Feb 9, 2021 10:18 AM Ormond Beach, FL - The Ormond Beach City Commission voted unanimously to approve a $1,950,000 economic incentive to the Volusia County School Board (VCSB) that would pay for necessary upgrades to keep Osceola Elementary School open. Zone 1 Commissioner Dwight Selby said that the goal is to get the VCSB to reconsider choosing Ortona Elementary School in Daytona Beach. He said city staff will be at this afternoon s school board meeting in case VCSB has questions. Selby said VCSB made the decision to keep Ortona open and shut down Osceola last summer. He says the timing was not good. I think residents, parents were focused on other things. They were focused on their family, on health. They weren t paying as much attention as they normally would when you talk about closing a school. The hope is that the issue will be opened back up and that VCSB will seek more public input on the matter. Selby said schools are very important to neighborhoods. Osceol
Feb 7, 2021 7:47 AM Ormond Beach, FL - The possibility of Osceola Elementary being shut down and students merged with those at Ortona Elementary School has led to the creation of a Save Osceola Elementary School petition. The city of Ormond Beach is working to keep the school open. At the January 26 school board meeting, Joyce Shanahan, the city manager, addressed the Board to share the city commission’s strong desire to have the new school built on the Osceola site. This comes a year after the Volusia County School Board (VCSB) decided to make Ortona Elementary the location for the new Beachside K-5 School. The decsion was made and then came COVID-19. According to the petitioners, District 4 School Board Member Carl Persis said that During this year long discussion, the Board did not receive a large response from Osceola families. Perhaps, because of the pandemic, people were dealing with so many health and financial issues, the matter of closing Osceola was no