TAMPA, Fla. — Parents with students at Carrollwood Elementary are breathing a sigh of relief as students prepare for summer break.

Usually, 5th grade parents at Carrollwood are scrambling to choice into a middle school, enroll in a magnet school or find a private school.

What You Need To Know

  • Carrollwood Elementary expanding to a K-8 school 

  • Usually, 5th grade parents at Carrollwood are scrambling to choice into a middle school

  • Carrollwood Elementary will be transitioned to a K-8 school through August of 2025

The feeder middle school for Carrollwood Elementary is Adams Middle, which parents say is an underpeforming school that some refuse to send their kids to.

Now, Carrollwood Elementary is transitioning to a K-8 school, which means the summer stress of their kids continuing education is over.

"We can officially take our name off the waiting list for all of the magnet schools, and we are so excited to stay here,” said Sarah Lasala, who has a 2nd grader attending Carrollwood.

Lasala says her family moved into the neighborhood specifically so their daughter could attend Carrollwood Elementary School, but once realizing their options were limited for middle school, they began apply to magnet schools and researching the potential for private school.

Other parents that joined the Carrollwood K-8 Initiative felt the same way, some in fact debating whether they would need to move in the future as their kids got older.

Kristin Nail has a 2nd grader at Carrollwood Elementary, and a 2-year-old.

“The longer we've been in our house, the more excited we've been about the neighborhood and we don't want to move.” Nail said.  “So now we are really excited that things are kind of in place for us.”

Carrollwood Elementary will be transitioned to a K-8 school through August of 2025.

This coming fall it will add a 6th grade class. In fall of 2024 it will add a 5th grade class, and in fall of 2025 it will add 8th grade.

On June 6, the school board will take its second and final vote on Superintendent Addison Davis’ broader boundary change plan.

In its first vote last week, the school board approved boundary changes in a 4-3 vote.

If the second vote passes, dozens of schools will see changes that could impact as many as 15,000 students beginning in the ’24-’25 school year.