The superintendent of OCPS is Ronald Blocker. The position of superintendent is appointed by the school board. The district is overseen by the
Orange CountyOrange County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida and is part of the Orlando-Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area . As of 2007 Census Bureau estimates, the population was 1,066,113. The county seat is Orlando....
School Board, a body of seven elected officers, each board member sitting for a particular geographic district. School Board districts are not analogous in any way with County Commission districts. The current School Board members, in order of district number, are Joie Cadle, Daryl Flynn, Rick Roach, Karen Ardaman, Kathleen "Kat" Gordon, Anne Geiger and Jim Martin.
Board members are elected every four years with no term limits, with Districts 1 through 3 elected during midterm election cycles (next in 2010) and Districts 4 through 7 elected during presidential cycles (next in 2012).
School board
The superintendent of OCPS is Ronald Blocker. The position of superintendent is appointed by the school board. The district is overseen by the
Orange CountyOrange County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida and is part of the Orlando-Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area . As of 2007 Census Bureau estimates, the population was 1,066,113. The county seat is Orlando....
School Board, a body of seven elected officers, each board member sitting for a particular geographic district. School Board districts are not analogous in any way with County Commission districts. The current School Board members, in order of district number, are Joie Cadle, Daryl Flynn, Rick Roach, Karen Ardaman, Kathleen "Kat" Gordon, Anne Geiger and Jim Martin.
Board members are elected every four years with no term limits, with Districts 1 through 3 elected during midterm election cycles (next in 2010) and Districts 4 through 7 elected during presidential cycles (next in 2012). School Board elections in Orange County are non-partisan.
Schools
OCPS has used an attendance model of
Kindergartenis a form of education for young children which serves as a transition from home to the commencement of more formal schooling. Children are taught to develop basic skills through creative play and social interaction. In most countries kindergarten is part of the preschool system of early childhood...
through Grade 5 for
elementary schoolsA primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
, Grades 6–8 for
middle schoolMiddle school or junior high school serves as a "bridge" between elementary school and high school. The terms can be used in different ways in different countries, sometimes interchangeably...
and Grades 9–12 for
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
since 1988. Before then, Grade 6 was part of elementary school and Grade 9 was part of middle school (called Junior High in OCPS prior to 1988). As now required by Florida law, virtually all elementary schools have
Pre-KindergartenPre-kindergarten refers to the first formal academic classroom-based learning environment that a child customarily attends in the United States. It begins around the age of four or five in order to prepare for the more didactic and academically intensive kindergarten, the traditional "first" class...
programs.
OCPS has 172 regular-attendance schools as of the 2007–08 school year: 117 elementary, 36 middle and 18 high. Three of the middle schools are really K–8 schools, but are classified by OCPS as middle schools. The district also has an
adult educationAdult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. This often happens in the workplace, through 'extension' or 'continuing education' courses at secondary schools, at a college or university. Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning...
system with six dedicated campuses and night classes at most high schools, four dedicated
special educationSpecial education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...
schools as well as a hospital/homebound program, and dozens of alternative education centers, including
charter schoolCharter schools are elementary or secondary schools in the United States that receive public money but have been freed from some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth...
s. Four of the high schools in OCPS have off-site ninth-grade centers, built after the shift from K–6/7–9/10–12 to K–5/6–8/9–12. Two more elementary schools are scheduled to open for the 2008–09 school year, and two more high schools are scheduled to open for the 2009–10 school year.
The schools of OCPS are divided into six areas called Learning Communities: North, East, West, Southeast, Southwest and Central. Central was known as the "Urban Cohort" until 2005. Southeast and Southwest were split from a larger South Learning Community in 2006.
The district is in an aggressive expansion and school improvement project being fueled by a 0.5%
sales taxA sales tax is a consumption tax charged at the point of purchase for certain goods and services. The tax is usually set as a percentage by the government charging the tax. There is usually a list of exemptions...
increase passed by the voters of Orange County in 2002. Skyrocketing land and materials costs, however, has outpaced faster-than-expected sales tax revenue increases and slowed progress. Many projects have been pushed back, and some have been cancelled altogether.
Most paperwork distributed to students and parents by OCPS is available in both
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
and
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
. Many such documents are also available in
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
,
VietnameseVietnamese , formerly known under French colonization as Annamese , is the national and official language of Vietnam...
and
Haitian CreoleHaitian Creole language , often called simply Creole or Kreyòl , is a language spoken in Haiti by about eight million people, which is nearly the entire population, and via emigration, by about one million speakers residing in the Bahamas, Cuba, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, French...
, due to the significant populations in Orange County that speak each language.
High schools
In parentheses is the nickname of the school's athletics teams.
- Apopka High School
Apopka High School is a high school located in Apopka in northwest Orange County, Florida, United States. The school has been named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence....
