Deltona sends postcards asking for help
By: K. Michael Deltona, FL (November 30, 2009) –
The City of Deltona recently sent out post cards reminding residents of the upcoming School Board meeting scheduled for December 8th at 4:00 p.m. The post card is asking residents to speak up for their students and fight for their city, and not let Volusia County School Board displace Deltona residents and alter their education to keep DeLand and Lake Helen happy.
With the proposed boundaries, some Deltona students could be bused up to 8 1/2 miles from the Doyle Road, Saxon Blvd. area to Orange city. Likewise, by traveling the same distance from school DDD through DeLand, Plymouth Ave., which is north of Steson University would be an equal boundary after traveling 5 miles within the city limits of DeLand.
Currently, Victoria Park students travel 5.7 miles to DeLand High, using Orange Park Road and Martin L. King Hwy. as a starting point. A reassignment to the Orange City DDD school would make that trip 7 miles, an increase, but less than the proposed model for Deltona. Lake Helen students would be closer. The School Board proposal would require some students living as close as 3.3 miles from Deltona High to be bused.
This became an issue for the Deltona City Commission when they recently discovered the school board had decided to pull students from Deltona to fill the new DDD High School built in Orange City.
Overall, the opinions throughout the city range from those who do not care, as the change doesn’t affect their lives, to those who are upset, with some parents excited about the new school and its curriculum. Critics of the city fighting this issue feel this should have happened long before the school was built with the opposition stating the plans and purchase of this school was done 6-7 years ago with no mention of pulling students from Deltona.
