{"id":408338,"date":"2026-09-23T15:35:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T15:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408338\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T15:35:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T15:35:34","slug":"pinellas-board-asks-for-new-school-closure-alternatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408338\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinellas Board asks for new school closure alternatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

LARGO, Fla. \u2014 Pinellas County Schools Superintendent Kevin Hendrick said the district will postpone the second round of community meetings<\/a> on proposed school closures until after an Oct. 6 School Board workshop, giving board members more time to review the recommendations and feedback from families.<\/p>\n

Each school on the district\u2019s proposed closure and consolidation list is scheduled to have two community meetings. The first has been completed, while the second round had been expected to take place next week. Hendrick said the new dates will be announced in the coming days.<\/p>\n

During Tuesday night\u2019s school board meeting, Hendrick didn\u2019t mention if this would impact the school board\u2019s final vote that\u2019s currently set for Oct. 13. The district has said enrollment, the age and condition of school buildings and operating costs are among the factors being considered as officials decide which campuses should close.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt remains my strong recommendation that closures and consolidations must be considered for the district to maintain its financial health,\u201d Hendrick said.<\/p>\n

The timeline change comes as parents continue pushing back against several of the proposed closures, including John M. Sexton Elementary School in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

Parent packed Tuesday night\u2019s School Board meeting, urging board members to keep Sexton ope<\/a>n and questioning why the school was selected. According to data provided by the district, Sexton Elementary has a higher utilization rate than at least 20 other Pinellas schools and recently received about $900,000 in renovations.<\/p>\n

The YMCA has also expressed interest in taking over the property if the district ultimately closes the school.<\/p>\n

Sexton parents, like Adriana Diaz, argue the recommendation does not add up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just that we don\u2019t want our school to close, it\u2019s that the process may not be being followed and this should raise concerns for the board members voting on this as well. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s enough information for them to vote right now,\u201d Diaz said.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, School Board Chair Caprice Edmond asked the district to analyze a different scenario: keeping Sexton open while closing nearby Woodlawn Elementary, which has a lower utilization rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to request an analysis of if Woodlawn was the school to close and Sexton remain open,\u201d Edmond told fellow board members Tuesday. \u201cThis is based on community feedback, the age, and how many students it can hold\u201d<\/p>\n

That request does not mean the recommendation will change, but it could give board members another option to consider before the October vote.<\/p>\n

Many parents also spoke Tuesday in support of keeping Tarpon Springs Fundamental Elementary open.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Oct. 6 workshop is expected to be a major discussion point for board members before the district resumes its second round of community meetings and moves toward the scheduled Oct. 13 vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LARGO, Fla. \u2014 Pinellas County Schools Superintendent Kevin Hendrick said the district will postpone the second round of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1564,274,770,113,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278,835],"class_list":["post-408338","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-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\/408338","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=408338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}