CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (WTXL) — Wakulla County's superintendent says Crawfordville Elementary School is at capacity. School board members and parents discussed ways to address the issue during a Tuesday town hall.
- Parents expressed concerns about how rezoning could affect their kids.
- Superintendent of schools, Richard Myhre, spoke to parents about options on the table and how the district could address potential problems.
- Watch the video below to find out when potential changes could be implemented.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Families and school board members are looking for solutions to overcrowding at Crawfordville Elementary School, but some neighbors are concerned about what those changes could mean.
"I currently live about less than a mile from the school, and they had talked about moving the zone to the courthouse, the road at the courthouse. And my road is past that," explained Kaitlyn Bowerman, a parent with a student at CES.
I'm Serena Davanzo, your Crawfordville neighborhood reporter.
I'll show you the options on the table and how they could impact your kids.
School board members are considering rezoning parts of the county to lower the number of students at CES.
Parents tell me they're concerned about how that rezoning will affect their children.
"Her after school activities at Wakulla Dance, for example, they don't have transportation to Medart, and so unfortunately, I would not be able to allow her to attend to that after school anymore," Bowerman said.
Others brought up concerns with relocating children with disabilities.
They also asked how the district would crack down on people using family addresses and how many students would be affected.
A parent at the meeting asked Superintendent Myhre, "How many students are you looking to relocate to Medart from Crawfordville by just that one move?" To which he responded, "I think 100."
Superintendent Richard Myhre says the county could address this issue in four different ways: revoking out-of-zone requests, changing school zone boundaries, building additional classrooms at CES, or building a new school.
He recommends the district take one of the first two options, since construction would likely be too expensive.
However, one parent I spoke to suggested repairing an old building and turning it into a school.
"Yeah, I honestly want to mention how we have Sopchoppy [school], and we should figure out how to repair Sopchoppy [school], and then maybe turn Medart into a middle school, because there are buildings here we can turn into schools," said Sierra Bird, a parent with a student at CES.
Superintendent Myhre said he wanted to hear from families during tonight's town hall to help the school board make the right adjustments next school year.
"We don't have a final recommendation because we're still analyzing all those actual numbers, but we understand the problems in front of us and the different solutions that are available," explained Richard Myhre, superintendent of Wakulla County Schools.
Now the next steps are to bring these strategies in front of the school board at a meeting in February.
Earlier this month, the superintendent said the changes could be put in place by the start of next school year.
In Crawfordville Serena Davanzo ABC 27
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