Plans are in the works to open Chasco K-8 School in New Port Richey next fall following a Sept. 10 vote by the District School Board of Pasco County.
The board unanimously approved closing Calusa Elementary, Chasco Elementary and Chasco Middle schools at the end of the current school year. This will enable the new K-8 school to open on the existing campus of Chasco elementary and middle schools in September 2025.
School district staff requested the closure of these three schools because of steadily decreasing enrollments at Calusa Elementary and Chasco Middle.
Calusa is operating at 65% capacity with 429 students. Chasco Middle is operating at 73% capacity with 614 students.
Wyatt Grinage, whose daughter attends Calusa, expressed concerns over whether the proposed K-8 school will have enough space to accommodate all the students who will be coming from Calusa.
The combined square footage of Chasco Elementary and Chasco Middle is 238,612 while Calusa Elementary has 75,000 square feet, Assistant Superintendent Betsy Kuhn said. There already is enough space at the Chasco campus to accommodate 254 more students than are currently attending there, Kuhn said.
Minimal modifications and reconfigurations that can be made to the two buildings on the Chasco campus will provide more than enough space to accommodate the 1,600 students currently attending all three of the schools, Kuhn said.
That necessary work will include, among other things, converting a media center in one of the buildings on the Chasco campus into four classrooms, Kuhn said.
This work will occur during the summer of 2025 so it won’t have an impact with students’ learning, according to Corey Dierdorff, the district’s public information officer.
One of the advantages of the consolidation expressed by Kuhn included a minimal transportation impact because Calusa Elementary, which will be permanently closed, is only 1.4 miles from the campus where Chasco K-8 is going to be located. The schools are all in the same community according to Kuhn.
Other advantages include the stability of students being in the same school for nine years and the minimization of a negative impact with the transition to middle school, according to a presentation made by Kuhn.
Board member Al Hernandez agreed with Kuhn that consolidating the three schools would use the district’s financial resources more efficiently.
“Closing a school is never fun,” Hernandez said. “This is not a take-away. It is enhancing the community.”
Kuhn also tried to alleviate concerns that had been expressed about children being able to walk safely to Chasco K-8 after it opens next year. There are currently five crossing guards assigned to Chasco Elementary, and a traffic control officer and two crossing guards are assigned to Calusa Elementary. Discussions will be held with the Pasco Sheriff’s Office next year to have the crossing guards currently at Calusa to be reassigned to Chasco K-8, Kuhn said.
Superintendent Kurt Browning said during the Sept. 10 meeting that parents who would be affected by the closure of the three schools would be notified the next day.
A public workshop focused on the closure of Calusa Elementary, Chasco Elementary and Chasco Middle and the reopening of those three schools as Chasco K-8 is scheduled for 5 p.m. Oct. 1 in the gymnasium at Chasco Middle School, according to the district’s website. A proposed boundary map for the K-8 School will be displayed and staff will be available to answer questions.
Also, a public hearing on the boundary proposal will be held during the Oct. 15 school board meeting at 6 p.m. at the district office complex in Land O’ Lakes.
The final vote on the boundary proposal will be held during the board’s Nov. 5 meeting at 9:30 a.m. at the district’s office complex, according to the district’s website.
Plans are also in the works for teachers currently assigned to Calusa Elementary to follow their students when they go to Chasco K-8, Kuhn said.
Acting on this so early in the current school year will give parents opportunities to explore other options regarding where their children could attend school within the district if they didn’t want them to go to Chasco K-8 next year, Kuhn said.
