The Florida Department of Education has released its annual school grades, and the news was not good for numerous Pasco County schools in The Laker/Lutz News’ coverage area.
“As soon as I saw the information, I was pretty distraught,” said Pasco County School Board member Alison Crumbley.
“This has to really be broken down,” she said, noting she has requested a school board workshop to address the issue. “We need to pick this apart. This is priority one — priority one, to figure this out.”
The district needs time to analyze the results, Crumbley said, so she requested the workshop be held following the board’s Aug. 2 meeting.
Overall, 10 central and east Pasco elementary schools slipped by one letter grade. Six elementary schools maintained the same grade as last year, and two improved by a letter grade. Pine View Elementary had the biggest drop, slipping from an A to a C. Sanders Elementary, which opened last school year, received a B. Quail Hollow, which reopened last year, received a C.
All seven middle schools, meanwhile, maintained the grades they received last year, including three As, at Rushe, John Long and Pine View.
But, the news was not as good at the high school level. Four high schools in east and central Pasco dropped a grade, while two remained the same.
No Pasco high school within the newspaper’s coverage area received an A grade. Last year, Wiregrass Ranch High, Land O’ Lakes High and Sunlake each received an A, but this year, they each dropped to a B. Wesley Chapel High, which had a B last year, dropped to a C.
Meanwhile, each of the Pasco charter schools, serving the newspaper’s coverage area — Academy at the Farm, Countryside Montessori and Imagine School at Land O’ Lakes —received an A, mirroring the score they each received last year.
Crumbley said she’s trying to understand why some schools performed at the same level, or even improved, while others slipped.
“Nothing is really straight up, cut-and-dried, in this business, and I do know that,” Crumbley said. “But by the same token, we have to get to the bottom of this. We have to. Period.”
School board member Steve Luikart also expressed concerns.
“Some of the schools slipped and the district slipped. We went from B to C,” Luikart said.
On one hand, Luikart said, “it’s hard to throw mud at something, when you’ve got a change of criteria every year … It’s impossible to nail down data, when the criteria is not consistent.”
On the other hand, he continued: “We’re still competing with everyone else in the state,” he said.
“We’re going to have to look at what we’ve got to do differently to head it back in a different direction. There’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“I’m definitely concerned. It’s very disappointing,” Luikart said.
This chart provides scores for east and central Pasco County schools.
Elementary schools
Centennial Elementary 2016: D 2015: C
Chester W. Taylor Jr. Elementary 2016: C 2015: C
Connerton Elementary 2016: C 2015: B
Denham Oaks Elementary 2016: C 2015: B
Double Branch Elementary 2016: B 2015: A
Lacoochee Elementary 2016: D 2015: F
Lake Myrtle Elementary 2016: B 2015: A
New River Elementary 2016: B 2015: B
Oakstead Elementary 2016: A 2015: A
Pasco Elementary 2016: D 2015: D
Pine View Elementary 2016: C 2015: A
Quail Hollow 2016: C 2015 (Not open)
Rodney B. Cox Elementary 2016: D 2015: F
San Antonio Elementary 2016: C 2015: C
Sanders Elementary 2016: B 2015 (Not open)
Seven Oaks Elementary 2016: B 2015: A
Veterans Elementary 2016: B 2015: A
Watergrass Elementary 2016: C 2015: B
Wesley Chapel Elementary 2016: A 2015: A
West Zephyrhills Elementary 2016: D 2015: C
Woodland Elementary 2016: D 2015: C
Middle schools
Centennial Middle 2016: C 2015: C
Charles S. Rushe Middle 2016: A 2015: A
Dr. John Long Middle 2016: A 2015: A
Pasco Middle 2016: C 2015: C
Pine View Middle 2016: A 2015: A
Raymond B. Stewart Middle School 2016: C 2015: C
Thomas E. Weightman Middle School 2016: B 2015: B
High schools
Land O’ Lakes High 2016: B 2015: A
Pasco High 2016: C 2015: C
Sunlake High 2016: B 2015: A
Wesley Chapel High 2016: C 2015: B
Wiregrass Ranch High 2016: B 2015: A
Zephyrhills High 2016: C 2015: C
Charter schools
Academy at the Farm 2016: A 2015: A
Countryside Montessori Academy 2016: A 2015: A
Imagine School at Land O’ Lakes 2016: A 2015: A
Published July 20, 2016
