Neighborhood Schools

Preserving the neighborhood schools we have when feasible, and building more small, neighborhood schools, especially in our inner city, urban core is important. Read More...

The financial savings gained in closing a neighborhood school pales in comparison to the significant impact a neighborhood school plays in the stability and sense of belonging a neighborhood school provide a child.

Commitment to Inner City Schools

Orange County Public Schools must keep the promises it makes to the community in 2002 when it asked the voters to support a half penny sales tax increase for school construction.  Read More...

In return for a vote of "yes" to the sales tax, OCPS promised to renovate its inner-city schools.  Yet recently OCPS proposed closing many of those same inner-city schools it promised to renovate.  If the Orange County School Board wants to retain the trust and confidence of the public, OCPS must keep the promises it makes.

Joint Use Facilities

In these tough economic times it is challenging for any school district to go it alone. Loosening the restrictions and constraints to building joint use school facilities makes a world of sense. Read More...

The North Lake Park Community School in Lake Nona is one of the best examples of what can happen when partners across the community work together. The YMCA, OCPS, and the City of Orlando cooperated on the design and construction of the school, and today it is a joint use facility which serves that entire community.

World Class Technical and Vocational Education

Our public school system must recognize that not every student is college bound, and that a college preparatory curriculum should not be a one size fits all solution for all our children.  For too long we have made good kids, who know college is not for them, wait until they are 18 before they can obtain the workforce skills they need to survive in today’s economy.   Read More...

Our growing community is home to the state’s largest airport, two major hospital systems, a new Medical City, and a high tech computer simulation industry. All these industries rely on technical and vocational professionals to support their operations. We must train and educate our students so they are ready to step into advanced technical fields upon graduation from high school.

The creation of a world class technical academy with rigorous entrance requirements and a strenuous curriculum is one solution. Orange County should take advantage of its Charter District status to receive permission from the State to modify our curriculum requirements so that a graduate of our technical academy may graduate with either an Associate of Science degree or the certificate necessary to enter the workforce in a high paying, technical profession by the age of 18.

A World Class College Preparatory Academy

Establishing an Orange County Preparatory Academy, a school for gifted students devoted solely to academics, will enhance the reputation of Orange County Public Schools and help us attract the high wage, high tech businesses our community deserves. Read More...

Other school districts in Florida, such as Pinellas and Duval, have established schools that serve as national models for a public school preparatory education – and Orange County should be no different.  Gifted students, regardless of their income, deserve the opportunity of a world class preparatory school education which will make them eligible for admission into America’s most prestigious universities.