The Seven Oaks community escaped
being rezoned for different middle and high schools in 2016, but it doesnโt
appear it will do so this time around.
Pasco County Schools staff is recommending that the entirety of Seven Oaks be rezoned to attend the new Cypress Creek Middle School, as well Cypress Creek High School, according to new school year 2020-21 maps posted on its website.
Wiregrass Ranch High will host a public workshop in its gymnasium on Monday, October 7, 5 p.m.-8 p.m., where the new maps will be displayed. District staff will be on hand to answer questions.
Almost every student living in Seven Oaks is currently zoned for John Long Middle School and Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH).
The rezoning is expected to help ease school overcrowding. JLM was at 110-percent capacity of its in 2018-19, but will have 400 fewer students with the new boundary, according to projections posted by the District staff, putting it at 80.5 percent capacity for 2020-21.
WRH was at 122.7-percent of its capacity in 2018-19, and will have roughly 540 fewer students with the new boundary, or 89.7 capacity.
Cypress Creek Middle and High schools also will have its boundaries extended north and draw students formerly zoned for Pasco Middle School and Pasco High in Dade City.
The new boundaries (above) also will be a change for students living in the Terrace Park, Timber Lake Estates and New River Ranchettes areas located just west of Morris Bridge Rd., between S.R.s 54 and south of 56, with roughly 100 or so students headed to Zephyrhills High School.
Quail Hollow Elementaryโs boundary (above) is proposed to be extended north to the San Antonio area.
Chris Williams (standing) looks over maps during a School Boundary Committee meetings in 2016 at Wesley Chapel High. There will be no such committees in 2019; Williams and his staff are in the process of drawing up new boundaries and will answer questions and concerns on Oct. 7 at Wiregrass Ranch High.
With Cypress Creek Middle School scheduled to open separately from the existing high school in August of 2020, Pasco County is about to tackle the difficult job of drawing new school attendance boundaries again. But, Pasco Schools superintendent Kurt Browning has his fingers crossed that things wonโt be nearly as tough as they were in 2016.
They couldnโt be worse, right?
In Wesley Chapel, the process was contentious and exhausting, as families argued over various options and how best to alleviate the overcrowding at the areaโs existing schools while filling the classrooms at Cypress Creek Middle/High, which was opening the following year.
On the west side of the county, it was even worse, as the boundaries for Mitchell and Anclote high schools ended up in court.
Browning says this time around, things will be different.
In 2016, a School Boundary Committee (SBC) made up of parents, district staff and school administrators was formed to help define the new boundaries. But this fall, the plans will be the sole responsibility of the District staff. โIโve done away with that committee, and now itโs a District-driven process,โ Browning says.
Gone are the community workshops from the last rezoning, which resulted in a packed gymnasium, or two, of angry parents. Instead, Browning says Chapter 120 of the Florida Statutes will be followed.
โThe irony is that under Chapter 120, there are no opportunities early on for community involvement in this process,โ Browning says. โWe got dinged because we were not following Chapter 120, so what we did is we said โFine, weโll follow Chapter 120.โโ
That process is more โsterile,โ Browning says.
District staff, led by planning director Chris Williams, will come up with a new map of boundaries for high schools and middle schools, with data to support those maps.
Chapter 120 does still allow for public comment, however. And, on Monday, October 7, 5 p.m.-8 p.m., in the Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) gymnasium, area residents will have the opportunity to view the maps and ask questions of District staff. They also will be allowed to offer opinions, either at the meeting or online.
Browning says his staff will read every question and comment. Some could lead to changes or adjustments, and once finalized, there will be a public hearing before the Pasco School Board on Tuesday, November 5.
That will be the last time the public will have an opportunity to voice any opinions or concerns, as on Tuesday, November 19, the School Board will make its final decision.
A Little Contentious History
In 2016, the SBCโs recommendation of Option 20, which rezoned the bulk of the students living in Seven Oaks to Cypress Creek, was rejected by Browning, setting off a long dispute.
As a result of Seven Oaks being spared back then, however, Browning says it is likely that the new maps, which will soon be revealed, will rezone much of Seven Oaks.
Kurt Browning
โI said last time there will come a day, sooner than later, that Seven Oaks will have to be looked at, and now is that time,โ Browning says. โWe have to look to get those numbers down at John Long Middle School and Wiregrass Ranch High, and the most logical place to do that is Seven Oaks.โ
While the idea of sending their kids to different schools further away ruffled feathers last time, Browning doesnโt see the same discord this time around.
โI donโt think it will be as contentious as (2016),โ he says. โYou know, they were going into an unknown and even the students who got rezoned were going to a brand new high school that was coming up out of the ground,โ Browning said. โThere wasnโt any track record. Now we have two years under our belt at Cypress Creek Middle High and theyโre doing wonderfully well. Itโs a great administration, great kids, great teachers and the academics are solid. I think it will be easier from that perspective.โ
Even after redrawing the boundaries to relieve overcrowding, it is likely that some schools will remain at or above capacity. Browning says the county doesnโt have enough money to build schools fast enough to accommodate the growth in Wesley Chapel.
Based on enrollment numbers that average the first 20 days of the current school year, 11 of the 14 Wesley Chapel schools are already over capacity.
โEven when we rezone kids out of Wiregrass Ranch and John Long Middle with this rezoning, those schools are still going to be at, or near, capacity,โ he says.
This year, Wiregrass Ranch High is at 139 percent of capacity, and John Long Middle School is at 119 percent.
Cypress Creek Middle High currently has 2,100 students, but nearly half of those will be moving to the new 1,600-seat middle school.
The middle school will then be able to absorb roughly 600 additional students without exceeding capacity. And, according to Browning, Cypress Creek High, which has a capacity of 2,090 students, will be able to take 800 new students from other high schools and those graduating from local middle schools and still remain at or under capacity.
