With a new magnet facility being built, Hernando officials are trying find ways to expand older institutions until their plans for new sites kick in.
By LOGAN NEILL
Published August 1, 2004
Over the past few years, schools in Hernando County have been feeling a heavy pinch for space. With the county's swelling population, coupled with the pressure of meeting state standards for class-size reduction, schools are straining to keep up with enrollment demands.
Schools that only a couple of years ago were well below enrollment limits are suddenly scrambling to find adequate space for students. On many campuses, rows of portable classrooms now sit where there used to be parking lots and green space.
With the promise of help from last spring's local sales tax initiative, coupled with extra funds kicked in by the state to help counties meet class-size requirements, the School Board has begun an extensive building effort that it hopes will keep pace with its ever-increasing education demands.
Fundamental to that effort will be completion of the county's first kindergarten through eighth-grade math and science magnet school, on which construction began in April. On the south side of Elgin Boulevard just west of Barclay Avenue in Spring Hill, the 235,000-square-foot as-yet-unnamed facility is due to open in fall 2005 and will serve 1,400 students.
According to district facilities director Graydon Howe, work on the site so far has progressed according to plan. Aside from early delays in getting Southwest Florida Water Management District permits approved, the construction remains on schedule. With land clearing finished in June, construction crews have begun the process of pouring concrete slabs.
"Once we got the permits, we were able to get going pretty quickly," Howe said. "Before too long, people will start seeing the walls go up."
The new school is but a part of the district's expansion project, designed to meet the needs of a projected enrollment increase of 53 percent over the next 10 years. By then, Hernando schools could see a total student population of nearly 30,000. To cope with the influx, the district has plans to build at least six new schools by 2014.
Meanwhile, according to Howe, efforts to beef up expansion of some of the county's 19 existing schools have been slowed by budgeting concerns.
At Powell Middle School, a proposed 280-student wing and kitchen expansion is still in the process of bidding. Howe believes he will get the go-ahead to start construction by September.
The story is much the same for other proposed additions being paid for by a $6.2-million grant from the state. Plans for a seven-classroom addition at Chocachatti Elementary, a new wing at Nature Coast Technical High School and a 168-student addition at Central High are still being revised because of cost concerns.
"We only have so much money, and we try to make it go as far as we can," Howe said. "Since we started, the price of steel and concrete has jumped. It's hard to know for sure what it's going to cost until it's bid."
In the meantime, Howe says his department has been able to keep up with demand for classroom space by adding additional portables.
"We've been going like this for several years now," he said. "We stay pretty busy around here."
