Parents fret over Longwood school plan
Five years after families fought the Seminole County school district’s decision to shut down Longwood Elementary, parents are again at odds with the district again over the school’s reopening and accompanying zoning changes.
Citing growing student counts, the school district said over the summer that Longwood would reopen in 2017 with an $8 million makeover, but that means hundreds of students will have to switch schools.
Jamie Caswell said she’s upset her children might be uprooted. She said her family moved from South Florida three years ago and rented a place near the Lake Mary-Longwood line. They fell in love with her children’s school, Woodlands Elementary, and recently purchased a home nearby.
“I’m up in arms,” she said. “We specifically bought our house in this neighborhood so my kindergartener and second-grader could go through elementary school at the current school that we’re at and now you’re telling me there’s a possibility they could be rezoned.”
The rezoning could affect students from Woodlands and five other elementary schools: Highlands, Keeth, Lake Mary, Layer and Winter Springs. All of those campuses are over or near capacity, said Joseph Ranaldi, executive director of operations for Seminole schools.
The district doesn’t know how many students will be affected by the rezoning yet, but Longwood will have room for 612 students.
“We’re trying to balance out [enrollment],” he said.
The district will present three possible zoning plans during a meeting Nov. 9 and take comments from families. Board members will make a final decision on a yet-to-bedetermined date. In the meantime, the district will renovate Longwood Elementary inside, refurbish the roof and purchase new furniture and technology.
Longwood parents, students and employees protested in 2011 when the school board decided it had to shutter the school as “a last resort” to save an estimated $1.1 million annually in the wake of the Great Recession.
Some students, including rising fifth-graders and their siblings, will be allowed to continue at their current schools for the 2017-2018 school year, though their parents will need to provide transportation. Children who have already been rezoned during their time in elementary school won’t have to move, either.
Julie Trujillo said she thinks other students should be allowed to stay at their current schools, including her daughter, a third-grader at Highlands.
“If they’re acknowledging that moving these kids is disruptive, why would any of them move?” she said.
The reopening of the school is “good for Longwood,” said Trujillo, who lives in the city. She also has a 3-year-old son and she’s happy he will likely attend. But her daughter is settled at Highlands.
“I just think that she’s thriving and I don’t want to risk changing that because of all the work we’ve done to get to know everybody,” she said. “By the time we get to know everyone at Longwood Elementary, we will be leaving.”