More help could be on the way, too. A new magnet high school is on the horizon for 2022 at the corner of Keifer Rd. and Curley Rd. north of WaterGrasss, which Browning says will draw students from Pasco, Zephyrhills, Wesley Chapel and Wiregrass Ranch high schools.
Until then, while the new middle school will provide some relief, overcrowding will continue to be a way of life in this bustling area.
Once again, every school in Wesley Chapel but one received either an A or B grade from the state, including John Long Middle School (an A school for the 13th consecutive year, and Sand Pine Elementary (an A school for the 19th time in 21 years). Also, Wiregrass Elem. earned its first-ever A & the Union Park Academy charter school has received an A after its first full school year.
Students in Wiregrass Elementaryโs Explorations after-school program celebrate the completion of their Zumba class. The program was highly successful in its first year (2018-19) and is now being expanded to Seven Oaks Elementary.
In Pasco County, learning doesnโt stop when the bell rings at the end of the school day. From robotics to clay sculpting, and from Spanish to Zumba, students in several schools will again have access to innovative options after school that are fun and engaging, focused on skills the students want to acquire.
Two such pilot programs are being expanded onto three more Wesley Chapel campuses for the 2019-20 school year. Pasco Countyโs successful โExplorationsโ program for elementary school students will be offered at Seven Oaks Elementary and โBeyond The Bellโ for middle school students will be offered at both John Long and Thomas Weightman middle schools.
For parents of middle school students who previously did not have an on-campus option for care after school, Beyond The Bell brings a program that keeps kids active and engaged after the school bell rings. It was started in two Pasco County middle schools (Rushe and River Ridge) last year, both located outside of Wesley Chapel.
Beyond The Bell is a fee-based program that is available every day from the time school gets out (which may vary) until 6 p.m. โStudents get group tutoring by certified teachers, โtechno time,โ where they work on projects or research, plus clubs, socialization and enrichment programs, which change every seven weeks,โ says Carlotta Mathis, the Enrichment Specialist in Pasco Countyโs After School Enrichment Programs department. โThat enrichment is everything from hip-hop and jazz dance, to robotics, to life skills.โ
She explains that a wide variety of life skills are taught, such as home economics, culinary skills, babysitting and even staying home alone, as well as economics and math, where students are taught basic banking, including how to write a check and balance a checkbook.
Each school will offer both physical activities, such as sports and dance, and life skill enrichments, plus STEAM activities such as robotics. Students will be offered all the different units at some point throughout the school year.
โOur pilot program went well and we had good numbers, (last year)โ explains Mathis. โThere were relationships built with school staff and students, engaging activities going on all the time, and we felt like it was time for us to move it to the next level.โ
Itโs Elementary, Too
While Beyond The Bell is expanding at the middle school level, Explorations is expanding to a new elementary school.
Explorations is a program that started at Wiregrass Elementary last year, giving students who did not need full-time care after school the opportunity to participate in a weekly enrichment class immediately after school, available four days each week.
Students attend just one or two afternoons per week and learn skills and topics that are asked for by families at the school. In fact, the idea to bring Explorations to Seven Oaks came from a parent.
Seven Oaks principal Shauntte Butcher says parent Senthil Sundaresan requested the program after hearing it was offered at Wiregrass. โHe wanted something really fun, that looks more like a club,โ Butcher explains.
As working parents, she says Sundaresan and his wife were looking for more activities to be available on campus for students. Instead of picking children up from school, taking them to some kind of class, sport or enrichment activity, and then picking them up there, the Explorations program allows kids to enjoy a worthwhile activity and parents just one pick-up time and location.
โ(Explorations) is a win-win for parents and students,โ says Butcher. โItโs something fun after school and another learning activity that helps make children more well-rounded.โ
She says students at Seven Oaks will be able to choose from a variety of after-school classes that will include dance, Spanish, cooking, sports, coding/robotics and Zumba. Each class lasts for seven weeks and the classes offered change each quarter.
While these programs are being expanded into three more Wesley Chapel schools, there is still more room for growth. Mathis is willing to expand her officeโs programs to other schools, if the principals want it and if surveys show that parents are interested.
To view all of the available programs and register for those that are currently open, including Explorations at Seven Oaks and Wiregrass elementary schools, plus Beyond The Bell at John Long and Weightman middle schools, visit Pasco County Schoolsโ department of After School Enrichment Programs (ASEP) at myASEP.com.
When the half-penny school sales tax referendum passed in Hillsborough County last year, the promise was that aged roofs and floors and playgrounds would be repaired, athletic tracks would be repaved and classrooms and fire evacuation systems being upgraded, just to name just a few much-needed enhancements.
But, what got Wharton High’s Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) president Kristie Scism most excited was much cooler than all those things.
โThe air conditioning,โ Scism says. โIt may not be the best thing, but it was the one thing I was most excited about.โ
Hillsborough County Public Schools announced last week that teams of workers have begun moving into the 21 schools that will receive an overhaul or replacement of their existing AC systems.
While every school in New Tampa except for Hunter’s Green and Tampa Palms elementaries is scheduled to get upgraded AC in years 1-5 of the school tax referendum, only Wharton High, Benito Middle School and Clark Elementary are among the 21 schools having the work done this summer.
Over the next 10 years, funds from the half-penny sales tax are expected to overhaul or replace the A/C systems at 203 schools, or about 20 each summer.
โIt’s pretty miserable when the A/C breaks,โ Scism said, adding that it has been an all-too common occurrence at Wharton. โIt gets to be like a sauna in some rooms. It’s very hard (for students) to concentrate in those conditions.โ
Intermittent air conditioning at times has also been a complaint of parents and teachers at Benito and Clark for years.
