Sale of former school in Orange County, Fla., may be blocked

From The Orlando Sentinel: The Orange County (Fla.) School Board is pushing ahead with a plan to turn over a historic African-American school to the town of Eatonville, but a trust that controls land where the school sits could halt the plan. The board agreed to sell a 115-acre tract that contains wetlands, Lake Bell, Hungerford Elementary and the shuttered Robert Hungerford Preparatory High--a magnet school that the district once vowed to revitalize. There is a catch, however: A trust held by family members that founded Hungerford Prep still controls the portion of the tract on which the campus sits and stipulates that it must be used for education.

FROM 2007: The Orange County (Fla.) School Board has approved a plan to phase out the existing programs at Hungerford Prep High School, but the school will not close. The board will allow sophomores, juniors and seniors to finish their studies at the school, but not accept freshmen next year. Once the last class graduates in 2010, the existing magnet programs will be phased out in favor of new programs that will start in fall 2010. (Central Florida Advocate)

ALSO: Dozens of parents, students and alumni begged Orange County, Fla. school leaders to invest in Hungerford Prep High School's successful, small-school formula, instead of shuttering it next fall to cover budget shortfalls. Through tears and broken voices, Hungerford students and parents said they chose the 491-student school to avoid the "sex, drugs, violence and disrespect" they feared they might encounter in other high schools that typically teem with thousands of students. The district plans to close Hungerford this fall and has not decided what to do with the historic Eatonville school, a campus with deep ties to the black community since the days of the segregated South.(Orlando Sentinel)