LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Montverde Academy's successful basketball and soccer teams have put the small Lake County on the national map.
Three years ago the school added a football team to the mix.
One parent of a Montverde student, who didn't want to be identified, told Channel 9's Deneige Broom that he is upset because he just learned that the football program is ending.
"Completely stunned," he said.
Parents received a letter from the school saying the board of trustees "voted to no longer support a football program."
School officials told Broom that they had hoped to keep that football program alive, but in the letter sent to parents, they said there wasn't the interest from the community that they need to keep the program on the field.
School officials said it doesn't make sense financially to keep it long term and that they always planned to reevaluate the program after three years.
The parent who spoke to Broom said he and some other parents sent their children to Montverde specifically for football and they were blindsided by the letter.
"We were never told it was on a three-year trial basis and we were never told what the measure of success was," he said.
School officials told Broom that they didn't directly tell parents ending the program was a possibility.
"It was a difficult decision, hard decision. Sadly, we had to end the program," said George Karos, with Montverde Academy. "One of the reasons the headmaster decided to make the decision now is so a lot of the students who aren't seniors can think about schools for the next semester."
School officials said it will help parents transition to other schools.
Some parents said they have gotten conflicting information about whether their children will be able to play spring football somewhere else.
WFTV
