Sun Sentinel Broward Edition

Palm Beach County to get inland surf park

- By Lois K. Solomon Staff writer BOYNTON, 6B

Pretty soon, you won’t have to go to the beach to catch a perfect wave. A 2,000-foot-long artificial lake is planned for property near Jupiter Farms — 8 miles inland — with manmade surf. The park was spearheade­d by world surfing champion and Florida native Kelly Slater.

More than a dozen parents on Thursday night beseeched a Palm Beach County school district panel not to move their children from their middle school.

They said they wanted to stay at their A-rated school, they like the current gifted program or that their preteens would grade.

The district’s boundary committee heard their pleas during a public hearing on proposed boundary changes for next year, when Odyssey Middle School in Boynton Beach closes and its students will have to move to other schools. The closing will also force some students at nearby schools to switch. suffer after finally adjusting to the rigors of sixth

family invested our life savings in our neighborho­od,” said parent Tonya Laker, whose kids would have to move from A-rated Christa McAuliffe Middle in Boynton Beach to C-rated Carver Middle in Delray Beach. “My children have the same right to an A-rated education as anyone else. I’m here today to protect my children’s education.”

Parent Sasha Connolly said any move could be detrimenta­l to vulnerable preteens.

“I definitely feel to uproot the kids and move them to Woodlands (Middle), even though it is a good school, would be the wrong thing to do,” she said.

Even though almost 2,000 students live in Odyssey’s boundaries, fewer than 800 attend the school, which struggled for 16 years to win commu“My

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