HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Thousands of students returned to the classroom in Hillsborough County, but the new school year wasn’t without a few changes.
Aakilah Brown walked her daughter, Avani, in for the first day of school at Carrollwood K-8. Brown said the school is like home for her daughter, and safety will always be number one at the end of the day.
“The kids walking to school, leaving from school, getting on the bus, things like that,” said Brown. “I just want to make sure that she gets to school every day and makes it home safely every day.”
There were many smiling faces on day one, from the teachers to the parents and the students.
"We've been here since kindergarten, and we can't wait to get to 8th grade here,” said parent Crystal Torres.
This is the first year that Carrollwood is welcoming 6th-grade students. As part of the districtwide boundary changes, it’s expanding to a K-8 school in phases, adding a grade level each year.
Danielle Eichmann has two students at Carrollwood and was part of the parent group that pushed for the change.
“It almost feels like a dream,” said Eichmann. “A large part of our community was leaving, and they were going to other schools that we are not zoned for, so this opportunity to transition into a middle school has allowed our community to stay together.”
Early on Thursday afternoon, Van Ayres, the Hillsborough County Schools Interim Superintendent, said everything on the first day had been running smoothly. However, he asked for patience, especially with bus routes.
“We have 200 bus driver vacancies. However, we have 600 of our just top-notch transportation bus drivers that are currently in our system, so our 600 are basically working overtime, so they’ll finish one run, pick up and go, and go pick up another group,” said Ayres.
Also new this school year, the district opened up two new workforce development high schools: the Medical Academy at D.W. Waters and a Building Construction Academy at Bowers/Whitley.
