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School District Will Keep Ridge Manor Parcel

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By TONY MARRERO Hernando Today

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 4, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - The school district will hold on to 80 acres of land in Ridge Manor that could be the site of a new school.

A majority of the school board agreed during a workshop Tuesday keeping the property is the best option despite having an interested buyer. The land is located off U.S. 98 about one mile south of Cortez Boulevard and just east of McKethan Road.

About 46 acres of the site would be suitable for construction, facilities director Bo Bavota told the board. The other 34 acres is low-lying land and could be built on, but that would be more complicated and costly, Bavota said.
David and Lisa Lyle of Dade City had offered $750,000, or $9,328 per acre, for the entire parcel. The Lyles have property adjacent to the site.

Bavota said the board could take that offer, make a counter offer, enter negotiations with the Lyles to sell the low-lying 34 acres or keep the entire tract.

Bavota said the property could accommodate an elementary, K-8 or high school.

Board member John Sweeney said he'd be open to selling the low-lying acreage.

The rest of the board, however, agreed the entire site has promise as a potential school site.

Board member Sandra Nicholson called the site an "ideal" location for a high school. The low-lying land could serve as an outdoor laboratory of sorts for environmental programs, Nicholson said.

The depressed real estate market should also be considered, Chairwoman Dianne Bonfield said.

"Right now I don't think it's a good idea to sell anything unless you're really desperate," Bonfield said.

The board did ask staff to renegotiate the agreement with the current lessee who is using the property for grazing and pastureland and paying $1 a year. That agreement has been in place since 2003.

Such a deal might have been appropriate in better economic times, board members said.

"Times have changed," Bonfield said.
Field Trip Policy Formalized

In other action, the board approved in principle a formalized policy that forbids schools from making arrangements and hosting fundraisers for field trips that haven't been approved by the school board.

Board members had asked staff to work on the policy after turning down a request by Challenger K-8 principal Sue Stoops to approve an eighth-grade trip to Washington, D.C. Students would have paid $1,349 for the five-day tour of museums and other educational attractions arranged through EuroAmerican Tours.

Reservations had not been made but students had already started raising money. Twenty-seven students had planned to attend.

The school board must approve all out-of-state trips. Board members lamented Tuesday that some field trips, as Bonfield put it, "have gotten so extravagant," which she said "excludes people ... who can't afford to pay."

Board member Pat Fagan said principals need to "take a little more responsibility" when considering trip requests.

"If a majority of kids can't participate, they shouldn't even be bringing it before us," Fagan said. "I think more emphasis should be put on trips that can be made in the state."

The policy will still have to go before the board for a formal vote.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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