The Laker/Lutz News

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Thomas Weightman Middle School

Growth puts squeeze on schools

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As Pasco County Schools heads into another school year, crowded conditions are expected on several campuses within The Laker/Lutz News coverage area.

District officials are projecting that Wesley Chapel’s Wiregrass Ranch High School will operate at 141 percent of its capacity, with an estimated 2,310 students in a school designed for 1,633.

New construction continues to create the need for new schools or campus expansions in Pasco County. (Christine Holtzman)

Connerton Elementary School, in Land O’ Lakes, meanwhile, is projected to be at 120 percent of its capacity — with an anticipated 918 students at a school built for 762.

Other schools expecting big crowds are:

  • John Long Middle, projected at 123 percent of its capacity, with an expected 1,635 students at school designed for 1,327
  • Thomas Weightman Middle, projected at 116 percent of its capacity, with an expected 1,130 students at a school designed for 975
  • Cypress Creek Middle High, projected at 114 percent of its capacity, with an expected 953 students, in a space designed for 834

Chris Williams, the school district’s director of planning, outlined the district’s projected average daily memberships for 2019-2020 during a workshop with the Pasco County School Board last week.

Williams said a new Cypress Creek Middle School, expected to open in fall 2020, will provide relief for the area’s middle schools and Wiregrass Ranch High School.

That’s because the current Cypress Creek Middle High School is serving students in grades six through 12, in separate schools on the same campus.

Once the new middle school opens, it will have space for more students and high school space also will be freed to accommodate more students.

Williams said he also expects charter schools in the Wesley Chapel area to help absorb growth occurring there.

Sunlake High School, now operating over capacity, will get a 20-classroom wing, which is expected to be built this year. (File)

Even with boundary shifts, Wiregrass Ranch High’s enrollment will remain high, Superintendent Kurt Browning said.

“Keep in mind, there are more students moving in, right behind them,” Williams said.

“One thing we’re trying to avoid is a 10-period day,” Browning said.

Projects that are on the drawing board, or under construction, are expected to help the district address continued growth, Williams said.

Starkey K-8 is expected to open in two years, and is expected to provide relief to Odessa Elementary, which is expected to operate at 130 percent of its capacity this year.

Bexley Elementary and Sunlake Elementary are both adding classroom wings in the coming year, which will increase capacity at those growing schools.

Bexley, which opened in 2017, is projected to have 912 students at a school built for 906. The new classroom wing will accommodate 200 students.

Sunlake High School is projected at an enrollment of 1,994, at a school with a capacity for 1,698.

Although Connerton is expected to operate over capacity, Williams does not expect additional growth this year. Even so, he noted, “that is certainly something that we’re keeping an eye on because there’s obviously a lot of growth coming around that area.

The district’s high schools in Central Pasco and East Pasco all are expected to operate near or above capacity.

For instance, Zephyrhills High is expected to operate at 105 percent of capacity; Pasco High, at 117 percent of capacity; Cypress Creek Middle High, at 118 percent of capacity; Sunlake at 117 percent of capacity; and Land O’ Lakes High, at 95 percent of capacity.

Deputy superintendent Ray Gadd said the district expects a new magnet school, which will be built on the east side of the county, primarily will attract students from Wiregrass Ranch, Wesley Chapel, Pasco and Zephyrhills high schools.

The school will offer technical training programs and academic rigor. It is set open in 2022.

Major projects 2019-2020
Here is a look at major school construction projects planned in the 2019-2020, within The Laker/Lutz News coverage area:

  • Zephyrhills High School: Continuing campus-wide renovation
  • Land O’ Lakes High School: Wrapping up campus-wide remodel
  • Cypress Creek Middle School: Construction underway
  • Starkey K: Breaking ground within next couple of months
  • East side technical high school: Property acquired and design phase underway
  • Sunlake High: Adding a wing to increase capacity
  • Bexley Elementary: Adding a wing to increase capacity

Source: Pasco County Schools

Published July 31, 2019

Summer programs feed kids

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Children who normally eat lunch at school when classes are in session have a free alternative during the summer months.

Both Hillsborough and Pasco counties are participating in a summer food service program that provide free lunches and afternoon snacks at numerous sites around each county.

