Fern Creek Elementary

At a meeting tonight School Board Member Nancy Robbinson will discuss with parents and community members the plan to build a kindergarten through eighth grade school in the Audubon Park area.

The new school would be on the site of the old Audubon Park elementary school at 1500 Falcon Drive [GMap]. The site is currently housing Lake Sliver elementary students while their school is under construction.

The new Audubon Park area K8 school would provide relief for both the current Audubon Park Elementary and Glenridge Middle School.

Robbinson told Bungalower that because Fern Creek’s student enrollment is extremely low and a planned downtown K8 school, set to open in 2017, would leave enrollment even lower, the plan is to merge Fern Creek with the new K8 Audubon Park area school.

“It makes the most economical sense to merge the two schools with the small amount of Fern Creek students and the overflow from Audubon Park in Baldwin Park and Glenridge Middle,” she said.

From a timing perspective, Robbinson said the Audubon Park area K8 has funding scheduled to open in Fall of 2019 but added that if voters extend the half cent sales tax this fall the opening could be moved up to as early as fall 2017.

Tonight’s meeting is at Audubon Park Elementary in Baldwin Park at 6:30 p.m. The goal of the meeting says Robbinson is to “discuss what a K8 looks like and what the benefits of that type of school are and not to discuss the merger.”

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  1. As a homeowner near the school, I must add into the comment section an overall concern of what could come in it’s place. We value this school for being a good neighbor…and a welcome dog park option for our community. Can’t help but have concern for that too.

  2. At one time I had heard that a separate Baldwin Elementary would open as well. Either way I’m all for it. The sooner the better.

  3. Thank you for the article!
    Exactly what Beth said. I 100% agree that something needs to be done regarding the overcrowding at Audubon. It’s gotten out of control. Regarding property values… communities that filter into “A” rated schools tend to be in higher demand and certainly affect the resale values. Last year, Ferncreek had a “C” grade. Edgewater HS has had its fair share of problems, but has increased from a “D” to a “B” since 2009. The other high school option, if high school rezoning is to occur, would be Colonial which is consistently a “C”. Additionally, Glenridge Middle is an IB World School. No other middle schools in the immediate area offer that and I doubt the new K8 would. It is NOT a magnet program, so that isn’t an option either.
    And let’s face it – There is a direct correlation between parental involvement and “A” rated schools. There are several reasons that the above mentioned schools have performed poorly in the past, but parental involvement should certainly be taken into consideration.
    I will wait to see what comes to fruition before this upsets me. Maybe we won’t be affected, but I doubt it.

  4. Why is K-8 in demand? Seems odd to have K students and grade 8 students together. Also, Glenridge and Winter Park are too very good schools so a lot of people bought homes in Audubon so their kids could attend the schools. Hopefully the new school will be good, too, but being rezoned to Edgewater is not ideal.

  5. here’s an article from the planning stages last year: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-04-18/features/os-orange-k8-schools-magnets-20130418_1_orange-county-school-board-parramore-wedgefield
    Interesting to note that Parramore parents apparently wanted this. “”We’re going to try to get these children home, into one community, like we all want to be,” said Board Member Kat Gordon, who represents the Parramore area.” Hopefully the city funds the new K-8 there well enough for it to make a difference in those kids’ lives.
    why do you think your property value will decrease? K-8 is in demand.

  6. Overall, I think this is great since Audubon Elementary is so overcrowded. Personally though, this does not make me happy. I purchased my home in Audubon Park 11 years ago because my children would be zoned for Glenridge and Winter Park HS. With the new plan, we will be rezoned, my property value will decrease, my son will not attend Glenridge and there is the possibly of being rezoned to Edgewater HS.