- April 20, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
A former Sugar Mill Elementary principal and current Port Orange resident is trying to help expand charter schools in Volusia County.
Donald Travis, director of human resource and research for EdFutures, is the sponsor for the public charter school, Ivy Hawn Middle School of Arts and Technology. The school, which is planned to be built in Orange City, would be open to all Volusia County students.
EdFutures is the organization behind the proposed charter school's funding.
On Thursday. Aug. 24, Volusia County Schools district staff interviewed school applicants for the the proposed charter school. Two additional charter school proposals were reviewed the same day. No official decision has been made. Travis said he expects county officials to come back with a decision within a month or so.
Travis is also the executive director for the K-8 Ivy Hawn Charter School in Lake Helen, which he said was part of the reason this new school is being proposed.
According to the application for the school, "Ivy Hawn Middle School in Lake Helen is at capacity with 410 students and has hundreds on the waiting list."
A survey found that of 1,102 respondents, 94% said they would support having their children attend the new school.
"The anticipated population of the school is 200 in each grade of 6, 7, and 8 for years one and two, totaling 600 each year," according to the application.
Travis said the continued growth in not only charter schools but public schools also spearheaded the idea to form a new school in Volusia County. According to Travis, the plan is to the build middle school in the same mold as the one in Lake Helen. The school would also be STEM-focused.
There are already plans for construction if the application is given the green light, Travis said.
"We've been developing these schools to give parents and students a choice," Travis said. "We all have this need to educate students and we want to educate them in the appropriate way."
