Due to several schools in Pace which are either near or exceeding student capacity, the Santa Rosa County School District is in the process of revising school boundaries.
Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services Joseph Harrell said the revision process has been in the works since last year. Harrell said the decision to adjust school zoning comes from Pace’s economic and population growth.
“Pace is continuing to grow,” Harrell said. “You got new subdivisions that are being approved now that the economy is getting better, which is good thing.”
Harrell said new housing developments are being planned near Woodbine Road, near Sims Middle School and West Spencer Field Road.
New developments bringing in more families could cause problems for Pace schools which are already reaching full capacity.
Harrell gave S.S. Dixon Primary School as an example.
“S.S. Dixon Primary is one of the schools that is busting at the seams,” Harrell said. “We have 709 student stations, that’s are housing for capacity there at that school, and we are currently sitting at 752 students. So we are at 106 percent of capacity.”
The student population at neighboring S.S. Dixon Intermediate School is near full capacity with 85 percent.
In addition to both Dixon schools, revisions will effect several schools in the Pace area including Avalon and Sims middle schools, Bennett Russell Elementary, Central School, Chumuckla Elementary, Pea Ridge Elementary and Pace High School, according to a public notice posted in an upcoming edition of the Press Gazette.
The maps featuring the new proposed school boundaries and legal descriptions will be distributed to the concerning schools and at the school administration building on Canal Street in Milton. Harrell said the same information will soon be available on the school district’s website.
In accordance with the Florida State Statutes, the school board will hold a public hearing at the school board’s administrative building to receive input from concerned parents before making a final decision on the revisions.
Harrell said the proposed revision will have a “domino effect” on several schools in the Pace area.
As an example, Harrell said the rezoning would relieve pressure from one school by placing students at a more accommodating school.
“Sims Middle School in the Pace area, there are 960 student stations there and they are currently at 103 percent,” he said. “We are shifting some of those students over to Avalon Middle School. That will help Avalon Middle School because Avalon Middle School is currently at a 86 percent (capacity).”
The rezoning process is required on a state level, Harrell said. Before the school district is allowed to build a new school facility, student stations in the area schools must be occupied, Harrell said.
Although the school district is currently focusing on the Pace area, Harrell does see the same in store for Navarre schools in the near future.
“Our percentages are high down there also,” Harrell said.
Although rezoning is not a popular responsibility of the school officials, it is a necessity.
“It’s uncomfortable, it’s not something any of us like to take on,” Harrell said. “But it is a necessity in order to show our due diligence and doing our best to first ensure that children are getting a quality education and what is in the best interest of those kids, but we also have to be responsible to the tax payer dollars that we are in charge of.”
Harrell encourages concerned residents to attend the public meeting, not only to learning more about the revisions, but to voice their concerns.
“I could be directed to look at a different scenario, that’s the process and that is a good process to have,” he said. “We have to listen to the public input and make changes when necessary.”
Want to Go?
WHAT: Public hearing on school boundary revisions
WHEN: 6:45 p.m. on Thursday, April 23
WHERE: The Santa Rosa County School Board Room, located at 5086 Canal Street in Milton.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Pace schools to be rezoned