110 W. New York Ave., DeLand, FL
386-734-4622
BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Watching the action — Officials from Lake Helen and DeLand watch the action Nov. 10 as the Volusia County School Board debates where to draw the attendance boundaries for a new high school in Orange City.
IMAGES COURTESY VOLUSIA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
Maps and math — If Scenario 3 is adopted by the Volusia County School Board in a final vote scheduled Dec. 8, only one West Volusia high school will remain over capacity, according to the chart above. The maps at left show where lines would be drawn to fill the new Orange City high school, now called DDD, which is scheduled to open in August 2010. The map below shows where West Volusia’s high-schoolers live.
IMAGES COURTESY VOLUSIA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
IMAGES COURTESY VOLUSIA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
IMAGES COURTESY VOLUSIA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
IMAGES COURTESY VOLUSIA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
IMAGES COURTESY VOLUSIA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
IMAGES COURTESY VOLUSIA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
By Pat Hatfield
posted Nov 12, 2009 - 10:08:37am
The Nov. 10 School Board meeting proved the old saw “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
In the end, the Volusia County School Board voted to approve the third and final version of the high-school redistricting plan that will affect students who attend DeLand High School, Deltona High School, Pine Ridge High School and the new high school in Orange City.
It will let students who live in DeLand’s Victoria Park and those who live in Lake Helen continue at DeLand High School.
Deltona students will feel the shift. Some will move from Pine Ridge High in Deltona to Deltona High; others will move from Deltona High to Orange City, to alleviate crowding in the Deltona schools.
As they prepared Nov. 10 to decide on new high-school boundary lines to fill seats in the new high school in Orange City, Volusia County School Board members heard pleas from officials of three cities affected by the redistricting: Deltona, DeLand and Lake Helen.
High School DDD in Orange City, designed to accommodate 2,804 students, is set to open in August. Which students will be pulled from which schools to attend the new school has been the subject of controversy.
The initial plan split the Victoria Park subdivision in DeLand, sending students who lived on the north side of Orange Camp Road to DeLand High School, and students who live on the south side of the road to the new school. Victoria Park residents wanted all their students to continue to attend DeLand High School.
So did Lake Helen residents. Lake Helen’s approximately 100 students would continue to attend DeLand High School under the first scenario. Under the second scenario, those students would have attended Deltona High School.
The third scenario, the one approved by the School Board Nov. 10, was drawn up in response to opposition to the first two scenarios.
The third scenario shifts students who live on the west side of Deltona, who are now zoned for Deltona High School, to the Orange City high school.
Some students who now attend Pine Ridge High School, on the east end of Howland Boulevard, would move to Deltona High School.
There would be shifts among the city of Deltona’s high-school population in any scenario.
School Board Chairwoman Diane Smith said there are just too many students in the populous city — about 4,000 — to keep them all within Deltona’s two high schools.
Both of Deltona’s high schools are currently overcrowded.
School Board Director of Site Acquisition and Intergovernmental Coordination Saralee Morrissey said in response to suggestions, school officials looked at making Interstate 4 the Deltona boundary. It wouldn’t work. There are 3,500 permanent seats in Deltona’s two high schools, and 4,400 students live east of I-4.
Before the vote, the School Board heard comments.
Lake Helen Mayor Buddy Snowden and DeLand City Commissioner Leigh Matusick pleaded for their students to continue attending DeLand High. Matusick said, “I know there’s going to have to be concessions.”
Deltona City Commissioner Herb Zischkau said passions were running high in his city over the redistricting.
He suggested, “This meeting should have occurred during the design phase years ago,” he said. Perhaps two schools should have been built, instead of one large school, Zischkau said.
Deltona Commissioners Michele McFall-Conte, Michael Carmolingo and Janet Deyette also spoke to the School Board, advocating keeping Deltona students in Deltona.
Deltonan Nancy Schleicher noted a third of Deltona high-school students would be attending the new school.
Deltona Mayor Dennis Mulder asked the School Board to be fair and equitable to the students, rather than to the cities.
It’s not about city limits, School Board Member Candace Lankford said. It’s about the best education and the best use of resources.
Morrissey said two-mile walk zones around the schools were important. “We tried to keep the immediate areas” around the high schools intact, she said.
This year’s juniors will remain at and graduate from the high schools they are now attending. There will be no senior class at the new Orange City high school during its first year.
Also, students attending special academies and International Baccalaureate programs will remain at their current schools.
Morrissey asked permission to advertise the new high-school attendance areas. A public hearing and final board action were scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 8.
The School Board voted 4-1 to go with the third scenario.
School Board Member Stan Schmidt cast the dissenting vote, saying he believes more capacity will be needed for DeLand High School than the third scenario provides.
Estimated enrollments under the approved plan are:
• DeLand High — 2,688, or 96 percent of capacity
• Deltona High — 1,803, or 98 percent of capacity
• Pine Ridge High — 1,774, or 102 percent of capacity (the same under all three plans)
• High School DDD — 2,167, or 85 percent of capacity.
Dennis Neal, currently principal at Heritage Middle School in Deltona, was named principal of the new high school, DDD. The school will be formally named later.
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.
My son is a senior this year but when the original plans for this school were made public it was set to open August 2009, this year. I was ready to apply for a variance so my child could stay at Deltona. He has a 3.4 grade point average, participates in sport and other extra activities, and has been excepted at three of Florida's public universities.
Parents need to stay involved with their childs high school career and they will be successful - don't plan the schools - take care of your child.
Wouldn't it be cheaper to bus Orange City students to Deltona instead of the other way around ?
Diesel fuel is expensive. More buses equals more money.
What pandering on your part. Obviously the first post was from one of them.
The citizens of Deltona will remember the whining from Lake Helen for years to come.
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!
Photos - Real Estate - Newcomer's Guide - Beacon Magazines - Advertise - Local Web Sites - About Us - Beacon Archives