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2 School Assignment Plans In Works

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 2, 2008

CITRUS PARK - Parents will hear different proposals this month for how the school district plans to deal with high and low enrollment in area middle schools.

The Hillsborough County School District will open Smith Middle School in August and is establishing attendance boundaries. But students who are not assigned to the Citrus Park middle school may feel some of the fallout. The district is considering shuffling students in as many as five middle schools to cope with crowding in some schools and fill open spaces in others.

One proposal is to send Davidsen and Walker students to Smith, which would free up slots at those schools. The district could then move some Martinez students to Walker and some Farnell students to Davidsen. Webb Middle School, in Town 'N Country, has room to spare, and the district also is considering moving some Farnell students there.

Steve Ayers, director of pupil administrative services, said he and other district officials will present some of these options to parents at a community meeting Jan. 23 in the auditorium at Sickles High School, 7950 Gunn Highway. No decisions will be made that night.

"All we're doing is telling them what we're thinking," Ayers said. "It's going to be interesting."

Parents may hear a couple of plans for new boundaries. While district leaders work on their proposal, an outside company is analyzing data to come up with its recommendations. The district hired Tampa company SeerAnalytics in October as a consultant for boundary adjustments.

SeerAnalytics' involvement is a pilot program to see how the district would benefit from outside analysis when it reassigns students. Ayers said it is possible the district and SeerAnalytics will come to different conclusions.

If that happens, Ayers will present both to parents at the Jan. 23 meeting and ask for feedback. Comments will go back to the superintendent, who will make a recommendation for the school board to vote on at a future meeting.

Ayers said the district would like to have the boundaries set by March.

The district also needs to establish attendance boundaries for Steinbrenner High School, which will be built on Lutz-Lake Fern Road for the 2009-10 school year. The school should relieve crowding at Gaither and Sickles. Ayers said he did not know whether those community meetings would occur during the current school year.

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503 or cpastor@tampatrib.com.

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