HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — With more and more people moving to southern Hillsborough County, school leaders are planning for that growth by building a new school.
Rachel Ravencraft has seen it firsthand. She’s lived in Ruskin for five years.
"Within a two-mile radius of us, there's probably six new housing developments,” said Ravencraft.
Hillsborough County school leaders recognize families are moving to the area in vast numbers, so to help accommodate that, the district broke ground on a brand new high school in Wimauma.
It hasn’t been named yet, so for now, it’s dubbed “High School UUU.” It’ll have a two-story media center, culinary lab, automotive lab, theater and auditorium with an orchestra pit, and a two-story gym.
The district said the school will be a state-of-the-art facility on an 87-acre site designed to accommodate nearly 3,500 students. School leaders said the property will be home to an elementary and middle school in the future.
The new school will also help relieve Sumner High School and Lennard High School.
"Just when we opened Sumner three years ago, we're currently sitting at Sumner at over 3,800 students, so this is just much needed,” said Hillsborough County Interim Superintendent Van Ayres. “We don't want high schools that are that large. We like our numbers 2,000, 2,200 for our high schools to kind of create that smaller environment."
ABC Action News also asked Ayres if there are any other plans for the district to build any more schools in the future.
"There's opportunities in our strategic plan for growth,” said Ayres. “There's some talk in Plant City as well will be a new high school in the future."
Ravencraft has two kids that go to Lennard High. She has questions about busing but hopes this alleviates some of the stress on other high schools around town.
"We have some really great educators, but when you have a classroom that's too full, you can't expect your educator to do everything,” said Ravencraft. “It stresses them. It stresses the available resources from that school."
The new school is set to open in August 2025.
