Wakeland Elementary program to relocate to Johnson Middle in fall 2017

Wakeland Elementary School will close and the program will relocate to Johnson Middle School for the start of the 2017-18 academic year, after a unanimous vote Tuesday from the Manatee County School Board.

The board voted on the issue at a public hearing after hearing from a few parents, who generally seemed to support the idea. The approval is the second of a series of recommendations laid out by Superintendent Diana Greene to help balance enrollment across the district.

“We’re shifting the program and we’re decommissioning a school facility site,” school board member Bob Gause said, clarifying the programs at Wakeland will still be up and running.

Between now and August 2017, the district will prepare Johnson to house the elementary school students. The district is planning to build a new wing at the school to house the youngest students.

The schools were chosen to combine because both are international baccalaureate schools already close to one another and because the Wakeland building has foundation issues the district has been unable to fix completely twice.

Grenee met with Wakeland parents in January, announced her intentions in February and held another meeting with parents last week.

“My personal opinion is I think a pre-k through (eighth grade ) IB school is a phenomenal idea,” parent Kim Stroud said. “I think if it’s done right it would be a great thing for Manatee County.”

For the first couple years, the school will operate with two administrators. Wakeland Principal Mario Mendoza and Johnson Principal Angela Lindsay will work together to handle issues such as lunch time, bell schedules and student pickup and dropoff procedures.

Ultimately, officials would like the school to operate as one cohesive K-8 school. Mendoza and Lindsay are traveling to other K-8 IB schools to see how those schools operate.

The Wakeland building will be the second to close after Orange Ridge-Bullock Elementary School closes to students June 9 at the end of this school year.

Before the district moves forward with the merger, students in the ACCESS program would have to be moved out 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.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 8:16 PM with the headline "Wakeland Elementary program to relocate to Johnson Middle in fall 2017."