PANAMA CITY BEACH — West Bay Elementary School will reopen by the next school year.
The Bay District School Board made the decision to reopen the school, closed since 2009, at Tuesday’s board meeting as a short-term fix to beach school overcrowding.
Superintendent Bill Husfelt recommended adding classrooms to Patronis Elementary and Breakfast Point, a recommendation the board rejected. The board instead decided to go with West Bay, one of the five options recommended for a short-term overcrowding fix.
With West Bay reopening, students will have to be rezoned, said Bay District School Board Chairman Steve Moss. How many students will be rezoned is not yet known, said Moss, who added the district has a software program that determines which schools students are close to.
“This is not easy,” Husfelt said of solutions when making his recommendation of adding classrooms.
Husfelt said people will be upset no matter what the board decides. Husfelt said the district knew beach schools will continue to grow, but just not at what pace. He said that before the board chose West Bay, he was not anti-West Bay and that the closing of the school had been an economic decision. There are still fewer than 30 students who live near West Bay, Husfelt said.
Board member Jerry Register said members of the public had been told that when the district needed a new school, West Bay would be reopened. Cleaning and work on the cafeteria would have to be done at West Bay, said Register, who added that while he does not like portable classrooms, there is space for 10 portables at West Bay.
“It’s in good condition,” Register said of West Bay.
Moss said Breakfast Point is crowded and there are some concerns about adding students to an overcrowded campus due to infrastructure and the time lunch periods took. Moss said he understood Husfelt’s recommendation but that parents might want to drive o West Bay due to changes to the school.
“We have a lot of options at West Bay. It’s a blank slate,” Moss said.
Board member Ryan Neves made the motion to select West Bay as a short-term option, which passed unanimously.
A long-term fix still is being considered. Husfelt said at a roundtable discussion with the School Board, held before the board meeting, that a new elementary school may have to be built.
Board member Joe Wayne Walker said he was concerned adding a school on the beach would be hard to justify to taxpayers.
Four long-term alternatives considered by the district are a new 600-student elementary school adjacent to Surfside Middle, a 500-student middle school addition to Surfside, a new beach elementary school for 970 students with a future middle school for 480 students at the same site, and a countywide rezoning, shifting beach students to the east.
