COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — On Monday night, parents and residents of Collier County took a look at their county’s growth earlier this week. After seeing a significant amount of growth, that means middle school and high school students will have to go to a different schools.
Collier County Schools presented a plan to change the boundaries of their school district and what it would look like in the northern part of the County. The school boundary modifications would impact middle school students and high school students about to start 9th or 10th grade.
Collier County’s growth means a seventh high school is coming this fall to North Naples, Aubrey Rogers High School and this means many freshmen right now at Gulf Coast High School would attend the new school as the boundaries for Gulf Coast shift east for Palmetto Ridge, also pushing east and Barron Collier would move south but also east of I-75.
School officials say the new boundaries for high schools would handle capacity concerns at Gulf Coast and Palmetto High School, also, one middle school boundary would see changes to a few dozen homes, adding more students to Oakridge middle school from neighboring Corkscrew middle school.
Dr. Leslie Ricciardelli, Deputy Superintendent stressed the age component for the students, "For rising 11th and 12th graders and rising 5th graders and their siblings they would all be allowed to stay at their school without consideration of capacity or space," but there are other factors to look at, "All of these students would have to provide their own transportation to and from school as well as they would need to apply for parental choice since they would be considered out of the zone.
There is still time for people in Collier County to give their opinions on the new boundaries before the final proposal would be scheduled on December 13, but after other hearings for both the changes to high school and middle school boundaries.
