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Crowding Remains Issue At Chamberlain

Tribune file photo by JAY NOLAN

Overcrowding will likely remain an issue at Chamberlain High School.

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR

cpastor@tampatrib.com

Published: February 18, 2009

LUTZ - About 2,200 high school students in northwestern Hillsborough are scheduled to change schools in August, but the moves will do nothing to ease crowding at Chamberlain High School.

The school board last week approved boundary changes for Sickles, Alonso and Gaither, lowering enrollment enough at those three schools to bring them under capacity. Sickles and Gaither will send students to Steinbrenner High School, which is opening in Lutz.

Alonso will move about 480 of its students into Sickles.

Chamberlain, however, has about 270 students more than its capacity. But school board member Candy Olson reassured parents that the district would address its crowding in the future. In the meantime, families could apply for school choice now that other nearby schools will have space.

Some Lutz parents had also asked if they could get reassigned from Freedom High to Gaither or Steinbrenner, because those schools are closer to their homes, and the rest of the Lutz community attends them. Olson said she understood that it was a long drive for them to Freedom and suggested they apply for school choice, too.

"We have to work with what we have," she said.

One option for the future, Olson said, could be to peel off part of Chamberlain's attendance zone to send to Freedom and look into moving Lutz families to Gaither or Steinbrenner, if Steinbrenner did not fill up with growth.

Board member Susan Valdes said she welcomed efforts to reduce crowding at Chamberlain as long as changes preserved diversity at the school.

The board said it was pleased with how district officials handled school boundaries this year for Steinbrenner and Strawberry Crest, a new high school coming to eastern Hillsborough. The district had hired consultant SeerAnalytics for $140,000 to develop dozens of scenarios for new attendance zones, weighing factors such as transportation costs and diversity.

Hundreds of parents attended community meetings, and many complained about the plans. But no one spoke at the board meeting last week against the proposals. The district made some adjustments after the first meeting, keeping about 200 students at Sickles instead of moving them to Steinbrenner. Officials also decided not to move about 230 Durant students to Plant City. They will stay at Durant.

"We do take community input," Olson said.

WHO IS MOVING

The school district is moving about 2,200 students to ease crowding and fill Steinbrenner High School, which will open in August on Lutz-Lake Fern Road.

• 1,480 from Sickles to Steinbrenner

• 230 from Gaither to Steinbrenner

• 480 from Alonso to Sickles

Source: Hillsborough County school district

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503.

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