Two new magnet schools will join the current slate of 40 in WCPSS.
Athens Drive High and Reedy Creek Middle will be the district newest magnet schools. They will accept magnet students for the 2016-2017 school year. Magnet themes for the two new schools have yet to be determined.
Among the reasons these two schools were chosen, two stand out. Both have room for more students (Athens Drive HS is at 85 percent of campus capacity, Reedy Creek is at 89 percent).
Both are also accessible to students from the western portion of the county. And the western portion of the county is home to several overcrowded schools at the middle and high school levels.
For example, Mills Park Middle and Davis Drive Middle both have enrollment caps for the 2015-2016 school year. (An enrollment cap means that any student who moves into the base assignment area for either of those schools cannot attend and will be assigned to an overflow school.) While the new Pine Hollow Middle opening in 2016 will help ease some crowding at Mills Park, it won’t help Davis Drive.
And there’s Panther Creek High, also capped for the 2015-2016 school year. This – after the opening of Apex Friendship High nearby. This high school served almost 3,000 students during the 2014-2015 school year, and their campus hosts 33 temporary classrooms.
A new magnet middle school and high school can help WCPSS best use its facilities to serve students and families. They also provide magnet programming access to a portion of the county that has typically resided far away from downtown magnets.
This is definitely a win / win for families.