(Blue DartersThe darters or snakebirds are mainly tropical waterbirds in the family Anhingidae. There are four living species, three of which are very common and widespread while the fourth is rarer and classified as near-threatened by the IUCN. The term "snakebird" is usually used without any additions to...
)
- William R. Boone High School
William R. Boone High School is a public high school in Orlando, Florida, United States. Built in 1952, the school is one of nineteen high schools in the Orange County Public Schools system, originally created to accommodate the growing number of students at Orlando High School...
(BravesThe Native American name controversy is a dispute over the acceptable terminology of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and to the broad subsets thereof, such as those living in a specific country or sharing certain cultural attributes....
)
- Colonial High School
Colonial High School is a high school located in Orlando, Florida. The school's principal is Dr. Paul Van Mitchell. As of August 2008 the school serves 3,851 students in grades 9 through 12, making it one of the largest schools in Florida. Colonial has one of the biggest Production Studios in...
(Grenadiers)
- Cypress Creek High School
Cypress Creek High School is located in south and serves students in grades 9 through 12.Cypress Creek is an IB World School with an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. As an IB World School, CCHS is a local magnet school allowing students from other Orange County, Florida schools to attend...
(BearBears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
s)
- Dr. Phillips High School
Dr. Phillips High School is a high school located in Orlando, Florida, United States.The area of Dr. Phillips, Florida is named after Dr. Philip Phillips, a physician who later became a Central Florida citrus magnate. He was responsible for several key innovations in the processing and packaging of...
(PanthersThe Florida panther is a critically endangered representative of cougar that lives in the low tides, palm forests and swamps of southern Florida in the United States. Its current taxonomic status is unresolved...
)
- Edgewater High School
Edgewater High School is a public secondary school located in the College Park section of Orlando, Florida. It is operated by the Orange County Public Schools system. The athletic teams are known as the 'Fighting Eagles' with colors red and white....
(EaglesThe Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America that is most recognizable as the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the...
)
- East River High School (Falcon
A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The word comes from their Latin name falco, related to Latin falx because of the shape of these birds' wings.-Overview:...
s)
- Maynard Evans High School (Trojans
Troy is a legendary city and center of the Trojan War, as described in the Epic Cycle and especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer...
)
- North Star High school (Knight
A knight was a "gentleman soldier" or member of the warrior class of the Middle Ages in Europe. In other Indo-European languages, cognates of cavalier or rider are more prevalent suggesting a connection to the knight's mode of transport...
s)
- Freedom High School
Freedom High School is a high school in Orlando, Florida. Classes began in 2003. The school is one of seventeen public high schools in Orange County. The school is sometimes mistaken for Olympia High School and Timber Creek High School because of the nearly-identical campus layouts, and Lake...
(PatriotPatriots was the name the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution called themselves. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
)
- Jones High School
Jones High School is located in the Parramore/Lorna Doone neighborhood in the urban heart of Orlando, Florida at 801 S. Rio Grande Avenue. It is a public school in the Orange County School District...
(TigerThe tiger is a member of the Felidae family; the largest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera. Native to much of eastern and southern Asia, the tiger is an apex predator and an obligate carnivore...
s)
- Lake Nona High School (Lion
The Lion is one of four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s)
- Oak Ridge High School
Oak Ridge High School is a public secondary school in Orlando, Florida, established in 1956. The school has been rated as a D or F institution by the state every year since 2000.-Extracurricular activities:...
(PioneerAmerican pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. This especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society.The pioneer concept...
s)
- Ocoee High School
Ocoee High School is a public secondary school located in Ocoee, Florida. The school serves about 3,184 students in grades 9 through 12.-External links:*...
(KnightA knight was a "gentleman soldier" or member of the warrior class of the Middle Ages in Europe. In other Indo-European languages, cognates of cavalier or rider are more prevalent suggesting a connection to the knight's mode of transport...
s)
- Olympia High School
Olympia High School was opened in the fall of 2001 in Orlando, Florida. The first principal was Dr. Janice Pratt, the second was Robert Avossa, and the current principal is Ms. Jenny Gibson-Linkh. Olympia serves Windermere and Metro West areas as well as some Dr...
(TitansIn Greek mythology, the Titans , were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary Golden Age...
)
- Timber Creek High School
Timber Creek High School is a public high school located in Orlando, Florida. The mascot is the wolves, and the principal is Mr. John Wright.- Sports :...
(WolvesThe grey wolf or gray wolf , also known as simply wolf, is the largest wild member of the Canidae family. It is an ice age survivor originating during the Late Pleistocene around 300,000 years ago. DNA sequencing and genetic drift studies reaffirm that the gray wolf shares a common ancestry with...
)
- University High School
University High School is a public high school in Orlando, Florida opened in 1990. The school is one of many public high schools in Orange County and is located about a mile from UCF. University High School has an International Baccalaureate program and a Global Technologies magnet program, which...
