Sarasota County Schools explores school repurposing, possibly closing Wilkinson Elementary

Sarasota County schools explore repurposing of local elementary school

FOX 13's Kimberly Kuizon reports.

SARASOTA, Fla. - In Sarasota County, new homes are still being built, and more families keep moving in. Despite the increase in population, Sarasota County Schools said enrollment is flattening. 

What we know:

At Wilkinson Elementary, the district said enrollment is down so much over the last few years they may have to close the school and look at other options for the property. 

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Parents are fighting to keep it open. 

Local perspective:

At Wilkinson Elementary School there's a sense of community from parents and students. It's a love for their school they are now fighting for. 

"He asks me every day ‘is my school closing?’ To tell him ‘buddy we are closing we hope it doesn’t.’ It’ll just be completely devastating," said Allie Martin, whose son is in third grade. 

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Martin also said her daughter graduated from Wilkinson Elementary School. Now, she's trying to get school board members to reconsider a possible repurposing of the school. 

The backstory:

With just more than 300 students and an enrollment the district said has lagged for years, school board members are looking to possibly move students from Wilkinson to Brentwood, Alta Vista and Gulf Gate Elementary schools. 

"We want the opportunities to fix these temporary problems, having unpopulated schools. We want to fix the problem; we need a chance to. Just to abruptly close the school by the end of the year and to have that decision. It does not leave us the opportunity to let us fight for our school," said Martin. 

The other side:

Despite the growth of Sarasota County, Sarasota Schools Superintendent Terry Connor said the district has seen declining enrollment at some schools. In part, due to school vouchers, charter schools and homeschooling. 

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"At Wilkinson we have struggled with enrollment. That community has become what we would consider aged out. You don’t really have a lot of new young families moving into that area. It has struggled with enrollment as we look at that and put programming and addressed in many ways. We still find it to be a very big challenge in that particular area, as well as some of the surrounding schools experiencing the same things. A rebalancing approach seems to be the best approach for that," Connor told FOX 13. 

Connor said this is a proposal with a timeline. 

"We are getting input from staff, the communities and families. There will be plenty of time for our stakeholders to provide that input and feedback as we come to a decision that the board will take action on in probably the last three months," he said. 

School board member Liz Baker said the talk of closure was hard to hear. 

"Anytime we talk about closing a school like that, it guts you. They worked so hard to become the national STEM school, it appears to be inevitable," she said. 

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What's next:

Parents are concerned about their children's future. 

"That's a lot that we can do as parents to guide our children, but the school board needs to take responsibility. They are going to uproot 392 students, because we are geographically convenient to spread out and disperse, so they can have a temporary comfort. I’m sorry it’s not okay with me," said parent Jodanna Osceola. 

Parents like Martin are asking for help in saving their school.

"We need the community to stand up for us," she said. 

Parents of Wilkinson Elementary School will be meeting on Saturday, September 13 at 1 p.m. at Bee Ridge Park. They will be discussing their options and making signs for future school board meetings. 

A townhall meeting with Connor will be held Thursday night, September 18, at 6 p.m. in the Wilkinson Elementary cafeteria. 

Sarasota County Schools said a Board Work Session on Wilkinson Elementary School will be held on October 7 with a possible decision being made at a board meeting on November 18.