Last Thursday 10/22, the Palm Beach County School District’s ABC (Advisory Boundary Committee) met to discuss the two proposed boundary plans for Westlake’s new elementary school:
- 23H-1 in which all of Westlake’s city limits are zoned for the new elementary school; and
- 23H-2 in which Westlake east of Seminole Pratt Whitney is zoned for the new school and Westlake west of SPW (the forthcoming Minto Sandglass community, see below, expected 1800 homes for completion in 7-8 years) is zoned for Loxahatchee Groves.
Westlake Representatives Mayor J.P. O’Connor, new elementary school Principal Darline Winewski, and Westlake Education Advisory Board Chair Dr. Anita Kaplan were all present in person.
Ultimately, the board voted 10-0 to recommend 23H-1 to the PBCSD Superintendent. This is a big win for our community.
I highly recommend watching this YouTube video, at 1:32:40, to see Mayor O’Connor plead his case for 23H-1. It’s really good.
Also, scrub to 48:45 to see the new elementary school’s Principal Winewski lay out her inspiring thoughts and vision for the new school.
My understanding is that the PBCSD wanted a second plan, i.e., 23H-2, in the case that the elementary school fills up very quickly, because asking families who tasted the fine wine of having their kids’ elementary school within 1.5 miles would make it very difficult for them to suddenly have to adjust to a commute to Loxahatchee Groves which is almost 5 miles away. I get it.
But it seems most of the board and public felt that it was more important to keep Westlake students within Westlake during these 7-8 years that Sandglass is being built and completed. I agree. No need to punish Westlake West/Sandglass students/families for the next 7-8 years. Let’s leave a possible re-zoning for the future and keep all of Westlake as close as possible in the meantime.
The next school-related meeting is Westlake’s Education Advisory Board meeting Thursday November 5th, 6PM at the Westlake Adventure Park LODGE! It’s a great time to check out the EAB and learn more about this forthcoming elementary school. See you then!
Leave a Reply