TAMPA, Fla. — Pizzo K-8 families continue their fight to save the school. Hillsborough County School Board members voted to close the school earlier this month after an agreement on lease terms with the University of South Florida couldn’t be reached. In response, a group of families and teachers came together to create “Project Pizzo” in an effort to reverse the decision.

What You Need To Know

Hillsborough County School Board members voted to close the school earlier this month

The school is on USF property, and school officials were unable to come to an agreement to renew the agreement

Families and teachers are working to save the school from closure

Proudly wearing their Pizzo K-8 t-shirts, Angela Colonello and Anita Bloom talk about the next steps in their fight to save their school.

“The hope is always to keep conversations open, the hope always is to keep stakeholders, families, teachers, staff involved in those conversations and at this point to be open to exploring what are the possibilities,” said Bloom.

To do that, they created the website for Project Pizzo, a place where all stakeholders can easily find information on ways to get involved in saving Pizzo.

“What we’re really hoping is that the community, HCPS, USF, all sees that students within a five-mile radius of this university are really going to be affected by these decisions so we really want everyone to come together to find the right solution,” said Colonello.

Colonello and Bloom say their efforts aren’t going unnoticed. They’re set to meet with leaders from the University of South Florida next month. 

USF provided Spectrum Bay News 9 with the following statement:

“Several university leaders plan to meet with two Pizzo Elementary teachers next month, at the request of the teachers.

Keep in mind, USF does not make any decisions regarding the closure of Pizzo. That responsibility remains with the Hillsborough County School Board.  

 USF and the Hillsborough County School District had been involved in discussions for three years about renewing the sublease for Pizzo Elementary, prior to the end of the original sublease. Back in 2024, USF and HCSD entered into a new ten-year sublease. While the new rent rate is more closely aligned with the rates for the university’s other on-campus sublease agreements, the university did take into account our community partnership with the Hillsborough County School District. The new rental rate does not reflect the true value of the 12-acre property compared to the significant increase in comparable land value throughout the Tampa Bay region. The old rent rate was established in the 1990’s and was aligned with rates at that time without economic escalators. 

 As the building is approximately 30 years old, it has significant deferred maintenance requirements and needs repairs, such as a new roof and HVAC upgrades. As per the terms of the original sublease agreement, these repairs are the responsibility of the school district. Rather than undertaking major maintenance requirements, the school board elected to demolish the building once the school is no longer operating.”

“We are not prepared to think about nos yet. We are only prepared for next steps and I think our next step, if the university is not open to discussions, is what are options for keeping our community together,” said Bloom.

Spectrum News reached out to Hillsborough County Schools to see if there’s any talk of reversing the decision to close Pizzo. They issued the following statement:

“Our district negotiated with the University of South Florida for more than a year, and we have consistently expressed our desire to keep our school on the USF campus. If USF’s position has changed, as far as the rent and length of time for the contract, we are willing to reengage in discussions. We have not been notified that USF wants to change any of the terms or engage in additional discussions.”