Bellalago Academy Opens New Facilities for the 2005-06 School Year

August 15, 2005

Just one year after opening its doors in August 2004, Bellalago Academy has taken on a new size and shape to meet current school growth and to maintain class levels at planned student-teacher ratios.

The unique K-8 charter school, Florida's first charter school to be managed by a public school district (Osceola County) and the county's first Educational Facilities Benefit District (EFBD), opened the 2005-2006 school year with 930 new student stations, a new media center with enhanced computer technology, an expanded cafeteria, and a new multi-purpose gymnasium.

The new facilities are the result of an approved expansion and planned second phase, bringing the total number of student stations to 1,640.

"The additional student stations and facilities will not only accommodate the current school growth, but it will allow us to keep student-teacher ratios at 18:1 in grades K-3 and 22:1 in grades 4-8," said Tony Iorio, vice president of development for Avatar Properties Inc., developer of Bellalago, the 1,312-acre gated residential community on Pleasant Hill Road in which the Academy is located.

"The additional student stations and facilities also enable the Academy to offer more expansive programming and electives, such as art and music, in classrooms that might not have 22 students enrolled in that subject," Iorio noted.

Bellalago Academy opened for classes in August 2004 with 710 student stations, a library, media center, cafeteria, administrative offices, softball fields, tennis courts, and an oval running track.

The School District of Osceola County (SDOC) granted unanimous approval to the EFBD, the Academy's special taxing district established by the Florida Legislature to generate funds to build schools in new neighborhoods, to move ahead with the expansion and a planned second phase.

A tri-party agreement involving the Bellalago EFBD, The Foundation for Osceola Education and the SDOC provides for the Academy to be leased by the EFBD to the SDOC with whom The Foundation has contracted to operate and manage the Academy.

The Foundation, the county's leading non-profit education foundation, has built two other charter schools and sponsors a total of five charter schools in Osceola County.

Children of Bellalago residents are guaranteed seats in the Academy with the balance of available seats given to the SDOC which includes children in Avatar's Isles of Bellalago community which is in the early stages of development, and children living along the Pleasant Hill Road corridor from Brighton Lakes on the north to The Wilderness on the south. Those students previously attended Pleasant Hill and Reedy Creek elementary schools.

For more information on Bellalago Academy, contact Avatar's Tony Iorio at (407) 933-5000.

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