Orange County staff recommend small rezoning to move students from Chain of Lakes to Carver Middle; board signals informal support for expanded option

Orange County Public Schools staff presented two targeted rezoning options on Oct. 21 that would move students from Chain of Lakes Middle School into Carver Middle School to shorten travel distances and better align feeder patterns.

Stacy Neill, senior administrator for student enrollment, said Option 1 would rezone nine middle‑school students from Chain of Lakes to Carver, cutting average travel distance from about six miles to roughly 0.3 miles. Option 2 would expand the target area to include 23 additional OCPS students, for a total of about 32 students moved, and align the Eccleston Elementary feeder pattern with Carver Middle School. Neill said both options maintain transportation where needed.

Nut graf: The board and staff framed the proposals as targeted, geographically small changes intended to reduce student travel time and better match where children live with the closest schools. The district is treating the proposals as a first step in a months‑long rezoning process that includes community meetings, a formal public hearing and a final board rule development step.

District staff reviewed capacity and demographic data. Neill reported FISH (Florida Inventory of School Houses) capacities of 1,240 for Carver Middle and 1,141 for Chain of Lakes, and cited October 2024 and October 2025 enrollment snapshots used to model potential impacts. Staff noted that Carver’s projected August 2026 enrollment after rezoning would remain well below FISH capacity but would bring some students closer to campus. The report included free and reduced‑price lunch rates, ESE and ELL percentages and racial/ethnic breakdowns for affected zones.

Board members raised questions about the timing and basis of projections. Member Gallo asked whether FISH capacity or the district’s permanent program capacity better reflects usable classroom stations; Thomas Moore, demographer, and Dr. Vasquez (superintendent) explained that FISH is the state’s official number and that the district has worked to align programmatic spaces with FISH while acknowledging permanent program capacity historically ran lower due to local adjustments for ESE and other program needs.

Public input and next steps: Neill said the district is collecting community input via an online survey and petitions and that the deadline to submit a single household input is 7 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 27. She reiterated the rule that only one input per household will be counted and petitions must include the signer’s name and address.

At the close of the Carver segment, Dr. Vasquez asked whether there were objections to moving forward with Option 2 as the district recommendation. No board member objected; she characterized that as board consensus to continue with the option through the community‑input and hearing phases. That is not a final board vote; the formal rezoning timeline continues with rule development, public hearing (scheduled Dec. 9) and later board action if the district proposes an ordinance or rule change.

Ending: Staff will continue outreach and update projections; the board will receive the results of the Oct. 27 input window before any formal vote.