WESLEY CHAPEL — Poring over maps and spreadsheets, a group of central Pasco parents and school officials sought Thursday to resolve one of the school district's most vexing problems, severe crowding at John Long Middle and Wiregrass Ranch High.
To get to manageable enrollment figures for the two campuses, which have hundreds more students than permanent seats, the advisory committee proposed moving some or all of the subdivisions north of State Road 56 and south of Wesley Chapel Boulevard out of the schools' attendance zones.
That move could include portions of two large, vocal communities that have opposed changes — Seven Oaks and Meadow Pointe — as well as some smaller neighborhoods such as Country Walk, Wyndfields and Fox Ridge.
"I definitely think people are going to be unhappy one way or another," said Heather Gerena, a committee member whose home would be drawn out of Wiregrass Ranch if the current proposal becomes reality. "I would rather stay with what's familiar. But I'm also realistic and understand it's so dangerously overcrowded right now. Something needs to change."
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Pasco braces for outcry as officials consider changes to school zones
Committee member Denise Nicholas, who lives in Seven Oaks, said the panel looked for the best possible scenario that disrupts the least children while creating boundaries for the new 6-12 grade campus opening next fall on Old Pasco Road. But someone will be uprooted, she acknowledged, expressing satisfaction that district staff listened closely to parents' ideas.
"We're being heard," agreed Monica Oberdorfer, representing Sunlake High School parents on the committee.
The effort is part of a larger process aimed at rebalancing enrollments at schools across Pasco County, where rapid population growth has resumed after a brief recession-induced lull.
A more hotly contested rezoning is about to begin next week in the Trinity area, where stuffed Mitchell High and Seven Springs Middle are in line to lose students to nearby campuses that are under capacity.
A third initiative is redrawing attendance zones for bursting Oakstead and Odessa elementary schools, as a new elementary school opens to take on some of the burden.
Each committee takes a look at a variety of factors, including transportation routes, student numbers and neighborhood integrity, as it tries to piece together what several participants called the "puzzle" of student assignment.
The Wesley Chapel-centered group is "grappling with some different issues in trying to provide relief to several schools that are going to continue to grow," district planning director Chris Williams said. "I think we're close."
The panel scheduled Thursday's meeting after realizing a week ago that attempts to set a boundary for the new school on Old Pasco Road did nothing to ease congestion at Wiregrass Ranch or John Long Middle, the county's largest schools at each level. Past efforts to draw students out of those two campuses proved fruitless, as new families kept pouring in.
Last year, the situation became so severe that the district moved Wiregrass Ranch to a 10-period day instead of the usual seven just to avoid overflows in the cafeteria, media center and gym. The school had no more room for portable classrooms, either.
Neighboring John Long Middle has nearly 1,900 students, making it larger than most county high schools. It also ran out of room to grow, though it wasn't forced into an alternate schedule.
The new school, currently called GGG, was built specifically to deal with these schools' crowding. But given its location, the committee found it made more sense to move students there from Wesley Chapel High and Weightman Middle, leaving the question open of how to ease the other two.
After lengthy conversations, the committee members asked Williams and his team to run new numbers based on their latest ideas. They plan to reconvene Oct. 20, where Williams said they must reach a conclusion to keep the rezoning on track for a January School Board vote.
Contact Jeffrey S. Solochek at (813) 909-4614 or jsolochek@tampabay.com. Follow @jeffsolochek.