ROCKLEDGE, Fla. — Brevard Public Schools is preparing to open the River Stone Day School in Rockledge, a $21 million campus built for students with complex special needs. The facility is designed to serve approximately 170 students with severe mental or cognitive deficiencies.
The new school replaces a temporary site at Gardendale Elementary on Merritt Island, where students had been learning for years. Leaders modeled the campus after Orange County’s Magnolia School to create specialized spaces for student success.
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Mark Rendell, superintendent of Brevard Public Schools, said the project was created specifically for the district’s most vulnerable students. “It’s a brand-new school we’re building for our students with special needs,” Rendell said.
“These are some of our most vulnerable learners. They have severe mental or cognitive deficiencies and we wanted to build a school designed specifically for them.
The school has specialized lighting, assistive learning devices, and a small teacher-to-student ratio. Rendell mentioned the classrooms are equipped with tools not found in traditional settings, such as different lighting and assistive devices not typically seen.
Megan Wright, Brevard County School Board vice chair, was a primary advocate for the new classrooms. She said the school is designed to address the individual requirements of each student.
“This building is outfitted to meet all needs of our special needs students,” Wright said. “Families will be blown away and say, ‘This is the school my child finally needs and deserves.’”
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