The School District of Manatee County is preparing to open its seventh high school this year in an effort to ease overcrowding.
- Controversy over high school rezoning in Manatee
- Parents unhappy with redistricting proposal
- New high school more than 12 miles away
- Parents say drive would take at least 40 minutes
As the concrete is being poured and walls are going up -- lines are also being drawn -- and it's a redistricting proposal that's not sitting well with everyone.
"It has nothing to do with the school itself, it's going to be a fantastic high school," parent Brady Chapman said.
It's a sore subject for many parents in Greyhawk Landing--a community east of the interstate and just north of State Road 64.
"The new high school won't be the closest high school. Lakewood Ranch would be the closest. It won't be the second closest or even the third closest," Chapman said.
The new North River High School is more than a dozen miles away.
Chapman said right now, the high schoolers in his neighborhood get on the bus at about 6:30 a.m., but if they were rezoned, they'd be waiting for the bus well before 6 a.m.
"We're talking about a 40 minute bus ride to get to the new high school. That doesn't take into account students that would drive, and parents that would have to pick up their kids," he said.
Many school board members say they understand the concerns, and while the proposed school zones would help take pressure off overcrowded high schools, board members are open to the idea of making changes.
"It is our right as board members to tinker with those lines as we see fit," Charlie Kennedy, school board member, said.
Parents will have a chance to voice their concerns about the issue during a school board meeting set for the beginning of April.
Right now, Lakewood Ranch, Braden River, and Palmetto High School are all over capacity. The district can only accommodate school choice requests for schools that have space.