With three new K-8 schools set to open in the Downtown Orlando area between 2017 and 2018, the district has unveiled a set of proposed maps showing possible zoning options. Click here for proposed rezoning maps.
Orange County Public Schools opens K-8 schools under several scenarios: to address temporary growth, address geographically isolated areas or to offer a full range of academic offerings when area schools have become too small.
“We are excited to be building more of these neighborhood schools so more families can experience the benefits of a K-8 education,” said Orange County School Board Chairman Bill Sublette. “Strong public schools in our urban core are an important part of urban revitalization, and our new state-of-the-art facilities will contribute to continued growth and prosperity.”
In the Parramore neighborhood, a school is planned that will offer free preschool and college scholarships to students through a partnership with hotelier Harris Rosen. That school is set to open in 2017 along with a kindergarten to eighth-grade school in Audubon Park. A third K-8 school for the Lake Como/Kaley area is set to open in 2018.
The community meeting Monday night, as well as meetings Thursday, Sept. 24, and Monday, October 12, at the Ronald Blocker Educational Leadership Center, are part of a process to gather community input on the zoning changes before the School Board discusses the proposals at an Oct. 20 workshop. A final vote would come in December, at the earliest.
The changes would end the busing of children from the Parramore neighborhood to eight different elementary schools, which was formerly required under a federal desegregation order. It will also turn Hillcrest Elementary, home to a district Foreign Language Magnet program, and Howard Middle, home to the Howard Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts Magnet, into zoneless magnet programs. Current students in the school zones would be able to remain at the schools. Currently, 61 percent of Hillcrest’s and 36 percent of Howard’s students are in the magnet programs.
The schools potentially affected by the rezoning are Audubon Park, Brookshire, Cheney, Conway, Dover Shores, Fern Creek, Grand Avenue Primary Learning Center, Hillcrest, Kaley, Killarney, Lakemont, Lake Como, Lake George, Lake Silver, Orange Center and Princeton elementary schools, Blankner K-8, and Conway, Glenridge, Howard, Jackson, Lee, Maitland and Memorial middle schools.
