Pinellas School Board votes to close 5 schools

The decision came kind of late last night, but it was some big news out of Pinellas County. A number of schools now set to close and several others facing pretty big changes. We know the Pinellas County School Board officially approved the closures of Bear Creek Elementary, Blanton Elementary, Kings Highway Elementary Magnet, Leilani Innovation Academy, and Pinellas Park Elementary. And a new fundamental elementary school will open at the current Pinellas Park campus. So this was approved last night as the district deals with declining enrollment. But for families, I mean, this is more about empty seats, more than just empty seats and budgets. It's about their children's classrooms, their teachers, the communities they've built. So we know more than 60 people spoke during public comment, with many asking the board to delay its decision. So I know a lot of you have questions and might be affected by this. So joining us right now to talk about it is Pinellas County School Board Vice Chairperson Dawn Peters here on Fox Tampa Bay Live. Ms. Peters, thank you so much for joining us. I know this was a big decision. You were probably up late last night, so we appreciate you. How are you doing this morning? Thank you. I'm doing well. Well, first off, for those who maybe don't live in Pinellas County, who haven't necessarily been following this, but now they see these headlines, can you walk us through how we got to this point with the vote and making these decisions? So that could be a long answer, but I'll make it as short as possible. So obviously, we know this is not just a Pinellas County issue. This is a nationwide issue. People, I don't know if it's an issue. People just aren't having kids at the same rate that they used to have. And it's very simply, that's the biggest reason. And could this process have started sooner or should it have started sooner? Possibly, but this is where we are right now. And these are decisions that we have to make as a board. They're not easy, but we just have to do it, unfortunately, and it does greatly impact, very emotionally impact our communities, and as a board, we know that. Yeah, and I mean, I know that there have been some parents, you had a lot of public comment. People have been outside with these signs saying at least delay the vote. What have you made about the reaction from some of these families that this is gonna affect? So we've seen reactions from parents at every single school that we've closed, not just Sunset Hills, not just Sexton, but every school in our community has responded in some way, shape, or form, regardless of the volume of voices. And not every school has as loud of a voice as another school does. But we as a district do have to consider the impact to the entire school district. And it's a big school district. It's a big responsibility. and even though we know that it is very emotional for people and they want more time, we as a district now can move forward after the vote or since the vote last night, we can now move forward with presenting them the information that they want that will help make this decision clearer for them and the plan will be clearer and they'll be able to see what that looks like for their school and their community, not just for the families, but the staff as well. And the other reason that we wanted to make this decision and the school board asked our district for this decision to be made at this time was before the district application program tours and open houses and all those things start before the application period. So families can make the most informed decision for their families. Yeah, I was just gonna say, I know meetings like yesterday can get very lengthy. There's a lot of back and forth, there's public comment. what were your biggest takeaways from last night with the vote and then how this process moves forward? I really appreciate how passionate our families are about their communities and their schools. And to see that all the meetings, it wasn't just last night, it's been at the last several meetings that we've had. That's actually a wonderful position as a school district to have that many engaged families in our schools. It's wonderful. It makes our schools the place that they are and the reason that they love their schools. As far as moving forward, again, this gives us now as a district the opportunity to say, here's what the plan looks like, which is what the biggest concern is. They want to know what does this look like or what is the plan for this? What is going to happen here? So now we get to show them what that looks like because we couldn't move forward with any of those plans until that vote was made. So I feel like this gives us that opportunity. We now have extra time to present them with that, to give them an opportunity to really understand and be able to accept those changes and what those plans look like. But then if they decide they need to make alternative choices, they can. And that's always been the thing that makes our district so special is that they can choose any school within our district that works best for them. And I know that a lot of the schools are gonna become K through eight campuses. We've seen that more and more in several other school districts. I mean, what would you say is the benefit of that model and how will those campuses accommodate younger children and middle schoolers? So we as a district, of course, this isn't the first time we have voted to approve a K through eight model. We voted on two last year and we have several throughout the district already, which is why. We know that they are very successful. We know how to turn those schools into a K-8 model. We have waitlists at every single one of our K-8 schools. So we know just from the waitlist portion of it that it is very desirable. And it gives families an opportunity to stay together longer, especially families with multiple children. And you have your kids in middle school on this side. You have kids in your elementary school over at this side. You get to do one pickup at the end of the day. And you know that they are together on the campus, even though they're not together during school hours. But if something were to happen or come up, at least you have that consistency. And it gives more of that community and neighborhood feeling when they have that track from kindergarten all the way up through eighth grade. And we saw that in the planning for progress meetings that we had throughout the community. That was one of the loudest things that we heard was we want more K-8 and we want more K-8s up in our North County. And I mean, I know that there's a lot of different plans working. At least one of the schools I know is going to be repurposed. What does that look like? Do we know that just yet? It's because that isn't where our focus should be right now for the most part. We have ideas and we have had, I know that there are conversations that have happened outside. There are people that say, what are you gonna do with this school? What are you gonna do with that school? And of course, we do not want our campuses to stay closed off and fenced up and and not being utilized. We want them to be utilized. So that is something that we're gonna be going forward with. But you can't, again, you can't make those decisions or have those real conversations until that vote is complete. So now that we made that vote last night, people will come forward and say, there are also some community partners that will not engage in that usage conversation until after the elections on November 3rd. And there are a lot of reasons for that. So that will be to come, and it's gonna be here sooner than later. But now that we have voted, we can have those conversations and start to make those decisions. Exactly. So now going off of that, my next question was gonna be, do we have dates for any of this and when this would take place? But I'm assuming that's kinda up in the air. No. Yeah, yeah. As of right now, I have not seen any dates. And that makes sense. This just happened last night. A lot to talk about moving forward. Any final thoughts as we wrap this up? anything you want parents, families to know, people watching this from Pinellas County? So our website, pcsb.org, is the best resource for families that want to know what the plan is going forward. Our district will be sending out communications to families that are impacted at every level and staff that are impacted at every single level. So watch for those communications. Our website is the best resource. You can always get in touch with us at boardpcsb.org. And those are really the best resources that I can speak to that families can obtain their information from and of course always at your school level. Definitely, Don Peters, thank you so much for joining us here to clarify for those who weren't able to follow this what's been happening, how we got here and what happens moving forward. I know it's a lot to pack into just a few minutes, so we appreciate your time and I'm sure we'll be talking to you again soon. Thank you anytime. Thank you, have a great day.