(Cougars)
- Wekiva High School
Wekiva High School is a high school located in Apopka, in northwest Orange County, Florida, United States. The school mascot is the mustang.The school colors are maroon, gold, and navy. It has started its third year of school, The principal is Dr. Elise Gruber.-External links:*...
(MustangsA Mustang is a free-roaming feral horse of the North American west that first descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish...
)
- West Orange High School
West Orange High School is a secondary school located in Winter Garden in southwest Orange County, Florida, United States.West Orange serves WinterGarden, Oakland, Gotha, and parts of Windermere and Ocoee.- History :...
(WarriorAccording to the Random House Dictionary, the term warrior has two meanings. The first literal use refers to "a person engaged or experienced in warfare." The second figurative use refers to "a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics."...
s)
- Winter Park High School
Winter Park High School located in Winter Park, Florida is one of seventeen public high schools in Orange County. Winter Park High School is a magnet school for the International Baccalaureate program.-History:...
(WildcatWildcat is a small felid native to Europe, the western part of Asia, and Africa.Wildcat may also refer to members of the genus Lynx:...
s)
Notable alumni
- Actor Wesley Snipes
Wesley Trent Snipes is a an American actor, film producer, and martial artist. He has starred in action-adventures, thrillers, and dramatic feature films but is best known for his role as Blade in the Blade trilogy. In 1991, the actor formed a production company called Amen Ra Films and a...
graduated from Jones High SchoolJones High School is located in the Parramore/Lorna Doone neighborhood in the urban heart of Orlando, Florida at 801 S. Rio Grande Avenue. It is a public school in the Orange County School District...
, in the Washington Shores neighborhood.
- Actor/comedian Wayne Brady
Wayne Alphonso Brady is an actor, singer, comedian and television personality, known for his work as a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and as the host of the daytime talk show The Wayne Brady Show...
, singer Joey FatoneJoseph Anthony "Joey" Fatone, Jr. is an American singer, actor and television personality. He is best known as a member of the American pop group, 'N Sync, in which he sang baritone. In 2007, he came in second place on the ABC reality show Dancing With The Stars...
, singer/actor Luis FonsiLuis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero, more commonly known as Luis Fonsi, is a Puerto Rican singer, composer and soap opera actor.- Biography:...
and baseball players A.J. Pierzynski and Johnny DamonJohnny David Damon is a Major League Baseball outfielder and plays for the New York Yankees. Since the season, through 2008, he was 3rd among active major leaguers in runs , and 7th in hits and stolen bases...
graduated from Dr. Phillips High SchoolDr. Phillips High School is a high school located in Orlando, Florida, United States.The area of Dr. Phillips, Florida is named after Dr. Philip Phillips, a physician who later became a Central Florida citrus magnate. He was responsible for several key innovations in the processing and packaging of...
, in the Dr. PhillipsDr. Phillips is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Orange County, Florida; commonly known as a suburb of Orlando, Florida. It is also part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9,548 at the 2000 census.The area of Dr. Phillips is...
neighborhood.
- Baseball player Zack Greinke
Donald Zackary "Zack" Greinke is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Kansas City Royals.-High school & minor league:...
and football players Warren SappWarren Harrison Sapp is a retired American football player who played defensive tackle in the National Football League. He played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders during his 13 year professional career, and college football for the University of Miami Hurricanes...
and Brandon MeriweatherBrandon Meriweather is an American football safety for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Patriots 24th overall in the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Miami.-Early years:...
graduated from Apopka High SchoolApopka High School is a high school located in Apopka in northwest Orange County, Florida, United States. The school has been named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence....
.
- Basketball players Marquis Daniels
Marquis Antwane Daniels is a 6'6" , 200 lb shooting guard–small forward. Daniels was an undrafted guard in the 2003 NBA Draft yet has become a regular rotation player averaging at least 17.8 minutes per game in each one of his first six seasons...
and Darius Washington Jr.Darius Myron Washington Jr. is an American and naturalized Macedonian professional basketball player. He is a point guard-shooting guard and played college basketball with the University of Memphis...
graduated from Edgewater High SchoolEdgewater High School is a public secondary school located in the College Park section of Orlando, Florida. It is operated by the Orange County Public Schools system. The athletic teams are known as the 'Fighting Eagles' with colors red and white....
.
- Basketball player Amare Stoudemire
Amar'e Carsares Stoudemire is an American professional basketball player for the NBA's Phoenix Suns...
graduated from Cypress Creek High School.
- Recording artist Brian McKnight, football player Brandon Siler, and basketball player Darryl Dawkins
Darryl Dawkins is a retired American professional basketball player, most noted for his days with the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets, although he also played briefly for the Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz late in his career...
graduated from Evans High.
- Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed on a member of the United States armed forces who distinguishes themselves "conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while...
recipient, Larry Smedley attended Orlando High School, now Howard Middle School.
External links