 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Board tells parents: No changes in boundaries
By JOHN BALZ, Times Staff Writer
HERITAGE ISLES -- The Hillsborough County School Board decided not to reconsider Heritage Elementary School's boundaries Tuesday, leaving a group of parents ever more frustrated about the future of their community. The parents said they are worried that the new school, scheduled to open near the intersection of Morris Bridge Road and Cross Creek Boulevard next fall, will suffer from an unhealthy learning environment. The majority of its population will be drawn from nearby apartment complexes that parents say have a high rate of family turnover. The school will also open 70 percent under capacity. Fifteen parents appeared at a School Board meeting Tuesday to express their disapproval with the boundaries. After nine spoke, the Board, without debate, decided against reopening the issue. "We were hoodwinked," parent Nathan Kalk told School Board Chair Carol Kurdell before exiting the auditorium. "The Board spoke clearly tonight that it made the correct decision in drawing the boundaries," said Hillsborough County Public Schools spokesman Mark Hart. Hart said parents had ample opportunity to write letters and voice opinions throughout the fall. As the boundaries are currently drawn, children from Heritage Isles, Addison, Villas, Heritage Pines, Branchton and an unnamed subdivision will attend Heritage Elementary. Heritage Isles and Branchton are single-family home communities. The rest are apartment complexes. Heritage Isles resident Denise Chenoweth said she would soon organize a neighborhood meeting to decide on the next step the group might take. She said she was most disappointed that the Board upheld its decision without another round of debates. "They just passed us off," she said. Alarmed at the school situation, some residents say they are putting their homes up for sale. Lisa Roy, whose will start kindergarten next year, said she put her house on the market two weeks ago. She had hoped to take it off the market if the Board reconsidered the boundaries. Now she might move to Hunter's Green. "There are lots of people like me," she said. "I don't want my son's first experience at school to be a bad one." -- John Balz can be reached at (813) 269-5313 or at balz@sptimes.com .
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times |
