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Rezoning Westchase concerns parents
Those at a boundary meeting for the new elementary school respond with loyalty and emotion to district and parent proposals.
By LOGAN D. MABE
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 15, 2000
WESTCHASE -- With a new elementary school scheduled to come on line in the Eagles area in 2002, the proposed attendance zones are like shifting sands. The lines move on the tides of emotion, common sense and demographics.
But the 250 parents who attended a boundary meeting Thursday night in Westchase seemed unified on two points: They don't want to split the Westchase community, and they all want what's best for their children.
That could prove daunting both for school district officials who presented three proposed boundary plans and for a parents' group that has a plan of its own.
"But how do you define community?" asked Bill Person, the school district's man behind the maps. "People there had different definitions. Are we looking at a global scale or individual housing subdivisions?"
Westchase Elementary, which is severely overcrowded with 1,278 students, now serves families in Westchase, Fawn Ridge and the Sheldon Road corridor. In each of the school district's proposals, Westchase and Fawn Ridge would be divided at various junctures.
That generated a lot of anxiety among parents who want their children to remain at Westchase.
"It's (Westchase) too big for one school, and fragmenting it is difficult," Person said. "That's the hardest part."
In plan No. 1, the Westchase subdivisions of Glencliff, Harbor Links, Radcliffe and the Shires would go to the new school, while most of Fawn Ridge would remain at Westchase Elementary.
In plan No. 2, those Westchase enclaves would remain at Westchase Elementary, but all of Fawn Ridge would go to the new school.
In plan No. 3, both the enclaves and Fawn Ridge would attend the new school.
A group of Westchase parents presented an alternative Thursday night. Maggie Haley, president of the Westchase Elementary PTA, thinks the plan could solve a lot of problems.
Under the parent plan, the new school would have 537 students and draw from:
Westchester, Twin Branch Acres and the Preserves apartment complex (92 students).
The Eagles development (92 students).
The Channel A area, or the neighborhoods south of Linebaugh Avenue and west of Sheldon Road (245 students).
Students that would be bused from a satellite school yet to be determined (108 students).
But that plan drew criticism from parents from Channel A, specifically the Pebblebrook neighborhood, who feel as much allegiance to Westchase Elementary as parents who live in Westchase.
Under the parent plan, Westchase Elementary would have 788 students and would draw from:
Westchase proper (545 students).
Fawn Ridge (133 students).
Neighborhoods east of Sheldon Road (78 students).
The Sunset area between Westchase and Fawn Ridge (32 students).
The debate was strident and civil, and voices from every neighborhood were heard.
"We took a little heat, that's for sure," Haley said. "Obviously our goal was, if we could, not divide the (Westchase) community. Once we put the numbers down, it came out as a better plan."
That's not the way the proposal looked to Tannia Ortiz, a parent from the Channel A area who objected to having her children bused miles out of the way to the new school.
Person said he will be listening to parents' concerns and tweaking the plans over the coming months. And there will likely be more boundary meetings like the one held Thursday.
"We have the luxury of months of work and as many community meetings as we need to come up with something," said Person. He said he hopes to have a final proposal to present to the School Board by February or March.
- Logan D. Mabe can be reached at 226-3464 or by e-mail at mabe@sptimes.com.
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