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Hernando Today

Easing Overcrowding At Explorer

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: March 20, 2009

Updated: 03/20/2009 09:45 pm

BROOKSVILLE - School rezoning is a contentious issue by itself.

But to alleviate overcrowding at Explorer K-8 in Spring Hill, the school board might also consider jumping back into another controversial matter: The district's gifted program.

The board is slated to discuss options for Explorer at a workshop on Monday. Up for debate are some major changes to the school that opened last year, including the relocation of the magnet program for gifted students.

It's among several ideas district staffers will present, and they "are all viable," Superintendent Wayne Alexander said when asked if he favored one over another.

"I think everything's up for grabs," Alexander said.

Explorer, with its enrollment of 1,952, is 59 students beyond its capacity this year, and that number is expected to rise unless the district takes action. The goal is to reduce enrollment by about 200 students.

There are some strategies the district could take to ease the pressure at Explorer, such as asking families to voluntarily move their children to J.D. Floyd K-8. Another is to require the roughly 42 students who don't live in Explorer's zone to go to their neighborhood schools. A third is to remove Explorer as an option for families who want to move their child because their current school did not meet the federal government's progress standards.

Those strategies could shift as many as 175 students from the school on Northcliffe Boulevard, but that's a best-case scenario based on the number of families who voluntarily return to Floyd. So the board could consider more sweeping measures.

Among them is removing the middle school program altogether by cutting off new sixth- and seventh-grade enrollees. The students could be funneled to nearby middle schools, Fox Chapel and J.D. Floyd K-8, which are under capacity. There were 668 students enrolled in grades 6, 7 and 8 at Explorer as of February.

Others options include moving the gifted center to another school or providing gifted services somewhere in addition to Explorer.

The magnet program pulled about 233 students from throughout the county this year. The board decided last year the new program would be housed there instead of at Challenger K-8.

Challenger doesn't have room to take the entire gifted program. The school has space for about 89 more students, according to district figures. That leaves the possibility of providing gifted services at more than one school.

Either way, the board will first have to decide how many students they want to remove from Explorer and then pick a strategy, said Sonya Jackson, executive director of school services and accountability.

With the end of the school year just two months away, time is short. Board Chairwoman Dianne Bonfield said she was frustrated the board is being forced to confront the issue "at the 11th hour."

"(Explorer) has been overcrowded since August," she said.

Bonfield said she hadn't decided what tactic she would support, though she noted the district "spent a lot of money to build that school as K-8" and wondered about the wisdom in taking away the middle school levels.

Board member Sandra Nicholson said she would consider supporting a move to make Explorer a K-5, leaving the exceptional education program and gifted center intact.

"The gifted program," she said, "is just getting started there. I'd hate to move those kids around again."

Magnet Admission Also On Agenda

The board also will review the district's choice plan and magnet admission policy.

The board approved changes to the magnet admission policy last year that will phase out the lottery method and rely solely on applications and portfolios.

But some board members have said they are uncomfortable with picking kindergartners for magnet programs based on portfolios. Children at that age are too young to truly gauge aptitude in, say, science or the arts, some contend.

"Portfolios are very subjective," Bonfield said. "Are they really reflective of what the child is capable of at 5 years old?"

Nicholson agreed. She said one idea might be to wait until a child is in second grade before entering a magnet program.

Board members have also said they are sympathetic to the argument the lottery adds an element of fairness to the process of handing out a limited number of spaces.

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

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