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New School To Benefit Plant City, Durant

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By DAVE NICHOLSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 9, 2008

PLANT CITY The new high school under construction near Interstate 4 and McIntosh Road will relieve crowding at Plant City and Durant high schools, Superintendent MaryEllen Elia said last week.
The school, dubbed "UUU" until a name is selected, will draw most of its students from Plant City and Durant, Elia told members of the Plant City Downtown Luncheon Club. The $59 million school is expected to open in August 2009 along with a $12 million to $13 million elementary school on the same site, a former strawberry farm, she said.
A middle school should open on the same property in 2012, Elia said.
The high school will have only ninth, 10th and 11th grades in its first year, so no student has to transfer there in his or her senior year, she said. The juniors will become the first graduating class the following year.
School boundaries will be redrawn as a result of the new school.
A number of Plant City area schools are being remodeled or expanded, Elia said, partly because of a voter-approved amendment that mandated smaller class sizes.
At Thursday's luncheon meeting, Elia drew the praise of state Rep. Rich Glorioso, who lives in Plant City.
He said Elia has been an effective leader in her nearly three years as superintendent, making Hillsborough's educational system the "envy of many school districts."

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