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Students' Parents Make Plea

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 1, 2008

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - Most school boundary discussions involve parents pleading for the district to keep their children at their current schools.

A new high school opening in August in Lutz has them begging to be moved.

Two mothers attended a town hall meeting with Superintendent MaryEllen Elia last week, requesting the Hillsborough County school district assign Lutz families to Steinbrenner High School when it opens next year. They said they spoke on behalf of several neighbors, who could not attend due to conflicts with school meetings that night, and were thinking of circulating a petition.

Children in the area now may attend the same elementary school but get divided among Bartels, Liberty and Buchanan middle schools and Gaither and Freedom high schools. It splits the community between New Tampa and the Carrollwood area, the mothers said.

Steinbrenner will open on Lutz-Lake Fern Road, next to Martinez Middle. Parents said they would love for their children to attend Martinez and Steinbrenner and stay in the area.

Cherie Nelson sends her child to Martinez through special assignment and is zoned for Gaither in the future. Nelson said she wanted Lutz children to have the opportunity to attend their community schools and not get bused elsewhere.

"They lose community spirit and friends when they leave elementary school," Nelson said.

Elia said school boundaries required a balancing act. District officials try to reduce crowding and fill new schools but also have to keep class sizes small to meet state requirements. She urged Lutz parents to get involved in the boundary discussions and help the district make those decisions.
Boundary meetings will start this month or next said Bill Person, general director for pupil placement and support programs. The district is gathering input from local schools and trying to figure out who will attend Steinbrenner. The high school will affect Alonso, in Town 'N Country, as well. The district will likely assign some Sickles students to Steinbrenner and move some Alonso teens into Sickles to offset Alonso's high enrollment.

Elia's meeting was the sixth of seven town hall meetings she held across Hillsborough County. About 80 parents, teachers and administrators gathered at Pierce Middle School last week and quizzed her about boundaries, school safety, adult education programs and transportation problems.

Transportation concerns dominated most of the meetings, including the one at Pierce. The district is overhauling its busing system to make it more efficient, and it has created confusion among parents who discovered their children's bus stops moved or eliminated at the last minute.

It has raised so many questions that Elia brings transportation workers with her to the meetings for parents to talk with privately.

"There is no question we had a very rough opening for transportation," Elia said. "It fell short this year. There is no excuse."

Euretia Costley said her daughter's 7:15 a.m. bus to Bay Crest Elementary is regularly 15 to 20 minutes late. It drops her off at the school at 7:55 a.m., which means she has to skip Bay Crest's free breakfast or grab something to eat and arrive at class late.

"Every day she's late to class," Costley said, "which is not teaching our children to be responsible."

She also suggested the district set up emergency phone lines for schools after hours. Her daughter fell asleep on the bus earlier this year, and the driver thought the bus was empty. Costley said the transportation department could not get through on the phone to Bay Crest to find out whether the little girl had gotten on the bus or left school.

Other parents shared stories of children hanging out unsupervised at bus stops when buses didn't show. One mother said she had to scramble to pick up her child after school because the bus no longer would drop her off at her grandmother's house.

Elia referred parents to district administrators to address specific issues and apologized repeatedly for the confusion.

"There's no question this has been a stress for parents," Elia said.

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

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