HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY — The Hillsborough County School Board is expected to decide on Tuesday whether to convert Apollo Beach Elementary into a K-8 school.
The community has been rallying around the parent-led initiative to turn the school into a K-8.
“This has really been in the works for years now,” said parent Colleen Bianucci.
It wasn’t until last summer that they turned it up a notch.
“We formed a cohort of parents and we really just kind of built momentum and have been focusing on it actively since last June,” said Bianucci.
During that time, parents have been coming to school board meetings, asking leaders to consider converting Apollo Beach Elementary into a K-8.
“We’ve had a lot of different people from Apollo Beach, not just parents and students attending these meetings,” said Bianucci.
Parents told ABC Action News, this change would allow kids to stay together and retain students who are leaving the district for other options.
“A lot of our kids, they start together at Apollo Beach Elementary and when it comes to middle school they’re dispersing,” said Bianucci.
On Tuesday, the board will consider a proposal to slowly transition the school into a K-8 school for the upcoming school year.
- 6th grade added in 2024-2025
- 7th grade added in 2025-2026
- 8th grade added in 2026-2027
Enrollment would be capped at 100 students in each grade level.
There will be no boundary changes.
Seats would be available through school choice.
“The idea of being able to keep their kids at Apollo Beach, which is a great school, it’s a part of our community, it’s making everyone very excited,” said Bianucci.
The meeting starts at 4 p.m. today (Tuesday).
