Who will attend new Orange City high school?

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Going over the numbers – At a public meeting at DeLand High School May 13, DeLand City Commissioner Leigh Matusick, left, and Saralee Morrissey, site-acquisition director for Volusia Schools, go over possible boundaries for DeLand and Orange City high schools. The meeting was held in the spacious DHS cafeteria, but a handful of city officials and school officials, and one member of the news media, were the only people who attended.

IMAGE COURTESY VOLUSIA SCHOOLS
Proposed boundaries — This map shows the proposed shift in attendance boundaries for West Volusia high schools, when High School DDD in Orange City opens in the fall of 2010. The dividing line between DeLand and Orange City, for high-school attendance, would be Orange Camp Road, which would split the Victoria Park community.

IMAGE COURTESY VOLUSIA SCHOOLS
Current boundaries — This map depicts current attendance boundaries for high schools in West Volusia. Restructuring the boundaries to assign students to the new high school opening in Orange City will affect students now zoned for DeLand, Deltona and Pine Ridge high schools.

Proposed boundary splits DeLand

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted May 18, 2009 - 1:40:28pm

The new high school in Orange City will not open until the fall of 2010, but now is the time to begin to figure out who will attend there.

School-district officials hope the new Orange City school will provide relief to DeLand High School, which is currently over capacity with 3,160 students.

Setting attendance boundaries for the new school and shifting the student population will affect students now zoned for DeLand, Deltona and Pine Ridge high schools.

In meetings this month, Saralee Morrissey, site-acquisition and intergovernmental-coordination director for Volusia County Schools, has been unveiling possible new attendance boundaries.

The first meeting was at Pine Ridge High School on May 13. The second was at DeLand High School on May 14, and a third meeting is set for 6 p.m. Monday, May 18, at Deltona High School.

The meeting at DeLand High School Wednesday was sparsely attended. The new attendance boundary for DeLand High was the main topic of conversation.

According to the plan, Morrissey explained, students on the southern end of DeLand and all those in Orange City will attend the new school in Orange City, which has the working name of High School DDD.

The proposed dividing line runs along McGregor Road and Orange Camp Road, crossing the south end of U.S. Highway 17-92 in DeLand.

Currently, DeLand High School’s attendance area includes much of Orange City.

The proposed boundary would split the Victoria Park community, just as Orange Camp Road splits it. Victoria Park residents who live on the north side of Orange Camp would be zoned for DeLand High School; students on the south side of the road would go to Orange City.

Lake Helen students would remain at DeLand High School.

This year’s sophomores, who will be seniors in the 2010-11 school year, will have the option of staying at DeLand High School, instead of transferring to the new school for their senior year, even if they are zoned for High School DDD.

DeLand City Commissioner Leigh Matusick attended the meeting, along with DeLand Planning Director Mike Holmes.

Holmes said the city hopes to keep DeLand in DeLand, including in terms of school boundaries.

Matusick said that’s part of DeLand’s strategic vision.

“DeLand has a sense of community,” Matusick said. She hopes to preserve it by assuring all DeLand residents are zoned for the same high school.

Matusick reminded Morrissey of the DeLand High School Homecoming Parade and numerous events connected to it, that are important to the DeLand community.

Matusick suggested perhaps the boundary line could be shifted to Interstate 4 and State Road 472.

Morrissey said that can be looked at. There will be more community meetings in the fall, and two School Board hearings, at which the public can speak, before the boundary lines are set in stone.

DeLand High School is an “attractor” school, Morrissey said, because of parents who want to continue the tradition of one school in DeLand, and because of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program and other programs at the school.

The Orange City high school will develop its own personality, and its own programs, Morrissey said.

The Orange City Council already passed a resolution, asking that the new school be named “Orange City High School.”

The school’s name will be determined with the input of students who will attend it, and their families, Morrissey said.

At a cost of around $96 million, High School DDD in Orange City will be one of the largest and the most expensive ever built in Volusia County.

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

Reader Comments

The comments posted below are posted by readers, not by The Beacon staff. These comments express the views and opinions of the authors, and not the administrators, moderators or webmaster. The comments forum is governed by these rules. Please use the report abuse link if you find offensive comments.

Comment on this article

Commenting is closed for this article.

If you would like to contribute a letter to the editor, please click here.

Did you find this story interesting or informative? Subscribe to The DeLand-Deltona Beacon to read more stories by Pat Hatfield, along with others from our award-winning writers. Subscribe now!