PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Following controversial school closure decisions in Pinellas County, a local parent-teacher organization is calling for changes to how those decisions are made.
The Pinellas County Council PTA/PTSA has sent a letter to Superintendent Kevin Hendrick and school board members asking the district to establish committees that would give families and community members a greater voice before future school closures and consolidations are recommended.
The proposal comes after some families say they were blindsided by decisions made through the district’s Planning for Progress initiative.
“The biggest theme I feel is that we were blindsided, especially our school,” said Melissa Torres, a parent at Sunset Hills Elementary School in Tarpon Springs.
Sunset Hills was a late addition to the district’s Planning for Progress recommendations. School board members voted to move its students to Tarpon Springs Middle School, creating a K-8 school.
Torres, whose daughter attends Sunset Hills, says families were left wondering who was representing them during the decision-making process.
“Parents didn’t even know who was speaking for them. Was it our PTA, was it one person talking for us? Who was involved in these decisions?” Torres said. “They say that the community was involved, but yet we didn’t hear anything, and we still don’t hear anything.”
The Pinellas County Council PTA says it has heard similar concerns from families across the district.
Raegan Miller, the organization’s vice president of leadership, says the group is proposing three regional committees — one each for North, Mid-County and South Pinellas.
The committees would include parents, educators, PTA representatives and other community stakeholders, giving them an opportunity to review potential changes and provide input before recommendations reach the school board.
“My hope is that there would be additional information provided up front,” Miller said. “I know that we saw all of the meetings happen over the summer but I don’t feel like a lot of specific information was given.”
Miller says the district discussed declining birth rates, underutilized school facilities and enrollment challenges during its community meetings, but families weren’t told which specific schools could be affected.
“They talked about low utilization, and declining birth rates, and what things look like, but they never talked about specific schools or potential alternatives,” Miller said.
She believes the proposed committees could help identify other options before decisions reach the school board and generate opposition from families.
The organization points to Miami-Dade County Public Schools, which has an established attendance boundary committee process that allows for community participation when changes are being considered.
In its letter, the Pinellas County Council PTA argues that a similar approach could improve transparency and help rebuild trust between the district and families.
For Torres, the proposal represents a step toward giving parents a stronger voice in decisions affecting their children’s education.
“I feel there needs to be oversight on this, it’s a huge budget, a huge amount of our taxpayer dollars, and these are our children, this is our community,” Torres said. “Somebody needs to be looking out for us, hearing us.”
While it’s too late to change how the decision about Sunset Hills was made, Torres hopes other families won’t have to feel as blindsided as hers did.
The Pinellas County Council PTA says it has not received a response from the superintendent or school board members since sending its letter.
Spectrum Bay News 9 also reached out to Pinellas County Schools for comment, but no one was available to respond.