Bay Point Families Get Until Sept. 7 to Help Name New Combined K-8 School

Pinellas County Schools wants Bay Point families to name their child's new school, and the clock is running. The district is combining Bay Point Elementary and Bay Point Middle into a single K-8 campus starting in the 2027-2028 school year, and it's asking the community to vote on a name for the merged school before online voting closes at 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 7, at pcsb.org/schoolname.

The new school will operate on the current middle school campus, which the district says will be renovated and modernized to handle the wider K-8 age range. Officials describe the redesigned program as one that will lean into emerging technologies, building on what district leaders call community input the district has gathered around K-8 education models.

The elementary campus itself won't sit empty. Under the board's plan, it will be leased to a community partner once students move to the combined site.

Part of a larger consolidation push

The Bay Point merger traces back to a Feb. 24, 2026 vote, when the Pinellas County School Board unanimously approved a package of school closures, mergers and expansions aimed at addressing a decade of declining enrollment and rising maintenance costs. Along with the Bay Point merger, the board voted to:

• Close Cross Bayou Elementary permanently, sending students to Bardmoor and Pinellas Central elementary schools and moving its Deaf/Hard of Hearing program to Walsingham Oaks K-8
• Close Disston Academy, relocating its programs and students to other schools
• Expand Oldsmar Elementary into a K-8 school
• Move the district's Employee Child Care program to McMullen-Booth Elementary

District officials have said the changes could save roughly $15 million in maintenance and operating costs. Superintendent Kevin Hendrick told the board at the February meeting that some of the affected campuses were running below half of their intended capacity, citing Cross Bayou Elementary's 40% utilization rate and a maintenance bill of about $5 million there. Expanding Oldsmar, by contrast, would push its utilization from 57% up to 95%.

Public reaction to the broader consolidation plan was mixed at the February meeting. One parent argued the K-8 model would keep siblings together longer and give families more stability. A parent whose child attends Cross Bayou Elementary pushed back against that school's closure, telling board members he hoped members would listen more closely to parents going forward, even if it wouldn't change the outcome.

The district has said additional consolidation recommendations are expected this fall, though any further changes wouldn't take effect until the 2027-2028 school year, the same timeline as the Bay Point merger.

What happens next

Bay Point families have less than two weeks to weigh in on the name before the vote closes. The district has not yet said when the renovated campus will open its doors to the combined student body or released design details for the modernized building. Families can cast a vote and find more information directly through the district's naming page linked above.

For more updates on this and other developments across the county, visit Pinellas County Community Website or follow us on Facebook. Have thoughts on the Bay Point merger or the district's consolidation plan? Join the conversation in our Community Forum, and check out more education stories from around Pinellas County.