{"id":84951,"date":"2025-12-16T07:20:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T07:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/84951\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T07:20:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T07:20:15","slug":"parent-reacts-to-potential-school-closures-in-orange-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/84951\/","title":{"rendered":"Parent reacts to potential school closures in Orange County"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Orange County Public Schools is considering closing seven school campuses<\/a>\u00a0because of low enrollment numbers.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

Leaders at Orange County Public Schools are considering closing seven school campuses because of low enrollment numbers
\n
According to the district, some factors contributing to the dip in enrollment are low birth rates, families opting for private school using the state\u2019s voucher program and enforcement of immigration policies
\n
This school year, OCPS has 5,539 fewer students \u2014 a 2.9% decrease. Over the past three years, enrollment has declined by more than 8,300 students
\n
OCPS will have a work session on Tuesday beginning at 1 p.m. at the OCPS building in downtown Orlando to discuss the schools that are being considered for consolidation<\/p>\n

The Orange County School Board will meet Tuesday to discuss the issue<\/a>\u00a0as concerns are rising among parents of the schools on the short list.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to lose not only the school, but also a sense of belonging, of community, and when I think about that, my heart aches,\u201d Angelica Rujano said in Spanish.<\/p>\n

Rujano is the mom of two students who attend McCoy Elementary School \u2014 one of the seven schools on the list.<\/p>\n

The seven schools that are being considered for consolidation include:<\/p>\n

Union Park Middle School
\nBonneville Elementary School
\nChickasaw Elementary School
\nOrlo Vista Elementary School
\nEccleston Elementary School
\nMeadow Woods Elementary School
\nMcCoy Elementary School<\/p>\n

Rujano said they first found out about the possible closure from a notification they received on ParentSquare, the app the district uses for all communications.<\/p>\n

The message came from the school superintendent, saying they were hosting a meeting with parents to talk about enrollment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the president of the school\u2019s PTA, and when I found out that McCoy was on a list to be closed, we were left in limbo because we didn\u2019t understand what was happening,\u201d Rujano said in Spanish. \u201cWe thought they were just rumors, but we did everything we could to fill our cafeteria on the day of the meeting, and we were the school with the highest participation.\u201d<\/p>\n

This school year, OCPS has 5,539 fewer students \u2014 a 2.9% decrease, according to district officials. Over the past three years, enrollment has declined by more than 8,300 students, they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the enrollment in a school gets smaller and smaller, the funding \u2014 which means the resources, the support and the opportunities \u2014 also decrease,\u201d\u00a0said Stephanie Vanos, school board member for District 6. \u201cAnd so in order to ensure that all of our students have access to those opportunities, resources and funding, we need to, you know, consolidate schools so that our students aren\u2019t harmed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The district estimates a loss of $41 million this year, which affects staffing, programs and the ability to maintain facilities.<\/p>\n

Rujano said at a recent meeting parents were presented with numbers showing enrollment at McCoy had declined over the years; however, it had stabilized.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question we parents were asking is, why now? We\u2019ve basically had the same students for eight or 10 years, and we\u2019ve been able to do it and provide a quality education,\u201d Rujano said in Spanish.<\/p>\n

According to the district, several factors contribute to lower enrollment numbers, including demographic changes, lower birth rates, expansion of school vouchers and federal immigration policy changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally know of many cases of children who left school, even the country, due to immigration issues, so there was a percentage of children who left for that reason,\u201d\u00a0Rujano said in Spanish. \u201cI also know of many cases of children who are homeschooled, which also affects the situation, since those are children who are not attending school in person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanos said OCPS is exploring options, such as school consolidation, guided by criteria that prioritize student needs, minimize disruption and ensure transparency. District officials said the goal is to work collaboratively with families and school communities to make thoughtful and strategic decisions that strengthen educational opportunities for all students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to protect the children that are in our public schools. And we do that by consolidating. So even though I know it\u2019s hard, I do feel like it will be in the best interests of our children in the end,\u201d Vanos said.<\/p>\n

Rujano worries that if the school closes, the families would lose the community they\u2019ve created.<\/p>\n

Ten days ago, she started a petition called \u201cStop the closure of Michael McCoy Elementary School.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0So far, 1,550 parents at the school have signed the petition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not just a number on a graph,” Rujano said in Spanish. “We are not talking about a business where you have to look at what you receive and what you are losing; we are talking about community, and we deserve not only to be heard but also to be respected, so that the voice of the parents and the community is included in the decision they are going to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanos encouraged parents from all seven affected schools to join this week\u2019s work session.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a parent. I understand you being concerned. I think the best thing you can do is to attend the meetings, attend the work session. Even if you don\u2019t speak, just come to get information, because I think the more information you have \u2026 it will make you feel better and just more secure knowing what to expect,\u201d Vanos said.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the school board will have a work session beginning at 1 p.m. at the OCPS building in downtown Orlando to discuss the schools that are being considered for consolidation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Orange County Public Schools is considering closing seven school campuses\u00a0because of low enrollment numbers. What You…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4996,9995,113,766,115,772,1335,139,141,140,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-84951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-education","9":"tag-app-latest-education-stories","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-massiel-leyva","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-on-air-ticker-article","14":"tag-orange-county","15":"tag-orlando","16":"tag-orlando-headlines","17":"tag-orlando-news","18":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84951","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=84951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}