Orange County Public Schools is planning to shuffle students around through rezoning that starts as early as next school year. The district is rezoning because of three new K-8 schools that are either under construction or soon to start construction in the Parramore, Audubon Park and Lake Como areas.
Also, there’s a growing number of students, with more than five-thousand new students just this year. Board Member Linda Kobert says Howard Middle School and Hillcrest Elementary are turning into “zoneless” magnet schools.
“So they would no longer be zoned schools they would be completely magnet schools. So students from all over the county are eligible to go to those schools. Hillcrest is a foreign language immersion magnet school and Howard is actually a nationally recognized performing arts magnet,” said Kobert.
Students who currently attend those schools can be grandfathered in to stay there. People can weigh in on the proposed zoning changes at community meetings throughout the fall.
The district says these are the campuses that may be affected:
Elementary: Audubon Park, Blankner K8, Brookshire, Cheney, Conway, Dover Shores, Fern Creek, Grand Avenue Primary Learning Center, Hillcrest, Kaley, Killarney, Lake Como, Lake George, Lake Silver, Orange Center and Princeton.
Middle Schools: Blankner K8, Conway, Glenridge, Howard, Jackson, Lee, Maitland and Memorial
**Editor clarification: This post has been modified to reflect that only some rezoning changes take effect next year. An OCPS spokeswoman says the majority of changes will take effect in 2017.