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Suncoast Pinellas News

Charter Wants Schools Slated to Close

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: January 24, 2009

PALM HARBOR - Palm Harbor Elementary School will pass into history with the end of the 2008-09 school year. The school's building on 15th Street, however, may live on as a center of education.

Last week the School Board approved closing the 82-year-old Palm Harbor Elementary School and four other Pinellas K-through-5 schools to save money. The School Board, however, has said it will hold a work session on what to do with the Palm Harbor Elementary School building and those of the other schools that will close.

Steve Christopoulos, principal of the Plato Academy, in Clearwater, said in an interview Wednesday he is interested in opening the charter school's second location in the former home of Palm Harbor Elementary School.

Plato Academy, which stresses reading and math and teaches Greek as a second language, has 275 students but a waiting list of 300 or so, according to Christopoulos.

In response to enquiries from area parents, Plato Academy officials had already been scouting locations in North Pinellas the school could lease before last week's school closure decision, Christopoulos said. School officials, however, would prefer taking over Palm Harbor Elementary because it is already a school facility, he said.

Under School District guidelines charter schools can be granted the rent-free use of surplus district property or buildings, Christopoulos noted.

In the meantime, people with a stake in Palm Harbor Elementary School are "resigned" to the fact it will close when the current school year ends, June 2, said Debi Fiegle, president of the school's Parent-Teacher Association.

"We are pretty sure the decision can't be reversed," Fiegle said in an interview last week.

The other Pinellas elementary schools slated to close at the end of the 2008-09 school year are Gulf Beaches and Rio Vista, in St. Petersburg, and Kings Highway and North Ward, in Clearwater.

In another money-saving move, the School Board endorsed moving students from Southside Fundamental Middle School to Madeira Beach Middle School and Coachman Fundamental Middle School students to Kennedy Middle School.

Plato Academy, Christopoulos said, would also like to talk to the School District about taking over the former Coachman Fundamental campus.

School District officials say closing and consolidating the schools will save about $6.2 million.

The district is trying to slash spending from between $69 million and $82 million for the 2009-10 school year because it is losing both revenue and students.

The School Board has yet to set a date for the work session on the fate of the soon-to-be closed schools.

Regardless, many local parents are upset that their children's lives will be disrupted by the closure of Palm Harbor Elementary School.

"We are concerned, upset and disappointed, but the teachers will continue to do their very best to educate our kids and the PTA will continue to advocate for our children, who are our top priority," Fiegle said.

An independent audit could put the minds of parents at ease, Fiegle said. As things now stand, many Palm Harbor parents are convinced the schools set to close could have been saved if the district had pared administrative salaries and cut other areas of spending, she said.

In the wake of the School Board decision, everyone at Palm Harbor Elementary School is keeping the school's 370 or so students focused on learning, Fiegle said.

"Everyone at the school - teachers, administrators and staff - have been amazing in trying to remain positive," she said.

It is sad, Fiegle said, that just a few years ago the school was slated to have a complete makeover. In the end, however, the funds that would have paid for the new home for the school were shifted.

The money was spent at Tarpon Springs Elementary School. The School Board ordered that school razed and replaced after efforts to curb persistent outbreaks of mold proved unsuccessful.

In Fiegle's case, her son Jason was leaving Palm Harbor Elementary School for middle school next year. Her 5-year-old daughter Erica, however, was supposed to start kindergarten there Aug. 25, when the 2009-10 school year gets under way.

"She knows what is going on and started to cry when she heard she won t be able to have the teacher she wanted," Fiegle said of Erica.

Instead, Erica will go to Ozona Elementary School, a fundamental school or private school, her mom said.

The School District has promised parents of students who would have attended Palm Harbor Elementary School next school year their children can instead attend Ozona, Highland Lakes or Lake St. George elementary schools, Fiegle said.

These students would also be welcomed at Plato Academy, Christopoulos said.

Mark Schantz can be reached at 727-815-1075 or mschantz@suncoastnews.com.

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