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School Maps Up For Debate

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR

cpastor@tampatrib.com

Published: January 28, 2009

CITRUS PARK - Parents now know where the district thinks students should attend high school next year and will have a chance tonight to argue for or against it.

The Hillsborough County school district will hold a community meeting at 7 p.m. in the Sickles High auditorium. District staff and Bill Lazarus, CEO of consulting firm SeerAnalytics, will speak about data they considered and the selections they made to draw attendance boundaries for the new Steinbrenner High School.

The district hired SeerAnalytics to compile data for attendance zone scenarios, including how school assignments would affect transportation costs, enrollment and diversity. The Tampa company presented dozens of possibilities, weighing those options, and the district selected its favorite, said Bill Person, general director for pupil placement and support programs.

That proposal will go before the community for feedback before the school board votes. Person said he expects the board to make a decision at its Feb. 10 meeting.

Steinbrenner opens in August in Lutz and will draw directly from Gaither and Sickles high schools. Alonso, in Town 'N Country, is 321 students over its capacity, and the district plans to move some students from there into seats that are opening at Sickles.
Westchase anticipated that its families might get targeted for boundary changes. The community sits north of Alonso and south of Sickles, though all high school students are assigned to Alonso.

The Westchase government affairs committee conducted an online survey this month to poll residents on where they thought the district should send their teens. The main question was whether the district should keep Westchase intact at Alonso or send the northern developments to Sickles and the remaining neighborhoods to Alonso. Sickles did not have room for all Westchase students so that was not a survey option, according to the committee.

The committee report also pointed out that the demographics of Sickles would change when its northernmost students moved to Steinbrenner, and that Alonso's makeup could change as well when it loses students to Sickles.

SCHOOL BOUNDARY INFORMATION

The school district will hear from parents tonight on proposed boundaries for Steinbrenner, Sickles, Gaither and Alonso high schools. Maps are scheduled to be available online at www.class size.mysdhc.org before the meeting. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. today in the Sickles High School auditorium, 7950 Gunn Highway, Citrus Park.

Keyword: School Enrollment, to see how crowded your child's school is. Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503. Keyword: School Enrollment, to see how crowded your child's school is.

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