Santa Rosa schools look to rezone district for Soundside High School

Three rezoning options are on the table for Gulf Breeze and Navarre high schools students who may be sent to the new Soundside High School starting next fall.

Both Gulf Breeze and Navarre high schools are near capacity . Gulf Breeze High has a 94% capacity rate with 1,834 students enrolled out of 1,953 available slots. Navarre High has a 98% capacity rate with 2,381 students enrolled out of 2,420 slots.

When complete, the $110 million Soundside High School will have 1,809 student slots, over 70 classrooms, career and technical education labs, a gymnasium, athletic fields and more.

"Soundside High School was built to address growth and capacity constraints on the south end of the county, specifically to relieve overcrowding pressure at Navarre and Gulf Breeze high schools," Santa Rosa Schools Superintendent Karen Barber said.  "Additionally, this will add long-term high school capacity where residential growth is still occurring on the south end of the county."

On Thursday night, the Santa Rosa School Board voted to hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 15 in the district boardroom to get public input on the rezoning proposals. Following the public hearing, the board will vote to adopt one of the options.

The rezoning proposals also include a "phase-in plan" for the board to consider in which Soundside High will start with ninth and 10th-grade classes the 2026-2027 school year, adding 11th-graders in the 2027-2028 and 12th-graders in 2028-2029 year.

Santa Rosa County Schools rezoning proposals

Santa Rosa Schools Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services Joey Harrell presented three color-coded rezoning scenarios to board members at the Thursday meeting.

• Proposal 1 (Purple) would rezone 1,335 students (530 from Gulf Breeze and 805 from Navarre High) to Soundside High, putting new school at 74% capacity.

• Proposal 2 (Pink) would rezone 1,404 students (694 from Gulf Breeze and 710 from Navarre) to Soundside High, putting the new school at 78% capacity.

• Proposal 3 (Orange) would rezone 1,129  students (530 from Gulf Breeze and 599 from Navarre) to Soundside High, putting the new school at 62% capacity.

Harrell said developing the rezoning proposals has been an ongoing and lengthy process but felt the three options "make the most sense for all three high schools on the south end." 

He did, however, recommend the third rezoning proposal to the board.

"As we have discussed in our staff meetings, the most reasonable to me, based on past practice and looking at new schools, and also looking at growth in areas, the most attractive is the last or the orange map," he said.

"There's a reason behind that and the reason is because you're at 74% in the Gulf Breeze area, but there's less growth that will take place in that zone—especially in Gulf Breeze proper."

He also believed the growth and potential for more homes in the Midway and Navarre areas as well as the School Choice option will bring in students not zoned for Soundside High.

Copies of proposed rezoning maps are available from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays until Jan. 15 in the superintendent's office at 6032 U.S. 90, Milton. The proposed boundary revisions are also available on the school district's website.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Santa Rosa schools look to rezone district for Soundside High School