PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — We're well into the new school year, and parents with kids at three Pasco County schools are discussing a proposal to close and merge them into a single K-8 school.
Michelle Grinage waved goodbye to her daughter outside Calusa Elementary in New Port Richey before the bell rang, a school she said her daughter loves.
“We like that it’s nice and small,” said Grinage. “We love the staff here.”
Pasco County Schools is considering a change that could impact students at Calusa Elementary and two other nearby schools. The proposal is to close Calusa Elementary and combine it with Chasco Elementary and Chasco Middle into one school, Chasco K-8.
It’s an idea that’s raised eyebrows among some parents.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” said Grinage. “I don’t like the idea of merging an elementary school with middle school.”
“I’m not 100 percent sure because I don’t know classroom sizes, the teacher shortages, and all those things,” said Jason Silva, a parent with students at Chasco Elementary and Middle. “I’m not sure like how, you know do they have room for all these kids in the classrooms?”
ABC Action News took those questions to Betsy Kuhn, Assistant Superintendent with Pasco County Schools, who focused on the changes in the student population.
“Our job is to provide a great education in Pasco, but our job is also to be good stewards of our resources, and when we look at the student population even over time, we looked at Calusa Elementary that’s currently at 65 percent capacity and has been in declining enrollment,” said Kuhn. “We also looked at the two Chasco Schools, elementary and middle, and there are quite a few seats there as well. 275 open seats there.”
Kuhn said they have K-8s in other parts of the county, which have been well-received. She explained they’d have normal teacher-student ratios, underscoring they’re looking to create efficiencies by filling up buildings, not by creating large classes.
“We thought because these schools are only 1.4 miles apart, it was a really nice opportunity to create a K-8 in a community where we wouldn’t have one otherwise without really disrupting anyone because those Calusa kids go to Chasco Middle right now. That’s where they would go automatically,” said Kuhn.
Kuhn said if the board votes for the proposal, Calusa will close in May, and when students return to school in August 2025, they will attend Chasco K-8.
“Research has shown that students do very well in those environments, both from an academic perspective, but also from a continuation perspective, that there isn’t that hard transition from 5th to 6th grade that anyone who has a middle schooler knows how difficult that is,” said Kuhn.
District leaders also said if the proposal is approved and should families not want to attend their newly zoned school, they may apply for school choice through the Pasco Pathways process.
The topic is on the agenda for the upcoming Pasco County School Board meeting on Tuesday, September 10, at 6:00 p.m.
