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Pasco School Board moves forward with new attendance zones, despite complaints

 
Published Dec. 2, 2015

LAND O'LAKES — Despite an outcry from some affected communities, the Pasco School Board gave initial approval Tuesday to new attendance zones for several elementary schools in the Wesley Chapel-Lutz area.

The district is opening a new school in the area next fall to help ease crowding, particularly at Seven Oaks Elementary.

To rebalance student counts in that growing part of the county, while some of the children would go to the new school, some would move to under-capacity Denham Oaks Elementary, west of Interstate 75.

That recommended move upset parents in some subdivisions, particularly Northwoods and Amber Woods, which they consider oriented east toward Wesley Chapel rather than west toward Lutz.

They urged the board to send their children, who currently go to Seven Oaks, to Sand Pine Elementary instead of Denham Oaks. They cited traffic concerns, as well as a desire to have their social and school lives connected in the same community.

Board members said they understood the parents' wishes. However, they also noted that the district cannot set attendance lines that do exactly what everyone wants.

"Ultimately, at some point we have to draw a line, and there will always be some folks on the other side of that line," Vice Chairman Allen Altman said.

While the board cannot answer everyone's geographic concerns, Altman said, it can address their academic ones. He noted several families' complaint that Denham Oaks does not have the same gifted education program as Seven Oaks, and urged the administration to address that issue before a final vote.

Board member Cynthia Armstrong agreed that such an effort must be made.

"It is important if we do move students from one school to another that they have similar opportunities," Armstrong said.

At the same time, she dismissed the complaints that parents didn't want to drive in different directions for their children's schooling and other activities. Interstate 75 cannot be a cutoff for how school zones are drawn, she said.

"I don't like to see a man-made feature dividing our communities," she said. "It's just a road."

Vincent Iglio, an Arbor Woods resident, urged the board to create "reasonable" boundaries that disrupt families the least.

"We're not drawing lines based on actuarial tables," Iglio said, referring to Altman's insurance business. "We're drawing lines based on students, families and communities."

Board Chairwoman Joanne Hurley noted that there is plenty of time for parents to make a case.

"I have not made my decision yet," Hurley said. "I will question staff on everything you send me."

The item comes back to the board on Dec. 15. Copies of the proposals are on the district's website at www.pasco.k12.fl.us/planning/rezoning.

Contact Jeffrey S. Solochek at jsolochek@tampabay.com or (813) 909-4614. Follow @JeffSolochek.