Drawings put a form to proposed elementary school

Attendance boundaries have yet to be established and funding is not complete, but plans for the new school are proceeding.

By MELANIE AVE

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 28, 2000

TAMPA PALMS -- A second elementary school will be welcome here, in spite of the current disagreement over who should attend it.

"We really, as a community, need this school," said Kathleen Mueller, president of the Tampa Palms PTA. Built for 969 students, her school was at 120 percent capacity with 1,221 students this past year. The new school, which opens in August 2001, is designed to house 901.

Drawings of the 75,131-square-foot school show four buildings around an outdoor courtyard. The buildings will be connected by a series of covered and uncovered walkways.

Two buildings will be classrooms, one an administration and media center and another a multipurpose building with dining, kitchen, music and stage facilities.

Courts and play areas will be built behind the school, to the east of Tampa Palms Boulevard. Some of the classroom buildings and the administration building will have two stories, with elevators and stairways.

The School Board approved the drawings in early May, but officials are still trying to get the amount budgeted to build the school to match the projected costs, said Jill Edwards, the district's project coordinator.

Currently, the school is expected to cost $7.29-million, but only $6.76-million has been set aside. "This is not an unusual problem at this stage," Edwards said.

The school is one of three scheduled this year for New Tampa. Construction of a new high school and middle school in New Tampa are expected to begin this fall, for openings in August 2002.

-- Melanie Ave can be reached at (813) 226-3473 or melanie@sptimes.com.

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