Orange County Public Schools

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Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) is the public school district for Orange County, Florida. It is based out of the Educational Leadership Center, a seven-story building adjacent to the Amway Arena in Downtown Orlando, Florida. As of 2003, it has an enrollment of 165,992 students, making it the 12th largest school district in the United States [1] (13th largest when Puerto Rico is included). Mirroring Greater Orlando's high growth rate, it is also one of the fastest-growing school districts in America.

[edit] The School Board

The superintendent of OCPS is Ronald Blocker. The position of superintendent is appointed by the Governor. The district is overseen by the Orange County 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 2008). School Board elections in Orange County are non-partisan.

[edit] The Schools

OCPS has used an attendance model of Kindergarten through Grade 5 for elementary schools, Grades 6-8 for middle school and Grades 9-12 for high school 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-K programs.

OCPS has 166 regular-attendance schools as of the 2006-07 school year: 114 elementary, 35 middle and 17 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 education system with four dedicated campuses and night classes at most high schools, four dedicated ESE schools as well as a hospital/homebound program, and dozens of alternative education centers, including charter schools. 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. For the 2007-08 school year, three new elementary schools, one new middle school, one new high school, and one new technical education center are scheduled to be opened.

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 tax increase passed by the voters of Orange County in 2002.

[edit] Famous students of OCPS Schools

Actor Wesley Snipes graduated from Jones High School, in the Washington Shores neighborhood.
Actor/comedian Wayne Brady, singer Joey Fatone, and baseball players A.J. Pierzynski and Johnny Damon graduated from Dr. Phillips High School, in the Dr. Phillips neighborhood.
Baseball player Zack Greinke graduated from Apopka High School.

[edit] Trivia

Most paperwork distributed to students and parents by OCPS is available in both English and Spanish. Many such documents are also available in Portuguese, Vietnamese and Haitian Creole, due to the significant populations in Orange County that speak each language.