{"id":287408,"date":"2026-05-28T11:13:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/287408\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T11:13:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:13:47","slug":"cross-bayou-elementary-shuts-down-for-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/287408\/","title":{"rendered":"Cross Bayou Elementary shuts down for good"},"content":{"rendered":"

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. \u2014 After students leave their final day of school Thursday, Cross Bayou Elementary school in Pinellas Park will permanently close.<\/p>\n

Teachers and parents worked hard to make their student\u2019s final days at Cross Bayou special<\/a>, with events that included off-campus trips, field day, and classroom events. The school first opened in 1958 and was part of Pinellas County Schools for nearly 70 years.<\/p>\n

Students also received shirts during their final days at Cross Bayou, with the words \u2018Once a Bobcat, Always a Bobcat: 1958-2026\u2019 printed on them.<\/p>\n

Students have been rezoned to nearby Pinellas Central and Bardmoor elementary schools. The Deaf\/Hard of Hearing program, which is run out of the school, would be relocated to Walsingham Oaks K-8.<\/p>\n

The district said their decision was made because of declining enrollment county-wide and the state of the aging building. The decades-old school building is in need of roughly $5.1 million in capital improvements.<\/p>\n

In order to keep the school up and running it would need a new roof, front office expansion, and refrigerator replacements, the district cited. They hope to sell or lease the property as-is.<\/p>\n

During its final days,<\/a> Cross Bayou has 245 students which is less than half capacity.<\/p>\n

Parent Taleena Bliss-Ondich said the decision felt purely financial.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt very business\u2026 the school system is very business,\u201d she said. \u201cGo to the schools. Walk the hallways. See what we\u2019re talking about because when you don\u2019t\u2026 that\u2019s when it becomes very logistic. That\u2019s when it becomes very business. Because I think at least for the elementary kids it\u2019s not logistic and it\u2019s not business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parent Jovanniece Morales said some of the office staff left before the school year ended for other jobs. She says her young students have not been looking forward to the last day of school.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy oldest tells me\u2026 \u2018I don\u2019t want to leave school I don\u2019t want school to end. I don\u2019t want the last day of school to come already,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s their teachers they\u2019re attached to\u2026 they want their teachers to go with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disston Academy in Gulfport<\/a> is also closing permanently after students leave for the final time on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINELLAS PARK, Fla. \u2014 After students leave their final day of school Thursday, Cross Bayou Elementary school in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1564,274,770,113,28,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278,835],"class_list":["post-287408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-angie-angers","tag-app-top-stories","tag-community-news","tag-education","tag-florida","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}