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The School Board discussed a land sale for townhomes and the names of two schools slated to open in August at its last meeting.
At Tuesday night’s Osceola County School Board meeting, members discussed the potential sale of 25 acres of land near Lakeview Elementary School.
The District has received two letters of intent for the property: one from Starlight Homes to purchase the 25 acres for the purpose of building 165 single-family and townhome units, and one from Diamond Homes to purchase 15 acres with the intent to build 100-136 townhomes.
Board member Julius Melendez said this was a project that was previously denied by the City of St. Cloud. He said that one of the issues they had was a lack of “stacking,” causing traffic issues before and after school. Pointing out that only one of the proposals shows stacking, Melendez said, “I’m really not in favor of not being able to alleviate the traffic concerns that the school may have.”
Board member Jon Arguello stated that in workshops about this, it was mentioned that they would go to the community to see what the community wants done with this excess District land.
“We need to have a forum, talk to the community, find out what is an acceptable project, what they would like in their back yards,” Arguello said, noting the community has been clear it they do not want this.
Regarding the traffic concerns, Jill Rose, real estate broker for the School District, explained that Starlight Homes would create a new road connecting Columbia Avenue to Robinson Street to alleviate traffic, while Diamond Homes’ proposal is for only 15 of the available 25 acres, which would allow the School Board to retain the remaining 10 acres for stacking and queueing.
Board member Heather Kahoun pointed out that in November, the Board ask that all District surplus property be placed on hold until an upcoming March workshop. Ultimately, this topic was tabled until after that March workshop is held.
In other business, when discussing the vote to approve new school names Knightsbridge K-8 (for the new school being built on south Poinciana Boulevard) and Weslyn Park K-8 (in Sunbridge), what began as a discussion about the schools’ names evolved into an intense look at the rights, rules, and responsibilities of the School Board.
Arguello said he would rather see schools be named after American heroes rather than named after developments. Melendez then pointed out that School Board Rule 8.54 says that the School Board will name the schools. Additionally, the policy says that schools shall not be named after individual subdivisions.
Superintendent Dr. Mark Shanoff said that the communities had been polled, and that the two names presented to the Board for their consideration had the overwhelming majority of votes from the new schools’ communities.
Melendez argued that the process had happened in reverse. Citing the School Board rule, he said, “‘Prior to recommending a name for a school, the members of the School Board should be consulted for their recommendations. The School Board shall ask a committee representing the community to be served by the school to suggest names for consideration.
“In this instance, the Superintendent … stepped into the bounds of the authority of the School Board. So with that, I’m going to stick with the technical rules. I may come to the same exact conclusion, but I want it done the right way. I cannot make an exception to the policy, especially when it is so clear.”
After a lengthy discussion, the Board decided to hold a workshop on March 26 regarding the names.
The seat of Erika Booth, the former district 5 Board member who left that seat to run in the special State House of Representatives election last month, remains empty. School District officials still have no word on an appointed replacement from the Governor’s office ahead of an election later this month to fill it — five candidates have thus far filed to run.