The program begins on June 13 and concludes on Aug. 3.

The sites are situated in areas where at least half of the children qualify for free or reduced price meals during the school year. The meals and snacks will be offered at local parks and other community locations to all children under 18 in the area.

No applications are required and summer camp registration is not required.

The Summer Food Service program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Here are some sites that are providing free lunches and snacks. Check with the sites to find out hours of operation.

Hillsborough County (partial listing):

  • Northdale Recreation, 15550 Spring Pine Drive
  • North Tampa Boys and Girls Club, 2313 Yukon St.
  • North Tampa Recreation Center, 8608 12th St.

(For more Hillsborough sites, go to HillsboroughCounty.org/SummerFood)

Pasco County (partial listing):

  • Arbours Mobile, 12861 Stately Oak St., Dade City
  • Centennial Middle, 38505 Centennial Road, Dade City
  • Cypress Farms Mobile, 38727 Patti Lane, Dade City
  • Farm Workers Self-Help, 37124 Lock St., Dade City
  • James Irvin Civic Center, 38122 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Dade City
  • Lacoochee Elementary, 38815 Cummer Road, Dade City
  • Lake George Mobile, 15246 Davis Loop, Dade City
  • Lewis Abraham Lacoochee Unit, 38274 Mudcat Grant Blvd., Dade City
  • Pasco Elementary, 37350 Florida Ave., Dade City
  • Pasco High, 36850 State Road 52, Dade City
  • New River Elementary, 4710 River Glen Blvd., Wesley Chapel
  • Quail Hollow Elementary, 7050 Quail Hollow Blvd., Wesley Chapel
  • Thomas Weightman Middle School, 30649 Wells Road, Wesley Chapel
  • Watergrass Elementary, 32750 Overpass Road, Wesley Chapel
  • Wesley Chapel High, 30651 Wells Road, Wesley Chapel
  • Chester W. Taylor, 3628 Morris Bridge Road, Zephyrhills
  • Crystal Springs Mobile, 1655 Partridge Blvd., Zephyrhills
  • East Pasco YMCA, 37301 Chapel Hill Loop, Zephyrhills
  • R.B. Stewart Middle, 38505 10th Ave., Zephyrhills
  • Thomas Promise, 6851 Wire Road, Zephyrhills
  • West Zephyrhills Elementary, 37900 14th Ave., Zephyrhills
  • Zephyrhills High, 6335 12th St., Zephyrhills
  • Land O’ Lakes Recreational Complex, 3032 Collier Parkway, Land O’ Lakes
  • Land O’ Lakes Community Center, 5401 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., Land O’ Lakes
  • Odessa Park Community Center, 1627 Chesapeake Drive, Odessa

For additional information, check the Pasco County Schools website at Pasco.k12.fl.us.

Published June 15, 2016

 

Making music in the night

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They come strolling in, carrying instrument cases.

They settle themselves in — around the band room at Thomas Weightman Middle School — and begin tuning up.

As more musicians arrive, the practice glides into full gear.

Luis Rosado plays with intensity during a practice session of the Wesley Chapel Wind Ensemble. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Luis Rosado plays with intensity during a practice session of the Wesley Chapel Wind Ensemble.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

This is a group that calls itself the Wesley Chapel Wind Ensemble, and they’re rehearsing for a performance called “Broadway Comes to Pasco” which is scheduled for June 13 at 7 p.m.

In addition to medleys from Broadway musicals, the program includes special guest Dana P. Rowe, who is a Broadway composer. The evening will include the debut of an original arrangement of Jeremy Silverman, former professor of music at Saint Leo University.

June Hammond, an associate professor of music at Saint Leo University, directs the ensemble.

During a recent rehearsal, she put the musicians through their paces.

She coaxed and cajoled the musicians as they rehearsed — urging them to hit proper notes with precise timing.

Hammond has directed the group for about a year-and-a-half.

“One of my goals has been to grow the musicians. Challenge them mentally. Challenge them physically. Teach them new things. I’m always looking for pieces that are going to push them, not only musically, but intellectually,” Hammond said.

At the same time, she said, “you have to temper that with pieces that are going to keep their interest.”

When people hear the ensemble perform, she said, they “are usually quite surprised by the wide range of music that we play,” she said.

