By Rod Olsen
In Summary:
In this open letter to the Orange County School Board, Apopka resident Rod Olsen draws on his experience advocating against overcrowding in local schools to argue that closing community schools should be considered only after all other options are exhausted. He contends that Florida’s school choice system diverts public dollars to under-regulated private schools while worsening inequities and underfunding public education.
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Hello Chair Jacobs, Superintendent Vazquez, and Board Members,
Thank you for your dedication, patience, time, and continued efforts on behalf of our children—my grandchildren included.
Related: Schools that are good at teaching math are also good in reading — and vice versa.
Discussing potential school closings represents a complete reversal from the overcrowding concerns that prompted my last formal address to this Board. As some of you may recall, I was part of a community group that addressed severe overcrowding and the extensive use of 46 portable classrooms at the Wolf Lake Elementary and Middle School campus. That advocacy and intervention successfully resulted in the opening of Kelly Park K–8 in 2022—four years ahead of OCPS’s original projection of a new Apopka school in 2026.
Community schools are the heart and soul of their neighborhoods. Closing a school should always be a last resort, pursued only after every other reasonable solution has been thoroughly explored. Neighborhood schools play a vital role in children’s development and in strengthening community engagement, communication, and stability.
I was fortunate to attend Maple Grove School in Greenfield, Wisconsin, located just a block and a half from our home, where I attended kindergarten through the spring of eighth grade. The school served as a true community hub. Children and parents spent significant time on campus outside of classroom hours—on playgrounds and in meetings for Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and numerous community clubs.
When my family moved to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, I completed eighth grade at the rural Pine Lake School. This was my first experience riding the “cheese wagon” (school bus), aside from music and athletic events. Despite its rural location, Pine Lake also functioned as a strong community center for meetings and events, much like Maple Grove.
Throughout my career in the healthcare industry, I frequently managed changing facility census levels, which demanded ongoing attention and continual adjustments. These included modifying staffing levels, sharing staff, and closing wings to reduce utility and maintenance costs. Only in the most extreme circumstances was a full facility closure considered, given the long-term investment and future community needs.
Allowing non-public schools to use public school facilities—without requiring them to meet public school standards or pay for utilities, repairs, maintenance, and liability—constitutes negligence.
In some cases, school buildings do reach the end of their useful life. When that occurs, OCPS should consider repurposing older facilities for secure, affordable senior housing. This objective was achieved using a former high school in Iron River, Michigan.
A major driver behind the push for school closures is Florida’s school choice program. This program exemplifies how elected legislators can be disconnected from the needs of children and communities—or overly influenced by well-funded special interest groups. From my experience, if it looks like a skunk and smells like a skunk, it is a skunk.
It is difficult to understand why taxpayer money would be spent on private schools that do not have to follow the basic standards required of public schools.
Florida’s school choice system is discriminatory. Approximately 70% of the recipients of the $8,000 voucher were already attending non-public schools. Meanwhile, the average Florida family cannot afford non-public tuition costs ranging from $14,000 to $24,000 per year. This system primarily benefits wealthy families and special interest groups that lobby or financially support elected officials.
Non-public schools that receive public funding should be held to the same program standards, staff certification requirements, and nondiscrimination policies as public schools; failing to do so is not acceptable. Although certification itself is not a sure sign of teacher quality, any school receiving public funding should have the exact certification requirements as public schools.
The playing field must be leveled by requiring all homeschool, charter, and other non-public schools that receive state funding to participate in the same testing and accountability measures, ensuring every student receives a quality education.
Florida ranks between 41st and 50th in education quality, and its teacher pay ranks between 47th and 50th. These rankings indicate that public education in the state faces significant underfunding. These rankings will not improve by diverting taxpayer dollars to under-regulated schools of choice that are not held to public school standards.
Florida’s attempts to sanitize our country’s history by minimizing or omitting the murder of Native Americans, their forced removal to reservations, the theft of their land, and the enslavement, discrimination, and murder of Africans are deeply troubling. Teaching these historical truths serves as a deterrent against repeating such abuses.
Some of my most impactful learning experiences came from presentations by Native Americans and African Americans who shared this history firsthand. Witnessing a Civil Rights march reenactment and learning about cross burnings underscored the brutality of past injustices and reinforced why current laws exist to protect all people.
When thinking about possible school closures and changes to zoning, we need to take certain factors into account:
- The ability to adequately cover bus routes.
- A comprehensive review of all factors contributing to the wide break-even occupancy range (60% to 99%) was presented yesterday.
- A thorough review of all OCPS rezoning needs, including Apopka High School, where Apopka High School has operated 200 to over 400 students above capacity for the past 11 years, while nearby Wekiva High School has remained 600–650 students under capacity.
We must all—every Board member and every citizen—actively engage our legislators through in-person meetings, calls, letters, and emails.
There are no easy fixes. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to assist.
Key Points:
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Olsen says potential school closures represent a sharp reversal from recent overcrowding concerns that led to the early opening of Kelly Park K–8.
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He argues community schools serve as neighborhood anchors and should only be closed as a last resort.
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Olsen criticizes Florida’s school choice program, calling it inequitable and insufficiently accountable to public standards.
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He urges OCPS to require equal certification, testing, and accountability measures for all schools receiving public funds.
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Olsen calls for a comprehensive review of rezoning, transportation, and long-standing capacity imbalances affecting Apopka schools.
Editor's Note: Rod Olsen is a former HOA President of Rock Springs Ridge and an Apopka resident who often contributes his opinions at the Apopka City Council meetings during the public comments section and in frequent op/eds to The Apopka Voice.
