Education in Pinellas Park and the Gateway area is built on a tradition of excellence. Residents take advantage of first-class resources for people of all ages. Faculty, school boards and parents work together to fully prepare students for college or the workforce.

Pinellas Park and the Gateway area are part of the Pinellas County School System. With approximately 113,000 students, 81 elementary schools, 23 middle schools, 16 high schools and a number of other special learning and vocational schools, Pinellas County Schools is the seventh-largest district in Florida and the 21st-largest in the United States. And as the demand for outstanding public education has escalated in recent years, Pinellas County Schools has maintained its position at the forefront of the movement to better prepare children for the challenges they will face throughout life.

The school system maintains a low student-to-teacher ratio, enabling it to meet the individual needs of every student. It fosters excellent communication between the administration and an involved community of active parent-school organizations. Classroom work is rooted in the basics, ensuring that children will approach life’s later challenges with the knowledge expected of capable adults as well as a full set of fundamental skills. The district maintains a progressive mentality, however, meaning that courses in computers, art, music and foreign languages now fill out a curriculum that has always included educational staples like math and English.

A wide variety of extracurricular activities rounds out the educational experiences available through Pinellas County Schools. Students participate in athletics, band, debate, foreign language groups and many more organized clubs and events that are, invariably, fun, educational and enriching.

The school district offers Magnet Programs at the elementary, middle and high school levels, where students can take classes concentrated in a particular area of interest at local institutions such as the Criminal Justice Academy at Pinellas Park High School.       

Parents seeking a private or religious education for their children take advantage of the area’s many private schools as well as spiritual education classes hosted in area churches.

The approximately 1,500 children of secondary age or younger that reside in the Gateway area are served by a variety of public and private schools in nearby areas. Within the Gateway community, the Bayside High School consisting of some 12 acres will open its doors in the fall of 2004, serving as a long-term, high-tech alternative school.

Residents of both Pinellas Park and the Gateway area enjoy the close proximity of several excellent institutions of higher education, including St. Petersburg College, the University of South Florida (St. Petersburg and Tampa) and Eckerd College (St. Petersburg). Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida’s first law school, is ranked number two for trial advocacy by U.S. News & World Report, and the Pinellas Technical Education Center (PTEC) offers more than 40 programs in technical training on its two campuses in Clearwater and St. Petersburg.

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