ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Several Orange County mothers spent their special day fighting for a new middle school.
The county delayed its vote on rezoning a piece of land owned by Orange County Public Schools.
Leaders originally wanted to build an elementary school, but now it might become a middle school.
The Homeowners Association president for the Timber Springs neighborhood said the site is too small for a middle school, and worries a middle school could bring traffic troubles to the area.
But families who gathered at the site Sunday morning said their children need a middle school and they want it to be close by.
“This is a community for up and coming growing families who need schools,” said Camille LaBoy.
LeBoy, along with dozens of other families, spent their Mother’s Day morning fighting for Timber Springs Middle School.
Her daughter currently attends Avalon Middle School, which has nearly twice its capacity of students.
“Students have a hard time walking through hallways, eating their lunches,” she said.
School district leaders can either build a new school to relieve the overcrowding, or rezone Avalon Middle School students to different schools.
“This rezoning is coming whether we want it or not. It’s coming and it’s long overdue,” said the HOA’s president, Glenn Rubinstein.
Rubinstein said most homeowners are against the new middle school.
“In the afternoon, parents park down the streets waiting for their middle school students to walk to their cars. Elementary parents don’t do that. The only place they can park in is the entrance,” he said.
LaBoy disagrees.
“I’m part of the HOA, I pay my HOA dues and this is my community as much as it is his, and we need this school,” she said.
Residents on both sides of the issue plan to be at the county meeting May 19 when commissioners can approve or deny the zoning change.
“Everybody had the expectation a school would be built there, but an elementary school is vastly different from a middle school,” Rubinstein said.
The homeowners association has invested $250,000 to fight the school districts plans for a middle school.