TAMPA, Fla. — After thousands of parents and community members weighed in through phone calls, emails and online, the feedback period for the proposed school boundary changes in Hillsborough County has come to a close.

Hillsborough County School Board Chair Nadia Combs called the feedback period challenging at times.

She said the majority of the negative feedback came from parents concerned about scenarios 2 and 3, which have a big impact for students in South Tampa among other densely populated areas.

What You Need To Know

  • Board members will discuss boundary changes Jan. 31

  • 3 scenarios, hybrid being considered

  • Thousands of parents submitted feedback

  • Vote set for late February

  • Hillsborough Schools Boundary Analysis

“I personally think, and I’m only speaking for myself, that scenario 3 seems pretty extreme and we’re getting a lot of feedback that it might just be too much,” Combs said. “I’ve talked to the superintendent about being somewhere kind of in the middle where we have to change some type of boundaries, we have to repurpose some schools, but looking at something that’s not so extreme.”

Combs said over the last couple of weeks during the feedback period, she received hundreds of emails and phone calls each day.

She said she feels some type of boundary changes need to be made in order to prepare for future growth and maximize where the district’s money is being spent, but is straying away from the most extreme options that could affect up to 24,000 current students.

“At some point we have to look at the sustainability of different schools and what that looks like," she said. "So I think we just have to be realistic when we look at the growth in Tampa but also the growth in different choices that parents have."

Combs said it’s not cut and dry with the three scenario options that consultants for the district laid out. It is possible that the final answer could be a hybrid or modification of some of the options.

The next step in the process is a Jan. 31 school board workshop where board members can speak about the options and ask the superintendent questions. Combs said after that meeting and there’s a clearer picture of which areas and schools will be affected, the community will have a chance to weigh in once again.

Following that, a special school board meeting will be scheduled for the second week of February for the first reading of the boundary change proposal.

The school board is expected to vote on the changes by the end of February, with the superintendent scheduled to make his final recommendation at a meeting on Feb. 21.

Four of the seven school board members must agree for the boundary changes to pass.