Pinellas Schools superintendent recommends school closures, consolidations as enrollment drops
Pinellas schools see drop in enrollment
Schools in Pinellas County are on the chopping block because of drastic drops in enrollment. Pinellas County Schools said the number of students dropped by almost 30,000 from 2006 to 2024, and they don't see the trend changing. FOX 13's Kailey Tracy reports.
LARGO, Fla. - A couple of schools in Pinellas County are on the chopping block.
By the numbers:
According to the school district, just 68% are enrolled in kindergarten in the 2025-2026 school year compared to 87% in the 2015-2016 school year. The declining enrollment that they don’t expect to change, has forced the district, school leaders say, to create long-term solutions called Planning for Progress.
RELATED: Pinellas plans to close schools as enrollment continues to decline
Pinellas Superintendent Kevin Hendrick recommended closing two schools at the end of this school year, and combining and expanding others on Tuesday. He said the recommendations would save the district almost $8 million in annual expenses by consolidating and becoming more efficient, and defers $7 million in maintenance capital costs.
"There's a decline in birth rates, so the amount of children that were born 20, 50 years ago, it's just not the same," Pinellas County School Board Chair Caprice Edmond said. "My grandmother had eight kids. My mom had three, and I have one. As it relates to affordability, moderate or affordable housing is considered an income of $300,000 right now, which is not quite affordable to many. And then gentrification. I live in St. Petersburg, where I'm seeing in locations like Harbordale, which is predominantly low income, where houses are going for sale for over $500,000."
What they're saying:
"We've been really clear about the situation facing public schools across the nation, even across the world, of declining birth rates, greater choice and just people choosing to have fewer children, and so naturally, as we address that locally," Hendrick said.
"You look at school population by different zip codes, you looked at it by program trends, what's popular, what do you need to do to make sure that you're serving the needs of your students and families. And so, with those gathering of data, then you start listening to the public about what they want to see. So, we went out and held a lot of community forums, had a lot of public discussion in this room and others about how we could best meet the needs of students," he said.
Big picture view:
On Tuesday, Hendrick brought recommendations to the school board based on data analysis and community feedback.
Pictured: Pinellas County Schools Superintendent Kevin Hendrick.
In his presentation, Hendrick and school staff cited information from the University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research that said the school-age population in Pinellas County is expected to decrease or plateau through 2050. The population of residents 80 and older will double by 2050, according to UF.
The district said, unlike other districts in the state, they haven’t seen a significant impact from families using state vouchers to go to private schools instead of public schools.
Dig deeper:
Tuesday, Hendrick recommended the following based on individual schools’ enrollment numbers, maintenance and improvement costs needed at schools and whether any changes would cause large-scale rezoning:
- Combining Bay Point Elementary and Bay Point Middle to create a K-8 school. It would be located on the middle school campus starting in the 2027-2028 school year. Right now, the elementary school is using 47% of its building capacity and the middle school is only using 35% of its building capacity. This would allow for use of 60% and allow for growth if the K-8 school is popular.
- Expanding Oldsmar Elementary into a K-8 school starting in the 2026-2027 school year. This would be on the existing campus and happen in phases. Right now, the elementary school utilizes 53% of its building. Expanding it to offer K-8 would increase it to 97%, the district said.
- Expanding the district’s employee child care program to McMullen Booth Elementary for the 2026-2027 school year. Buildings six and seven at the school would be repurposed for the child care program and all the other buildings would still be for current school use. The elementary school is utilizing 48% of the building now and repurposing it would use 67%. The current employee child care center is in demand and has a waiting list.
- Closing Cross Bayou Elementary in Pinellas Park at the end of the 2025-2026 school year and rezoning students to nearby Bardmoor Elementary or Pinellas Central Elementary, depending on their home address. The district would lease or sell the property. Right now, it serves 245 students in K-5 and the Deaf/Hard of Hearing program, which serves 27 Pre-K-5 students. The Deaf/Hard of Hearing program would move to Walsingham Oaks K-8 at the end of this school year. Right now, the school utilizes 40% of the building, and is in need of several costly repairs, like a new roof. Hendrick said it would take more than $5 million in capital improvements to keep it running. The district would save $3 million a year by closing it.
- Closing Disston Academy at the end of the 2025-2026 school year and relocating programs and students to established educational alternative sites. They’d recommend selling the property that has been in Gulfport for 100 years and is in need of more than $2 million in repairs. The current building utilization is 17%.
No school-based staff members will lose their jobs as a result of the recommendations. They’ll be offered placements within the district.
"The message to the families is, we know anytime there's a change in school that's dramatic. We're not making light of that in any way. We hope that you see the reason for it, and the need for it, and that the choices are excellent choices that you have in front of you. But also, we have two community meetings coming up for those schools where we've recommended that to continue to hear from them because we know it's not just a letter, it needs to be dialog," Hendrick said.
He said he told the families and staff at the schools affected Tuesday morning before the workshop.
"These recommendations were not made lightly," Hendrick said. "The academic excellence across Pinellas County Schools continues as an ‘A’ district, but we also face a declining school-age population and changing conditions that require us to thoughtfully plan for the future. Our responsibility is to ensure every student has access to high-quality instruction and schools that are positioned for long-term success."
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The other side:
Sage Davis’ daughters go to Cross Bayou.
"I'm a little biased," he said. "I came to the school when I was a kid, so it’s sad to see it go, but if that's what's going to be best for the kids."
A grandparent of Cross Bayou students said she understands enrollment is declining, but thinks there are also other solutions.
"Get more affordable housing in Pinellas County to keep our families coming, not just us old retired people, because our families with the children are what is paying our Social Security," she said.
What's next:
The Board also talked about district property sales in Hendrick’s recommendations Tuesday. They’re looking at the possible sale of district-owned land or buildings in whole or in part at the following locations:
- Manning Road — the entire parcel located in Palm Harbor.
- Wilcox Road — the entire parcel located in Largo.
- MLK Center and former Palmetto Elementary School/Curtis Fundamental site — partial parcel in Clearwater. They’re looking at exploring the potential with the Pinellas Urban League. This wouldn’t have an impact on the Pinellas High Innovation part of the parcel.
- Keystone Road — part of the parcel in Tarpon Springs. They’re exploring potential with the East Lake Fire District.
"We value your feedback and appreciate those who were able to come in person to the community sessions, as well as to email or call us and continue to provide your feedback as we move forward with planning for progress, as will be reiterated throughout this time. None of the decisions are final as of yet. These are recommendations, and we hope to continue to receive feedback from the community," Edmond said.
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What you can do:
The district is holding community meetings at all impacted schools between Jan. 21 and Feb. 6 for families and community members to ask questions and give feedback. The School Board will talk about the recommendations again at a workshop on Feb. 17. A final Board vote is scheduled for Feb. 24.
Superintendent Hendrick said next fall he’ll bring a larger round of closure and consolidation recommendations to the Board.
The Source: This article was written with information provided by Pinellas County Schools.