{"id":401197,"date":"2026-09-16T05:12:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T05:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401197\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T05:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T05:12:29","slug":"sexton-elementary-parents-fight-proposed-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401197\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexton Elementary parents fight proposed closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Parents at John M. Sexton Elementary School are pushing Pinellas County Schools to reconsider a proposal to close the school at the end of the academic year, saying the recommendation came as a shock and left them with unanswered questions about how the district chose which schools could close.<\/p>\n

Sexton is one of seven schools that could close under recommendations from Superintendent Kevin Hendrick as the district looks to reduce costs amid declining enrollment. The Pinellas County School Board is set to vote on the recommendations on October 13.<\/p>\n

Sexton is operating at a 47% utilization rate,<\/a>\u00a0higher than roughly 20 other district schools, including nearby Woodlawn Elementary which has a roughly 25% utilization rate. Should Sexton close, some students would be rezoned to Woodlawn.<\/p>\n

Parents, including Sarah Henley who has three students at Sexton, doesn\u2019t understand why a school with a much higher utilization rate than others is on the chopping block.<\/p>\n

\u201cTears were flowing from the teachers, the staff, the kids \u2026 everyone,\u201d Henley said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to wait until October 13. We want answers before then. We want answers now for our children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parent Jaquelyn Hussey started a petition to keep Sexton Elementary open. She and a group of parents have been speaking to families in the car line each morning to rally support.<\/p>\n

She says a large contingent of parents will be at Tuesday\u2019s community meeting that begins at 6 p.m. in the Sexton Elementary cafeteria.<\/a><\/p>\n

A school district spokesperson confirms Hendrick is expected to attend that meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt that they haven\u2019t already made up their minds and will listen and hear our voices,\u201d Hussey said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to show up in numbers and fight the good fight until we can\u2019t anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents are also questioning the timing of the proposed closure after the district invested more than $900,000 in improvements to Sexton\u2019s building during the past five years.<\/p>\n

During the district\u2019s announcement last week, Hendrick said Pinellas County Schools has been in lengthy discussions with a nonprofit organization interested in using the Sexton property if the school closes. The district has not identified that organization. Hendrick said additional information is expected to be released this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe choice of Sexton which is a relatively newer building compared to some others is an obvious question,\u201d Hendrick said during last week\u2019s announcement. \u201cWe have had a number of conversations with public and private entities on space in our schools. While we are not prepared today to announce a partnership at Sexton Elementary, but we have had lengthy conversations with a nonprofit partner that we believe would add great value to the community and that was a suggestion in many of the community meetings that we had.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The district estimates closing Sexton would save roughly $4.1 million annually.<\/p>\n

Parent Adriana Diaz worries how the nearby schools that Sexton students would be zoned to would adapt. She\u2019s hoping the district reconsiders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have programs that schools that are expected to absorb our students don\u2019t have. So we\u2019re going to be struggling to build things for the students that most need the support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community meetings are also scheduled Tuesday at Boca Ciega High School and Tarpon Springs Fundamental Elementary School, two other campuses that could be affected by the superintendent\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Parents at John M. Sexton Elementary School are pushing Pinellas County Schools to reconsider a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1564,274,770,113,2200,2287,115,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278,835],"class_list":["post-401197","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-instagram-bn9","tag-local-politics","tag-news","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\/401197","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=401197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}