Hundreds of Orange County parents packed into school cafeterias in the past two weeks to vent their frustrations about plans to close seven public schools, complaining the decisions were made without their input and sharing fears that switching schools will hurt their children’s education.
“It’s a community, it’s a family. They’re comfortable here now. They’ve got to figure out the new teachers, the new principal, the new environment,” said Samantha Martinez, a parent of a Bonneville Elementary School student, during a meeting on that east Orange campus. “At least here, my kid already knew everybody.”
Orange County Public Schools plans to close Bonneville, five other elementary schools and a middle school at the end of this academic year because of declining enrollment. The closures will impact about 3,200 students, who will be assigned to new schools when the next school year starts in August.
The Orange School Board will meet on Tuesday to discuss findings from the community meetings and family online surveys.
At the meetings, held Jan. 14 through Jan 22, parents said they were upset how OCPS communicated the school closings to parents, worried about bus service to new schools and concerned whether familiar teachers would follow their pupils to the new schools, among other issues.
The seven schools were picked because of their low enrollment, projections that show they’ll lose more students in the next 10 years, and their proximity to other schools that have room for more students. During the meetings, district officials shared enrollment data and answered questions.
“This is a difficult meeting. I know everybody that’s sitting here wishes that they weren’t sitting in here for this,” said Board Member Angie Gallo at the Bonneville meeting on Jan. 15.
Gary Rice speaks during a meeting to discuss school closures at McCoy Elementary School in Orlando on Thursday, January 22, 2026. Orange County Public Schools may close the school as part of a consolidation effort. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Gary Rice, whose two grandchildren attend McCoy Elementary School, said he felt that Thursday’s meeting at that school was just another box to check off for the district.
“The sooner that they can get us out of the room, they can move away to the next step for the decision they’ve already made,” said Rice, whose grandchildren are in second and fourth grade.
His family learned McCoy was on the closure list in November and thinks plans are moving too fast.
“We are closing a school that has history, that has value in this community as well,” he said. “I don’t think the community was invited in that piece of the puzzle.”
Maria Salamanca, the school board member who represents McCoy, said the decision to close the school was “based on the numbers.” McCoy has capacity for 834 students but now enrolls 462 children.
Salamanca attended McCoy as a child in the 1990s. “I don’t like being here. You think I ran for school board to close my own elementary school?” she said.
Orange County School Board member Maria Salamanca speaks during a meeting to discuss school closures at McCoy Elementary School in Orlando on Thursday, January 22, 2026. Orange County Public Schools may close the school as part of a consolidation effort. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
But she said enrollment drops leave OCPS and other Florida school districts few options as they need to save money. Public schools in Florida are funded on a per-student basis, and schools that operate at about half capacity or less typically do not generate enough money to be self-supporting, instead draining the district’s budget.
Other districts hit with enrollment declines are making the same decision. The Broward County School Board, for example, voted Thursday to close six schools, and Pinellas County’s superintendent recently recommended closing two schools.
OCPS plans to close McCoy, Bonneville, Chickasaw, Eccleston, Meadow Woods, and Orlo Vista elementary schools, as well as Union Park Middle School. Each school enrolls only about half the students it has room for, as of Jan. 15 enrollment counts.
OCPS lost almost 5,600 students this year, which it pins largely on the increased use of state-funded vouchers for private and homeschool education, as well as declining birth rates and the nation’s immigration crackdown. The district estimates its count of Venezuelan students fell about 1,200 this year.
Karen Torres, who has two children at McCoy, said she expects her son, who is in the second grade, will struggle with the loss of familiar faces.
Even starting a new grade has been tough for him, she said, and he would often cry in the car line before school drop off.
“Nobody but a mom knows how devastating it is to see their kids cry and not feel happy to be where he should feel safe,” she said.
Torres said the school board should consider other options. During the meeting, she proposed renting out the school’s sports facilities to create extra revenue. But district officials said that idea wasn’t feasible.
Karen Torres speaks following a meeting to discuss school closures at McCoy Elementary School in Orlando on Thursday, January 22, 2026. Orange County Public Schools may close the school as part of a consolidation effort. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Angelica Rujano’s daughter, a fourth grader at McCoy, asked her mom to stop the school from closing. Rujano said she’ll now have to tell her daughter that she failed.
But she doesn’t know how to explain why.
“Explaining the budget, explaining that there’s not enough money…They’re not going to understand it because they love their school,” she said in Spanish.
Neily Diaz, who has a second grader at Bonneville, said she left the meeting with more questions than answers, specifically about the future of the campus that sits in her neighborhood.
OCPS officials have said alternative schools, administrative departments and outside community partners could move into some of the shuttered campuses but have not yet said what they might do with Bonneville. The school has about 380 students on a campus meant for 940.
“What are you doing with all that? That’s money being wasted if you’re not gonna use it. So just tell me. I’m not gonna be mad. Just freaking tell me,” Diaz said.