Pasco K-8 school in Dade City brimmed with nervous excitement on Aug. 13 as students returned for their first day of classes.
The children sounded (mostly) glad to get back to campus after a summer away, ready to reconnect with classmates, teachers and the daily learning routine.
“It’s just fun for school,” sixth grader Gray Timer said as he waited for the gates to open. “You get to meet new people, make new friends.”
At the same time, anxiety bubbled over as families faced the many logistics of the decision to merge Pasco Elementary and Pasco Middle into a single school spanning two campuses. Kids and parents peppered staff members with questions about where their classrooms were located, when the first bell was scheduled, how to deal with buses at the end of the day.
“I’m not going to lie to you,” said Deaisha Gray, while taking a photo with her second and fifth graders in front of a balloon-festooned sign announcing the school’s new persona. “It was a little nerve wracking for me.”
Kindergartners were on the same buses as eighth graders, middle school students attended on the same campus as elementary, students have to cross Florida Avenue to travel between the “upper” and “lower” campuses. (The school hired a full-time crossing guard to handle the latter concern.)
But Gray, like many others, said she also saw much positive in the district’s move to K-8 schooling.
“I’m looking forward to things getting better,” she said.
Pasco also established a new K-8 campus in Holiday this fall at the former Paul R. Smith Middle School, with plans to add more in coming years, including expansion of grades provided at Lacoochee Elementary. It’s far from alone, as districts across Florida including Pinellas and Hillsborough look for ways solve two key issues — more efficiently using their space and improving academic achievement.
Educators see the K-8 model as answering both concerns.
It allows districts to consolidate under-enrolled schools and expand the use of unused classrooms. Pasco anticipates a decrease of about 2,000 students this year.
It also helps create continuity of academic expectations and approaches without the artificial break at sixth grade that often marks a shift in children’s performance.
“In the long run it’s going to be a huge benefit,” said Jenny Borders, Pasco K-8 Cambridge coordinator, who attended Pasco Middle and has taught there 22 years. “And we’re such a community school. I think it’s going to help keep kids at our community school.”
Principal Gretchen Rudolph-Fladd said the numbers bear out that expectation. The school had enrolled 1,451 students before the buses arrived Thursday, a couple hundred higher than expected, and that didn’t include walk-ins who showed up that morning.
“The K-8 model is what families are really wanting,” she said.
Rudolph-Fladd acknowledged the nerves of everyone involved. She said her team adopted “pivot” as its word of the day, as they all stood ready to find answers to anything that didn’t go according to plan.
But she also aimed to reassure parents and children that their concerns have been heard and will be dealt with. She did not worry too much, for instance, about the idea of having teens and “babies” attending together.
In many ways, she said, it has a positive effect on the younger students, who can learn from the older children, as well as on the older ones, who tend to moderate their behaviors as “they don’t want to be that bad example.”
Eighth graders arriving for school said they looked forward to the chance to serve as role models.
“I think it’s a good influence for the little kids,” said Ada Zhao, as she headed from the bus loop to her first-period class. “We have to be responsible, be respectful.”
The school sent that message to all students, starting in first period, when every class from kindergarten through eighth grade got the “follow the rules” speech with the same slide show.
Lorie Larkin, a sixth grade language arts teacher, said she looked forward to what the year will bring, from the first day to the last. Even after 30 years teaching.
“I’m excited to see the kids,” Larkin said. “I enjoy seeing their smiling faces, and knowing the learning they’re going to get through the year. It’s a fun day.”
The Tampa Bay Times Education Hub reports on Florida’s schools and universities and the students they serve. You can contribute to the hub through our journalism fund by clicking here.
