Committee Keeps Meadow Pointe Intact, Rezones Seven Oaks

With a smattering of black shirts with the number 12 — representing Option 12 — crossed out serving as a backdrop, the Pasco School Boundary Committee (SBC) changed course Friday afternoon and unanimously rejected its initial recommendation for new school zones in Wesley Chapel, choosing Option 20 to pass on to the Pasco County School Board (PCSB) for final approval.

The vote wasn’t close, with 16 of the 21 voting members raising their hand for Option 20. Option 13 received five votes from the committee comprised of school principals, parents and county administrators.

Option 12, the initial option recommended by the SBC at its last meeting, didn’t receive any.

Option 20 will now be passed on to Superintendent Kurt Browning and his staff, and then to the School Board for public hearings at 6 p.m. on Dec. 20 and Jan. 17.

Parents can attend and mount a challenge to Option 20, but Linda Cobbe, the district spokesman, said Browning told her “he doesn’t have any intention on changing any decisions made by the committees on the new boundaries.”

The 16-5 vote caused muffled rejoicing and a few silent high-fives from many of the 80 or so parents in attendance at the Wesley Chapel High gymnasium.

Option 20 will keep Meadow Pointe III and IV, Country Walk and Union Park in their current zones, and while no one of the SBC said it had anything to do with their vote, the selection alleviates many parents fear of their kids being transported to school via Meadow Point Blvd. and S.R. 54, which was a prevalent theme of the Nov. 29 parent town hall that was attended by more than 1,000

The Seven Oaks community, some of whom were in attendance, will not be as happy. Their students will now be zoned to attend Wesley Chapel (WCH) and Weightman (TWM) middle schools, except for current juniors at Wiregrass Ranch High who will be grandfathered in.

Option 20 was originally among the final three for the SBC, but ultimately dismissed for two reasons: because it didn’t provide as much relief to the overcrowded schools as 12, and it rezoned Seven Oaks.

But some eagle-eyed Meadow Pointe residents disputed the numbers. Kevin Croswell, representing Meadow Pointe III, spoke at a School Board meeting on Nov. 15, saying the original enrollment numbers presented by the county to the SBC in Option 20 were incorrect. Their numbers, which turned out to be the correct numbers and were adjusted by the district staff, showed Option 20 offered almost the same relief as Option 12.

“I think certainly the numbers helped,” said Chris Williams, director of planning. “We corrected those numbers…and basically 20 became comparable to 12.”

Also, the possibility of rezoning Seven Oaks again in 4-5 years when a new middle school is built on Old Pasco Rd. next to the new school, Cypress Creek Middle and High School, seemed to be less of a sticking point.

The new middle school could also be 6-7 years or longer down the road, said Williams, depending on how quickly the money, raised from impact fees, becomes available. That longer timeline seemed to cause a few SBC members to have less of a concern about “double-dipping” Seven Oaks in the rezoning pool, and to  take a stronger look at Option 20.

“It’s not the community (of Seven Oaks), it’s about keeping the schools together and keeping the integrity of the feeder pattern schools together, that’s the most important thing,” said SBC member and Seven Oaks resident Denise Nicholas, who also is the Pasco County Council PTA (PCCPTA) President. “I did not vote for 20, because I truly don’t believe in rezoning twice. I don’t think it’s fair for any community, whether it be Seven Oaks, Meadow Pointe, Union Park, Stagecoach, whoever, to be double-dipped and have to be moved twice.

Many SBC members attended the Nov. 29 parent town hall at Wesley Chapel High, which drew more than 1,000 residents that made clear their scorn for Option 12.

Most in attendance at the town hall seemed to favor Option 20, with traffic as the primary concern. Parents of students in the Meadow Pointe III and IV, Country Walk and Union Park areas were dismayed they would have to send their kids to school north on two-lane Meadow Pointe Blvd. and west on S.R. 54, which will begin a widening project in 2017.

Neighborhood News Assistant Editor John C. Cotey can be reached at john@ntneighborhoodnews.com