The days of relatively easy rush-hour commutes are approaching an end as students, teachers and other employees gear up for a new school year.
Students in Pasco County Schools begin the 2014-15 school year on Aug. 18, and Hillsborough County public schools begin classes a day later.
(File Photo)
Wiregrass Ranch High School already is urging students and parents to give themselves ample time to arrive.
“Traffic in the morning is always busy,” Robyn White, the school’s principal, noted on the Wiregrass Ranch website. “With 40 buses arriving, 500 student drivers, 200 employees and hundreds of parents driving to school, you must arrive early to prevent being late to school.”
If that’s the scene at just one school, imagine how it will play out across two massive school districts.
In addition to traffic generated by Hillsborough and Pasco public schools, there also are thousands of students in both counties attending private schools and charter schools, including Academy at the Lakes, Land O’ Lakes Christian School, Countryside Montessori, The Reading Corner, Learning Gate Community School, Imagine School and Academy at the Farm, just to name a few.
The traffic jams will begin in earnest when students return to classes, but the volume will pick up a bit earlier as teachers and other school employees begin reporting back to work to get ready for another year.
Many parents are already hitting the malls, discount stores and local shops to buy their kids new school clothes and supplies for the coming year. Parents who want to be in the know should check their school’s website to make sure they are getting the supplies that their kids will need. Most websites offer a list of supplies that differentiates between grade levels.
Parents also can benefit from attending “meet the teacher” day at elementary schools and orientation sessions for older students to get a better feel for their child’s campus and the school’s rules. Again, all that information is available on schools’ websites.
The coming school year is ushering in new educational options for students in both school districts. Pepin Academies has a new public charter school in New Port Richey that will serve students with special learning needs throughout Pasco County.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the county, Darby Christian Academy in Dade City will offer a community school model, based on a biblical worldview. That school, a ministry of Darby Community Church at 14745 Bellamy Brothers Road, offers instruction for kindergarten through 10th-graders.
Stewart Middle School and Zephyrhills High School are adding The Infinity Academy, a program that blends online instruction with classroom learning to give students the chance to quickly move through material they master, but spend more time on lessons that cause them to struggle.
Both schools also are offering a program called AVID, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. At Zephyrhills High, AVID will be available for 60 incoming ninth-graders who will take it as an elective. The class will focus on organizational skills, text coding, reading and writing coaching, and math and science tutorials.
At Stewart, the AVID elective will be offered for students in grades six through eight.
In Hillsborough County, the public charter Lutz Preparatory School has added a middle school. This year, the school will serve sixth- and seventh-graders. Next year, it intends to add eighth grade.
Three elementary schools in The Laker/Lutz News coverage area have new principals.
Claudia Steinacker will lead Cox Elementary School, and Christina Twardosz is at the helm of Centennial Elementary School, both in Dade City. Gretchen Rudolph-Fladd is the new principal at Veterans Elementary School in Wesley Chapel.
This school year also signals the first full year of operation for Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, a new satellite of Pasco-Hernando State College.
The college campus is next door to Wiregrass Ranch High and not far from Wesley Chapel High School, which is expected to lead to enhanced educational opportunities for the high school students and to give the college a chance to recruit more future students.
Pasco County Schools Calendar 2014-15
Aug. 18 — Students’ first day
Sep. 1 — Labor Day
Oct. 20 — Teacher planning day
Oct. 27— Report card distribution
Nov. 24-28 — Thanksgiving break
Dec. 22-Jan. 2 — Winter break
Jan. 5 — Teacher planning day
Jan. 12 — Report card distribution
Jan. 19 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Feb. 16 — President’s Day
March 16-20 — Spring break
March 23 — Teacher planning day
March 30 — Report card distribution
April 3 — Non-student day
May 20 — Seniors’ last day
May 25 — Memorial Day
June 3 — Students’ last day
June 11 — Final report card distribution
Hillsborough County Schools Calendar 2014-15
Aug. 19 — Students’ first day
Sept. 1 — Labor Day
Oct. 20 — Teacher planning day
Nov. 3 — Elementary report card distribution
Nov. 7 — Secondary report card distribution
Nov. 11 — Veterans Day
Nov. 24-28 — Fall break
Dec. 22-Jan. 2 — Winter break
Jan. 19 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Jan. 20 — Non-student day
Feb. 2 — Elementary report card distribution
Feb. 10 — Secondary report card distribution
March 9–13 — Spring break
March 16 — Student’s return to school
April 3 — Non-student day
April 13 — Elementary report card distribution
April 17 — Secondary report card distribution
May 25 — Memorial Day
June 5 — Elementary report card distribution
June 5 — Last day of school
June 12 — Secondary report card distribution
– Compiled by Ashley Schrader
Published August 6, 2014
See this story in print: Click Here
