ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — There's a fight brewing over a plan to build two new charter schools in Avalon Park.
The schools are needed to help relieve overcrowding, but the school district wonders if the developer is skirting the rules to build the schools.
Plans are moving full speed ahead for what will now be a second charter school for the development. The school will be built in the heart of Avalon Park, but residents said they want a say in all of this.
A rooftop basketball court is just one of the features that will make the latest charter school coming to Avalon Park unique, but mother Anne Frey isn't sold just yet.
“It’s a nightmare getting in and out as it is,” she said. “And we're talking about adding 800 to 1,000 cars.”
The sixth to 12-grade school is the second proposed by developer Beat Hahli since the county began looking at overcrowding issues at Avalon Middle School.
The school, which was built for 970 students, will welcome more than 1,800 students next week.
Khali said the area desperately needs both public and charter schools.
“Both should be built. Both should be built quickly,” he said. “I'm the first to say whoever should do it the fastest, should do it.”
Kahli has also proposed a K-8 charter school and both could open next school year.
The district's relief school will take another year to build because it had to pay almost $1 million for extra land to meet size requirements.
School board member Daryl Flynn said a state statute requiring charter schools to be held to the same standards as public schools is being ignored.
“It is perplexing that a charter school, which is a public school, is not being held to the same requirement as our traditional public schools,” he said.
Flynn said the district could appeal the approval of the charter school Khali has planned for a site directly across from Avalon Middle School.
But parents such as Frey aren't interested in a fight. She just wants to know how all these schools will impact her life.
“We want a meeting to discuss our concerns and to have some of those questions answered,” Frey said.
Khali hasn’t received final approval for either school yet but he is planning a town hall meeting for October.
WFTV
