Eastside Elementary School has celebrated the 50th anniversary of its opening this school year, and while it didn’t receive the traditional gift of gold, it will get some much-needed new buildings.
During its April 8 meeting, the Hernando County School Board approved an agreement with Williams Company Tampa for the construction of a new cafeteria and classrooms in the amount of $26,805,614. “This is definitely not a desire, it is a requirement in my opinion,” board member Kayce Hawkins said. “I had the pleasure to come out and take a tour, and witness lunch with my own eyes and I was shocked, and very impressed with how creative your team works to get all the children through.”
Hawkins was speaking to Dr. Mike Lastra, principal at Eastside, whom she had asked to come in front of the board to plead the case for his school. “There haven’t been many updates in many years at our school,” Lastra said. “Our cafeteria, I believe, is the same exact cafeteria our superintendent went to when he was in elementary school.”
Superintendent Ray Pinder confirmed that Eastside indeed is using the same cafeteria it did when he was roaming the halls as a student in the 1970s. “We’re definitely in need of that (improvement) and happy to be able to make that happen,” Pinder said.
Lastra described the situation, noting that the school has to have lunch periods from 10:25 a.m. to 2 p.m. and that they can only hold assemblies in the cafeteria two grade levels at a time. The district had recently built a paved courtyard to provide some relief for the cafeteria and Lastra said that area will be repurposed.
“I always tell people when you look at the size of the Eastside Elementary cafeteria, I guarantee the second smallest is at least double the size of the Eastside cafeteria,” Lastra said.
As for the need for 20 additional classrooms, Lastra pointed to the amount of construction being done in the Ridge Manor area as an indication of increased population. The number of students has gone up by 100 since Lastra became principal in 2022, and close to 300 since he became an assistant principal there in 2015.
“We have not one empty classroom. We’re doubled up in some of our rooms,” Lastra said. “So it’s a big need for the classrooms as well.”
There will also be new infrastructure changes to the campus, creating more space for cars and buses, alleviating congestion when students arrive and depart from the school. “I’m excited for the students that are there and the staff, and our future students,” Hawkins said.
The board unanimously approved the Eastside improvements, as it did an increase to the rates for Kelly Services, which manages substitute teachers for the district. The rate will go up by $640,402 to keep up with the rising minimum wage.
“We’ve used Kelly Services for several years now. We have a very robust relationship with them,” said Matthew Goldrick, the district’s director of human resources. “I think one thing that really kind of summarizes how successful we’ve been is the 91 percent fill rate they had last year. In other words, when we need a sub, 91 percent of the time they can get a body in there, which is a very, very high rate. And that rate increases the more notice we give them.”
The district has used Kelly Services, which keeps a pool of 630 potential subs, since 2014, as a way to save money after the Affordable Care Act required health insurance to be provided. Previously, the district handled subs on its own, and Pinder stated that the fill rate back then was 70-75 percent.
“They maintain a large group of employees to fill in for us when our teachers and (paraprofessionals) are out,” Pinder said of Kelly Services. “So we appreciate them.”