Besides challenging the musicians, Hammond also enjoys passing along tidbits of her musical knowledge.

She may share a fact about Baroque music history, or tell them about Beethoven’s habit of counting the coffee beans in his grinder, she said. Or, maybe she’ll reveal that Beethoven’s favorite food was macaroni and cheese, or that he routinely enjoyed fish and potatoes on Fridays.

The Wesley Chapel Wind Ensemble began in 2007, when Glenn Weatherly, a newcomer from Michigan, decided to try to form a brass quintet.

“It actually started as a church outreach program,” said Weatherly, who was then attending the former Crossroads United Methodist Church.

Over the years, the group has evolved.

In the beginning, it rehearsed in a backroom of the Hyundai dealership in Wesley Chapel and then at the church. It has been meeting regularly at Weightman, which is located on Wells Road in Wesley Chapel, since 2012.

The ensemble, which now has roughly 40 members, has grown mostly through word of mouth, Weatherly said.

It is made up of people from all walks of life — including a banker, a caterer, a doctor, a teacher, to name just a few.

For Weatherly, the practices are close to home. He lives in Wesley Chapel. Others make the trek from communities including Lutz, Land O’ Lakes, Dade City and Zephyrhills.

They are of assorted ages and skill levels.

“Our oldest member is 85, and we have several high school students. Both of my daughters play with us from time to time,” Weatherly said.

Molly Bacon, a bassoon player, thinks it’s nice that parents can make music with their kids. “My son plays tuba here,” said Bacon, who also plays in three other musical groups.

Most of the musicians played in high school, and some played in college.

Some, like Bacon, play in several groups.

Others, like Dr. Sandy Lamphier hadn’t played their instrument for ages, before they picked it up again.

The group rehearses every Thursday night — except for several weeks in the summer. Typically, they practice for about two hours.

For some, the ensemble is their only chance to make music with a group.

“We have one home-schooled student. She studies privately, but this gives her a group to play in,” Weatherly said.

The ensemble is made up of mainly brass, woodwind and percussion instruments.

But, Weatherly said, “We have one violin.” The group previously had a cello player, too.

Dues are $25 a year to cover costs for sheet music and other expenses.

The show they are preparing for includes music from West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar and the Wizard of Oz.

“We have a special guest coming in, Dana P. Rowe. He is a professional Broadway composer,” Weatherly said.

Rowe composed the original music for Zombie Prom, the Witches of Eastwick and Brother Russia, Weatherly added.

“Because we have Dana Rowe coming to town, we actually hired Jeremy Silverman to work with Dana, and he actually arranged an original piece just for our group.

“This is a medley of Dana’s music. This has never been played before,” Weatherly said.

While the musicians look forward to performances, they enjoy their rehearsals, too.

Lamphier, who plays French horn, said she played the instrument when she was in middle school and high school, but then not again for more than 30 years.

Since joining the ensemble, “I, personally, have improved my abilities about 5,000 percent,” she said, via email.

“But that’s not saying much,” she added, “because I started at a very rudimentary level.”

She enjoys improving her skills.

“We do a lot of sight reading and are constantly challenged with more difficult music,” she said.

She enjoys the challenge.

“I look forward to being there each week,” Lamphier said.

Broadway Comes to Pasco
What: Wesley Chapel Wind Ensemble performs an evening of music, with special guest Broadway composer Dana P. Rowe and the debut of an original arrangement of Jeremy Silverman.
When: 7 p.m., June 13
Where: Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, 37015 Orange Valley Lane, Dade City.
Who: All are welcome
How much: Free admission

Published May 27, 2015

This Girl Scout project could save lives

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When most people think of Girl Scouts, they tend to picture little girls selling cookies in front of the local store or singing in a camp sing-along.

It’s unlikely they envision a young woman working on a project to improve traffic safety.

But that’s exactly what Wesley Chapel High School student Samantha Politano is doing.

Wesley Chapel High student Samantha Politano is striving to attain a Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor awarded to a Girl Scout. Her project is to improve safety traffic conditions on Wells Road. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Wesley Chapel High student Samantha Politano is striving to attain a Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor awarded to a Girl Scout. Her project is to improve safety traffic conditions on Wells Road.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

She’s launched a three-year project aimed at making life safer for the students who attend Wesley Chapel High School, Thomas Weightman Middle School and Wesley Chapel Elementary School.

