Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) plans to build three new schools in Plant City. School sizes are to be determined.
A site bought from the North Park Isle Community is set to be the home of a new high school. The School Board approved the purchase of land at the northeast corner of the intersection of N. Park Road and E. Sam Allen Road. HCPS paid $16 million for this 50 acres across E Sam Allen Road from the new South Florida Baptist Hospital.
A new middle school site is planned approximately two miles away at the southwest corner of the intersection of Charlie Taylor Road and Midway Road. The 46 acres sold to HCPS for $20.25 million. The new middle school will sit across Midway Road from a new elementary school adjacent to the Farm at Varrea subdivision.
HCPS Operations found and presented the opportunity to buy the land to the HCPS Superintendent. The Superintendent then presented the option to purchase to the School Board—which they approved.
“There is significant growth in Plant City,” said Patti Rendon, HCPS Board Member for District 4. “Five thousand homes have been permitted. We need to establish infrastructure to support these new families that will be moving into Plant City. It is very important to consider what these schools are looking at.” Schools are already becoming overcrowded. Examples are Plant City High School is predicted to be at 105% of capacity this year; Bryan Elementary is at 96%; Lincoln Elementary is at 123%. The County Commission and HCPS considers the east side of Hillsborough County as critically important area that needs structure and infrastructure. “Now that the County Commission has approved areas for residences, we have to take care of the students,” added Rendon. “My biggest concern is that we are not going to have the schools built fast enough—we don’t want to go into debt.”
Some have questioned the high per-acre price of the land. For schools and the surrounding land needed, small parcels of land are not enough. “HCPS’s job is to provide a place for kids to go to school,” Rendon answered. “The schools have to be in locations where students have access—where the homes are, and where buses have good access. Parents are not active in the schools if the schools are not in the community. Land like this in Plant City is not easy to come by. We had the opportunity to get the land—and location is so critically important—where else would you put them?”
The first objective of HCPS is to prepare students to be college- and career-ready for a full range of opportunities after graduation. One part of this goal is to build career pathways that have access to academic experiences and work-based opportunities to ensure career and technical programs of study align with current and future industries in the area. To that end, Yvonne Fry began the Future Career Academy to teach students soft skills like how to dress and how to interview for jobs to better prepare them to gain good careers. The Academy works with HCPS to link students seeking careers to companies seeking employees. The program has been such a success it currently provides curriculum and programs to all of the high schools, career centers, and exceptional centers in HCPS.
HCPS is the seventh largest school district in the U.S. with 220,000 students. HCPS overseas 274 schools including 28 high schools, 4 career centers, 45 middle schools, 137 elementary schools, 54 charter schools, and 9 K-8 schools. The demographics show 86.79% of students are economically disadvantaged, 15.98% have special needs, 11.87% are learning English, 7.87% are gifted, 1.31% are homeless, and .78% are migrants. Approximately 78,000 students are bused every school day. There are currently 20 HCPS schools in, and near, Plant City.