BARTOW — On Wednesday, six Polk County planning commissioners voted unanimously to approve a plan for a new charter school in Lakeland.
IDEA Public Schools, based in Texas, applied in January 2021 to open a school in Lakeland in 2023. The company was accepted by the state in 2018 as a Schools of Hope operator, allowing it to open in areas with chronically struggling schools.
By state law, Polk County Public Schools had to approve its application within 60 days or risk losing hundreds of thousands of dollars it receives in management fees from other charter schools within the district. The School Board did so in March 2021, despite some misgivings about the contract.
According to the organization’s website, IDEA stands for “Individuals Dedicated to Excellence and Achievement.” IDEA launched as a charter school operation 20 years ago. The nonprofit says it plans to expand to 137 schools across Texas, Louisiana, Ohio and Florida by the end of the current school year.
IDEA claims that in the 2020-21 school year, for the 15th year in a row, 100% of its seniors across 19 campuses were accepted into college.
This will be IDEA’s first venture into Polk County, although the nonprofit operates two schools in Tampa: IDEA Hope and IDEA Victory. IDEA is set to open two schools in Jacksonville this year.
According to the approved request, IDEA plans to open a 101,500-square-foot K-12 school with a 9,450-square-foot gymnasium. The school will be located “on the west side of Reynolds Road, south of State Road 542, north of Skyview Drive, east of Combee Road South, east of the City of Lakeland.”
IDEA plans to host 1,645 students across 28 elementary, 13 middle and 24 high-school classrooms.
READ PREVIOUS STORIES ABOUT IDEA PUBLIC SCHOOLS:
The school will be bordered by single-family residential to the south and east, according to the staff report. The school and outdoor play areas are located in the center of the property owned by Transworld Lakeland LLC, maximizing the space between the school and nearby houses. Additionally, there will be landscape buffers where the property abuts homes, providing about 240 feet between nearby homes and “any structures, parking or drive aisles of the proposed educational facility.”
At Wednesday’s meeting, two residents spoke against the project, both bringing up traffic concerns with Reynolds Road.
Rose Mock works at Allied Scrap Processors, which is located along Reynolds Road. She said traffic there is a “nightmare.” She added that there should be a bike and walking path along that road.
“The road is very hazardous. You’ve got industrial down on Maine Avenue. You’ve got, you’re proposing another industrial above this school, across from us. It’s a problem. You can’t just continue to build without roadway,” Mock said. “It’s a huge problem, and until we can do the infrastructure, the growth has got to wait. Because you can’t do the infrastructure after the growth. Because then you’re really gonna have problems.”
Alleviating traffic at the school is built into the site plan, according to the county’s staff report. The report states that there are “significant drive aisles proposed within the parcel to allow drop-off and pick-up lines for caregivers to avoid traffic backups on Reynolds Road to the greatest extent.”
There will be turn lanes in front of the school and a five-foot sidewalk fronting the site for further traffic alleviation.
Additionally, IDEA estimates 25% of its future students will be bused in. All students will need to be bused in or dropped off as high school students will not be allowed to drive and park their own cars, in keeping with IDEA’s policy at other schools.
Chair Rebecca Troutman and Vice Chair Matthew Cain were both absent from the meeting, leaving it to be chaired by Secretary Rennie Heath.
Maya Lora can be reached with tips or questions at mlora@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @mayaklora.
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