Pine View’s A ‘Cool School’

If you tuned into FOX 13’s “Good Day Tampa Bay” this morning, you might have seen a familiar destination. Pine View Middle School was named the station’s Cool School for Feb. 18.

The Cool Schools poll runs each week on FOX’s website. The winning school is determined by the number of votes and is featured on the station's Friday broadcast.

In the poll that ended Feb. 15, Pine View received more than 104,000 votes. John Hopkins Middle School in St. Petersburg came in second with 74,064. Seven Springs Middle in New Port Richey garnered less than 7,000 votes. More than 185,000 votes in total were logged.

“I have worked closely with the kids, faculty, staff and administration at Pine View for almost three years now,” said Antonio Duarte III, the PTSA president at the school. “(It’s) not just a great school ... I truly believe (it’s) ‘cool’ given the fact they are able to, with what I see as very limited resources and technology, keep these kids motivated and wanting to learn.”

FOX 13 officials and Principal Jennifer Crosby were not immediately available for comment.

“Good Day Tampa Bay” has the Pine View footage from its broadcast on its website at myfoxtampabay.com.

Editor's note: This article was modified and updated to include the video link.