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School Boundary Change Discussed

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By MICHELE SAGER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 12, 2008

UNIVERSITY AREA - Child care and distance were the top concerns for parents who could be sending their children to a different school next year.

School district leaders held a public meeting last week to discuss a proposal to change attendance boundaries. The plan would move several hundred students from Witter and Shaw elementary schools to Clark and Hunter's Green elementary schools in New Tampa.

About a dozen parents attended the meeting to get a glimpse of boundary proposals and to ask questions. The district has to move students out of Witter and Shaw because of crowding issues. The district had hoped to build a school in the University Area but lacks money and land options.

Students living north of Fowler Avenue, west of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, south of Fletcher and east of University Mall would move from Witter to Clark. Steve Ayers, the district's director of community and parent relations, estimated that would be about 182 students.

Students living north of Fowler Avenue, east of 15th Street, south of 127th Avenue and west of University Mall would move from Shaw to Hunter's Green. That would be about 156 students, Ayers said.

The new distances concerned some parents. Instead of traveling less than a mile to Witter or Shaw, children will travel up to 11 miles each way on congested Bruce B. Downs Boulevard to northern New Tampa.

Parents wondered how this would affect child care issues and whether children would have to get up earlier to catch the bus. Ayers said he would bring those concerns to the superintendent.

One parent wanted to know how he would retrieve a sick child without transportation. No public transportation is available near Clark or Hunter's Green. Ayers said the district will consider hardship cases as reasons to keep some children in the University Area. Families also can apply to have their children attend nearby Cahoon Magnet Elementary.

Sending University Area children far distances is not a new concept in the district. Many children from neighborhoods in the University Area were sent to New Tampa schools as part of district desegregation. The district ended busing when it developed a choice plan that allowed families to stay in neighborhood schools or choose farther schools based on program options.

But the lack of interest in school choice programs and a deadline looming to meet the class-size amendment have sent the district back to busing. Although parents asked questions, no one expressed opposition to the plan during the meeting.

The proposal is expected to go to the school board during the next month.

To see the proposed boundary changes, go to Northeast.tbo.com. Reporter Michele Sager can be reached at (813) 865-4843 or msager@tampatrib.com.

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