Here they grow again.
Dayspring Academy, with its five other locations in Port Richey, once again is expanding — this time coming to Central Pasco. The charter school broke ground on Sept. 14 on its PreK-5 Angeline Campus in northern Land O’ Lakes.
The school will be operating in a partnership with Pasco County Schools and with the newly opened Angeline Academy of Innovation.
“It really is ‘Here We Grow Again’ because that’s always our goal and then we always ask, ‘Where is our next project or school?’” Angeline Campus Principal Diana Greenier said, following the groundbreaking ceremony. “We are just making sure that any child, no matter what their background is, they have that opportunity to have an education. We’re not better or worse than any other school, but we have the niche — we have the arts infused with character infused with the content and maybe it’s not for everybody, but it is for those people that want a different opportunity that some other school can’t provide.
“It’s not a competition. We’re not out to be better — we’re just out to provide another option, a different niche and something a little bit different.”
For 24 years, Dayspring Academy has been an A-rated institution providing education through a fusion of arts and technology. It focuses on providing students with a holistic education with essential academic knowledge through creativity, critical thinking and digital literacy.
Now, they have partnered with Pasco Schools to provide a tuition-free charter school, at 9371 Land O’ Lakes Blvd. It will be situated on 20 acres of land in front of the Tierra Del Sol community, as the property is under construction for the athletic fields to Angeline Academy of Innovation.
Dayspring Academy CEO John Legg told The Laker/Lutz News the new campus would not have been possible without the $25 million that Pasco County Schools is using from the impact fees it collects from new residential development.
Dayspring Academy will own the Angeline Campus and the 50,000-square-foot building, which will include a full-kitchen cafeteria that can also double as a black box theater, or a performance space with black walls and a flat floor.
Greenier added the charter school also will have full access to the athletics fields.
“We’re so excited about the athletic fields because we’ve never had a field or a gym or anything that even resembled that,” Greenier said. “We’ve never even had a little area for the PE teacher to go inside, and, as hokey as that sounds, it’s true. “It’s the little things like that people don’t realize that give our kids those little extra things that we never had.
“I even think that the district underestimated the gift that they have given us,” she added. “We’re a Pasco County charter public school. To get the financial backing from the district, to hear we believe in you guys — it’s the biggest compliment and opportunity to get something like this that we wouldn’t be able to do without the district and their faith in us.”
Greenier, who has been with Dayspring Academy as an employee and the parent of a former student for 20 years, said it has been a goal for the institution to expand out of the Port Richey area for a while, aiming for a campus in the East and Central Pasco areas.
She added many of Dayspring’s buildings have been donated or procured through funding. And as a longtime Dayspring employee, she’s not only honored to be the new principal, but overjoyed to see the Angeline Campus from the ground floor up.
“When we saw the (building) forms there (on the property in Land O’ Lakes), once that hit us, it was the real deal,” Greenier said. “This real particular moment (at the groundbreaking), to see kids who have been through our schools and employees come back after leaving, that’s crazy — it made me emotional to see them, to see the commitment to Dayspring and it’s a big deal to see something Mr. and Mrs. Legg started way back — and it’s here to stay.
“To be able to take our program and be able to expand it to so many people in Pasco County, that has been a huge goal for us to finally see come to life.”
DaySpring Academy Angeline Campus
Where: 9371 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., Land O’ Lakes
When: Opening August 2024; enrollment begins Feb. 1, 2024
Details: A learning institution dedicated to high-quality education through a fusion of arts and technology in a collaborative environment to prepare students for high school, college and the workforce. Dayspring Academy has five other locations located in Port Richey.
For more information, visit Dayspring.academy/angeline.
Published September 20, 2023
