ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Orange County School District has five principals pulling double-duty this academic year.
The principals are managing two schools at once, saving the district hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The principal at Millennia Elementary School is also the principal at the new Millennia Gardens Elementary School, which are a 10-minute drive apart.
At Arbor Ridge K-8, students share the same principal as Wedgefield K-8.
The principal has to drive 30 minutes between schools.
Mollie Ray Elementary School and Pine Hills Elementary School, and Wolf Lake Elementary School and Wolf Lake Middle School. Same goes for Orange Center Elementary School and Rolling Hills Elementary School.
The system is saving the school district a half-million dollars, but some parents aren’t thrilled about the idea.
“They should be here, you know, just in case anything happens,” said parent Osvaldo Gutierrez.
Other parents said the system is effective.
“That does not concern me,” said parent Tatyana Grant. “That means that she’s so good, that want her in two schools. That means, that they can’t find another person to do her job.”
A district spokesperson said the principals are called master principals and having them pull double-duty not only saves the district money, it developed more leadership among assistant principals and teachers.
Channel 9 asked school district officials if they believe the system has a negative effect on low-graded schools that are sharing principals.
The district said in an email that, "Carmen Balgobin and Margaret Talbert-Irvin are proven leaders that have demonstrated success transforming schools with similar population,” and, “The model wasn’t created to save money, it was created in effort to and continue to build leadership capacity across the district.”
Margaret Talbert-Irvin is principal at Orange Center & Rolling Hills.