Pinellas County School Board OKs two closures

Amidst enrollment declines and increased costs, the Pinellas County School Board voted Tuesday evening to close Pinellas Park’s Cross Bayou Elementary and Gulfport’s Disston Academy at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year. 

The recommendation to close the schools was unveiled at a January workshop and is a part of the district’s Planning for Progress initiative. 

Cross Bayou Elementary currently serves approximately 250 students and has a 40% utilization rate, Pinellas County Schools superintendent Kevin Hendrick said at the meeting. The property will either be sold or leased. Additionally, the closure will provide an estimated $3 million in annual cost savings. 

He explained that Disston Academy is an educational alternative services program that serves approximately 70 students in grades 6 through 12. It additionally is home to PCS’s teleschool program – a virtual initiative for middle and high school students who have demonstrated misconduct at their assigned schools. The building’s utilization rate is 20%. 

Similarly, the property will either be sold or leased. Hendrick said that the district will save approximately $2 million in deferred maintenance costs and $2 million in annual operations costs. 

An educational institution has been operated, he added, on the Gulfport site for over 100 years. 

“Any closure is impactful for the communities that we serve,” Hendrick explained. “Our schools should be places that are loved and remembered fondly. It is my responsibility and obligation though to provide our families with excellent academic choices and programs while maintaining a balanced budget.” 

Students will be able to attend other nearby schools. 

Additionally, St. Petersburg’s Bay Point Elementary and Bay Point Middle will combine into a K-8 institution on the middle school campus. Both facilities, he said, are located on the same parcel of land. 

“Bay Point Elementary is currently at 47% utilization and Bay Point Middle is at 35% utilization,” Hendrick added. “Implementing this recommendation builds on community feedback regarding K-8 campuses.” 

A capital investment of $1.5 million is estimated to combine the schools, he explained. The “consolidation” will help save PCS $2.8 million annually in operations costs. 

Oldsmar Elementary will be welcoming middle school students as well (grades 6 through 8). It will be done in phases. 

Current students in the fifth grade will attend sixth grade at the expanded school beginning in the 2026 – 2027 academic year. 

“Oldsmar Elementary is currently at 57% utilization,” Hendrick said. “Implementing this recommendation with all available seats filled in three years will raise the utilization rate to over 95%.” 

Capital improvements will be “made to accommodate middle school students,” he added. It will cost less than $500,000. 

Parent Curtis Campogni believes extending Oldsmar Elementary into a K-8 school is a good decision. 

“For three more years, my kids will get to be together as siblings,” he explained at the Tuesday meeting. “That increases the togetherness, the bond and the psychological safety. This not only is stability for them, but it’s stability for my wife and I as parents.”