The Lake County School Board moved forward this week with plans to merge two of its middle schools — a change that would add students to an almost half-empty campus and boost academic offerings, officials said.
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The plan will shift Oak Park Middle School’s students and staff to Carver Middle School by the 2027-28 school year, with renovations to expand Carver’s capacity starting as soon as this summer.
Both schools are in the Leesburg area, and they sit about three miles from each other.
The consolidation would bring about 500 students from Oak Park onto Carver’s campus, which this year enrolled 656 students on a campus built for about 1,128.
The schools will continue to operate independently for the 2026-27 school year.
To accommodate the merger, Carver will need to add five new classrooms, according to the district’s plan, which will cost about $5.4 million.
Chad Farnsworth, the district’s deputy superintendent, said at Monday’s school board meeting that the district’s conversations about the merger with school families were met with enthusiasm. The board agreed with the plan.
“I think everybody realizes the commitment that we have, making sure that those middle school students of the Leesburg area are able to have all the available opportunities that they deserve. I think it’s really going to be a great change,” he said.
Principals from both Carver and Oak Park middle schools spoke in support of the merger at Monday’s meeting, wearing shirts with both schools’ mascots that read, “We are stronger together.”
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Sherri Owens, a district spokesperson, said the merger would allow the district to offer a “greater academic impact” by combining the academic and extracurricular offerings of the two schools, which both operated under capacity during the school year that just ended and offered limited elective courses.
“Under this proposal, students would have access to expanded elective options such as culinary arts, digital design, robotics, and other courses aligned with the CTE pathways available at Leesburg High,” Owens wrote in a statement.
The district is also exploring adding Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education, or AICE, a program that offers advanced courses, at the newly merged school, Owens said.
“We stand in solidarity and unity in the belief of this project, believing that it is something that is best for students, that will provide better opportunities for our students,” said Tammy Langley, Oak Park’s principal, at Monday’s meeting.
Oak Park, which has 521 students in a school built for 618, is projected to lose about 50 students over the next five years. The merged schools would enroll about 1,136 students by 2030, according to district projections.
The Lake merger comes as school districts across Florida grapple with declining enrollment that has prompted school closures. In Orange County, the school district closed seven schools operating at about half-capacity this year and could close more campuses next year. And in Brevard County, the school board chose to shutter Cape View Elementary in Cape Canaveral in May.
The Oak Park campus will be used in part by Leesburg Elementary School, which sits next door, when it undergoes planned renovations set for completion by August 2029.
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