Area Schools
High-Tech Orange County Public Schools
By Mary Luster

Families relocating to Florida real estate in Orange County are understandably very interested in the caliber of our public schools.  We are proud to tell you that Florida’s Orange County Public Schools are being transformed through the implementation of successful and ongoing technological innovations.

When you look at Orlando real estate and Orlando Florida homes for sale in Ocoee, Windermere, Gotha, Winter Garden, Isle Worth, Bay Hill, Keenes Pointe, Lake Butler Sound, Cypress Point, Turtle Creek, and Vizcaya, your children can reap the reward of attending high performing public schools

Choose any one of our excellent Orlando FL neighborhoods—one within your budget, accessible to your employment, health care and shopping needs—and send your child to school on safer buses to schools where the principals walk the halls and classrooms daily and your child’s grades and daily lessons are posted online for you to share in the learning experience.

Principals are measuring high-yield strategies and learner engagement.  Assistant principals are monitoring student tracking systems, administering Edusoft assessments to pinpoint knowledge gaps and help any struggling student.  Teachers are not only outfitted with Palm computers and multimedia equipment such as MacIntosh laptop carts, digital projectors, and digital cameras, but they are thoroughly trained, tested, and comfortable using the innovative programs in the learning community.

Change management is one of several keys to the school district’s success.  All levels of leadership and teaching staff are working together for positive impact.  And, in our diversely populated area with people hailing from over a hundred countries, it is paying off.  The district also features an extraordinary Exceptional Student Education (ESE) program.  The atmosphere of each learning community is enthusiastic and also on guard, strongly emphasizing drug and violence prevention and monitoring the Internet usage through an outside company.

State-of-the-art GPS monitoring systems installed in the buses are paying for themselves.  The district not only saves 10 percent a year on fuel, but the GPS system pinpoints the exact location of each bus, alerting parents when the bus is in the area and offering a new level of safety for students and bus drivers.

With an enrollment of over 175,000 students, the OCPS schools are divided into six areas called Learning Communities.  Our district is the Southwest Learning Community.  The following schools serve our immediate neighborhoods: 

Elementary Schools (preK-5):  Windermere, Bay Meadows, Palm Lake, Dr. Phillips, Sand Lake, Windy Ridge, Thornebrooke, Lake Whitney, Whispering Oaks.

Middle Schools (6-8):  Chain of Lakes, Gotha, Lakeview, Southwest, Bridgewater.

High Schools (9-12):  Olympia High School, West Orange High School, Dr. Phillips High School.