For now, hundreds of students in Pasco County will stay stuck in the middle of a battle over where they’re going to school next year.
“There is a solution and we’ve proposed them but they just don’t want to hear it,” Jim Stanley said.
Stanley, father of a 10th grade student, continues to lead the fight in court against the school district over rezoning plans to fix overcrowding.
Stanley thought that Tuesday would be the end of a drawn out fight but the school board decided not to vote as planned and opted for more time.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable. We’ll fight it until the end,” Stanley said.
“That’s just outrageous that the school board has put us in this position that our children don’t know where they’re going to school literally a month before they’re supposed to show up for the first day.”
“That’s our concern as well but we have no choice,” said district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe.
“This person is filing a suit against the district challenging our process and we didn’t want to take a vote before the judge had a chance to hear the argument on both sides.”
Combined legal fees have topped more than half a million dollars and the district could end up paying a large portion of it depending on a judge’s ruling.
Stanley says many parents in the Longleaf neighborhood where he lives also don’t like the board’s rezoning plan.
He says the district has been shady behind the scenes and that transparency needs to improve. This year, a judge sided with the parents saying things weren’t previously done correctly.
Cobbe says the district has made changes.
“The school district is in compliance with the law,” Cobbe said.
“Our intent is to vote as quickly as possible. We’d really like to have a vote before the end of the school year. We hope that the judge can make a ruling in time for parents and students to know before they leave this school year,” she said.
The next hearing with a judge is set for May 17 at 9:30 a.m. in the school district boardroom in Land O’ Lakes.