She’s not only interested in making life safer for students. She wants to improve the conditions for all drivers — parents dropping off and picking up their kids, bus drivers making their rounds, and faculty members and students who drive to school.

In addition to making Wells Road safer, she’s also aiming to spread the message of safe driving habits.

She hopes her efforts will encourage drivers to buckle up and put away their cellphones, which will reduce their chance or being injured or having an accident.

She also thinks it would be neat to give Wells Road a second, honorary name — Wildcat Way — to pay tribute to the mascot for the elementary, middle and high schools.

Politano is tackling the traffic safety issue on a number of fronts and has enlisted the aid of Jeff Novotny, former president of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce.

Novotny is widely known in business circles around Wesley Chapel, but that’s not why Politano asked him. She wanted his help because he’s married to her third-grade teacher, Amanda, who teaches at Wesley Chapel Elementary.

“Mrs. Novotny was one of the most influential teachers, ever,” Politano said.

So, why would a teenager take on an issue like traffic safety?

In Politano’s case, it’s because she’s striving to attain a Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve.

The distinction is based on the completion of a project that focuses on making a difference.

Politano said her decision to work on traffic issues was partly inspired by a friend of hers who was injured when a car backed into her in the parking lot.

She said she also heard about a freshman who was struck by a vehicle on Wells Road.

It’s not hard to see that Wells Road has traffic issues during student arrival and departure times.

On one recent afternoon, parents arrived at least 20 minutes before school got out, parking their cars on the edges on both sides of Wells Road.

With cars flanking both sides of the road, passing traffic — including school buses — had to drive close to the middle of the road, and in some cases over the centerline.

Parents also pulled into a parking lot at Wesley Chapel High to wait for their children, reminiscent of the staging area of the cellphone parking lot at Tampa International Airport.

Politano plans to continue her efforts by talking to various advisory groups and elected officials, to draw attention to the problem. She also has been circulating a petition that people can sign on paper or electronically.

One possible solution, Novotny said, would be to have a continuous turn lane down Wells Road, which would give vehicles a place to wait, so other cars could get by.

“That (continuous turn lane) creates enough separation between the west and eastbound vehicles so that they’re not right on top of each other. It gives a little space for people to see what’s happening,” Novotny said.

Besides working on that issue, Politano has already addressed a site-distance problem at the intersection of Wells and Boyette roads.

There was overgrown vegetation near the intersection, making it difficult for drivers to see, she explained. She notified the county, and they responded swiftly to address the problem, she said.

“It was very quick. I was very surprised, pleasantly surprised,” Politano said.

The county already is planning another safety improvement, Novotny said. It is scheduled to install a traffic light at Boyette and Wells roads in 2016.

Besides making conditions safer on the road, Politano has encouraged safer driver behavior.

She used Wesley Chapel High School’s public address system to remind students of the importance of buckling up and not texting while driving.

She used a message that got the students’ attention. She told them it would cost $140 for a ticket, if they weren’t wearing a seat belt or were caught texting while driving.

Politano also did a study to see if her message had any effect.

Before she made the announcement, she counted the cars in the parking lot and observed how many drivers were wearing their seat belts. By her count, it was around 15 percent.

She did the same count after her announcement, and this time about 50 percent were buckled up.

She said she plans to do another observation, to see if her message stuck.

In another effort to raise awareness, she created a sign on a fence between the high school and elementary school.

“Buckle Up!” it exclaims.

Politano realizes she has ambitious goals, but noted she doesn’t have to achieve a three-lane road or modify other drivers’ behavior to qualify for the Girl Scout Gold Award. She merely has to make her best efforts and document them.

She said she’s grateful for Novotny’s help on the project.

“Mr. Novotny has helped immensely, immensely, immensely with this.”

Politano’s mom, Felicia, recalled when her daughter told her what she planned to do for her Gold Award project.

The teenager said: “I’m going to widen Wells Road.”

Her mom responded: “Why don’t you find something easier than that to do.”

While she doesn’t have to get the road widened, Politano does hope for that result.

“The community needs it,” Politano said.

Published March 18, 2015