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Impacts of possible school boundary changes
Joneé Lewis reports
TAMPA, Fla. - Nearly a week after the Hillsborough County school district unveiled a first look at proposed boundary changes, parents are making their voices heard.
Parents have started multiple petitions against the redistricting plan, citing concerns over the school choices, emotional impact on children and property value.
"Our biggest concern, first and foremost, is about our children's education," Luke Posson, a concerned parent, said. "Our children have gone through COVID, through remote learning, through mask mandates, and now to think that they might be moved from a top-rated elementary or middle school to an underperforming school would just be devastating to both their education and their mental and emotional health."
Parents can put their address into an online tool to see how their children would be impacted by three draft scenarios. There are options that would force anywhere from 11,000 students to 24,000 students to be rezoned for "maximal repurposing."
"We do have two young children, one of which is considered special needs, and we've had to fight tooth and nail to get that individual set up for success in the elementary school program that we're in right now, which I feel really great about," Alicia O'Brien, another concerned parent said. "And what this is telling me is that all of that's going to be taken away from our family."
District leaders said these are only proposed changes and nothing has been finalized. Parents said they hope a lot more consideration is given before any decisions are made.
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"My message to them would be like, let's hit the pause button," Posson said. "I think that we need to do a much better job of understanding what the impact is to the emotional and psychological well-being of our kids. I need we need to understand what's going to be the impact to the elderly, to seniors, to property owners that don't have kids in the area. I think that it's being pushed through way too fast."
From January 9-13, there will be 10 in-person meetings will be held at high schools across the county for parents to provide feedback.