ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Parents of Orange Center Elementary students, located on the west side of Orlando, have voted to convert one of the district’s public schools into a charter school.
The historic vote was not close. Of the more than 200 qualifying votes, 85% voted for the conversion.
The new school will be run by a board and entity set up by Lift Orlando, a nonprofit group that is already heavily involved in the STEM magnet school and has been credited for helping to turn the school’s fortunes around.
Under the agreement submitted to the district, the new entity, the Neighborhood Schools Initiative, would assume day-to-day responsibilities of the school and operate it like a charter school, making curriculum and personnel decisions. The school would gradually expand to serve grades K-8.
OCPS would retain ownership of the school and get two seats on the newly created school board. There would also be a community advisory committee. Should the program fail, OCPS would be able to resume operation of the school.
Lift Orlando’s leaders said the new model would allow the organization to experiment with the curriculum without the bureaucracy of one of the nation’s largest school districts, while allowing the school to collaborate with Lift Orlando’s early childhood, after school and college readiness programs.
The proposal received the backing of Orange County Public Schools last year.
If the model is adopted and works, the agreement opens the door for Lift Orlando to begin working in and potentially bring the same model to the other elementary schools in the 32805 zip code, including Catalina, Washington Shores, Rock Lake and Pineloch.
Each of those schools feeds into Jones High School. Lift Orlando said it had no interest in assuming control over the upper grades.
The contract between Lift Orlando and OCPS will be valid for 15 years.
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