Original Research by School Decision on Pace Center for Girls
PACE Center for Girls in Pinellas Park is an alternative school serving young women in grades six through twelve, operating under the Pinellas County Schools district. Its enrollment is quite small, closer in size to a single classroom cluster than a traditional middle or high school, and that scale is central to understanding what it is.
The school exists specifically as an alternative setting. Enrollment data shows students spread across all grade levels from sixth through twelfth, with a substantial share qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a student body that includes a meaningful proportion of economically disadvantaged girls. The racial and ethnic composition skews heavily white, with smaller shares of Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students. Data on students with IEPs and English learners was not available in what was provided.
State assessment results were not available for this school. That gap is consistent with the nature of alternative schools, which frequently serve student populations whose testing participation and reporting differ from traditional school settings. It would not be accurate to read the absence of proficiency data as a performance signal in either direction, and a parent who wants to understand academic outcomes specifically would be well served asking the school directly about how student progress is tracked and what outcomes look like for its graduates.
Graduation rate data was similarly not reported here. The comparison metrics for Pinellas County schools did not produce applicable figures for this school, again reflecting its alternative designation rather than missing results in the conventional sense.
Program and course offerings were not available in the data provided, which is a meaningful gap. PACE Center for Girls, as a publicly reported organization, operates a model specifically designed for girls who have faced barriers such as trauma, family instability, abuse, or involvement with the justice system. That mission context is relevant to how a parent or guardian would weigh whether this placement fits a student's situation, though the specifics of what programs are currently offered at this Pinellas Park site would need to be confirmed with the school.
The Pinellas Park zip code shows home values below the Florida state benchmark, and rents have dipped modestly year over year. Purchasing in the area means a mortgage-to-rent cost difference that is relatively narrow compared to national norms, which positions renting as a closer decision than in many Florida markets right now.
Within Pinellas County Schools more broadly, two developments stand out for families. Voters approved renewing and expanding the local school property tax in late 2024, doubling the rate, which funds teacher and support staff compensation along with reading, arts, and technology programs. For a homebuyer in Pinellas County, that represents a real ongoing cost increase to weigh. On the academic side, the district publicly reports having developed its own core ELA curriculum aligned to Florida's B.E.S.T. standards, grounded in a science-of-reading approach, and earned a top state grade in 2024 for the first time in district history. Those district-level changes shape the broader environment, though how much they reach into an alternative school setting like PACE is a question worth raising with the school directly.
Detailed information about Pinellas Park's community character, employers, and civic anchors was not retrievable in the research conducted for this profile.
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