Wakeland, Johnson parents meet with Manatee schools staff on proposed merger

With the writing basically on the wall, Wakeland Elementary School and Johnson Middle School parents are already imagining ways their combined schools can work together.

Parents from both schools met Wednesday evening with principals and Manatee County School District Superintendent Diana Greene to ask about the superintendent’s plan, which goes before the Manatee County School Board for a formal vote Tuesday. If the board approves the plan, Wakeland will close and reopen at Johnson Middle in the 2017-18 academic year.

“That is a year from now,” Greene told the 50 or so parents gathered at Johnson Middle. “We would take an entire year to do the things necessary to make Johnson a pre-K through eight school.”

Structurally that would include erecting a new wing at the school to house the prekindergarten, kindergarten and possibly the first-grade students.

Early estimates show the cost to be about $3 million, but the final budget would likely be higher, said Jane Dreger, district director of capital projects. Renovations would mostly likely be needed inside the existing Johnson structure to accommodate Wakeland students.

In terms of programming and what happens inside the school, a lot will be left up to what the principals and parents want to do, Greene said. At first, she wants the schools to co-exist on the same campus, but down the road the school may become one combined elementary and middle school with one principal and multiple assistant principals.

At first, Wakeland Principal Mario Mendoza and Johnson Principal Angela Lindsay will work together to make joint decisions about issues such as bell and lunch schedules. They’d also be able to work on partnerships such as having students work together on volunteer projects, or allowing advanced fifth-grade students to take middle-school courses.

“You do have an advantage no other school has,” said Cynthia Saunders, deputy superintendent of instruction.

Many Wakeland parents have come around to the combined school concept since initial talks of closing Wakeland started in January, when an outside company was hired to analyze the district’s overcapacity and undercapacity schools. A merger between Orange Ridge-Bullock Elementary School and Rogers Garden Elementary School has already been approved. The district is also planning new school in the northern parts of the county where growth is expanding.

Wakeland’s structural issues and Johnson’s low enrollment compared with the size of the building led to the plan to merge the schools, which was formally announced in February.

“My mentality has totally changed,” Wakeland parent Kendra Wingate said Wednesday. “We have to get our mindset away from the negative.”

Before the district moves forward with the Wakeland/Johnson merger, students in the ACCESS program would have to be moved out of the school into a permanent home at Harllee Middle School, Greene said. The ACCESS program serves students up to age 21 who have severe mental or physical disabilities.

“We have ensured them we will take care of them first,” Greene said.

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 9:23 PM with the headline "Wakeland, Johnson parents meet with Manatee schools staff on proposed merger."