HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — This past Tuesday, the Hillsborough County School Board voted to transition Carrollwood Elementary to a K-8 school.
This is something many families have been hoping for.
“We have a school that is incredibly wonderful. It’s thriving," said parent Krista Mills.
She’s one of several people behind the Carrollwood K-8 initiative, which is a campaign that was created by a group of parents last July who have been campaigning for the change.
"We had a middle school option that wasn’t really an option for us,” said Mills.
Their children were all zoned for Adams Middle School, which has been a low-performing school with low enrollment.
Many families were opting for private schools or magnet schools instead of sending their kids to Adams.
“The kids and the families were leaving earlier and earlier to secure a spot in schools that went through 8th grade or 12th grade. And they were leaving and they weren’t coming back,” said parent Brittany Cooper.
They’ve been pushing for the K-8 for months.
“Just trying to talk to our school board members, get meetings with them, communicate, advocate,” said parent Raquel Pullaro.
“I don’t think there was a day that went by that there was not something that was talked about in regards to Carrollwood and what needs to happen for it to become a K-8,” said Cooper.
The school district included Carrollwood K-8 as an option in their plans for boundary changes.
The school board approved the changes after a second reading at their last board meeting.
“We moved into this neighborhood 12 years ago, 13 years ago, and the question was 'what are you going to do for middle school?' and it’s just exciting to finally have an answer,” said Pullaro.
The transition to a K-8 will happen between now and 2025.
- August 2023: add 6th grade
- August 2024: add 7th grade
- August 2025: add 8th grade
“We are excited for our kids, like bottom line. It’s an incredible opportunity for our students, our children, to stay at Carrollwood for another three years. To keep the consistency that they’ve had throughout middle school and to just really not have to worry about what comes with middle school in terms of the question of where we’re going to send them and not having them scatter,” said Pullaro.
Changing Carrollwood to a K-8 means Adams and Hill Middle School boundaries will be affected.
At the last school board meeting, the superintendent’sscenario 4 plan for school boundary changes was approved on a first reading.
It will go to a second reading on June 6 before those boundary changes are final.
In scenario 4, there are six schools that would be fully repurposed.
If it’s approved, Adams Middle School would close at the end of the school year. The plan is to reopen Adams in 2026-2027 as a College Preparatory Middle School.
