ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Opposition is growing in an Orlando neighborhood as residents push back against a proposal to open a new high school near Lake Cherokee, citing concerns over traffic, parking and safety ahead of a public meeting Monday evening.<\/p>\n
On Palmer Street, signs opposing the project have begun appearing in front yards, including handmade messages urging neighbors to attend a 6 p.m. meeting hosted by Orange County Public Schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a concern because, like, as we see right here with, like, what? This is like 10 cars or less. It\u2019s already getting slightly congested,\u201d said Jonathan Cabral, who lives across the street from the proposed school site.<\/p>\n
Cabral said the issue goes beyond inconvenience, pointing to what he believes could become a safety hazard for students.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s simply not enough space for these cars, it\u2019s not even about us, but the safety of the kids,\u201d Cabral said.<\/p>\n
Residents say traffic and limited parking are their biggest concerns if the school moves forward. District leaders have said plans could include removing an on-site playground to create additional parking.<\/p>\n
The building previously operated as a school until 2023, but has since remained vacant. Now, it is being considered for a new magnet high school focused on arts and entertainment.<\/p>\n
While early discussions referenced as many as 600 students, district officials say that number has been reduced following community feedback.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo originally, 600 students. Then they brought it down to 500 students and then, they\u2019re now going to be proposing a staggered schedule where there would be at most 250 students at the school on any given day,\u201d said School Board Member Stephanie Vanos.<\/p>\n
District officials say the proposed school would be the first magnet technical arts high school program of its kind in Orange County and argue the location is ideal due to its proximity to downtown Orlando\u2019s arts corridor and its central location within the district.<\/p>\n
Orange County Public Schools officials say the project is still in the planning stages. If approved, the district hopes to begin renovations later this year, with a target opening date of August 2028.<\/p>\n
Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n
More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Opposition is growing in an Orlando neighborhood as residents push back against a proposal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[113,109067,1335,139,141,140,16572],"class_list":["post-248806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-education","tag-lake-cherokee","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-public-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}