https://www.wellenparkjournal.com/articles/new-k-8-and-high-school-coming-to-wellen-park/
December 15, 2021
BY NANCI THEORET
Wellen Park Journal Correspondent
A new high school and kindergarten-to eighth grade school are coming to Wellen Park sooner than planned. Sarasota County Schools is fast-tracking construction to alleviate student counts at Venice High and Taylor Ranch Elementary and a projected increase of nearly 3,400 future students from Wellen Park, one of the top-selling communities in the U.S.
We’re moving everything up a year,” says School Superintendent Brennan Asplen. “There’s been a large influx of new students and a lot of people moving to our area.”
The schools will be built on two adjoining sites at River Road and the future Manasota Beach Road extension, allowing them to share parking lots and bus loops for increased efficiency and cost savings.
Design and construction of the $155-million 425,000-square-foot high school will begin in summer 2022, with completion expected for the 2025-26 academic year. Work on Wellen Park’s K-8 school, which carries an $82-million price tag, will start in 2023. Unexpected growth in south Sarasota County has pushed enrollment at Venice High and Taylor Ranch Elementary over capacity and will continue to increase with the addition of 14,800 housing units planned in Wellen Park, according to Jody Dumas, the district’s assistant superintendent chief operations officer.
“This was the first year we had to put up portables at Taylor Ranch,” he says. “We have the infrastructure for 10 more and think of the new school in Wellen Park as relieving that need.”
Sarasota County Schools is reviewing high school prototypes from other districts that it could potentially repurpose for Wellen Park. The district will model Wellen Park’s K-8 school after a design borrowed from Lee County to the south.
“Instead of reinventing the wheel, we talk to other districts about what works for students, what works for the system and makes sense,” says Dr. Asplen. “It saves costs and time.”
Dr. Asplen says the K-8 concept, combining traditional elementary and middle schools under one roof, provides two different administrations, lunchrooms and other separate facilities while improving the transition from elementary school to middle school. “Our research shows it helps academically,” he says.
Wellen Park, ranked No. 5 on real estate consulting firm RCLCO’s 2021 list of fastest selling communities, is expected to add 3,372 K-12 students as construction of new homes continues. Those projections include 2,334 more K-8 students and another 1,038 high school students.
“We haven’t addressed growth in a number of years,” Mr. Dumas recently told school board members in presenting proposed revisions to the district’s five-year capital budget. The budget includes an extra $30 million to cover escalating construction costs to build the Wellen Park schools and a third school down the road.
Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate
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