strongly to news that their children would attend Pride Elementary, which opens this fall in the Cross Creek area, instead of the highly regarded Hunter's Green Elementary. After considering a plan that would allow parents to choose, the district decided the Arbor Greene children will attend Pride.

The stakes are equally high for Tampa Palms Elementary, which produces high test scores and is about to send its fifth-graders to compete worldwide in the Odyssey of the Mind. An award-winning PTA raised $65,000 in its early years to build a playground shelter and this past year boasted 100 percent membership.

"We have our blood into the school," Gruber said. "If they take our kids and move half of them to a new school, all the people who go to the new school have lost years and years of time and effort that they've put into the other school."

To stop that from happening, she, Wolford and other parents helped organize One Community, One School and set about creating a public relations machine. They built a Web site, printed hundreds of neighborhood fliers and hired an out-of-state consultant.

They want one school, one name, one mascot and one PTA. While organizers would not be specific about their funding sources, Gruber said they have members in all of Tampa Palms' villages.

Parent Doug Loyd, owner of Florida Executive Realty, said building two separate schools defeats the purpose of Tampa Palms.

"Tampa Palms, in concept, is designed to be a single community," he said. "I think . . . dividing it between two separate schools is not in keeping with the concept."

The One Community, One School contingent believes that if it can get enough community backing, it can persuade the School Board to embrace the split-grade format. The group hopes to raise at least $3,500 to spread the split-grade gospel.

But strong emotions of those on both sides seem to be getting in the way.

"It's heated because it represents something new," said Michelle Fountain, chairwoman of the Tampa Palms School Advisory Council. "And there's always some uncertainty surrounding something new."

On the other side of the issue is a loose-knit group of residents who want a traditional K-5 school. They see no educational benefit in grade-splitting the new school and question if their opponents are driven by the interests of real estate agents, who often use Tampa Palms Elementary as a selling point.

"I'd like to see the school system and the School Board make that vote, not parents like me or neighbors or Realtors who do not have children attending the school," said parent Karen Blumenthal, who said she wants more information before supporting either format. "I wish people in this community would focus on education and safety and less on the social aspects."

The opponents worry about the logistics and safety of having siblings attending different schools and busing them between the two buildings.

Patti Lopez doesn't believe there are academic benefits to split grades.

"I don't see anything showing a superior education to what my children are getting at this point and time," she said.

While split grades may be unusual here, many schools nationwide use such a configuration.

At the Bradford Primary and Intermediate School in Littleton, Colo., children are split between kindergarten through third grades and fourth through sixth grades on two campuses about a mile apart, said Harry Morgan, the school's former principal. He was flown to Tampa by the One Community, One School group and helped arrange the district committee's trip to Colorado.

As with Tampa Palms, Morgan said the Bradford split took place primarily because parents did not want two different schools in one neighborhood. Still, he added, six years later test scores have improved.

"What we saw was a very different atmosphere in each school," he said. "In the intermediate school, the students were more focused, more academic minded. It felt less like a primary school."

Morgan believes the sentiments of parents wanting split grades go deeper than PTA membership or finding a new mascot.

"Schools really are the heart of community," he said. "If you have two separate schools, you have two separate communities."

Valdes, of the school district, said the Tampa Palms community can voice its say during the upcoming boundary meetings.

"There's nothing we're advocating or opposing at the moment," she said. "We're just listening."

She hopes Tampa Palms will reach a consensus and express its wishes in a unified voice. But that might prove to be the community's biggest challenge.

"If they're exploring all the options, then that's all great," Valdes said. "That's what site-based management is all about. But if it causes a big split in that community, then it won't have been worth it."

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