Article by Chuck Seaver, South Lake Tablet
The Lincoln Park South Lake Alliance (LPSLA) hosted a Town Hall meeting at the Clermont Elementary School on November 2, to provide a vision and plans from Lake County Schools, Lake Technical College, and Lake-Sumter State College concerning future use of the historical school located at 680 East Highland Avenue in Clermont.
Each education institution has collaborated with each other and the LPSLA since 2019 to develop this unique approach to high school education and post-secondary education. This unique learning center model is already trending in neighboring school districts such as Orange County. “Although there is a high success rate in other similar high school flex programs, our willingness to collaborate to bring post-secondary education to the same campus will elevate our program even further,” stated Diane Kornegay, Lake County Schools’ Superintendent.
The programs that are slated to begin in 2023 are Lake County School’s high school flex campus that will allow students two options for their school schedule. The options will be an early morning schedule or late afternoon schedule. This will allow students to complete their core education requirements while allowing them time to actively pursue a career or other passions. Additionally, these students will have direct access to career and post-secondary courses on the same campus. Other courses that will be offered immediately at opening are Lake Technical College’s GED prep courses, Adult English for speakers of other languages, computer literacy, Introduction to Construction, and Introduction to Culinary.
The highly anticipated Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) course has unfortunately been cut from the plans for now. Concerns of noise, increased traffic, including tractor-trailer traffic and ample space were some of the mitigating factors that led to the decision of not pursuing those plans at this time.
The hiring of a building architect and structure renovations are the next big steps in completing the repurposed campus renovations in entirety by the fall season of 2024.
“We are pleased about the proposed programs that will be coming to South Lake. Although it is not the full vision that the LPSLA originally had for the campus, it is a great start and we are thankful for the collaboration of our education leaders and their resolve to create a unique learning environment for the success of our local students,” says Sharon Keys, Director of Lincoln Park South Lake Alliance.
