Windermere Preparatory School plans expansion

WINDERMERE  Just down the road from what will eventually be the relief school for West Orange High, Windermere Preparatory School has its sights set on development, too.

Orange County and Windermere Prep staff are set to host a community meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21 at the school’s Learning Commons Building to introduce several expansion plans that would require revisions to the private school’s master plan. 

Plans include a new 48,000-square-foot, two-story visual- and performing-arts center; relocation and consolidation of the current maintenance facility; a size increase of the existing café from 1,000 to 7,000 square feet; changes to north and west landscape berms; and roadway modifications to improve traffic flow on campus.

School leaders also want to increase the current enrollment from 1,200 to 1,600 students. Staff capacity is set at 250; currently, the school has about 180 staff members.

These plans come just months after Orange County Public Schools broke ground on the West Orange High relief school, located less than one mile away from Windermere Prep’s campus. Some residents opposed locating the relief school  within the West Windermere Rural Settlement.

Contact Danielle Hendrix at [email protected].