See four sites being considered by Polk County for new schools to alleviate overcrowding

Public officials discussed the locations of new schools being considered in Polk County to address astronomical growth in families with students, especially in the fastest-growing northeast areas.

A school site selection committee met in Bartow on Wednesday to consider four new school locations, which included one in Auburndale, two in Haines City and a site in the unincorporated Poinciana area of Polk County.

Nothing new was revealed about the proposals for a new high school to relieve overcrowding at Haines City High School.

The meeting, which was not advertised in The Ledger but was posted to the Polk County Public Schools website, lasted about 50 minutes, and no time was allotted for the public to comment.

An interlocal agreement triggered the convening of a site selection committee, which is tasked with ranking the available properties where the district has anticipated the need for classrooms.

The committee also must consider school concurrency as it is described in Florida statute: “The county and municipalities located within the geographic area of a school district shall enter into an interlocal agreement with the district school board which jointly establishes the specific ways in which the plans and processes of the district school board and the local governments are to be coordinated."

At a minimum, the interlocal agreement must have a process for local governments and the district school board to plan based on projections of student enrollments, the statute says.

Joshua McLemore, facility director for Polk Schools, facilitated the meeting and explained the process the committee follows. He also gave a short discussion about the public-private partnership process for a northeast area high school without giving out the locations under consideration.

McLemore said the committee’s deliberations would allow for “cross coordination efforts ... between various agencies” to locate the best sites for schools. And the committee’s efforts would ensure infrastructure or “capital improvement plans” are mutually supportive for city and county agencies at the table.

He then reviewed three of the sites that have already been purchased by the school district and one other site the district wants to purchase for new schools. The committee voted unanimously in separate votes on each site to continue exploring the feasibility of the following locations:

Auburndale middle school site

One of the properties is 41.94 acres at Berkley Road and Denton Avenue. It's considered for a new middle school. Property records show the district purchased the parcel for $4.7 million in 2020 at just over twice the price the previous owner, Berkley of Auburndale LLC, paid in 2007.

Haines City middle school site

A 37.41-acre site at Massee and FDC Grove roads in Haines City is under consideration for a new middle school. This site was sold to the district for $2.687 million in 2019 from Al and Steven Cassidy of Northeast Polk Land Holdings LLC, which had bought the land comprised of seven parcels in 2018 for $628,900. The Cassidys also received impact fee rebates for extending FDC Grove Road between Park Place Boulevard and Massee Road, the county said at the meeting.

Haines City elementary school site

For a new elementary school in Haines City, the district is considering 19.9 acres at FDC Grove and Holly Hill Tank roads. This site was sold to the district for $1.547 million from Cassidy Holdings Group Inc., which bought the land for $23,000 in 2017.

New school or maintenance facility east of Haines City

The district is considering a 92.79-acre property on the north side of Lake Marion Creek Road in unincorporated Polk County, about 1.79 miles west of Haines City, for a possible future school or maintenance/bus parking facility.

Latest on high school

Only one of two potential locations for that project have been disclosed publicly at a School Board meeting for a potential public-private partnership high school project.

The site proposed by Building Tomorrow’s Schools is at Lake Hatchineha Road and Fire Tower Road near Marigold Avenue on land owned by the Bowen family. Official records show the Bowen property has been part of a probate process.

A Ledger reporter has asked for the location of a second P3 proposal from Fortress Secured LLC of Orlando, but the district would not disclose the location, citing Florida statute that prohibits the disclosure during negotiations.

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In 2021, Angela Usher, former Polk schools assistant superintendent for facilities, proposed a site for a new high school for the fast-growing area of Poinciana referred to as the Bayberry site. It is unclear if the district is interested in the land. Neither the Bowen nor Bayberry sites were discussed at the site selection meeting.

Superintendent Frederick Heid told the School Board in June his team would be presenting a recommendation to the board for one of the two P3 proposals within 30 to 120 days.

More than three years since Usher recommended the Bayberry site, the School Board and administration have yet to enter into final contracts for land or the construction of a high school − while Haines City High School remains full and now has 36 portable classrooms to accommodate its fast-growing enrollment.

Although the overcrowding is less at Ridge Community and Davenport high schools, those are also near or at capacity.

The lengthy process to build a high school has had financial implications. In April 2023, the School Board agreed to spend $3.6 million to install additional portables on the Haines City campus. There are also lease payments in subsequent years at $800,000 per year.

Shortlisted school sites

The first three sites under consideration on Wednesday for the shortlist were purchased by the school district in 2019 but are only now being assessed by a site selection committee.

In the 2014 interlocal agreement between Polk County, the school district and 16 cities, annual school summits were agreed to, and site selection committees were to be convened before land was purchased.

The committee is charged with making sure schools are compatible with their surroundings as well as having adequate water, sewer and other infrastructure to operate. Proximity to infrastructure also reduces urban sprawl.

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Yet several properties have been purchased by the district since the last committee was convened in 2015 for the Citrus Ridge Academy. For example, Bella Cita was built without the scrutiny of a site selection committee.

On Wednesday, McLemore outlined an eight-step process the district now intends to follow for each school planned at the four properties and identified on the district’s current five-year plan for school building and renovations.

Some of the assessments done for each site will include checking for the safety of the site. One such check is the proximity to airport runways. Another assessment would be whether the school site provides a focal point for the community.

The various cities then assist in the ranking of the sites. At the meeting, representatives for Haines City and Auburndale attended, as did Polk County and district staff and administrators.

Donated land?

McLemore also talked briefly about donated land, which typically is done by developers to help real estate agents sell homes in subdivisions by pointing out a planned neighborhood school to potential home buyers.

"Donated sites are not required to go through the school site selection process,” McLemore’s presentation said, citing the interlocal agreement. “Negotiated and planned school sites that are apart of master planned developments are subject to the school site selection process.”

Further, the land developer usually gains impact fee credits and rebates in exchange for the land or other improvements such as road extensions.

If the School Board decides to proceed with one of the two P3 proposals for a Poinciana area high school, that would trigger another meeting of the site selection committee.

Heid attended but did not sit at the table with the rest of the participants. He did have a side bar meeting in the hallway with McLemore and Henry Fix, the district’s assistant superintendent of facilities and operations.

The remaining officials from cities that also signed the interlocal agreement did not attend the session, including cities with growing numbers of subdivisions in the works – Lake Hamilton, Dundee, Davenport, Winter Haven and Lake Wales, among others.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Four sites are being considered for new schools in Polk. see them here