Redistricting could shuffle 1,400 south Hillsborough County students

TAMPA, Fla. - They specifically bought homes with their children’s education in mind. Now some Hillsborough County parents say the school district's plan to rezone middle schools in southern portions of the county could make their efforts all for naught.

District leaders have proposed a plan to move students in eight neighborhoods to relieve overcrowding at Barrington and Randall Middle Schools. The rezoning also impacts Mann, Rodgers, Guinta and Mulrennan middle schools by shuffling around up to 1,400 students.

“What we’re trying to do is kind-of domino our attendance boundaries up to tap into some capacity that we have and Mann and Guinta,” said Amber Dickerson, HCPS Growth Management general manager.

Parents had the chance to learn more about the proposed redistricting at a community meeting Tuesday night. Leaders want input and many families voiced issues.

“I have a great concern that my students will not be receiving the standard of education that we expected when we bought our house,” said Jeff Neely.

“As a military family, our daughter has already been to five different schools in six years and that’s been a challenge,” Crystal Lewis shared.

“The assumption is that this is just a precursor also to changing the high school were assigned to in our neighborhood, and all of these things are negative,” said Kimberly Schneiderman.

The south county area is projected to continue growing -- substantially. There are plans to build two to four new middle schools in the coming years. Still, some families are concerned this means more changes and more disruptions.

“Unfortunately, in high growth areas, boundary changes are a reality,” Dickerson said. “What we try to do as the district is not disrupt families twice.”

If you missed this meeting, a second open house is set for 6 p.m. on January 8.

The school board has the final say on the redistricting, and any approved changes would take effect in August.